Tubeless

I finally pulled the trigger last fall on a tubeless wheel and tire set. I think I have enough riding on them now to give an initial review on them.
They are Continental Mountan King 2.2's UST on Mavic Crosstrail UST wheel set.
I really wanted something a bit lighter and was looking at the Stans ZTR Alpine rims and trying out a Stans Crow and Raven tire but got a killer deal on these that I could not refuse.

I  only finished 3 of 7 races in the local series due to flats, sometimes multiple flats. All pinch flats. I did use this wheelset for a few laps of Hot August Nights solo attempt at the end of the year. They were working great on this course, which is not very technical and it was pretty dry. After 3-4 laps in a suspension parts failure caused me to switch to my Cousins 29'er.
This year I have gotten out a few technical group rides and did a local XC race. So far so good. No flats and traction seems to be as good as everyone else or better as I have cleared a lot of the technical stuff that some others have not.
I had one ride that was a bit cool and we started getting some snow near the end of the ride and the rocks and especially the roots were starting to get a bit slippery. The other guys also reported it getting dicey so I was not alone so traction was good for the conditions from my observation.
I started out running around 25 psi F/R and worked my way down to around 18, give or take for my last group ride and for the race. So far no flats and traction has been very good over all. I noted that they slide a bit in gravel and soft loamy corners but are predictable and so quick front brake work has kept me rubber side up for now.
When I mounted these up it was fairly easy. I tried airing them up without any sealant but they would not seal very well and went flat in a couple minutes. I ended up putting just a small amount of Stans in them. Maybe 1/2 a scoop, which sealed up around the valve stem and the bead. They sat on the bike in the cold garage all winter hanging from the ceiling and still had some pressure spring. I haven't added and sealant and have been running them fine this season so far with just the few drops I put in initially
I will probably do a follow up in the fall after the season is over and get to try them in wetter and sloppier conditions but so far no regrets and performance has been on par or better than tubed.

Cheers,
Paul

Sunset Series Race 1

Another season of racing at Camp Fortune has started. I have been doing some training with a coach since Christmas. I have been anxious to see if it has actually been working and was looking forward to this first race. I have had a tough winter health wise as I just became a type 1 diabetic, which started out as a type 2 a couple years ago. Spent most of winter and spring finding a proper insulin regime and diet that keeps my blood sugar stable. Been fighting lots of colds during the winter and seemed like one week hard training and a week recovering. Bit frustrating to say the least .....

Got to the hill bit early as I know there can get to be a bit of a line up on registration day.
All went well and I was actually surprised that there were only something like 3 cars in the lot. I was wondering if it was even a race day! Parked and shortly after had a couple friends pull up beside and we all chatted while getting ready to warm up.

For a warm up I did about 10 easy minutes in the lot where it is fairly flat. After this I decided to do the end loop, which takes about 5 minutes, to see if they left in the same parts as last year. Glad I did as there were some minor changes but all was clear once they taped up the lines.
This section has a short steep climp and a fast technical twisty, rocky and very rooty section down through the trees. Normally the technical sections are my stronger suit. At first I was going slow and really felt nervous going through here. Decided to do a few more easy laps of this section and was joined on my last lap by a friend. He went through fairly fast and I went behind him. Felt much better at speed :) Had me worried before that that I totally lost my confidence.

I had bought a tubeless wheelset last fall and this would be my first XC MTB race on them. I had done a few group rides on them and I was clearing just about everything a lot easier than what I remember inthe past. Tires are UST Mountain King 2.2. I checked pressure after the race and was at approx. 18 psi F/R according to 2 guages. Course is fairly rough and saw lots of flats. Very happy to say that I was not one of them this year, while I DNF 4 of 7 races last year with flats. No flats and I pretty much let r go on the rough sections :)

The course was pretty dry and the MK's hooked up really well. The knobs are not that deep and did get a bit of the front sliding slightly on some of the loose loamy parts of the forest and on the small loose gravel sections. I have never been a fan of the gravel but the sliding was not violent and easily kept in check with some feathering of the brakes :) Had great grip on rocks and roots. As I said was dry so remains to be seen.

Sorry for being so long winded.

The race. On the start strait (gravel road) I started around 1/3rd up in the pack but people started passing me as it slowly started to climb. After about one minute or so of this you turn 90 degrees and climb the gravel access road. Pretty steep. If I recall around 18% at some points. Just before the turn up I was a little disappointed with my pace and people pulling ahead but I stopped and reversed the slide as it got steeper, albeit not by much.
After this I relaxed a bit as I had a bit of a gap on the people behind me and no use hammering to stay on the small group ahead because is fast and hard to pass and after a minute you enter the woods and a lot of people have trouble in the narrow steep technical forest section and is usually the first big bottle neck. Timed it perfect. Got into section with two people pushing, but left enough room for me and no one caught me from behind.
After this is the second long climb to the top. I think I went a bit to hard on this climb. Passed a buddy here that passed me earlier on before the first climb.  Near the top of climb there is 3 steep technical sections and at the last one I was hurting a bit and took the easier line and my buddy took the harder inside line and passed me. I never usually do this. Typically I am faster on the downhill so I should have put in the 10 seconds of effort to stay in front before the downhill. Won't do this again. I did get past him about 1/2 way down on another rough section that splits in two. I was really hurting and my buddy passed me somewhere past the start line before the steep section back up the hill. I was really hurting and coughing a bit from the effort. This stupid cough that I can't shake....
So the climb back to the top (lap 2) was pretty rough. A couple guys were creeping up on me just at the top so this time I put the little effort to make sure I was first on the decent.
I started to finally feel not to bad near the end of the 2nd lap. On the last little climb on the part that I had practiced before the race you look down over the start/finish, which according to the GPS is around 1 min 50 secs and 1/2 km, and saw another teammate just starting the last lap.
I was now back into some sort of groove and feeling not too bad into the 3rd and final lap. The first steep climb was still no picnic. Once onto the second climb for the last time I saw my teammate and he became my carrot. I had a pretty good decent and closed up the gap by the bottom. Two times I was trying to calculate a pass and messed up and had to put a foot down. He was looking pretty gassed and I felt I had a good sprint left and easily got past on the bottom little flat section to the finish.
Race one was over and two of my teammates that I was hoping to best had already been at the finish for a couple minutes.
My un-official lap times taken from my GPS show ....
1.) 21:19
2.) 25:02
3.) 23:59
For years past at this course I tend to slow 1 minute per lap almost on the money. I would really be happy if I could ride 3 sub 22 minute laps which would be about 2 minutes faster than my best race.

I would have liked to have done better but I guess considering all that is gong on health wise I am happy to be able to get out there and race and have fun with it :)
Cheers,
Paul

Interval Day

Had intervals on the schedule last night. 4 sets of 20 times 15/15's. These are pretty tough. Total workout was about 1:40. I watched Sydney White while doing this workout. Was an ok movie that I can re-watch with my daughter.
Planning to do a double loop in the Gatineau park tonight which will be a hill 85k ish  ride. Looks like rain.
I have put focus on the training plan for my up-coming 24hr solo attempt at the end of June at Chicoracing Summer Solstice.
Will see how this long ride works out followed buy a tough interval day.
Got this bit of a cough so not sure whats up with that....

Cheers,
Paul

Tempo Ride

Just came back from a weekend at the Folks across town. Was my little sis's 40th. Ate a fair bit and actually had 3 beers between Friday night and Sat night. My sugar was good all weekend too which was a pleasant surprise for a change.
Didn't sleep well but that is norm for the course theses days.
Had a planned 2 hr tempo ride and was not sure I would get it in as we got home a bit late Sunday evening. I decided to jump on the rollers anyway and give it a go.
I am still a bit confused about tempo riding. From what I 've read it's a bit above endurance and a little below threshold.
I believe I screwed up this workout a little by using HR instead of wattage for the workout. My HR for the main part of the block of tempo was 129 bpm and my TH is prob around 165bpm. In my mind I needed to get my HR at around 150 for my tempo wattage. My wattage was spot on the max the coach wanted me to train at and after reviewing I was surprised at the 129 average for my 165 watts of tempo. In order to get my HR above 150 bpm I was pushing above what my TH wattage was and it still took a while to get there.
My legs felt pretty heavy for this workout and as it was late I called it quites 30 mins early and cooled down thinking something was wrong due to the low HR.
After taking a look at the data it is looking good for my next main race, which is a 24 Solo attempt.  Looking at data from around Christmas when I started with the coaching for a similar workout my wattage is up 15 watts and the HR is down more than 20 bpm. Look like I need to learn to hurt a bit more on the rollers :)

Time to start getting in some longer rides :)

Cheers,
Paul

Almonte Paris Roubaix 2012

I was looking forward to this race. It is similar to Clarence Rockland except for a couple trail sections added in for good measure. I really like the couple trail sections on this course and during the first section about 8 kms in I passed a good bunch of people as there was a few water sections maybe as deep as your crank spindle.
The cyclo-sportif started out like a ball shot out of a cannon! I though I read or heard from someone that it was close to 60 km/hr out of the start on the gravel road.  I think the front runners wanted to get to the newly cut watery, rutty fire road 9 kms in with the group strung out as much as possible.
I had an ok start. I think I could have been a bit more aggressive early on to try leap-frog forward to some bigger groups that started forming a couple minutes after the crazy start. A few times I was happy to be on a wheel only to see a big gap open up. Note to self, be more aggressive.
My actual plan was to try start out fairly hard and slowly drop back to smaller groups. I knew technically I would be fast threw the first rough section, and I was very happy with my pace through this first rough section. I think I clinked the rim lightly a couple times and kept waiting for the wobbly rear wheel that never came.
The plan seemed to be working well but once out of the rough cut road/trail the groups were all quite small with one bigger group quite far up the road. I could not get the smaller group I was with to work to catch them. I asked but a couple said they were happy at this pace so I had no choice but to sit in.
About 1 hr in this group broke up over a set of steep little gravel rollers. I ended up in a group of 4 with a the others slowly pulling ahead. Again no one wanted to try chase down with people content on their pace.
So I settled in with 3 other guys and we were pretty evenly matched. We all took turns pulling through. About 2/3rds into the race there is another fire road with a steep little S turn climb(photo). Usually this section and the km or so after is sloppy and mixed with some snow but this year we had a record low snow and record March temps so was as dry as it could be and pretty fast through here compared to normal. Still rough enough that you could pinch flat. It was shortly after this climb that I felt like I was having a sugar low. I also dropped my full water bottle here as I was grabbing for a gel I hit a good bumb with only the one hand on the bar and I guess it was a good jolt. I had no choice but to turn around and get it as I watched the other  3 guys roll away and it probably cost me 30 second gap.
I probably should have stopped and took my sugar level but decided to keep rolling along and take my 2 gels and 1/2 bottle of gatorade. I tell you those gels tasted so good ! ! Was a Hammer Vanilla and a Apple /Cinnamon.
I was surprised it only took about 5 minutes and I felt like I was back up to full speed again. Must'a just caught the low or those gels and gatorade mix well :)
Now I was in a bit of no mans land. The 3 guys I was with were little specs off in the distance and I currently could not see anyone behind me. Looking at some photos time stamps at the S curve it looks like we were only 1-2 minutes from a larger group of about 10 people.
I figured I would just go along at a decently hard pace and see what happened. A group that was about 5 minutes behind me at the S finally picked me up. There were 3 riders. I jumped on. Their pace was right on my limit. I did a pull or two then I actually dropped 50 feet off the back for about 1 minute or so. I was hurting but decided that I would be hurting more on my own out there longer so managed to pull back up and skip a couple pulls to recover then started rotating through.
4 kms from the finish there is a section about 1 k of double track trail that is full of good old Canadian Shield rock. The other 3 guys really slowed down here so I decided to attack here as it is one of my strong points. One guys commented as I rode off ahead 'We know who the MTB'er of the group is ...' . I certainly had fun pulling a gap here but from last year I did the same thing and got caught.
I just couldn't help myself and decided to go for it. The first guy out of the woods behind me was probably 250 meters back (total guess:) ) and the second two came out at least that distance more.
The first guy out of the woods behind me was the one doing the strongest pulls and ended up catching me. He pulled a gap of maybe 30 seconds at one point and I ended up closing that back down to 7 seconds and the gap back to the other 2 was about 35 seconds.
Unfortunately something happened to my Garmin file and I have no info other than what I remember briefly looking down at.
So all in all it was a pretty good day. Looking at some of the numbers from the guys and gals I know I am definitely improving. I think with just a wee bit more power and a better starting spot I could hang with the bigger faster lead groups and make a big jump in my finishing time.
Looking forward to next seasons race :)

Some great photos by McKenna Photography.
http://pmckenna.zenfolio.com/p206737682

Cheers,
Paul

Calabogie Classic 2012

I signed up for the M3 category. It is a little confusing having a Quebec license and racing a lot in Ontario as Quebec is aged based and Ontario seems to be a mix of age plus ability based. Since I don't do much road racing and they say you need 10 points to move up to M2 I don't see a real need for me to move up and I will need much improvement to be anywhere close to a sandbagger in this category.
I was wondering if I would have problems staying with the group once I saw the rider list. I new a few guys and  new that I had trouble not going a lap down during cross season. But road racing is a different animal.
I really really like doing this race as it is on a closed course race track. No cars, curbs or potholes. The track is very smooth and has lots of tiny rollers and corners.
We also had a pretty good turnout of Euro-sport guys for our class. At least 9 of us I believe. Most of us don't race together so we could have really used a team pre-race meeting, but most of us were here for fun.
I felt unusually calm for the start of this race. I was pretty sure that I could hang in the draft as I managed to stay on the last time I did this race and I have actually started training this year so I should have improved.
Once the race started  I was feeling like straying with the pack was going to be a walk in the park.
It certainly was a dicey group and with 20 corners it stayed that way for most of the race. People had trouble holding their lines in a lot of corners. It was also quite windy so that didn't help the situation.
There seemed to be quite a few attacks but nothing went far at all. The group really slowed on a couple of the very short hills and this caused most of the attack to come from the back. I even gave it a shot on one of the early laps. I gave a big dig on the bottom of the longest climbs, which was probably less than 30 seconds, and pulled a nice gap. I kept looking back to see if anyone would come and no one did. I was hoping to pull a couple of guys out to come help me as I knew for sure I could not last 2/3's of the race out on my own. It was fun to try and a good learning experience.
There was a bit of confusion within the team and we made a very bad rookie mistake and miscounted the laps. We did not realize we were on the lead lap. I saw a couple guys off the front, but not too far, about what the other attacks maxed out at, maybe 500 meters. This was with about 1 minute to go in the lap. It was at this time that a crash happened and about 7 teammates got stuck in or behind this crash. I managed to avoid hitting the falling bodies in front of me and came to a stop beside a teammate and checked on him. He told me to go ahead but the pack was long gone and in full flight. So a few of us finished off the back. I think I was a minute back.
So all in all it was a good race. I was starting to feel a bit fatigued but still had jump in my legs. I think I would have had some fun in the sprint.
Looking forward to next year :)

Cheers,
Paul

Clarence Rockland Classic 2012

Clarence Rockland is not my favorite race of the season but it is usually the first one I do. I do think it is growing on me as I am already trying to figure out where my mistakes where and how I can do better next year. Of course after the fact I am thinking I could have done better.
I was feeling pretty good going into the race. I was not nervous as I didn't really have any real goals other than to finish faster than last year, factoring  in weather conditions of course.
The weather was great. Was supposed to be raining and turned out to be lightly overcast and warm. I rode with shorts and short sleeve jersey with arm warmers. I kept the arm warmers on as the sun never really came out, but if it did I am sure they would have been off in no time.
I ended up starting about 2/3rds back. I am always feel like my fitness level is not high enough to start higher up. After doing this race I think for sure I will try slot much closer to the front in future races.
This race is a mix of 50/50 gravel and pavement altho some sections of pavement are rougher than some of the gravel sections.
The race starts off with a pretty steep pavement climb and I ended up having to come to a complete stop twice! I was able to track stand for both but still used a lot of energy to get past and close the gap to the main group after the top. This may have been the difference of staying with the pack down the road as I was redlined for the next little bit.
Last year I was dropped on this first gravel climb about 10 minutes in. This time I managed to stay in the pack. Farther down the road was another steeper and longer climb that I ended up blowing up on about 1/2 way up the hill. I went from the top 1/3 right out the back. I believe it was fairly flat for a bit after this so if I could have made it over this hill with the group I think I could have sat in and recovered and finished 10 - 15 minutes sooner.
I tried to stay with a few other people that where also off the back. After another 10-15 minutes of trying to form a group with stragglers I was all alone in no-mans land. I could see some people up ahead a km or so and about the same behind. It was pretty windy so I eased up and ended up hooking up with a group of 6 guys out of North Shore Montreal. They had came up and planned on doing the ride together. The group suited me well and I could see I was stronger than a couple guys but there were two other guys that seemed to be doing most of the work on the front. I think we could have gone a bit faster with a more organized rotation and maybe cut 10 minutes off our time. We were still rotating through but not as much as I would have liked for a race.
One guys asked if I wanted to go with him after a small group that flatted re-passed us. I said I was happy with the current group but in retrospect we should have gone as the worst that would happen is we would sit up and wait for our group again.
One of the stronger guys flatted about 15kms from the finish so we all stopped. I figured it would be a good time to check my sugar, which was perfect. The flat was fixed quickly and I barely had time to do my check and we were off again.
About 5 kms from the finish one of the stronger guys was off the front a bit and started to pull away. I decided to go after him but he was a good ways up the road. Maybe a km. It was windy and I wasn't sure if I should stay with the group or not. I decided to keep going.
There was a steep paved climb about 2 kms from the finish and I got passed buy the other fast guy at the top. I was too gassed to stay with him and the rest of our small group had gained back on me because the faster guy pulled them to the base of the hill. Once at the top I recovered pretty fast and just started grinding out at my threshold power. I think I would have stayed ahead of the other 4 guys but one of my team mates that had flatted for a second time came by me and I hopped on his wheel to the finish.
I just cracked the 3 hr mark so I was pretty happy about that. this was about 10 minutes faster than last year and I think I was over hr faster than the year before. Was 97th in my cat and 110 overall. The flat near the end probably cost us 15 spots or so.
So all in all it was a successful race for me. My first race with my new insulin and some training with the coach. My training was not going as good as I hoped to to busy at work and sick a few times since Christmas as well as working out the new insulin regime.
On the plus side I was still riding 3-4 times a week which is much better than 0-1 times a week from previous years. I can see for sure my power is up from previous years. Just a little more power and I should be able to hang with the main group.
I tried out my carbon RHUS wheels with powertap that I got from the shop(www.euro-sports.ca). They worked well and had no problems with the rough roads and large new gravel.
Tire choice was easy as I basically only had one set. It was the Schwalbe CX Pros wire beads. I ran around 50 psi. I normally run a little lower when it's rough but I really didn't want to flat so went a little higher. Lots of people were on slicker smoother tires than me so I am not sure how much more resistance I was doing with the knobbies vs other guys smoother smaller knobby stuff.

Cheers,
Paul