Heading out soon

Weapon of choice for tomorrow's race.

It's going to be a really muddy course, so I figure why bother switching gears, having a clogged up derailleur and shifting issues. There's lots of fire/logging roads so I will be paying a price on them - will be spinning out while being passed by guys in their big rings mashing away. Might not be the best choice, but will see. Not running studded tires either, so this could get messy. Come back Monday for an aftermath post - should be interesting!

My goal for this race is for fun and training. Mostly mental training (being a mental midget I need all the training that I can get) - getting over travel, riding in tough conditions (cold, rain, ice & mud), and getting over the anxiety of racing.

If you notice to the right, I've got a new sponsor. Crank Brothers have graciously offered to sponsor me. I've been using their pedals for about 4 years now and love them. I use them on all my bikes, including my road bike - yes, not very roadie like, but they are light and I don't have issues with them.

Crank Brothers are also sponsoring the team that I am racing under, Machine Head Racing. I hope you jerks get your shite together soon so that we can put that order in - hint, hint, wink, wink, nudge, nudge. By the way MHR, when are you going to put a shirt on my back?

Got to go, Rick is picking me up at noon. Got to get my stuff packed. Wish me luck!
Cheers.

35

It's my birthday today. I'm not a big birthday person - actually I couldn't give a rats a$$ about my birthday. You're as young, or old, as you want to be. When it hurts to get out of bed and I can't do the things I use to do, then I'll start living birthdays up . . . cause when it all starts heading south on me, I'm going to ride it all the way.

I was able to have my own little celebration after work. Got out for a spin over to the Gats. Got as far as 3/4 the way up Pink before I gave up fighting my way through the snow and ice. Still, very nice to get out on my first road ride of the year. I haven't thrown a leg over the bike since returning from NC. I felt great, fast and strong - nice to recover after the trip. Spun the legs out for Sunday.

Was going to do a trip wrap up, but will have to wait. I have to get my shit together for Uxbridge on Sunday. Rick and I are heading up to Midland to crash at Matt's tomorrow then head down to race in the ice, mud and rain ("at times heavy" - sounds like fun).
Cheers.

Road Trip (continued)

I was surprised that the boys were able to get out of bed and ready so early on Sunday morning. Thought I was going to have to get cranky (well, more cranky than I usually am) with them and start kicking some asses. Fitzski, Fritz and I were able to get out for a little 25 minute loop while we waited for the princesses to get their make-up on. Fun little loop called Carver or something.

Glad that I got out to loosen the legs before the ride started. I'm the type of guy that needs, umm, two . . . . or three . . . .days to warm up. (I'm a terrible short course racer) I think the warm up in the morning made all the difference for my morning ride - I felt great! Maybe it was the 15" pizza that I ate the night before? Semantics. I felt good.

Got some riding time with the Wingnut pack (review to come soon). Very pleased with how it performed - I'm sold on it.

We started out on the little loop that we warmed up on, hit the road to Ingles Field Gap, climbed, climbed, climbed up that. The climbs in and around Pisgah are really well designed. They seem to be a constant and steady grade that's easily sustainable - just pick a gear, put the head down and grind your way up. Made our way up to Five Points, stopped and regrouped, had a few laughs, took some photos.

Gilles spinning up the last wee bit to Five Points.

Fitzski

James taking up the rear (he likes it like that!)

It was only a km or two up to the top of Greens Lick. Greg and I led out at a good pace and my confidence with my training returned.

Mark rewareded us with this pose.

This being the second time down Greens Lick for most of us made for a smoking fast run. What a roller coaster ride! Once finished we were forced to get to know each other better while we sat on are arses, because James decided to practice his fine bicycle mechanical skills on the trail for what seemed like forever. As usual, we patched him up and got running again. We made our way back home on a few other short fun single track trails.

We got the bikes ready to go, fueled up and headed out to meet up with Jeremy around 3pm near Dupont. He was kind enough to take some time away from his family in the afternoon to show a bunch of fattys around. None of us had ridden there before, so we didn't know what to expect. Let's just say that we were pleasantly surprised as most of us found it to be the most fun place to ride of our trip.

I can't remember any of the trail's names as there were so many - the trail map seemed like a big plate of spaghetti. Jeremey expertly led us through the maze. Seemed that every few minutes we were on a different trail. The climbs never lasted any more than 5-8 minutes and the downhills a little shorter. Again, these trails, for the most part were super well designed with nicely graded climbs. We were always rewarded with super fast, flowy, and smooth downhills - some seemed to last forever. We hit speeds well over 50km/Hr.

Towards the end of our ride, Jeremy took us to Slick Rock Trail. Apparently, this was one of the locations were they filmed part of the movie, "Last of the Mohicans". It was a huge slab of slick rock with a waterfall at the top, flowing down to the bottom.

From the top looking down while the slow pokes rode up.

Under the falls.

We finished off Slick Rock Trail with a climb to the top of an exposed and open slick rock hill with a nice view. I didn't eat enough in the afternoon and on the ride and was starting to bonk on the way to the top. Fortunately I had enough steam in the tank to spin it out before we started a whooping fun downhill with lots of drops, roots and technical sections built amongst slick rock. What a way to end an incredible ride.

Wrap up tomorrow. Cheers.

Road Trip

Our 17-hour drive to Asheville, North Carolina was filled with fun, food and farts. Greg, Mark and I convoyed down with Gilles and Stef in tow. Long drive down, rained the first half but once out of Pennsylvania things cleared up.

We arrived at Liberty Bikes around 10am. Before we went in to pick up the keys to the house we rented, we sat outside Starbucks sipping coffee in balmy plus 24 degree weather - haven't felt the rays of the sun that warm since September. Felt so good after the long drive that it was hard to pull ourselves up off the chairs. Headed to the shop and met with the owners of both Liberty and the house that we were renting, Claudia and Mike, both super fine & friendly folks. Got the keys and made the short drive over to Bent Creek. The rental was in the heart of Bent Creek - actually the only house in the entire Bent Creek forest area.
Didn't take us long once we arrived to get the bikes off the cars, get dressed and loosen the legs on our first ride.

I struggled to find my legs on Friday - I don't know if it was the long ride down, being tired, or not properly fueled, but I suffered up the climbs. A little demoralizing after so much training and anticipation, however, I was rewarded with a super fun, fast and flowy downhill trail called Greens Lick. Whoot! Whoot! What a return on all that suffering! Can't remember getting as much air and going so fast on a trail before. Check this link out - it's only about 1/3 or so of the actual trail.

After our first ride, we had to head back to the house and refuel, get cleaned up and head over to the Asheville Airport to pick up James who had flown in from British Columbia. He made the trek last year with us, and it was so much fun, he didn't want to miss it again! Once he got straightened out with the airline (they must have gorillas working unloading bags, cause his suitcase was mangled badly!) we headed to Liberty to get his rental bike for the weekend - a '07 Specialized Stumpjumper Pro.

By the time we ate at Asheville Brewing and Pizza Company it was quite late, needless to say many pizzas were sacrificed in the name of hunger. Did me good because the next day I was feeling better.

I had hooked up over on MTBR.com with Jeremy, a local who runs WNC Mtn Goat Epics. Super nice guy who offered to take us on a ride. We were a little hesitant about riding with a guide as we weren't sure what/who to expect. All I can say is that he made our trip and it was the best decision the group made, hooking up with him. Jeremy is a super knowledgeable guy - not just trails, but history of the land, how the trails came to be and advocated for. He is also a contributing member of a club or two and advocacy group in the Dupont area. Above all this, he was an awesome rider and guide.

On Saturday, Jeremy swung by the house around 8:15am to get us to go ride Heartbreak Ridge and Kitsuma. Took the boys a little while to get their make-up on and shite together, but we managed to make the start of the ride at 9:30am. Met up with 4 or 5 other local friends of Jeremy riding single speed rigids, some on 29'ers. These guys are fit!

Our warm up consisted of a 4km climb (seemed vertical at times). We hit the intersection of where an old toll road began and had to make a decision to divide the group up. One would finish Heartbreak Ridge, the other would head back down the mountain and go ride Kitsuma. (I was disappointed that I didn't get to do Heartbreak Ridege, but will definitely do it when I go back next year) We descended on a trail called Rattlesnake – wasn’t long, but was fun, and then headed back to the where the cars were parked at the trailhead of Kitsuma.

NC Mountains - on the way up Heartbreak Ridge

We climbed a slightly technical; switchback climb up to the top of Kitsuma. Kitsuma was approximately 10 miles long, with about 6 miles of climbing – it didn’t seem that long. There were a lot of little ups & downs before we hit the long downhill that took us to the end. We’re not use to such long downs up this way, so by the time we hit the bottom our forearms were pumped and weak.

There was lots of great action on the way down with Mark and Fitzski almost biting it and washing off the side of the narrow trail and Stef corked his head off a tree (he was okay, just dented his lid). We had a four-mile climb back to the cars on an old paved toll road that hadn’t seen motorists on it for a very long time – glad to have had it, as it made easier climbing. We broke up into groups as Jeremy and I lead the way back setting a good pace. The ride back gave me more confidence in my fitness and training as I was able to sustain a tempo pace all the way back after two days of riding.

I don’t want to make this too long to read, so I will report on Sunday and Monday tomorrow.
Lots more pictures to post too.
Cheers.

Shattered

Got back late, late last night. Got up this morning for work and I am just shattered.
More to come on the past few days tomorrow and the next. Lots to do this week: unpack, download pictures, get in contact with some sponsors, take care of some house stuff, b-day on Friday, prep stuff for Sunday, race on Sunday (weeee, more traveling).
More to come.
Cheers.

I pity the fool . . .

I pity the fool who don't come back to my blog, I pity the fool . . . I do!

I'm off air from tomorrow until next Wednsday. Will have lots of good cycling stuff for you to read about then.
Cheers.

Hello Vegans!

I've been getting a lot of visitors coming over from Tanya's blog - just wanted to say "Thanks for visiting" this picture is for you:

Beware the Dog of Hearbreak: Short Ride story

The following story is from my new friend, Jeremy, from North Carolina. Thought you might enjoy it.

What to do when your last client of the day is in Black Mountain, NC and you finish your day at 3pm in the afternoon? Hmmmm. Ride Kitsuma. Na, did that last week during lunch. Ride Heartbreak.

T minus 3 hrs for Sunset. Ah, yea !

Made quick work, at least for me this time of year of the 11 mile climb of the Old Toll. Near the top ice clung to everything in the form stalactites hanging from the rock walls and black ice adhering the rocks covering the road as a fierce wind forced me to duck my head and churn my legs harder.

I haven't ridden Heartbreak in something like 6 months but as with all great love, absence makes the heart grow fonder. This trail just begs to be ridden fast and I happily complied.
I wish I had a camera with me. I arrived at the first overlook, looking out to the west and I was met with the most beautiful sunset I had ever seen. No twinkling lights in the valley or on the mountains suggesting human inhabitation. Just me, my bike, the mountains and a beautiful backdrop of red, pink, and golds in the sky to remind me of why I ride. Finishing Heartbreak I dumped out onto the pavement in my big ring. I looked at my watch saw it was 5:40pm.

I've got 20 mins to make it back to the truck before blackout. I cranked. Luck so had it that I did. As I round the corner to the right to make the Mill Creek gravel Rd climb. I saw a flash of gold to my left. A Lion, A Tiger, A Bear?! What The F%$@! I stood and pushed the arms of my cranks harder as I felt something brush my rear tire and growl menacingly in my ear. "AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!” I screamed inside my head. Adrenaline pushing my legs to a point that I thought I would snap my steel frame hardtail into a thousand little pieces and leave me to be mawed by this creature that hell had declared war upon me with. Dare I look back and see what fiend was chasing me. Logic and reason say yes but fear, unreasonable fear pushed me around the next curve without a backwards glance.

As I round the curve I steel my resolve and look. What do I see? A medium sized golden mutt chasing me. He was tiring. His tongue lolled and his gait was ever slowing. Another day, another rider he may have his way with. For me I thank him. As with the adrenaline he infused through me, it helped me push my way to the top and my truck as the sky darkened into a deep obsidian black.

Do you cheat yourself?

Spin class tonight. Second one back after a week of recovery. Felt fresh, felt strong. An hour and a half of speed/cadence work. Avgerage heart rate = 166bpm, Max = 190bpm, in LT zone = 21min. 44sec. , above LT 40 min. 37 sec. Whew! Good workout.

Funny, the spin instructor said, "Like my mom told me, 'You can cheat, but you're only cheating yourself.'" So true, sitting on the bike spinning away you could tell that some were working away, others were not. That's the thing with spin classes, you don't know how hard others are really working - some could be killing themselves, others are good actors. Too each his own. I know that I worked hard and will reap the rewards for it.

I know that Mark worked hard too. He was sweat'in up a pool under his bike. He looked over at me during one of the all out efforts, held up his heart rate monitor to show me his HR. At that point I was seeing double so couldn't tell, but I'm sure he was showing me it to let me know that he was suffering too.

Got my carbs and protein shake into me straight off the bike. Need to recover for all the riding coming up . . . . more to come on that!

Five more sleeps

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Was really hoping that we weren't going to get all this snow. . . but we did. Was looking forward to getting out for a long road ride this weekend. Instead I had to settle for spin class this morning. Last one for the year - next week is off and the following I'll be racing at Uxbridge (if things work out the way I hope they do).
Hard to believe that, after the last two spin classes, we had 15 classes. I started late, but made most all of them over the winter. Glad I did them this year - kept me motivated, broke up the hard interval sessions that I did during the week, had helped me to stay on track with the training plan. Thanks Gilles for leading a great class all these weeks - it was a lot of fun, mixed in with a lot of suffering.
Cheers.

In the works....

Got some good news today, besides almost being done painting, but about 90% sure of two new sponsors. Will keep you posted.

"Don't bite off more than you can chew."

Should have thought of that before volunteering to paint our kitchen. I haven't stepped outside for two days now. Fill cracks, sand, fill again, sand, fill cracks, sand, vacuum ceiling, walls and base boards, wash down ceiling, walls and base boards, let dry, tape and put down drop clothes, prime walls, let dry, paint first coat of trim and base boards, let dry, paint second coat of trim and base boards, let dry, cut ceiling and walls with paint, roll first coat, let dry . . . .and so on. Somebody shoot me. This is supposed to be my March Break - shouldn't I be somewhere warm and sunny?

Upside: it's a recovery week, so at least I'm busy and not going crazy doing noth'in; the weather has been crap - lots of rain - whooo hooo - get rid of that salt on the road and melt that snow; once I'm done, I'm free.

Had a moment off from painting on Tuesday to swing by the Moose to drop off my wheels to be re-laced - would have attempted it on my own if I had the time, but too much painting to do. When I'm done, I want to be able to get on the bike and hit the road. Won't be putting the Desalvo on the road until it's nice.
Have decided to add one more mtn bike race on to the schedule: the Uxbridge Icebreaker on Sunday, April 1 - I'll be doing the long course (50km) on the single speed - good training!
Also considering adding one or two road races. Never have done a road race before, but have wanted too. There is one at Mosport and one at Calabogie.

Racing has always intimidated me me. A couple of years ago I did a few Ontario Cup, Quebec Cup and Canada Cup races. Lining up at the start line I always felt like I was going to puke. Was nervous and tense - they weren't much fun. Took me a while to realize that. I put so much pressure on myself - if I didn't do "this well" then I'd look like a failure, what would people think, and everyone would know that I was a terrible rider. With an attitude like that, how could it be fun?

I think riding & racing last year changed for me. It became fun. I'm only competing against myself out there and it should be fun. I'm not a pro athlete challenging for fame or fortune. I've come to the realization that I'm not going to go far as a professional cyclist - too late for that. But I can see some pretty cool places, meet some awesome people, get in shape, ride new trails, and have a blast doing it. It's not racing anymore for me, it's riding real fast . . . . for fun!

Keeping My Fingers Crossed

I'm hoping for a set of these:

A couple of years ago I was involved in an accident in which my median nerve and tendons to my right thumb, index and middle finger were severed. Ouch! It has taken me a long time to recover from it and today I have limited mobility in my thumb and no feeling in those three fingers because of the accident. This has caused me to change my shifting from Shimano trigger shift to SRAMs twist grip. Things worked out for the best, as I love using SRAM. My biggest issue is with my grip on my right hand.

My hand gets fatigued during endurance rides/races and I find it difficult to hold onto to traditional grips. I'm hoping that a set of grips from Ergon Bike Ergonomics will make the difference.

I'm also hoping for a pair of these awesome sunnies to arrive in the mail some day soon. Anyone out there from Zeal Optics tunned in?

Happy Birthday Chrissie!

Won't be training today . . . . two reasons: the first, and most important, it's my wife's (Christine) birthday today and second, it's a recovery day (three days on, one day off).
We (we're both teachers) are also on March Break, so no work for us! Woooohooooo! Have a whole day planned out for Chris - should be fun.

As per training, I've been thinking that I may also make this week an active recovery week, meaning no hard or long training sessions. I haven't had a recovery period in three to four weeks. It's smart to take a week off, let the body recover and build to become stronger. It's hard doing nothing or very little though.

It'll be okay though, as part of my b-day present to Chris is to paint and work on our kitchen. So I don't think that I'm going to have to much time sitting around going crazy because I'm not turning the cranks or skiing.

Pole, glide, toot, pole, glide toot . . . .

Greg, Imad and myself headed out from P5 this afternoon for a skate ski of the big loop. Conditions were perfect for skating. It was warm and sunny, the trails were fast and hard.

Almost didn't make it though . . . . my belly wasn't feeling too good. Too much vegan food last night and not nearly enough bacon (Mmmmm......bacon) threw my nutrition karma out of wack. It was unbalanced and I paid for it today. It also could have been Chantal's delicious homemade peach pie that I had for breakfast with two big dark coffees. Who said pie wasn't the breakfast of champions?

I suffered a little bit at the beginning to keep up, they set a good pace. All the burping and farting (toot, toot) must have slowed me down. Made a short pit stop at Shilly Shally while the boys went up to Champlain Lookoff - we hooked back up and finished the ski off. I left everything on the last climb just trying to keep up to them. Finished feeling great and managed to get a shake into me for recovery purposes.
Toot, toot . . . . excuse me!

Ski or ride?

Today is sunny and beautiful out. I hope this is the start of spring. There's bit of North-Westerly blowing out there. Roads are covered in salt and are wet with melting snow. To avoid getting the bike covered in salt, it might be a good ride out in the country.
Or should I head over to the Gats for a skate loop with Greg? It'll be faaaaast skiing today. Got to get out there soon - can't pass up today.
Wonder if Momma's Boy is still in bed?
.......oppps, just got the call - he's out of bed. Look at that, it's 12:30pm. Two words: Lay-Zee

Par-tay

Had a "farwell", "going on a cycle adventure of a lifetime", "see you soon", "adios" party for Tanya. She's heading out to BC to ride for a month, then it's a cross Canada ride with some friends. She'll keep us posted on her trip here. We will miss her and wish her luck. Ride safe Tanya and have fun!

Snapped a only a couple pictures last night.
Mark was his usual jovial self.

Greg's head was floating around. I wonder if it's as light as his new bike?

Which Way to Wagah

These are the Eagar brothers. I went to junior and high school with them. Great guys, crazy as hell. They've been traveling the world over, living life.

They've got a show coming up on OLN tomorrow which may turn into a series. Check it out:
March 11th, at 8 pm on OLN for "Which Way to Wagah".

Finishing touches

Went to see Julie today for the final touch ups on my right half sleeve. She blended a little colour and finished off the heraldry. Julie does unbelievable work, she's super creative and a gentle tattooist.

Close up of the heraldry work being completed.

If you're interested in being injected with ink millions of times by tiny little needles (it ain't that bad!), you can see more of Julie's work or speak to her yourself at New Moon Tattoo.

North American Handmade Bike Show

Check out the incredible workmanship at the North American Handmade Bike Show that was on this past weekend.
You can also see some pictures over on MTBR.com.
If I ever won a lottery, I'd mass a collection of custom built bikes from independent builders such as the ones that you can see on the links I've posted. Just beautiful workmanship.

Wednesdays are always super busy for me - yesterday was no exception.
I'm really happy with how my training is coming along. Every year I seem to step it up a bit. This winter I've been doing way more spinning than other winters and it feels like I'm reaping the rewards. Had spin class last night - apparently we are on hills -cause that's all we did.

It was nice of the sadistic spin instructor to give us five minutes to warm up (I actually had a good 15 minute warm up cause I arrive early to snag a good bike) then we jumped right into a 7 minute standing climb . . . .you know, "to get the blood flowing". It takes me forever to warm up, so I found this to be the most difficult part of the class.

Worse part about the class is the instructor doesn't spin with us because of an apparent injury - how convienent. As the class went along, I found that I was able to recover faster between sets - all this interval training is paying off. We did a 16 minute climb - first seven was a seated slug fest and the remaining nine were standing with every minute and a half an gear added on.
Finished the class off with eight fifteen second intervals (first five standing, give it yer'all death sprint followed by ten seconds seated fast as yer' legs can carry you sprint) - each set was followed by a fifteen second recovery, then do it again. Great for working on explosive power and recovery.

VIDEO TEST -

Just a test, no significance, just trying to figure out how to add video.

Just in time

Got home yesterday from work just in time to catch the Purlator guy dropping off my package of OmegaWhey from Nutrablend Foods. Big "Thank You" to all the fine folks there, especially May! Very excited to have you guys on board as sponsors and glad that you're visiting the blog to check in on my progress.

It arrived just in time too. I had an hour and a half spin class last night and knew that I was going to need some excellent recovery nutrition right after. What a killer class - somebody must have forgotten to tell the sadistic spin instructor that we were starting a muscular endurance phase, because I'm sure that he thought we were doing hills.
I got there early and was able to get a good 15 minute warm-up before the class begun - glad I did because we jumped right into it. We spent a total of 48 minutes climbing, 32 of them were standing - the longest was a 12 minute standing climb at LT. Burn baby, burn! As another blogger out there says, "I was bleeding out my eyes."
The rest of the class was spent spinning at a high cadence to recover from the climbing efforts. I was cooked by the time it was finished. Got in 1 hour and 42 minutes of ride time. That Banana Berry protein drink really went down well and I'm feeling good today! Cheers.

I'm dumb

Dumb, dumb, dumb . . . . yesterday after the ski I did not drink or eat enough. First rule is always to get nutrition and water into you after a workout, especially so if you have workout planned for the next day. What was I thinking!?!
Worse was the fact that I did not have any OmegaWhey (I ran out of my stash and am waiting for my package to arrive)to get into the body to help recover. So as a result, I'm feeling like this: Got an hour and a half spin class tonight at muscular endurance phase, which means we will be worked like dogs until we keel over onto the floor, vomit, passout and beg for it to be over. Sadistic spin instructors. Tomorrow it's a rest day.

Gats Backcountry Ski

Mark, Tanya and I got a nice 3hr 50minute backcountry ski in today over in the Gats. Perfect weather - just beautiful day. Good endurance based ski. Trails were cushy and fluffy.

There were some ups (this particular one was a wall on #17)

And there were some downs. Mark showing some wicked break dance moves.

Nah, didn't fall - just goofing around.

The Norwegian Embassy and the NCC celebrate cross-country skiing and the great outdoors by serving warm 'solbærtoddy' (black currant beverage) and 'vaffels' at Huron Lodge.

Got to sample some 'vaffles' and goats cheese. Doesn't sound very good, but them there Norwegians got it going on. Great training food: carbs and protein - what else could you ask for? Mark & I actually got the last ones as they were closing up for the day.

"I'm sure that there is a Tim Horton's somewhere around here."

A view of Gatineau (city) and Ottawa from Skyline.

Complete

Jackie-Boy wanted in on the photo shoot.

I added this photo to help show the paint job - didn't stand out in the other photos.

Spin

Just got home a little while ago from spin class. Good class today - spent 55 minutes at mid/low endurance intensity and 28 minutes just below LT, semi-race pace. Fun class with turns to pace each other kept it interesting. Followed by some stretching and core body work made for a good morning. I like the Saturday morning spins as it is a break from the higher intensity stuff that I end up doing at the bike shop (Mon. Wed. & Fri.) and more fun than when I do my long, slow endurance spins in the basement by myself on alternating days of the week. All necessary evils for training.

Snow temperatures are warm (0 degrees) so if it's a classic day, looks like warm goopy wax or klister. So, looks like it's going to be a skating day - should be fast! Will do the 25km loop, my goal is only three short water breaks and only at the top of the bigger, longer climbs.

Finished off the Desalvo this morning before class - will post some photos later today.
Cheerios.

FFFFFat . . . . as in Phat

Big shout out to Phat Moose for cutting my steerer tube down to the correct size today. Didn't have a jig at home to use and didn't want to risk messing it up. Now I can finalize the Desalvo build. Cheers fellas!

Reessayez S.V.P.

Long, slow drive to work this morning due to the crippity-crap weather. Earlier in the week they were calling for rain and warmer temperatures. I was hopeful to get out on the road bike for a long, long training ride. No such luck. So it'll be spinning for 1.5 hrs tomorrow at the RA Centre with Gilles pacing us, then either a classic or skate ski in the afternoon. Sunday will be a l-o-n-g classic ski.

Didn't win this morning on my daily double-double. Booooo .....

Good news today: buses were cancelled! So that means no kiddies . . . . unless of course some parent(s) drop their kid off, and it always happens. We'll get two or three kids arrive this morning at our unit - and we become overpaid babysitters for the day.

Beat

I thought yesterday was a crazy busy day. Today was much nuttier. Took our unit out on a "Spirit Week" outing to a place with tunnels, ball rooms, ladders, loud noises, swings, and such. Very unstructured place, hard to superivise and hard to maintain control over a bunch of nutbars. Maybe not the best idea considering the clientele we treat: kids with severe emotional, behavioral and social problems. All that I can say is that it was wild and ended with two of our kids being restrained for the bus ride home. Fun, fun, fun! Yeah, the little buggers got "spirit" alright. I'm more tired from this than a solid two-three hour training ride - mentally and physically drained. I need one of these . . . .and to win on this . . .
My riding friends Pascale & Scott just e-mailed me this afternoon with an invite to race a 12Hr adventure race in Vermont called Frigid Infliction. They are doing it as a three person team and their third unexpectedly backed out at the last minute. I wish that they had gotten a hold of me earlier in the week so that I could get the time off to go. It involves xc skiing, snowshoeing, post-holing, tyrolean traverse and navigation. Would have been some good endurance training.
And the worst part of the whole deal is that I could probably have gotten away going as we are supposed to get dumped on tonight . . .. . . . which means no buses tomorrow = no kiddies and I probably could have gone. Blah!