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.