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

Winter Training

Been a while since I posted. It's been a pretty rough winter. Been sick more than normal and also still working out my insulin dosage since starting this summer past.
The good news far as training goes I finally got a coach in December . The bad news is it took me several weeks past Christmas to start feeling comfortable and get my blood sugar under control.
I am happy to report things are finally lookng up.
I am back up to 7+ hrs a week on the rollers and with the weather improving it looks like I will be able to get outside in the next couple weeks.
The plan is to do a Threshold test next Thursday and see how much I have improved. With all the ups and downs health wise I am sure it won't be up as much as I would have hoped but as long as it's up I will be happy.

Currently signed up for Summer Solstice 24 hr in the Solo catagory. Also looking forward to 3 races coming mid to end of April.
1.)Clarance Rockland
2.)Calabogie Road Race
3.)Almote Paris Roubaix

Well off for a couple hrs on the rollers....

Cheers,
Paul

New Year 2012

Another year has come and gone. I am hoping this will be my 'breakout' year with lots of personal bests.
I didn't start the year well and it was a bit discouraging but now I am back on track. I carried over a 2 week cold from just before Christmas.
Was a bit hard to get motivated again. I started using a cycling coach in December, Jim Glover.
I am finally over my cold and back on the training plan. I had a a tough workout last night with intervals and was not sure how it would turn out with the 3 week layoff and only a couple easy short days of spinning.
I am happy to say that it went well and that on my last interval I was really hurt'n to finish it so I think the workout was perfect.
I actually prefer the interval days as I find the time passes better with that silly little machine constantly telling me what to do.
Rest day today then some of my highest output intervals on Thursday, not that I have really done that many.
Cheers,
Paul

Cross 2011 Eastern Ontario Series Perth

I really like racing in Perth. The course is one I like a lot. Could be a bit more technical but quite twisty with no really long straights.  A very nice little hill that gets used very well with a steep run-up and two steep climbs and a twisty fast decent !
With the Fall Back time change I had an extra hour to get ready and made good use of it. Rolled into Perth with more than an hour to get warmed up. Was a beautiful day.
Set up the tire pressure just a tad about 35 psi and went off for a warm-up lap. Course had a couple slight changes but over-all was very similar to last Perth race with the sand pit included. It was very dry and hardly even any dew on the course.
Wore my one-piece kit with a t-shirt under and was plenty warm during the race with only a bit of a chill waiting for the start.
We started on the pavement and I initially had a good spot but we got moved and I ended up caught out for a good spot on the inside. For some reason there was a lot of room on the out-side so I decided to go there knowing I usually get a good jump. I had a good start even though Bob said "We go on 3" and I didn't realize he was going to count in his head ! Even with the bad jump I was onto the course probably in the top 20 for a large field of over 120 riders.
I have been having great starts and I have not even been on the front row. Too bad my power only lasts for 1/2 a lap. Once I hit the redline it's all backwards from here... Ended up 31st of 41 for cat and 90th of 134 overall.
I think I missed being on the lead lap by about a minute which was my goal for the season, to be on the lead lap. This was before all the insulin issues arrived. Two more races left  to at least finish one race on the lead lap.
Was a bit of a crazy start and one guy cut me off 3 times, the last into a tree which I had to brake hard for and then lost about 4 spots in 2 seconds. I also lightly bumped against a tree at speed as a rider somehow went down in front of me. I think throughout the race I had to dodge about 4 other riders that lost it in front of me. Didn't cost me much time and stayed up myself so no complaints.
After I settled in a bit I ended up having a good battle with one of the younger lads and a teammate, Dom, for most of the race. Dom slowly caught me and passed me in the first two laps. I fought back and forth with Jonathan(I believe) up until near the end of the second last lap. I had passed Dom about the middle of the second last lap when he missed the turn and went wide off course. I could see he was slowing down and probably toast trying to stay in front of me and thats why he missed the turn.
The 3rd lap was an awful lap for me and my  time showed it. At one point my HR was almost down to 150 when I normally keep it close to 170(max 185). After this I was slowly feeling a bit better and I was starting to attack a bit out of the corners and then ease power up and hold as much speed as I could. I could see my HR finally creeping back up into the 160's.
It's a bit of a blur what part of the end of the race that I decided to make my move and drop the young lad that I was battling with all race. The course zig-zagged over a couple of pavement sections and this is where I made my move. We all know we roll faster on pavement so I made extra hard sprint efforts as soon as I hit the pavement and tried to get up to speed quickly knowing that it would not require that much power to maintain it here. I quickly closed the gap and passed putting in a gap. I hit every exit harder than I did on previous laps and ended up with my fasted lap of the day. If I did this every lap I would have easily made the last lap. I am hoping to apply this strategy of fast exits up to speed the next 2 races and see what happens.
The finish of the race is at the top of the hill and you hit the hill a couple times right near the end of the lap. I hammered fairly hard on the hills as I could see that Jonathan was trying hard to reel me back in and I dared not let up. Turns out we both had our fastest laps at the end. Being the carrot and chasing the carrot sure helps push yourself.

Dragging to the Finish, sadly down a lap.
Photos by Bernard Durand

Was disappointed again about my time but the last lap felt good. Sugar was a bit high at the start of the race but dropped a bit during the race. Ate lunch right away and my sugar came way down so that was good.
Stayed and watched the second race and chatted with some people during and after. Also helped take down the course. Bike is amazingly clean so only oil the chain again. Think this is a first for 2 weeks in a row....
Headed home with a nice sunny drive on the cruise!

Cheers,
Paul

Cross 2011 Eastern Ontario Series Cornwall

This season is not going well. On the way to the race I hit a pothole and damaged one of my MOMO rims on my SVX. Bent bead and caused a crack and would not hold air. Luckily I was close enough to home to limp back and swap the bike and gear into the Jimmy. By now ETA for Cornwall was 9:10 and race started at 9:00.
I decided to not try make  the first race and do the second race.
I ended up in Cornwall at 9:18 and unbeknownst too me the race hadn't started and would not start til almost 9:40. I could have raced the B race after all!
So starting the A race in my current condition I knew I would be fighting for that DFL spot. I wasn't sure if I should start at the back or try for a good start near the front. In the end I decided to try get up close to the front and have a good start as I figured this would be the highlight of my race.
3,2,1, Go! ! ! I was off and jumped into a pretty good spot. I managed to hold my position on the freight train for a few minutes and then my heart rate near maxed out and I started going backward.
I had a couple of team mates that are close to my level so I figured we would have a good fight for the race. I wasn't disappointed and did have a good battle all race long.
I was racing against Pat and Adam and because of my start I was ahead of them. I took a few glances back and saw them coming and by now I had recovered enough from my shotgun start that I was hoping that I could hold them off for a lap or two.
Near the end of the first lap I had my chain come off on the inside of the front ring and jam there. Normally I can switch to the big ring and pedal and keep going without stopping but it was not the case this time. Pat and Adam both went by me while I was calmly trying to un-jam my chain. The chase was on !
In about half a lap I caught back up to Adam but Pat had pulled a gap. Adam and I traded places a couple times a lap for the next 3 laps, once when I didn't turn in time and went off course about 75 feet.
I would see Pat about the exact same spot every lap. It was a bit frustrating to not to gain any ground but it was fun to yell at Pat every lap to slow down :)
In the mean time Adam would pass me on the two run ups and one set of barriers and I would jump past him on an inside line on a technical spot. I teased him that if would could gel as one we would be able to catch Pat.
Near the end of the second last lap I decide to make my move to get away from Adam and I jumped the rear wheel of a couple guys who passed me and held on as long as I could. I also did extra hard efforts on the 2 run ups and 1 barrier where Adam was normally eating back a chunk of time on me. I think I broke him a bit on the first run up when I think I got up and over faster than him, and there was a bit of technical sections leading up to the barriers that I think I went through fasted of the race so far.
At this point shortly after starting the last lap and giving a big dig only to see that Pat was probably outta reach and I had a good lead on Adam I decided to ease up ever so slightly.
Its too bad I dropped my chain as it would have been interesting to have been closer to Pat. It was a windy day and there were a few spots that drafting was definitely helpful and being small I get a  better draft than I give :)
In a nutshell I had o be happy with the race. It was fun battling it out and pushing hard. My sugar control turned out god and I had fun talking to a lot of people. It was such a nice day that I didn't have to wash my bike. All it needed was a chain lube.
There were a few locals out wondering about the race and I think I explained the whole cross thing to about 5 groups of people.
Another race in the books,
Cheers,
Paul

Cross 2011 Eastern Ontario Series Renfrew

Another race in the books. First race on the newest insulin regime. Looking like I am finally getting my sugar under control. Hoping that I will now be able to start training properly cause I am not happy with my performance level.
I guess I should be happy that I am able to race so trying to keep a positive attitude. My racing results are about on the level as my beginning races on the MTB a couple years ago.
It was our team Eurosports day to set up so I was up at 4:30 a.m to get to the course to help set up. I was at the course around 6:45 and it was still dark. We started set-up at 7 by looking at the map and seeing how the course was laid out. Having not done the race before makes visualizing the layout a bit difficult but it becomes more clear as you go.
We ended up farting around with one final technical section and I only ended up back at the car for 8:40. Our race was 9:00 and I like to have 45 minutes to get ready for the race. I ended up rushing around and my sugar was starting to be close to low, but still in a good range. I downed 3/4 of a Gatorade rushed with my suit and numbers. I was just topping up the tires and putting pump away when they called up for the start. I guess no pre-laps or warm up for me.
The course was fairly dry and was a cool sunny fall day. There was a lot of dew on the grass and some spots were still wet for the race making some of the off-camber sections and some corners a bit slippy. A couple of run ups had a bit of sticky mud and caused some people some grief trying to climb and clogging up their cleats in the shoe. My MTB shoes have deep tread as well as fairly large toe spikes so I had no problems. I am also used to running on my toes for sections like this which helps the toe spikes dig in as well as keeping the cleats free of mud.
There was a couple of good climbs on this course and I was wanting for more gears after the first lap. The corners and off-camber sections were a bit slippery so all in all I really enjoyed the course more than what I thought I would from looking at the set-up map. Weather was warm and sunny.
My sugar control was good for the race so I am happy about that. No crashes other than once sliding out the front wheel on one corner but got my foot down in time to make it just look awkward  :)
Stayed and watched the second race and helped take course down after.
Was a good day all in all.
Cheers,
Paul

Cross 2011 Eastern ONtario Series

Another summer has come and gone and fall is here. This means its Cyclocross season !!!
I have been looking forward to Cross season. I was hoping to be in top shape this year but as always things come up. I haven't ridden for about a month after coming off of the HAN 24 hr Solo race.
I took a week off to recover and for all the good that did I ended up with cold that lasted 2 weeks. Having just started on insulin the end of June this was the first time I was sick while on insulin. My sugar was pretty high for the two weeks and I found out this is normal in Diabetics and that you need to adjust insulin to compensate.
I was finally feeling ok a week ago but kept procrastinating and never did any riding.
I have been actually having some problems with sugar lows before I got sick and just switched to a new insulin on Friday. My sugar was pretty high again over the weekend and I am not sure how this effects my performance.
Needless to say I was a bit bummed out about going to the first race knowing that I would probably not preform that great from being sick, not riding , and switching to a new insulin, which I was told could take a week to stabilize.
My alarm was set for 5:50 and I was hoping to be on the road for 6:30 the latest. I had basically 1.5 hr drive to Calabogie for the first race and would just eat in the car. I had pretty much everything laid out the night before so I would not have to look for anything in the morning. I kept hitting the snooze and before I knew it it was 6:45. I was going to turn off the alarm and go back to bed but knowing that I would not do well meant I had no pressure and decided to just go and have fun and hopefully the race would pick my motivation back up to get back into training.
I arrived at the race about 35 minutes before the start and I knew I would probably not get to pre-ride the course. Turns out the start was a bit late and I managed to do most of the course for a warm up.
My old shoes are starting to come apart and I recently bought new shoes with new cleats. I can tell you one thing, Cross is not the place to be breaking in new cleats. On top of this after lap one my right cleat was loose and it was almost impossible to clip in. If I had any platform to stand on it would have not been that big of an issue but with only a slippery small metal pedal to support your foot made it impossible to be aggressive.
I like cross because my weakness of power gets helped out by my good technical skills along with my ability to clip back into the pedals really fast, normally ... so having the pedal problem made me ride slow in technical sections and I lost tons of time after every remount trying desperately to clip back in.
The good news is I did have fun and I have no where to go but up. Hoping to do a good week of training and be back in decent form for me.
Next week is the Madison race which is a fun two person team race alternating laps. Hoping to have Megan out for that but we will see how that goes :)
Cheers,
Paul

Sunset Series Race 6, 2011

Another year of the Sunset series is just about done. With only two races left, only two races finished and needing 4 placements to score I could not afford a DNF for this race.
Been DNF'n due to flats these days. Switched out Karma on the back to the fatter 2.1 Nev and put in a tube filled with Stans. Running the Nev 1.95 on the front.
Lined up for the race with about half the normal crowd, I guess due to holidays.
Had a decent start and felt not too bad during the climbs. Was probably the coolest day we had yet at around 25c but still humid.
Been dry around her for the pas couple weeks and I think this is the driest it's every been on the race course. I definitely prefer the wet and mud. Traction was great on the rocky sections and most of the trail but there where some very sketchy sections due to being so dry. Was like cornering on ball bearings in a couple spots.
On lap two and 3 I had to granny it on the first climb out of the start area up the mountain so I wasn't feeling quite as strong as the last two races which I was in 3rd or 4th gear on lap two, flatted before lap 3.
Otherwise I was feeling ok.
On lap 3 near the beginning I was passed by a guy I think was in my class, on a HT. I figured if I could keep him close on the climbs I might reel him back in for the decent and make a pass near the technical finish and get the win. Sadly my carrot got a flat and was not the way I wanted to beat him to the line.
So finished with no flats, mechs, or crashes and an ok time in 6th.
One race left and I need it to count for my 4 races for my totals.
Front tire was flat a couple days after the race but I had a slow leak I believe from an old patch. Will have that fixed for next race maybe with some Stans in there for insurance :)

Cheers,
Paul

2011 Sunset Series Race 4

Been looking forward to racing for a few days now. Thunder showers and up to 10 mm of rain expected for the day clearing in time for the race. Perfect conditions for me as I like it sloppy as my technical makes up more ground than the climbing motor on days like this.
Got to the hill around 1 hr and a bit before race start. Had the van today as the expected muddy bike was not something I wanted to stuff back into the sports car. Setup was pretty fast, pop on the plate and throw on the kit, top off water bottle. Took about 5 minutes. Was tossing the idea of water in the bottle so I could spray myself as I only seem to drink half the sport drink. It seemed cool enough but the sun came out and the rain went away and it started to get hot and muggy. Next race for sure, sport drink before I pull up to the start line but water and ice in the bottle on the bike.
Warmed up with a couple laps of the last part of the course. Legs felt like lead and was loosing my interest to race.
Chatted with a few guys at the start line and ended up on the second row. I got a good start as I consistently clip in fast. Was a bit tight on the first two turns with everyone bunched up. The road was freshly graveled and very smooth, for gravel. I was in the middle ring as we started to climb and had some trouble shifting down and lost a ton of places. As we turned 90 degrees up the steep climb I grabbed 5-6 places back and was onto the wheel of a few guys. Took it easy here for the next minute as we will hit a bottleneck shortly and always slow through there til the next climb which really spreads out the groups. At the first bottleneck was a few guys crashing as it was a bit slippy. Had to dismount and re-mount but actually passed two more guys.
Next up was the long set of semi steep and loose access road climbs to the final really steep technical sections to the top. I was started to stretch it out over the few guys behind me. I had a couple teammates just in site before the turn in to the technical sections but was now behind a couple of struggling guys and I lost site of them for the rest of the race.
I was now behind a couple guys on hard tails slowing me down on a faster technical section. There is a split just past a bridge and they both took the left lane and I bombed downed the right passing one and almost had the other but elected to ease up. I called for a pass and the young lad stepped on the gas only to crash in front of me. I rolled onto his bike, dismounted and jumped past him and started to pull a good gap from the kayos behind me.
For the most part I was on my own for a while, during lap 2. I had a battle with two of the ladies. One was slow technically and let me pass. Put on a good gap in the technical but I knew she was slower technically and fast on the climbs. We traded places a few more times. Another girl closed up on me just before the top and we started the technical and I looked back to let her by and I had dropped her and didn't see here any more.
On the final lap I was all alone with no guys in site ahead or behind on the first climb. At the top of the first climb there is a long switch-back and just at the last possible moment I saw thru the trees the guy that I beat by 1 sec on the last race. He was about 45 seconds behind at that point. So much for having an easy 3rd lap. I knew that he saw me and would probably be motivated to catch me so out of easy mode and hammer time. I figured I would put the hammer down for a bit so to keep him out of site, out of mind. Things were working out great and every time I looked back I didn't see anyone.
Unfortunately, thus the name Came Fortune, I managed to flat right over the top of the mountain! I was pissed. I think I rode for 5-6 minutes on the rim. I will have some filing and sanding to do. I finally conceded the fact I would not be able to stay out front riding the bike on the rear flat.
I tried to put in my spare tube but alas it was leaking around the valve stem and the tube.
On a final note about the tire combo, Nev 1.95F/2.0 Karma R. I find this a pretty good combo for racing. I forgot my good tire gauge at home so used one on pump. As I knew Fortune is quite rough compared to Albion I added a bit of pressure for the race, up to about 30/30psi.
We had rain off and on all day with semi heavy rain from the storms but it had stopped and the roads were dry on the way up to the race. The course was basically perfect. No dust and not much water or mud except where it had puddled.
I found the front really felt good with very controlled sliding on the odd times it occurred. The rear spun a bit in the odd spot but was otherwise very good and I was still able to clear all sections.
On lap 2 I almost stalled, spinning, on a bit of a steep rocky section as they were starting to be covered with a thin layer of mud/sand/soil. On the 3rd lap on the sections I had problems with I paid more attention and cleared most sections really well. So I'd have to say I am very happy with the race setup. With a front tire of about 550g and a sub 400g rear I had overall great traction and what felt like a fast rolling tire setup. And also I think you can't always blame the tire for poor traction, there for sure is rider error in there :)
3 races to go and need 2 more finishes. Lets hope for no more flats. Getto tubless is looking like an option :)

Cheers,
Paul

Clarence−Rockland Classic 2011

First race for 2011 under the belt.
The course was pretty wet til the week before the race when we finally got some nice weather, which continued right up until 1 hr after the race was over. Perfect.

I broke my rear derailleur the week before on a similar race pre-ride. I used an old XT MTB derailleur with a new chain. I didn't want to break the chain because I was thinking of using this newer one on my MTB and swapping over a slightly used one onto my cross bike. Here is a pick with the worst chain slack gearing. I figured I would never be totally crossed in this gear anyhow so was not worried. Shifting worked close to flawlessly. Had no MechanicalsPunctures so this is always a plus.


While I had been training over the winter I never seem to get as much time on the bike as planned, but I did do more than I have ever done. Been starting to wind it up over the last 2 weeks. Hopefully I will peak for Summer Solstice Tag and Hot August Nights Solo. On the plus side I am definitely improving altho a bit slower than I hoped:)

My mood was good before the race, chatting it up with some of the guys. I knew I would not be in the front group and that I should not have any problems beating my time last year which was my only real goal for this race.

As per usual the race started off pretty fast with a big climb in the first km splitting the peloton into several smaller groups. I was feeling pretty good and was in a chase group that seemed to be closing in on a larger group. I was with a couple of team mates, but a couple other team mates I was hoping to ride with were fading a bit from the group I was in.
I had a hat on under my helmet which was fine in the warm up when the sun disappeared for a short while but 10 minutes into the race I had to take it off. So while trying to take my hat off I managed to drop my sunglasses so had to stop and lost the chase group I was with. My guys I had intended to ride with where not far behind so I elected to sit up and ride with them.
I was with David Wright now and we had a couple others with us but soon we were on our own. Not sure when but guessing 1 hr in we picked up a couple Kingston boys and Ian. We started working really well together. We had hammerfests on the pavement with each doing hard pulls and a very good rotation going. It was about this time that my knee was starting to bother me.
I think around the second hour we lost Ian when he stopped to help someone. So our group was down to 4. We were going along well and we picked up a few stragglers but none could hang on with us long and we spit them out the back. My knee was in a world of hurt and both legs felt like they were about to cramp up. The worse was easing up after a pull on the front when I could start to feel the muscle ball up a bit.
There was a climb near the end of the race I was thinking of attacking this small group I was in, just for fun :) My knee was hurting very badly at this point and if I got out of the saddle I felt knots starting in both legs. Otherwise I felt like I had a bit left to go. David was getting stronger as the race went so I was not sure I could hold him off if I went so I elected to stay with the group.
With the last 6 kms to go David spotted a few people ahead he wanted to catch. I was on his wheel when we made a 90 degree turn and David started to put the hammer down. We traded off pulls but I think Davids were longer than mine. We started to gap the Kingston boys and we reeled a few more people in and we caught Brian McPherson 100 meters from the line, who was David's target :).
I had fully intended to cross the line side by side with David as I had a great ride with him. Brian had other plans and rode by us right between us. I looked over at David and he didn't react. He had said he wasn't going to sprint for 100th place earlier haha. With the line coming up fast I decided to try take the line over Brian as I still felt good. With not much real-estate left I put the hammer down and made the pass. Beat Brian by .6 of a second with David 1.74 seconds behind him.
In retrospect maybe I should have kept the hammer down and hopefully would have towed my teammate in in front of Brian. Well it was fun and thats what its all about.
After the race my knee was quite sore and I hobbled around for the rest of the day and it was pretty stiff the next day. This happened the previous two Sundays but each time I seem to be less sore and recover sooner.
In summery it was a great race. I improved close to 30 minutes over last year. Next year I should make the sub 3hr mark and for now that will be my goal for next year.

Results
http://www.ridewithrendall.com/race-results-2011-crc/

Cheers,
Paul

Week 16 of 16 Coaching

It's a wrap. My first time with a coach and just finished my first coaching session. It was a 16 week program that started shortly after Cx season finished so was perfect timing.

How did it go?

Well it went pretty good. I improved about 10%.

While this doesn't seem like much the first half of the training I did only 1 other training session a week because I was busy getting ready for Christmas. Then over the holidays I got a nasty bug that kept me in bed and out of work for a week. Lost 5 pounds and was feeling pretty crappy for about 3 weeks after this. I ended up missing a couple of weeks of the program right after the Christmas brake.

I figure I lost the first half of the training program due to this nasty bug. I figure most of my improvement was done in the last 6 weeks so the 10% for 6 weeks seems good.

There are about 8 weeks til the season starts and I am optimistic I can add close to 10% more power in this time. I have finally dedicated 10 hrs a week to training, will have a coach set program and a power meter to train by.

If I can get that next 10% I will be pretty happy with my LT numbers.

Cheers,

Paul

PowerTap

I finally pulled the trigger and ordered a power meter. Its a PowerTap PRO+. Wireless and with HR. I am hoping that it will give me the motivation to train more and harder and more precisely.

I am hoping to get it for the weekend of the 19th-20th Mar. The hub is actually already in at the shop. It took me 2 weeks to decide on rim/wheel combination and the extra $ along with it otherwise I would probably have it right now.

So the wheels have been ordered, RHUS Elements I believe. Not too sure on all the details except they should be 500g lighter than my current wheels and I will be able to use them for cross and road. I trusted Mike on picking the wheels :) Looking forward to the surprise.

Because the rims come in a set I will be getting a matching front wheel. A little more than I wanted to spend but still a steal of a deal for the wheel set.

The timing is working out perfect as next week is week 16 of 16 of my coaching session at the shop. I have already planned on starting a training program with my coach , Jim Glover. http://www.peakperformancecoaching.ca/html/jim_glover.html

The great thing about using a power meter such as a PowerTap is that it is easy to make a training plan that is easy to follow with power and it is also easy to e-mail training sessions to the coach for analysis.

I won't babble to much about it today, but rather keep an up to date log of how it all works out.

Till next time,

Cheers,

Paul

Week 15 of 16 Coaching Session.

Another great, but extremely tough, coaching session has come and gone. I'd have to say this is the toughest sessions thus far. We did sort of a race type simulation for 1:45 plus the usual 15/15 warm up and cool down.

The session consisted of some LT and VO2 for some climbing with some 10 and 20 second max efforts at the top for the first bit. Then we did some sorter LT sections followed immediately by some short anaerobic to max downhill efforts which required some leg speed to keep the power on.

Things get a bit blurry after this as I went from felling great to feeling really faint after these efforts. We had some more sessions with LT then 20 sec Max effort.

After this I was thinking it was over but then we had some rolling hills and back to LT and VO2 max if I remember correctly.

The last minute or so was like a hill top finish that got steeper and steeper. I managed to recover enough to give the last 7 or 8 minutes a decent effort and finish the climb of 20-30 seconds in the 300-400 watt range :)

I can see that the training is definitely improving my performance. My average wattage was above my 1 hr LT by 4 watts and this was over 1:45 minutes.

Next week is the last week in our 16 week session.

The gang is looking for an extension month by month and I told them I was in for that.

All in all was a very tough session.

Winter Blues

Once again been neglecting the Blog. Been a tough few months health wise. This cold crappy weather had my motivation in a deep freeze but I am finally thawing out :)

At any rate been training more than I have ever before. Currently have been doing a 16 week coaching session. Getting near the end but the whole gang is hoping to add 4 weeks as I think we only have 3 weeks left.

I pulled the trigger on a power meter and it should be in this week. Have to decide which wheel to build it in. I am hoping the meter will allow me to optimism my training as I think it will be a struggle this year to get more than 8-12 hours of training/racing a week.

I did a tough week last week so this week I took it a bit easy after Tuesdays training session to recover. Planning a two hr roller session shortly.

Also picked up a special usb cable to charge my MP3 player so will be working on some playlists for training and up coming 24 hour events.

Hoping to pic up a portable camera tomorrow so I will be able to take more pics:)

Cheers

Paul