Karma

I arrived back from Guelph a little later than I would have liked and missed the SSS (sunday snowshoe something) which I was really looking forward to.Riding in the cold and on the trainer if fun but if there is ever a chance to mix it up with a group I'd mix it up.

My friend Justin's (whom I live with) father and wife were planning on coming over for dinner and a movie around 6:30 so as soon as I arrived home from Guelph I had to get ready for a 3hr hilly endurance ride before they arrived.The work out is what makes missing that SSS even more poopy because it would have fit in perfectly.

The ride started with a blizzard followed by more blizzard so I decided I would take the back way to Hawkstone with a side of the back way to Hardwood Ski and Bike for a hot chocolate. The road conditions were alright, kinda slushy with some ice hiding below.I did however mange to make it through without a fall.Heading towards Hardwood the head wind was fairly strong and my forehead was feeling the pain and the only solution was to put the head down and give er.

Arrived at Hardwood said hi to Ben and the gang, drank my hot chocolate then headed back out into the white stuff.Ride back to Hawstone flew by with that tail wind, I looked down at my Garmin 405 at one point and the Manondale was doing 46 .5 kmh!!I decided to take woodland dr. back home instead of the 15th to get a little more hillage into the ride.Climbing a hill and a car flew by me I was like wow because on the bike you can feel the ice under you and sure enough on the decent I saw a guy in the middle of the road walking in circles.As I got closer I saw his car on it's roof in a swamp, road up to him asked if he was alright he said ya and was on the phone to someone so I continued on my way after all I didn't want my heart rate to drop.

Made it back to my house in just under 3hrs, showered up and got ready for dinner.The lesson here is dont drive past cyclists too fast cause god will flip your car into a swamp. and on that bomb shel it's time to end good night.

Cheers

a hi and bye

Just a super fast update for you guys and gals.Road the trainer today for I think it was 1:45 just doing spin things and one legged doo hickeys. My legs have been feeling a little tired theses last few day so the workout trained just as much mental just as it did physical.However got through the hole thing and was very much proud of my self.

Tomorrow I am headed down to Guelph for a birthday party so I am packing up not one but two beers and getting totally out of control.For those who don't know me my alcohol tolerance is as follows one beer=feeling good, two beer=hammered not a hole lot of room there so it should make for a good time.

cheers

In additon to the previous post.....

I felt bad about having nothing to say about my training so I fixed it.Also realized why you shouldn't post until you are about ready for sleeps.

I had to drop my car off to my sister because her's is in the shop getting fixed so I loaded up what I am now calling my training boot and headed down to her apartment.The original Idea was to drop off the car and walk back to my house in my 10lb boots and kinda get a muscle endurance type work out.The walk would be about half a hour which I thought was a little short so I implemented a game I made up for riding in town.

The game rules-First of all you cant stop so when there is a stop light you must cross the street on the legal side,when you come to a four way stop then you can pick your direction, you cant cross the street unless there is a stop sign or light which are green and you can never cut corners you have to keep it legal and legit.So those are the rules.The basic idea is to increase the time your out by an unknown amount.

The walk-It is a little chilly out side so the face was cold but other than that everything was warm and toasty.since it was a walk there was loads of time to think and take in the brisk winter air.Road conditions were smooth and icy I was thinking the hole time I need to be riding these roads.Total time 2hrs which worked out just fine.

well back to my tea and grilled cheese with pepper infused mozzarella!!

cheers

Trainer day.

Today's work out I needed to keep a eye on the HR a little more so I decided to stay in and ride the trainer and because of this I wont be telling you of my riding adventures.

On a non training note Sram has introduced a 9 speed cassette based on the xx design.The cassette is expected to weigh 10-15 grams lighter than xx and sporting all the same technology.What does this mean? Well I can now toss the xtr cassette long with all that xtr shadow crap I had on my bike last year. Don't get me wrong shimano does have some good product out there, for instance their cranks are the best in my opinion and their lower end product line seems to work way better than the "other guy".But when it come to high end light weight components buy sram (xtr crank is an exception). So next years rig will be powered by the new xg999 cassette,xo rear mech,sram red front mech,kmc x9 chain,xtr crank and xo grip shifters.

Cheers.

Jacob stole all the story.

Well usually when you ride with someone who also blogs you can count on them leaving out some part of the day, but not today Jacob has nail the ride dead on so check it. I do have some small details tho...

Lets start with my addition in equipment. The last couple rides have not been gentle on the old booties so the toes are starting to rip a bit allowing a little cold air into the shoe.I decided this morning I would take a page from Brendo and use plastic bags on top of the socks with the booties over top of the shoe.I thought it would only help a bit but to my surprise the plastic bags almost acted like a sweat box but without the sweating and kept my feet above the frozen mark.So I'm shouting out to Brendo for this piece of brilliance.

Jacob talked about his new tires and how they are awesome for traction and stuff but I found a minor problem with them.So studded tire equals fantastic traction and riding when by yourself but when riding with someone with out studded tire equals man with studded tire working harder and man with out studs not working as hard.Thus when you are both do similar workouts the small group can be split up often which can make for an unsocial ride.I guess the only solution would be for me to get a pair.....

Back at headquarters I tested Jacobs Giant tcr which I am most likely getting for my 2010 road bike, like 16.5 pounds for a grand less than what I could buy a Madone for I'm thinking Giant. The ride is a little stretched out so I'm think a shorter stem and the fit would be good.Also I was informed that if I wanted one I would have to change the grip tape color and pedals which means I have to find some white grip tape and pedals...

cheers.

First post not from a computer

This morning the plan was to do the workout of the day outside.Jacob was going to meet me half way between my house and his, then would do some sort of 2 hour ish ride.

On the way to meet Jacob the ride was feeling a little soft and when I looked down at my rear tire it was confirmed I had my first flat of the 2010 season. I road it on 10 psi to meet Jacob to tell him what the happy hap was and the ride was mostly going to be cut short for me. We got to Old Barrie Rd and parted ways me to fix the flat and him to finish the ride.

Arrived at the Bike Stop and put the bike on the stand as well as gloves on the hands. Turns out the valve separated from the tube, I'm guessing old age.Finished up and hit the streets.

After all the warm ups and cool downs it was hard to get back into the grove again so I put in another half hour of spin ups on the beach trail and called it. On the way out I hit up a snowmobile track but my front tire fell through causeing an epic over the handle bar/superman type thing so I gathered myself and took the road home.
Cheers







- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Monday Monday

Another Monday night gathering tonight this time since there wasn't a huge amount of people confirmed and I didn't have a car or snowshoes Jacob,Liz and I decided to start a little early and go to Scouts Valley for a hike.

The Only boots I have at the Orillia household are some -100 degree steel toe boots which weigh in around 10lbs.The three of us headed up the climb into Scouts for what would be a 51 minute hike. There was little snow coverage and what was there was packed down rather well which made it a little easier for hiking in my 10lb boots.Temperature was I think around the zero mark which meant I found myself stripping mid hike.The pace was fairly high and I struggled to keep up on the climbs but I kept my head up and continued strong.We went to a couple look out points but most of the views were either a concrete plant or the new Lakehead campus.

At the end of the night we had our laughs, climbed some hills, jumped across a river and enjoyed the great outdoors.cheers folks.

Matt drinks coffee, me beer

Matt drinks coffee early in the morning and writes his blog then goes off to work. While I drink beer earlier in the morning then go off to sleep.We each have our ways and I bet both of us by the end of our posts are feeling chipper.So here's my story for the day, it's a little long so im sorry but does include some crashes and things.

My friend and I drove down to Guelph yesterday to send off a good friend so I went to the calender and made a couple changes and switched my work out and my day off.Sunday is my normal rest day, I like to say it's because I go to church but that's not the case.

Jacob and I had an other manly ride in the works for Sunday night which would make for a good 3hr or so ride but some time plans don't work out the way you planned them.The route was set by Jacob all iI had to do is show up at his house for 6:00pm for the ride.The basic plan was to go the long way to Barrie, stop have a coffee and head home.Since my car is in the shop I had no choice but make my manly night ride even more manly by riding to and from Jacob's house which I think adds 17kms one way so would make for an additional 32kms.

I headed out the door for which should only be a 40min ride in winter at about 5:00.The weather conditions where not in my favor as it was poring rain with no signs of letting up.In Orillia the roads where not so bad besides from the fog, reduced visibility and rain I was however confident that I would make it to Jacobs on time.

Today's work out was some hilly endurance so when I came to my first hill I got into climbing mode and started to power up.Now I don't know if it's because I'm jacked from training or there was ice on the road but for the first time in my road cycling history I spun out on a climb and was forced to walk the rest.Cross country I have spun out on a climb because it was muddy or because of wet roots but never on pavement.Being an over confident rider once at the top of the icy hill I descended that bastard just as fast as if it were dry and with great success which was too much of a confidence booster.

Main roads weren't too bad I could handle walking a little bit if my bike spun out but once I turned onto Lakeshore near Carthew Bay which is a local traffic small road that is where the problems began.First corner equaled first fall which wasn't so bad I landed on my bike and together we slid for 20 or so feet while my bottle slid for an extra 10 (he's kinda a show off).Collected my bottle and my thoughts and moved to the next problem area.In order to get onto the 13th line you must climb out of Carthew Bay which is not a large hill but one that doesn't apparently see a snow plow, salt or sad.With the rain the snow turned to ice with out the salt truck it stayed that way and for I guy riding a bike with slicks on that meant fall number two.This one was a little worse, I landed on my bike but the bike didn't like that so it kicked me off along with my bottle which also didn't like me so it left and rolled away leaving me with my hands on the ground and looking around to see if any night time doog walker saw what had just happened.No one did thank god but my hands were soaked and getting cold fast.A couple more slips and almost falls and I was on the 13th and soon enough rolled into Jacobs house an hour ish after I left my house.

We headed off into the night with me with my headlight dead,one front blinky light and a rear blinky light which were still operating and Jacob with full lights.Within the first two kms my hands were the most frozen they had ever been due to them being soaking wet.With no sympathy from Jacob and him just repeating this is a manly ride and your acting like a boy I sucked it up, pulled my fingers out of the glove fingers and balled them up inside the palm of the glove.One major draw back to this decision was that I lost all controls over braking and shifting but being a manly ride this was some how accepted.

Between my fingers being cold and the less busy roads being covered with ice we decide to cut the ride a little short and move to the more traveled ridge rd.We got rid of the Icy roads but didn't get rid of my cold hands which meant I was starting to get a little grumpy.Jacob got on the phone to Liz and asked if she could meet us at the coffee shop and bring me a pair of lobster claw gloves.This motivated me and the pace increased to get us there a little faster.

At the coffee shop we warmed the digits,chatted about stuff and things, drank our drank then departed with my fresh gloves and a belly full of foamy coffee.Ride back to Jacobs was heavy paced andwarm, full of joy and laughter. We departed in hawkstone and I braced myself for hell frozen over which was Lakeshore.I always miss my turn onto Lakeshore off the 13th and without a light this made it really hard for me.I was flying down the 13th coming up on a side rd thinking to myself is this lakeshore?yes it is "shit" I tried to make the turn doing like 25kmh but slid out landed on my bum, then my shoulder and finally my head.Of course my bottle was out of there, he took my helmet with him and left me with a Manondale with the rear wheel half out of the dropout.Once angain gathered my thoughts,helmet water bottle and moved on.

Lakeshore I decided to take it easy so I coasted down the hill with no problems.With that I moved onto the more traveled roads and made it back with no more falling.

To sum up I drew blood for the first time this year,hurt my shoulder for the first time this year,fell for the first time this year and got chased by two big dogs for the first time this year but that another story.Thanks for reading.cheers

Training grounds

Jacob and I hit up my regular summer training grounds today at the Tudhope Park in Orillia.There was a little more white stuff than I am used to but the Manondale didn't let me down.As with all those recreational trails you get the odd walker or dogs walking their owners but they make for good single track practice so it's all good.Conditions were perfect the right temp,hard crusty snow and the beautiful sun.Jacob and I were even thinking that the MNS should have a night crit race on the rec trail it would make for some interesting racing.There was also talk about riding the snowmobile trail to Washago on the lake as part of a manly ride this coming Wednesday, if anyone is interested let us know.



There is something about this picture that screams Andrew Watson.
Cheers.

The hardest part of the trainer

I'm finding the day's I ride the trainer are the days I find the hardest to post.I mean if riding the trainer is boring you just know reading about someone riding one is even more boring. To make it more exciting I introduced my Mac and some old movies, which you would never watch unless you had 2.5 hours kill and you needed something keep you entertained. Today's movie of choice was The New Guy with Dj Qualls and Eliza Dushku. Worked well I think I laughed a couple times which took my mind off the hurt of intervals.

Tomorrow I'm heading out to Sebright to get some brakes put on the Subaru, I let it slip to my mom that the car had less than perfect brakes and that in order to slow it down it requires you to downshift the automatic.My mom of course did not like this and booked me in at the local garage. There is something nice about a small town garage in that they love the cash and their labor prices are still from the 90's. Also on the agenda for tomorrow is the manly ride 3.0 which will start at my place about 10:15am.So if your looking to ride be there.Cheers

Manly Ride 2.0

This morning my alarm went ding at about 8:44 to wake me for the manly ride Jacob and I had planned for the day.I went to my Iphone to check the weather on the weather app and didn't like what it had to say, a temp of -12.I sent off a text to Jacob making sure all was still a go for our manly ride, sure enough it was so I got out of my warm bed and packed the car.The ride started off really cold on the face and continued that way for a good 20 minutes.I was told to do some hilly endurance so Jacob worked out a route that would meet my needs.I would tell you where we went but I am constantly lost and had no clue where I was.Maybe I should figue out this gps thing on my watch.Anyways we popped out onto Horseshoe Valley RD for the descend into the Valley and the ascend.Between the traffic,snow,ice,big down hill,steep up hill and transport trucks that was the scariest part of the ride.Part of the manly ride deal was to stop in at a coffee shop of sorts warm the feet and have a cup of jo, as we were riding we figured out the closest thing to a coffee shop was Hardwood Ski and Bike and their new machine.Besides from the price of their specialty coffee it wasn't bad tasting you just had to get over all those skiiers leaving their bags on every table and chair in the chalet.30 minutes back to Jacobs house and the ride was done.

Good ride, decent turnout, Matt you suck for not coming and good night folks.Cheers

blank last night not blank today

last night I didn't really have to much to say so I didn't post.Something inspired me to post a mid day update now so here it goes.

Heather didn't get back from the city until late Sunday so she didn't have time to send me my schedule and then we had a emailing issue on Monday, thus me not knowing really what to do with myself on Monday.Monday's however for me are usually the same old muscle endurance in the gym and MNS snowshoe at night, so that is what I did.

Gym portion of the work out is going well,Heather has got me building muscle endurance so I'm pushing 50 reps x 3 sets of what ever I do.I now know what Arnold was talking about when he said he loved the pump.

MNS snowshoe went to a new location on the 5th line off horseshoe valley.Snow conditions were alright with a icy layer on top and a heavy snow layer on the bottom.The forest it's self was sapling littered for the first half the Mountains the second half.Now I receaved my schedule today and Heather said to do one hr of zone 2 on rolling terrain some zone 3 is ok.Well I dont think I could truthfully call this rolling terrain.We first started to ascend Mt.Everest which was a very steep with deep snow, after that was conquered we decended and moved to K2 which half way up Molly needed help to climb over a log....we almost had to leave he behind, Kanchenjunga was the last to be climbed and at the base Andrew expressed his dislike towards mountains but never the less we all got to it and climb out of the mountainy area.The rest of the snowshoe was fairly tame, we tried to push dead tree's over but most were very much alive,Jacob managed to get one down but it split in three almost killing half of us.Made it back to the car all safe and sound talked about things and stuff then packed up and headed home.

So that was my mid day I'm off to the trainer room to ride the bicycle.Cheers

HA Ha Ha ooooooh

Today was the trip down to Joy Ride and what a place that is.I would have to say slice bread doesn't have anything on Joy Ride.I'd like to thank Mark Summers for the tour of the place and lending us the sick bikes.

So the day started at quarter to eight which was a little earlier than what I'm used to but whenever you have a chance to ride in a indoor bike park you do it.Arrived at Andrew's house about 8:45 with no sign of Spak.Went inside had a cup of jo, talked then loaded the van.One minute after 9:00 Spak raced in the driveway, we loaded his bike and hit the road towards Toronto.

Upon arrival we signed our waivers,found out that Matt was born January 16 2010 and got our pictures taken.I have to admit when you walk into the building you kind of wounder if you should have brought leg and arm warmers but I guess since there is no wind inside you need the building temp a little cool (a couple laps around the xc loop fixed this).All kitted out in our spandex we met out side the change room for our personal tour by Joy Rides very own Mark Summers.He first showed us the pump track, skinnys, jump lines then the grand tour of the xc track.I don't want to bore you with describing it twice so check out Andrew's blog to read the fine details.Matt also took some pics today so tomorrow at a ungodly hour he should post them.Biggest down fall to Joy Ride is now I am going to have to get a freeride bike....thanks Mark.

So here is the bottom line, if you like riding your bike and you want do so in the winter with out staring at a wall check out joy ride.Best ride of the season,non stop laughs and you could even incorporate it into your work out.Here are some pics and movies.cheers

If there was a rad 2 this is what the kids would look like.Neon colors out spandex in.
Norco's Andrew Watson

feelin it

This morning I hit the road with Jacob for another lovely April ride.The sun was bursting through the clouds as we road to Trek Store.Upon arival we stopped in at secound cup for some jo then headed into the shop.Talked to Jer about this and that ,what joy ride is like, his trip there this Monday, bikes so on so on.On the ride back my legs finally felt like they wanted to be on the ride and started to participate in the activity so much so we passed and dropped a tractor.Pics from the ride sponsored by Jacob.

This has been a hard week for me since the weather has been nice.So I decided to hit the joy ride with Matt and Andrew and hopefully recover a bit.We leave Barrie at 9:00 so judging by my post time I wont have much sleep.Oh well. I'll take some pics and vids for tomorrow. cheers

April?

Today Jacob and I took advantage of the warm weather and road into the sunrise.I'm not sure 11:00am is sunrise but that's when I opened the door and the sun hit my eyes.No breakfast so we hit up a local coffee shop for some muffins where out side we ran into a pretty lady,so pretty I was speechless when she greeted us or maybe it because I think her daughter is pretty to. Anyways headed out to loop the Couchiching Ocean in the brightness of the yellow sun.Road conditions for the most part were clear, dry and not busy however there were a couple spots with slush.In fact Jacob and I road our bicycles past a big four wheel drive truck that couldn't make it through.As we road through Rama we counted the smoke shacks then were thrown off by a Hungarian camp. When we arrived back in Orillia and road the beach trail, receiving many looks from the oncoming dog walkers and even one of them told Jacob he had good semen or go to see... we were going to fast to make it out what she said exactly. Back to my apartment at a finishing time of 2.5 hours or something close to that.Good warm ride with a hint of that April smell.

After the ride we headed to the Bike Stop to do some dh ski tuning and fix Spaks brakes.The tuning portion went well where as the brakes took more time to clean than bleed.So for those out there with a bike they ride in salt and if it has disc brakes take them off or get a disposable pair.

Cheers people and I leave you with the song of the day which comes all the way from france!!I'm not sure why I like it so much.

Alizee

another late night posting.

The MNS group met up tonight or I guess that would be last night now for some dashing through the snow.Fairly good pace, Liz is keeping us guy's in check which is fantastic.She might actually be going a little fast for herself though it seemed every time I looked over she had fallen,but maybe her snowshoe's were meant for someone else's feet.

This just in Andrew Watson is reported to be switching from cross country mountain bike racing to Triathlons for the 2010 season. An informant at AWI leaked this statement saying "Im also changing into Triathlon this season"-Andrew Watson.This statement has not been tampered with in any way and comes from a reliable source which due to privacy agreements I can not disclose his/her's real identity. I here at Tristan Spurr Cornering Extraordinaire wish Andrew the best of luck in his new and drastic career choice. Before signing off I would like to pass on some of my own words and wisdom's to help Andrew for his 2010 season, like not to forget to wear a nose guard and jock for the swim, anti chafing butter is a must for the bike and well running is just stupid,if it were me I would pull the old "if it's not taped"and skip the run all together but that's just me.

Cheers folks.

When in Sebright....

Yesterday I started with a early trip to the gym to do some back work then headed home to hit up the old cyclops fluid.Work out was a mixture of spin-ups and isolated legs so by the end I was glad to be off.

Afternoon rolled around and I headed out to Sebright to watch the football game with the lads and consume some fajitas.Between games we did what any Sebrighter would do and sparked up a bonfire.I had just drained the old gasoline from the snowmobile so we used that to start it."pooof" and it was lit, -20 quickly turned to +40 and beyond.All in all good day and night.

Tonight season 3 of chuck is airing so a recommend all to flip the channel over to nbc at five.

Technical skilz

As I was doing some night riding on the streets of Orillia I discovered that riding in slush was much like the past summer we had, it kind of had that muddy consistency.There was a lot of correcting and sliding with a side of balancing. So chico im gettin ready for ya, make it rain.

Other than that I went to the gym and got jacked, had dinner at the parents and started the escape from new york/escape from L.A series.Peace home sauces.

Short but sweet

So good 2:10 snowshoe in the 8th today.I think the Mns group needs to head there,nice open forest with good rolling hills and apparently lots to explore I think I found a lake if not a lake then a pound or an oversize puddle.

I havnt been feeling %100 it't like I have the headache part of the sickness but nothing else.Last couple nights I have been making every effort to watch both season of The office UK with a side of their xmas special and as we speak I just got dat down.I recommend it if you enjoy some British wit,you can find a link on the side where you can watch all T.V online if you wish.All for now.

Glossary

dat-A word commonly used through out the gangster community's meaning "that"

Just another manic Monday

Today was fill with downs and up's as I started it with a phone call from my mother telling me that our dog of 15 years had to be put to sleep today.He has been ill for a while with a tumor which was pushing on his spleen cause uncomfortableness and hardness of breathing. My mom is really good with animals and has been treating him by any means necessary for the last 3 years but the last couple months his body was just shutting down and last night could hardly breath.It's sad because he had been with us while all four of us kids were growing up and was with us for the good and the bad.He was a big fan of carrots so we are going to bury him in our little pet cemetery and plant some carrots for him to enjoy.

The "up" was that I met up with some good friends on a back road with snow falling and the only lights from Hardwood Ski and Bike were on which was a lot of light.Jacob, Liz and I decided to meet up for a hour warm up before the rest of the group arrived and just stomp around pushing over dead trees.Snowshoeing in the forest with no light is fantastic, very peaceful but also makes it hard to distinguish high spots and low spots so there were a couple falls had.We arrived back to the cars to meet with the "group" after making some animal noises to whom ever was there waiting.Turns out only Andrew got the memo about the snowshoe so Andrew, Liz, Jacob and I headed into the forest.We went up ravines then down them, then up, along side and then down them again, along the way Jacob was knocking any dead trees down for regrowth or so he said.A couple good bails by all including Jacob and I both loosing a snowshoe.All in all good time had by all and I leave you now with a quote from the office uk.

"If you want the rainbow, you've gotta put up with the rain - do you know which philosopher said that? Dolly Parton. And people say she's just a big pair of tits."

Mid day updateizle

So I'm in Lucknow for another day due to the weather being bad.I am going to try to get out for a snowshoe or something.

A new year

I went up to a Quaker gathering where we made all the oatmeal for the 2010 season.Being Quaker we know how to party and a lot of drinks,dancing, burning tree's later we brought in the new year.The party was on a farm in Lucknow where they farm old school with horses and stuff, so the morning after we all jumped on a horse drawn slay and went for a ride.


The gathering is 3 day's long so as for training not to much happened but did do some hill sprints and dancing.Hope you all had a happy new year