Velocity 2013 First Stage Race Of Season

Well it's been a while since last posting!

Lots has been going on in life & in cycling since my last post.

Our team Aerobic Power Haus folded late last year & me & the fellaz decided to race with Team Niklas for 2013.

Evan Bayer, Rob Leishman & myself all moved over to Niklas.

Leading into the weekend I was feeling the strongest I have ever been. I wasn't the lightest or most explosive but definitely feeling very powerful. The sharpness may not be there yet but it will come.

Road Race- 135km

First time since racing Velocity the Road Race came before the Time Trial. I knew this would make things interesting. We had preliminary plans to race conservatively & see how the race plays out. End of the first lap I rolled off the front seeing all the boys a bit tired. Soon I was joined by my trusty teammate Evan Bayer asking me if I wanted to go for it. I said hell ya & an ERTC rider Geoff Macdonald appeared in the break as well. The three of us rolled into a good pace not really killing ourselves but keeping it steady. We fully expected a few riders maybe Schooler or Krabbe to come across. We didn't know how Auld or Andrews were form wise but thought they may come across if we kept it steady & put time into the group. We had about a minute on the group rolling the break for approx 20km but then were reeled in nearing the end of the second lap. All good, Counter attacks came like crazy & I made sure I stayed in the mix. At one point when the group brought us back we only had 12 riders when over 30 started. Holy shit it was pretty fast I guess. ERTC launched Krabbe off the front, Dan wood off the front & they were making things very aggressive. I tried jumping on trains again but nothing stuck & Evan & I chilled out starting the 5th lap. We were chillin past mid pack when I was giving Evan some water & we turned onto the tail cross wind section & the pace got real. Kicking ourselves as we should of known this would happen we found ourselves scrambling trying to grab wheels. The remaining peloton blew into 3 groups & I ended up in the third with Jensen, Young, Countryman & Jeff Perron for a while I believe. Evan was between us & the chase group whom were chasing the lead group. I watched Evan chase the damn group in front of us solo for almost an entire lap until the chase group caught the lead group & Evan latched on. What a stud. I suffered in the cross wind & watched the race unfold up front. More lessons on saving my newly acquired additional matches for Cat 2. Even if you have more matches & use them all you will not end up in the lead group. Good lessons for Jevro. I ended up 13th I believe & Evan ended up 5th. Brett flatted early in the race so he was not able to race the crit but could throw down in the TT.


Time Trial-

I was shattered & emptied my tank completely on the race course. Some were saying the race course was short that's all good I felt it was windier than the longer course last year. Anyhow I finished mid pack in the field which I kind of expected as I was nowhere near 100% after the road race especially being turbo aggressive. Turns out Bad Boy Bayer won the damn thing which I didn`t really anticipate. I knew he was strong but the guy keeps surprising me with how damn strong he actually is.

Crit-

Evan winning the time trial put him into first place overall which scared the shit out of me. The reason this was intimidating is Evan only has 1 year of racing under his belt & the last Cat 2 crit he did was TDB of last year & it didn`t go well. Let`s say I was worried about the corners so I had a game plan. The plan was to warm up a lot & blow my brains out for the first half of the race trying to keep it tempo on the flats to nullify breakaways & slow the corners down for E rocker. Well thats what I did & I think it helped. I sprinted at the beginning of the crit to get to the front & control the first few corners & light up the flats. I was absolutely pinned for two laps on the front bringing a few solo attacks back & keeping it lined out as much as possible. Soon enough the ERTC boys started launching attacks along with Johnstone & Schooler with H & R Block. It felt like a damn firestorm & I tried to reel what I could in. I ended up getting popped but then time trialed back on only to sling shot myself to the front & repeat my original plan once the gun went off. Tempo on the front & slow down the corners. I got popped again around the 15minute ish mark & tried time trialing again to latch back on. I chased for a lap but it was in vain as the train was gone & I was not making it back on. Haven`t had to sacrifice myself like that before but it`s all good especially when your trying to get your bro on the podium! Turns out Evan was doing just fine & launched an attack of his own to bridge to Josh Krabbe who already attacked off the front. They traded pulls for a bit & built an approx 18 second lead but Krabbe kept probing Evan into the corners which was irritating im sure. Evan rolled the front but got irritated with the corner probes & they got caught. Evan chased everything that went off the front back & protected his GC lead like a boss. Marc Enter with Speed theory sat in most of the race which was smart & attacked solo on the last lap to gap Evan enough to take over GC lead.

Pretty hard fought battle for only two teammates & glad to help keep bayer on the podium to finish in 2nd place overall.

Next up provincials.

All the best to the fellow Alberta Riders.

These workouts are hard!

Been a while since my last update!

Well Nationals has long since past & before I was able to blink I'm already back on the indoor trainer getting those hard workouts done that every rider is reluctant to do.

I have since changed coaches from Jack Vandyk to Trevor Gunderson in the off season & am looking forward to embracing the new goals we have set. I am very grateful for what Jack has done for me as an athlete the past couple years. He helped me realize discipline & hard work is what progresses you as a rider. Following your program throughout the off season & achieving more consistency in training each consecutive year is key. He is incredibly knowledgeable & was a huge part of me being able to get into Category 1/2 in a few years time. It was also great to have him in the same Peloton as me when I pulled off a Road race & GC win with his help as a teammate. I wish him the best in his future endeavors as a coach & athlete!

Racing some bigger races this year I felt I was unprepared in terms of race experience & specific preparation for particular races. Trevor Gunderson definitely has a wealth of knowledge & experience racing at the Category 1 level In Canada & other Countries throughout his years of being a cyclist. He has a tremendously strong background in Track riding & has had great success peaking for specific races one of them being Age group Track world champion back in 2010. Age group or not that's still an incredible achievement. He also helped me get on the SRM this off season which I'm already enjoying working with him & sending the files over for analysis each workout. We are definitely taking a different approach with the focus being early off season threshold work. Recovering from each ride is key as the indoor trainer sessions are pretty taxing on the body. Making sure to roll out & get the protein shakes in right away have become routine. I also am trying to ensure weekly massage as this helps with minimizing risk of injury in the knees especially with the big gear/longer intensity work.

Since Nationals I mentally checked out for the rest of the season.

I did the prologue & part of the crit in RMCC revenge but was just mentally exhausted. I wasn't even burnt out physically I just was still caught in a mental battle of how to be as fast as the boys at Nationals. I understand it comes from years of riding & experience however I didn't start as young as most of the top end riders. My progression curve has to be more efficient & happen in a shorter period of time to achieve my goals. That's the reality. If it works out & I achieve my goals set in my early thirties then that's fantastic. If not life goes on. I'm still going after it & have no intention of quitting anytime soon. As many say.. you can always quit. The door to exit is always there... waiting for you.. Anyhow I did the Kicking horse hill climb with my teammate Evan & that was fun. We also did the Revel stoke hill climb which I did a few days post shoulder surgery & still had 13 staples in my shoulder. Hindsight I probably wasn't fit to climb a hill for 20+ kilometers but it's all good.

I'm back into a weekly training routine with the coach & will be heading to Maui late December with my good buddyy Patrick Paquette. Just like last year we are super pumped as home base will be in Paia this year as opposed to Kihei which was a pain in the ass to navigate across Hansen road every time we wanted to go towards Hana or Haleakala. Should be a good time to spend new years on the Island and get some solid training in.

I also took the liberty of deciding to work towards building a Nationally recognized brand called the "Time To" group. I have launched additional business's that will form a corporate conglomerate with Time To Shine & will all be under the TTGroup umbrella. This is super exciting but finding that balance & equilibrium is so incredibly important. A lot of people say in order to be a pro/elite level cyclist all you can do is ride your bike every day all day. Well I want to do it my way. Growing business's & racing at the highest level possible simultaneously. Maybe I will even achieve some lofty goals along the way. The formula has been working well for me up to this point in life. That is what a successful lifestyle is all about in my mind.

Crush the training & enjoy life!

Nationals in Lac Megantic

I decided to race Nationals in Quebec this year which was probably a year or 2 premature based on my fitness level.

Nonetheless me & my buddy Patrick talked about doing it way back in Mauii late in 2011.

The learning experience we could pull away would predictably be very humbling since your racing the best in the country.

The race was 180km including 7 laps of Mt Morne near Lac Megantic. This was about a 2km hill that was very steep. A definite separation point for anyone who had the legs vs the guys who didn't. Being only a week out from Banff i was a bit concerned about fatigue but had confidence I could at least race with the local cat 2 Alberta boys in a stage race.

Sure enough the race didn't disappoint. All the big boys were there except Ryder himself. Meier, Tuft, Britton, Sparling, Hamilton, Routley, Bell, Barry, David V with Europcar, Dominique Rollin with FDJ. Among these riders were other incredibly talented National level riders that definitely made the main peloton feel a bit inadequate for sure.

The race started in downtown Lac Megantic & a "neutral" roll out to the start was the plan. Torrential rain shot down from the sky as soon as the race started. It was difficult to see in front of you & braking was compromised immediately which made things sketchy. Any of the riders that started in the back wanting to get to the front did so by hopping curbs in the neutral area during the rain which made things lol uneasy lets say. Rolling over a few railroad tracks caused a few crashes in the neutral area.

Once the peloton made it to the start area relatively unscathed the neutral car blasted off and the race was on. The speed was holy shit fast on the flats given the reduced visibility from the rain which I expected it to be. What I didn't know was we were going 69.9km/hr on a slight decline by no means an actual downhill. I was in my 53x11 spinning out trying to move up on Rollins wheel to the front 1/3rd of the pack.

When we hit one of the last big ass rollers I went from the front 1/3rd of the pack leading into it all the way to getting spit out the back getting dropped. In absolute shock & frustration with a feeling similar to Pigeon Lake left me with questioning all kinds of things. Why the f$ck am I here, why did I come, Jevon at 170ish pounds your fat compared to these riders, not strong enough blah blah blah. Mind Games.

I trooped it out for 2 laps of the mt morne section on my own trying to catch any riders that were dropped. All of the guys that were dropped ahead of me had already pulled out by the feed station at their team cars which wasn't surprising. I had come so far to try my best to keep going & maybe not get lapped. I inevitably knew I was going to be lapped within the last 5 laps but I wanted to try to get at least 100km in before i was passed by the breakaway group. Passing the feedstation I could sense guys that had already pulled out were wondering wtf I was still in the race. I had obviously no chance of catching the peloton & maybe they thought I was embarrassing myself. I didn't really give a shit because they elected to pull out. I understand a lot of these guys race way more than I do & know when to pull the plug & rest up for the next race. I flew down here & wanted to race vs the best in the country so I was gonna go as far as possible to try & finish whether it be lapped with a DNF or maybe not lapped with an OTL time. At least I could try to get a good workout in. Well that was short lived because my rear went flat before I could start the 3rd lap of Mt morne. Pulled to the side of the road & became a spectator. About 10 minutes went by & I saw the breakaway group blaze past with Britton crushing it. That guy rode so hard & should of won the race. Too bad things didn't play out for him as he raced the best in my eyes. That gave me the sense that I could of got maybe 2-4 more laps in but all is history. Congrats to the winner Ryan Roth with Spidertech & to Michael Barry of team Sky for a second place finish even after his very bad crash at Quatar.

Watching strong local riders from H&R, Trek Red Truck & Garneau get shelled was definitely an eye opening experience. I guess the lesson is there's always a bigger fish. If your the biggest fish it's probably a small pond.

Since getting back home I haven't done anything in a designated regime at all. I have been doing some running & swimming as well as light biking trying to wrap my head around what is required to be with those guys. All in all I was able to win a Cat 3 stage race & get into Cat 1/2 this year & race some big races & gain valuable lessons that I will become stronger from. The bottom line is I need to be stronger & lighter than I am now. I may be back next year depending on where my fitness is at but at least I now have an understanding of what it takes to stick with the main group. I'm gonna finish the season off with racing a fun hill climb in Golden with my teammate Evan Bayer & then perhaps some of the Tour De Bowness stage race.

I want to congratulate my buddy Patrick Paquette on finishing his first debut at Nationals. Patty will be back & more dangerous in the next few years & the fitter he gets the more people need to watch out that's for sure.

A huge congrats goes out to my teammate Evan Bayer again for destroying the cat 3 field at RMCC stage race in Canmore & earning his Cat 2 upgrade in only one season. I don't know many riders who just started road biking that can do that so cudos to him.

Banff Bike Fest 2012

Banff Bike Fest was a great learning experience consisting of 5 stages being a Prologue, 90km road race, 21km Time Trial, 50 lap criterium & 144km road race to finish it off.

The goal was to finish the stage race with an overall placing.

The prologue I once again failed to get an adequate warm up & hit the beginning stretch way too hard. Ended up with lactic acid overload before the hill even began. Definitely will plan accordingly next year.

The 90km 1a sprint the next day was pretty standard. Not having raced this before I thought there may be a chance for separation on the only "somewhat significant" hill before the turn around. Nick J with pedalhead was already up the road solo & I decided to get to the front to see who may attack. Warren M & Josh K were near the front looking frisky so I thought they wanted to jam & I went. I bridge to Nick J before the end of the hill & beginning the descent. We hit the turn around & had a climb immediately afterwards. I wasn't able to recover quickly enough to keep the pace with Nick & looked behind to see the peloton not having any of it. We re integrated but I still wanted to give it a go some more. I went with a few riders here and there whom I thought collectively we could have a shot at staying away. Everything got reeled in & RMCC did a perfect lead out for there man to take the win. After all the attacks I was happy with my mid/back pack placing.

The time trial was the next day & my legs paid for the attacks the previous day. Could never get on top of the pedals and feel in charge of the bike therefore struggled the entire duration of the TT.

The criterium was later in the evening & I really wanted to survive this. My weaknesses in the crits are definitely taking the corners without grabbing any brakes. Watching these guys elbow eachother for positioning leading into the corners and taking the corner almost at cruising flat speed without grabbing brakes was very impressive and intimidating at the same time. I was trying to hang on through the first half & started to feel good with about 15 to go. For a very small period of time I thought I actually had a shot at doing something so I moved up. At one point I moved up to 5th place behind 3 garneau evolution riders and Nick J with pedalhead.

I figured I had to stay here in order to have a shot at any sprint contest but did not have the cornering skills. I braked less and less each turn but still inevitably had to brake to save my ass from crashing through the barriers. Touching the brakes in the corners moved me from 5th to 30th in 2 turns which was frustrating. I definitely have to work on this as I race with the stronger more technically skilled riders that brake very little therefore conserving energy & minimizing the acceleration requirements each turn. I was able to finish mid pack & was happy to have a reasonable gc placing so far.

The road race I figured things would get absolutely shredded. 11 laps around tunnel mountain would tax all the riders legs for sure. Kris Dahl had GC lead going into the final road race as he crushed the prologue & TT. H & R were looking after things reasonably well minimizing threats up the road until Craig jones started to fatigue from the domestique work. I tried jumping on the back of attacking trains about 3-5 times during the race thinking I had a shot at staying away. One of the attacks that was the most dangerous was when we had about 6 riders at the bottom of the descent including Kris Dahl with a 5-10 sec gap ahead of the peloton. Unfortunately it was too early & maybe not the right team mix to get away. Later in the race a good mix of RMCC/ERTC/ROAD/H&R/Independent approx 6 riders got away & put time into us. The peloton obviously didn't chase smart but instead there were constant surges & lulls which only caused the gap to the chase group to go up. I ended up finishing on the tail end of the main peloton after not having enough jam to get over the punchy roller before the descent to the finish. Definitely need to work on my 3-5 minute power as that punchy roller proved the most difficult to get over each of the 11 laps.

With the break staying away the GC shuffled and Aaron Schooler with H&R won the overall. Congrats to him & his team for taking the win.

My teammate Evan Bayer was busy kicking ass like he has all year. He won his first cat 5 race in Velocity & won in Pigeon Lake in cat 4. He then kicked ass at Banff Bike Fest winning overall in GC for cat 4. Pretty stoked to have a strong teammate moving up very fast.

Pigeon Lake Provincials 2012

It's been a long time since I posted on the blog so it's time for a few updates.

I raced Pigeon lake in Cat 1/2 after getting the upgrade from Bikes on Broadway the weekend before.

Long story short I just didn't have jam in the legs for much. Every time I put in an effort at a certain wattage it felt way more unsustainable than what I was used to.

I think there were some nerves & anxiousness with racing my first 1/2 race that played it's tole as well.

Overall a lack of experience & perhaps cumulative fatigue caused me to get dropped early in the race when things were guttered in the wind.

Congrats to Kris Dahl who is on a tear this year for winning Alberta Road Provincials.

Bikes On Broadway 2012

Rolled down to Saskatoon with my buddy Shawn Ball to meet up with his parents & do the stage race.

Time Trial (8.20km ish):

I made 2 big errors in this time trial that placed me with a somewhat disappointing 7th place finish. The first mistake was taking out 3 or maybe 4 spacers in my front headset to make myself more aero. This was about a week prior to the race so I hadn't had any riding to help my body adapt to the new position. Also I didn't bring my trainer which was a fail because there was no place to warm up as the ITT started downtown Saskatoon. This resulted in my body not being warmed up enough for the short intense TT & the new positioning immediately caused glute cramping/hamstring cramping that I had to get to subside. Felt strong but couldn't get comfortable at all.

Road Race (96km):

The road race was controlled during the beginning lap by the 2nd place GC leaders teammates. Stephen Paiano was 2nd place GC & he is a beast on the bike. When he leans out more his power to weight ratio is going to be ridiculously dangerous. A few riders tried some surges about 10km in but nothing went clear. Mid way through the first lap 2 riders jumped & I went with them. One of them was a strong small punchy rider named Pedro & the other a Regina Junior. The Regina junior was gassed & Pedro was trying to recover so I pushed the pace sitting on the front trying to get us a gap. I knew that I would have to do majority of the work to make this break work but was fine with that. The pack wasn't comfortable letting us go as we were working reasonably well together so they reeled us in before the turn around. I was already at the front of the group at the turn around so I got up to speed & then put in a surge & was with two riders that wanted to go one of them being Pedro again I believe. Brett Person bridged to us & we had four riders trying to get away again. The pack brought us back within 1-2km & then the 1st place GC rider tried a counter attack but the peloton shut it down. Almost midway through the second lap my teammate Jack Vandyk got off the front with a few riders so I posted on the front to block/disrupt the chase. Just as we anticipated Pedalhead sent two riders to the front to reel in the breakaway. They spent 1-2km of effort on the front & reeled in the breakaway. I immediately launched a counter attack & heard Brett Person crushing the pedals behind me wanting to go. I eased up & we joined up to make a two man train. I kept pushing the pace & putting a lot of time on the front to increase our time gap before the turn around. We ended up with 30 seconds at the turn around & I was semi-believing we had a shot at staying away. I continued to push the pace to allow Brett to recover as he is normally a pack sprinter so this was way out of his comfort zone. What an animal to take the breakaway risk! We worked well together & the turn around beginning the 3rd lap we had 1 minute 20ish seconds on the peloton. I was somewhat relieved to see my teammate Jack on the front soft pedaling before the turn around so I knew they were being disrupted. We kept pushing the pace starting to fatigue but at the final turn around I was confident we could stay away. Brett was starting to fade so I kept shouting encouragement as I wasn't interested in putting any surges in & trying to go in solo. As we neared the line Brett told me to take the W & I thought that was more than fair based on the amount of work I did & our synergy together. We pounded fists for the gutsy effort & I rolled in for the uncontested victory.

Criterium:

The breakaway put Brett & I into 1st & 2nd in GC by over a minute or so. I only had the lead by 4 seconds which made things interesting as he is a stronger sprinter than me. I tried to control the pace during majority of the crit & spent a lot of time at the front. Dave Holmes went down early in the race on a sketchy corner as his tubular came off the rim. I didn't enjoy seeing him go down as I know the crit was a focus for him. I went for the first prem & was pretty sure I got it but the results showed that I didn't? Maybe a small glitch perhaps. I saw Stephen contesting it to try & jump up a spot in GC to 3rd place but I was quite concerned about Brett finishing with the win & moving to 1st in GC so had to go for it. This gave me 9 seconds (so i thought with the prem) lead on Brett which made me feel a bit better but was still worried. There were time bonuses for 1st place (15 seconds) 2nd place (10 seconds) & 3rd place (5 seconds) so I needed to take another prem & podium in the crit if Brett won or finish second place if he took the win. Trying to win the crit in the final lap sprint is something I don't enjoy at all & would much rather fancy my chances at getting off the front 3-4 laps before the finish. I also had ambitions of keeping Jack in the peloton & reducing the surges at the front to not risk him getting gapped. He was riding strong mid-late race so I was no longer worried. I continued to line out the group & then put in some perpetual attacks out of the corners. Some gaps were created & then shut down but I continued to attack off the front or 4th wheel back trying to have the group let me roll off. It didn't happen which was okay & the final lap came with the usual strong surge. Sketchiness is unfortunately part of the final lap & some Saskatchewan Junior chose a terrible line in the most narrow corner & took himself out along with Brett Person which I wasn't happy about. I was worried about his sprint but still wanted to leave it out to me trying to stay on his wheel at the end. Brett still ended up 2nd in GC as a rider who crashes in the final lap gets pack time which was great to see. I took the overall victory & got my upgrade points for Cat 1/2. Jack also held on to 6th overall which was an awesome end to the weekend of racing.

Now I don't need any more points & can just focus on putting my best effort into cat 1/2 races to potentially achieve my next lofty goal. The next goal is to try & obtain some solid results that could maybe put me on the radar for a Trek Red Truck team or a H & R Block team. This is a 1-2 year goal but I will try my hardest to make it possible for the beginning of next season.

Coming up for racing is the Pigeon Lake Provincial Race, Banff Bike Fest if my body is ready & then Nationals in Montreal with my buddy Patrick Paquette! My goal at Nationals is to see if I can climb with the main peloton & perhaps hang on until the end of the 180km race. I don't have any expectations & am mainly interested in seeing how fast these guys go up hills & where my power to weight ratio needs to be in the future.

Velocity 2012

Well first ABA race of the season has come & gone!

Time Trial:

Felt fairly strong coming into this & was subconsciously thinking I had it in me for a solid ride. I think the first year I did this my time was 15 minutes & the second was 14:02 & I wanted to shatter this time. The wind wasn't strong this year & all the times were fast. My power meter was giving me issues all weekend & started during the TT which made things interesting. I was going very hard and the watts were reading zone 1 readings so I knew it was not correct & just paid attention to getting my lap speed up. Ended up with a time of 13:10 according to zone 4 but i stopped my garmin at 12:58 & thought I would be right around there. Anyhow no biggie I ended up 3rd which was cool.


Road Race (5 laps 112km): The road race started out super slow some small attacks going here and there. Top Gear & RMCC came to play & posted riders on the front of the group & then launched riders out & blocked/slowed the peloton to let the riders go clear. A few other surges happened but nothing was serious until the 2nd lap when a RMCC guy went clear & Craig Fraser from Top Gear bridged to him. Top Gear then had about 5 riders posted at the front blocking everything & slowing the group down to a casual training ride. While 2 guys went up the road threatening my 3rd place GC I didn't see 1st & 2nd really showing any concern about losing GC podium placings??? It was clear to me that this wasn't good as there was no way the peloton was gonna bring the group back as control wasn't being taken away from the teams representing the Breakaway. I decided to jump part way into the second lap & went up about 50 meters and did some tempo spinning but not really attacking trying to see if I could draw out a few riders surely thinking someone wanted to come along. Waiting... waiting. looking back... looking back.. fuck it i'm going.. I quickly put some serious time into the group & was making headway to the 2 leaders. I chased & suffered in a way I haven't felt before where you know your the only guy that can bring the breakaway back. Got it down to about 30 seconds & a truck pulled up to me & said I had over 2-1/2 minutes on the peloton keep going! By this time I had already been away for two laps on my own & was getting close to being in the hurt locker. I kept eating & drinking trying to keep the tempo up hoping the breakaway would ease up or a lull would happen somewhere. Well it didn't & approx 40+km of solo riding to try & bridge I was brought back for part two of suffering. Any rider knows that once you put in a sustained effort in a race & tax your reserves it is an absolute battle to hang on to the peloton & that held a true as ever. My glutes were in a world of hurt but my cardiovascular system was actually feeling really good still which is awesome I think. I was stretching trying to avoid complete locking up of the legs to hang in the peloton & managed to stay in with a same time finish to remain 5th place in GC. The breakaway ended up staying away & the two riders mixed up the gc placings which was expected.


Crit: When you hop on the trainer to warm up & your legs are tired you know its going to be a hard day. The Crit started out very fast with strong surges into the wind & before the technical corners. I had to play it disciplined as my legs were no where near 100%. The group got shredded to about 11 guys & I tucked in behind whatever wheel I could find until the last lap. Well bell lap came & I thought all this disciplined wheel sucking & no off the front attacking would pay off in the end. I jumped starting the bell lap & the light switch to my legs was still off just like it was at the beginning. Let's just say my legs put me into my place as my cardio system wanted to go but the legs said not today jevro you kicked the shit out of us yesterday.

I think I ended up 5th or 6th on GC depending how things get sorted out as me & Eric Johnstone are tied in time. I came here not with certain point or placing expectations but to race smart & race to my potential. I took a calculated gamble in the Road Race as I had confidence I could bridge to the leaders when I had the gap. If I had bridged the entire weekend may have played out differently but that's how she goes. Shoulda, coulda, didn't...


Congrats to Craig Fraser for a podium today was good to see a great guy do well in a stage race.


A huge congrats goes out to my cat 5 teammates Evan Bayer & Rob Leishman who managed to both podium (Evan 1st Rob 3rd (maybe 4th?) in GC!! They are relatively new to racing & have already accumulated enough points to get into Cat 4 which is great! With some coaching from Jack & Ashley about more tactical awareness they will be a force to reckon with in Cat 4 & maybe even cat 3 this year!.

Back From the Desert

Well back to Calgary & realizing this isn't anything close to the ideal climate for an aspiring cyclist. Now that I think about it the only thing keeping me from moving to Victoria for at least half of the year is the business. I am thoroughly enjoying growing the business & endeavor to get it to the self sustaining level of current business & progressive growth. When growing a business as this is the first of more I hope to build, realizing the evolutions of a business are crucial. The very first step for me with creating the business was to see it as an outsider. Approach every decision made for that business as a decision that doesn't require your full involvement. This isn't an easy task at all as most start up businesses you see yourself performing as much of the labor as possible wondering how on earth you can let go of your grip on all aspects of the business. Other steps after that are of course hiring the very best staff possible while you take on your initial growth as a business. Acquiring new business & maintaining existing clients is the next evolution for us. Social media avenues we implemented last year have been incredibly successful for us but we need to stay on top of the curve & remain competitive. We will be implementing some larger budget/volume advertising techniques that integrate with social media with goals of achieving a larger future market share in the next few years. This is a very exciting business to continue building & applying equal amounts of energy to Cycling & the business is a constant balancing act. Futuristically speaking We hope to soon hire a sharp sales representative that can look after all avenues of future business growth with the focus being Builder/Commercial all while maintaining existing customer relationships. I spent some time in Palm Springs with a fellow I nicknamed Sandtani. Sandy & I put in some solid consistent riding racking up the volume & building a great friendship. We did a few group rides down in the desert & I felt more than comfortable mixing it up with the A group each time. Was great to get some pre season race simulation in my legs. After a week off back home that was much required from all the mileage I am ready for action at tonight's spin class with the coach. I'm excited to see how the body feels & decide whether I can apply the gas or back off of the pedal. The nice part is I am becoming smarter & more competent with nutrition specifically post workout, recovery (active or complete) & listening to my body for cumulative fatigue. It sounds lame but your body does actually give you the most subtle signs that fatigue is current & burnout is imminent. It's whether we are too proud or overconfident to listen to the advice the body has to offer. I found that i need to back off the gas pedal when the body & mind are tired simultaneously. This gives clear signs that your adrenals are somewhat depleted & cumulative fatigue is too high & it's time to back off. How long to back off is the next learning curve for me i'm trying to decipher. We will see how it goes. Also wanted to send a shout out to Chris Hooper was good to ride with ya in the desert congrats again on Hoops Junior! Until then back to the indoor trainer & seeing how another training camp can fit into the schedule. Happy Training. Jevro

Bikin & Hikin

Time for a blog update in the off season. Been pretty steady as she goes for riding & the business. Was able to sneak away to Maui for a couple weeks at the End of November with my buddy Patrick. Patty was great to ride with on the trip as we had quite similar strengths although longer climbs he definitely had the advantage. Every time I climb it seems to be becoming more and more enjoyable to do which could be a good thing for racing. We had some great rides from part of the way to Hana, the West Maui loop, climbing Haleakala a couple times which had it's highlights. We were able to run into Ryder Hesjedal, Rob Britton & Tyler Farrar on the climb up & at the top which was a highlight of the trip for sure. It would be great to have a place in Maui one day near Paia which is at the base of Haleakala. I would even consider getting a place in Makawao or Haiku which are part way up the hill. All in all a great trip.

Being back home the birdman made the executive decision to come back to his home nest in Calgary which I'm super stoked about. Training with him definitely encourages me to elevate my game continuously. Now I will be able to have some good sessions with coach VanDyk, Birdman & G-Force! Have already crushed some trainer sessions at the Talisman & am looking forward to laying more base miles indoors Jan-Feb.

Was able to get in my first hike which turned into a very fulfilling journey with J Sparling & N Hamilton which was awesome. Climbed up Mt Allen & had to grow a pair on a few sections but got er done & will be ready for another episode of epic hiking!

Had a solid week off & I'm now ready to focus on more base & the build into early season March racing in B.C if things line up

only CX race of the year

Decided to race the last CX race of the year on the Alberta circuit.

Figured I'd rock the hard tail. Wow that thing is fast but not as fast as cross bikes unfortunately. I will be doing some MTB races early next season with the main focus still being on Road.

Back to training in the off season & seeing how fit I can get!

I hope some of our Alberta boys crush other riders at Cross Nationals & get themselves on the podium!

Jevro

Off Season

Off season is upon us. For me that will mean working harder than I have in the past winter off season.

As cross season is about to start my energy levels are finally back to normal. Got a hard tail mountain bike that I have been rocking a lot in Fish creek. Good to get out & crush some miles without a dedicated training regime in place.

I won't be racing any cross this year as I want to re-start my training program at the beginning of October. Laying a E1/E2 base from October-January I think will really set things up when intensity starts in February.

Had a great chat with the coach for off season plans & 2012 goals to try our best to achieve.

Looking forward to putting my head down & starting up a larger volume based program.

In the meantime it's riding the hard tail & trying to watch a few cyclocross races here & there.

End of the season

Since Devon I was on a big high feeling strong & confident going into Cat3. I had already achieved 2 of my 3 goals for the season which were winning a race & getting into Cat3. My body unfortunately wasn't ready for the 3rd loftiest goal of getting into 1/2 before the end of the season.

The plan after Devon was to go back into a build phase & be ready to throw down in Cat3. My body ended up in a serious hole that I couldn't get out of despite recovery & top ups on vitamins & rest. I was flat. No power to the engine room was left. I had raced more this season than I ever have yet in Triathlon/Cycling. Even though I was listening to my body & trying to be careful with recovery the intensity had caught up to me. I ended up taking chunks of training days off just to try & bring my body back to equilibrium again. This never really happened & I gave Tour De Bowness a chance to maybe salvage any form that was left for the season.

The road race was 132km in the Cochrane area & although the weather wasn't blistering hot it was enough to bonk my already flat form. On the beginning of the third lap I made a gutsy call to bridge to the 5 man breakaway up front & thought this might be the final selection. The peloton reintegrated shortly after & the race turned bad to ugly for me from there. I started to bonk & became dehydrated & the body started to cramp. Although consuming calories & fluid regularly throughout the race this obviously wasn't enough. I got dropped by the main group on the final hill with serious cramping & clawed my way back on the flats. Tried bridging to a group ahead of us & this ended up being my last match. Ended up reintegrating with the peloton & got popped again on the last hill leading to the finish.

The next day the hill climb went much the same followed by the crit the next day. No power, flat as a pancake & watching the race with no top end power left in the tank.

In summary I went from feeling strong & confident leading into Cat3 to feeling weak & vulnerable ending my season. Not a feeling I wanted however I hope this is a learning curve for the future.

I know I can be strong but have to recognize each athletes body responds differently to all types of intensity in different amounts. I have to recognize that my body was extra sensitive in the ladder part of my season & make future adjustments.

This was a year of accumulating points & next season will be better planned out with races being spaced more appropriately from each other.

I am excited for the off season & will be doing some running & swimming & just general relaxation. Heading to Kelowna with the girlfriend on the 19th to watch the ITU National triathlon championships & catchin up with Birdman.

Devon GP

I was able to race the Devon GP the following weekend which consisted of 4 stages with an overall GC.

First stage was a short 2km prologue through the town of Devon. It rained earlier in the day so the roads were somewhat slick. I pushed it on the straights but played it relatively safe in the corners finishing 4th in Cat4.

Second stage was a 16km TT & was able to take the win. It was a relatively flat course with pretty balanced wind conditions. Not too much of a tail wind nor head wind. Starting to realize that the Time Trial can be a strength for me & I need to be riding the TT bike more.

This gave me the lead in GC which created some nervous energy. Crashing in the Velocity Road Race with GC lead was still somewhat fresh in the mind. Had to shake the nerves.

Third stage was a crit in the town of Devon which had a few time bonus prems during the race. I decided to compete for the prems knowing that this was probably eliminating my chances of the final sprint win. Ended up 6th place & kept GC.

My legs were not feeling great at all for the beginning of the fourth stage which was a 90km road race. The hamstrings were really tight so I knew I didn't want to gamble on a sprint. Early in the race was at the front feeling the presence of riders waiting for the chance to mark GC leaders. I eased up when a few riders went off the front as I was in the mood for some strong accelerations throughout the race. before the 30km mark I attacked the group approx half a dozen times trying to bridge to the 3 man breakaway. I was successful but by the time I got there the group was cooked. The peloton came back together shortly after. A few riders surged on a downhill section into the valley & I tried going with them to see if any separation would occur. Peloton stayed together & we all ended up climbing out of the valley in a large pack. A few good rollers were up ahead before the turn around & there were already 2 riders that had attacked up ahead. Patrick an Independent rider attacked to bridge & I went with him as we rode up to the 2 riders. We caught the break which were Isa & Dave H & we had a 4 man break at the turn around. Patrick & myself immediately took up the pace making as we saw the peloton was strung out at the turn around. In doing so Dave H played his team tactics of shutting me down in the race by disrupting our 4 man paceline. With this disruption 4 other riders caught us which brought the break away to 8. I attacked a few more times to see if we could get some separation but the break stayed together. The hill back out of the valley dropped Lance Adamson with Juventus, Dave H & Isa with PRW & we were down to 5 riders. I sensed a bit of fatigue from Chris H so I launched another half a dozen attacks once our 5 man selection was made. I was hoping he would get popped & his other teammate would be inclined to pace his GC man back up. Was almost successful but the group ended up staying together until the end. With all the attacks throughout the day I didn't have an enormous sprint but enough to take 2nd place & 1st in GC.

The GC win this weekend felt really good as I worked tremendously hard trying to force a break in the RR & it finally played out that way. Isolating riders in a break is something I feel will be a strength in the future.

Coach AKA Big Boss Man Jack VanDyk is putting me into another build phase before the upcoming Tour De Bowness stage race late July & Jason Lapierre race first week of August.

Congrats to all other racers this weekend & thanks to the Volunteers & town of Devon for hosting a great race.

Banff Bike Fest

Raced the Crit & part of the Road race at Banff Bike Fest last weekend.

Weather was very rainy made it quite dangerous for cornering.

The crit was a fast pace with a hairpin turn in it. This turned out to be a playground for sketchy riders causing mayhem each lap. lines being cut off, brakes being used like drug fiends. Just an abundance of sketchiness for the crit. Managed to finish safely in 5th place. It was a dangerous race but good to see what the crit peloton is like in the rain.

Road Race was a 6 lap course around Tunnel Mountain with the end of each lap being a very wet descent into downtown banff. Tried bridging up to two other riders early On in the race but was reeled back in by the peloton. Had to recover at the back of the group for the remainder of the lap while a 4 man breakaway was able to make some ground on the group. Since the Cat 3/4's were combined this race it made for the largest peloton (50+ riders) I've experienced yet. Was good experience. on the 4th lap I tried bridging to the breakaway again hoping someone would come along & it wasn't happening. Instead RMCC waited for me to tire & then one of their riders launched off on his own. I think he ended up bridging to the group which is quite impressive. I didn't have the gas to go on my own & ended up back in the main group again to recover. Flat rear tire shortly after & my race was done.

Being able to experience a few races in the rain in a large group with fast speeds & a tricky descent was valuable for me.

Hopefully Devon GP & Canada Crit coming up on the schedule.

inching closer & closer to Cat 3...

Slick video

Compliments of our veteran teammate Dallas Morris.

Top Gear RoAD Cycling Team. from dallas on Vimeo.

Ride With The Coach

Great Shot of our Top Gear/Road Team

Yesterday my Coach Jack Vandyk & I pre rode the Banff Bike Fest courses for 2011's upcoming races.

Jack has really helped me develop a strong base in the off season & continues to develop my riding ability into the race season. We have a longterm plan & I'm excited to see what the future brings.

The Tunnel Mountain road race will be a great race with some good rollers & a couple of somewhat challenging hill sections.

I will be racing the cat4 criterium & the Cat 3/4 road race coming next week. As Jack says try to keep the ponies in the barn until the time is right.

Pigeon Lake Road Race

A frustrating race to say the least.

111km 4 lap road race.

Got away with an ERTC rider in a break but the pack turned it up & we were caught within 2-4km

Beginning of 3rd lap got caught up in a "no where to go" situation with a crash in front of me. Ended up slamming my adams apple on some guys rear wheel so hard feels like I have strept throat right now.

Got in a few other surges off the front which didn't end up successful.

Tried soloing away from the pack on the 4th lap but shut down as well.

Uphill sprint to the finish didn't have enough juice ended up 6th-7th.

Burnt all my matches before the finish when my plan was to chill out.

Pretty upset with myself right now.

Oh ya to top it all off ABA apparently ruled me as a DNF so am not eligible for any points.

Awesome.

Back to the drawing board.

Jevro

Velocity 2011- Bitter Sweet Sensation

Velocity consisted of a TT/Crit/RR over a 2 day period.

I was able to ride strong for the short TT circuit & take the win & overall GC lead for the first event.

In the crit I wrestled with trying to protect my GC by marking riders & also trying to remain in contention for a potential podium. Ended up burning too many matches & placed mid park with GC lead in tact.

Road race was vicious. 4 laps 90km total with horrendous cross winds & head winds that took a toll on all Categories today.

Being the only Top Gear/Road racer in cat4 this weekend I had a difficult time protecting GC & remaining in contention for the win.

It seemed as though I was being marked by certain teams in the group that waited for me to make a play. A few breaks tried to get away in the first 3 laps but were shut down by the pack.

the main pack allowed (Maybe I'm wrong) a 5 man group to pull away on the beginning of the 4th final lap. Trying to be disciplined I watched them drift ahead thinking that the wind would be too much. If it wasn't hopefully they wouldn't be to far away for me to bridge to them & then make a final attack.

They ended up gaining time on the group & I realized I was in a real dilemma. Attack to bridge & get caught or get away. A synergy rider had already tried bridging & was between the peloton & the breakaway. I waited for the cross/tail wind section to start which was about half way into the lap & I attacked. I was able to bridge to the synergy rider & then we pushed the pace to try & stay away.

We passed a few guys who popped from the break away & it looked as though we would be racing for 3rd/4th place.

I took the final turn which would lead to an approximate 1.2 kilometer cross windy section to the finish & when I was just about to finish the turn a cross wind gust seemed to of caught my 808 rear perfectly & I flew into the ditch.

Some roadrash & some psychological struggles I was back onto my bike for a very disappointing solo ride to the finish. I'm sure I got bounced out of Top ten in the GC with the crash as a bunch of guys passed me.

Overall I am happy with the performance this weekend. Protecting GC even in a cat4 race with no teammates is no easy task. I am learning that this can be a daunting responsibility & difficult to balance if you want to win races as well as GC.

Learning about wheel choice with strong cross winds & maybe thinking a clincher is better than a tubular in road racing for braking is another good lesson. Aluminum braking surface may be the best way for better control especially in crits & Road races.

All in all not sure if I earned enough points to move into Cat3 but we will soon find out.

If not keep trucking in Cat4!

Wildcat roubaix

Wildcat Roubaix was a very difficult 50km race consisting of close to 18% grade gravel hills & plenty of other difficult rollers.

Dallas Morris hosted a great event that turned out to be an incredible sufferfest for all who participated.

It was a group start for the open A/B Men/Women as the total field was only around 40. Great turnout for the first race!

A lead break away quickly formed at the first climb which happened to be the KOM consisting of Shawn Bunnin, Troy H & 2 other strong riders.

I raced tempo with Top Gear teammate Craig Fraser along with Speed theory Trev W. & Synergy's Mark M. & other fellow riders to try & bridge the gap. I was able to latch onto an independent rider trying to bridge to the breakaway & we were able to bridge starting the final lap. I wasn't able to recover quickly enough at the back of the group & with rollers ahead got dropped by the now 5 man breakaway.

Ended up working well with Trev W. & Craig D. all the way up to the final big hill.

Trev gapped me near the peak but I was able to close it down near the top & nipped him in a sprint finish.

6th overall no ABA points but this race helped set the tone for the beginning of 2011.

Thanks to Dallas & all the volunteers for making this race happen!

Quotes From Cavendish

Passion was the difference between riding at 100 percent & 110 percent. Passion allowed you to suffer through pain. Passion was emotion, not science; racing, not performance. Passion was what separated me and dozens of more talented lads whom I was beating and would continue to beat.

I had two things he couldn't plot on a graph: passion & ability to suffer. To me, there was no limit. There was no universal rule of cycling except that the bloke who rode faster won the race.