Livin

Been getting some good rides in the last couple days and the knees are feeling great!Still not all star perfect but on their way.Basically the best treatment so far has been putting a football (NFL not CFL) between my legs in the squat postion against a wall, squeeze the ball, hold for 20 seconds then rise.I repeat that through out the day when ever I find 20 seconds and it helps strengthen the VMO.There ya go a top tip.

Here are some pics from through out the week.

Long time ago

It's been a while since I hit up the ol' blog so I thought I'd write something up tonight.With University coming to an end my house mate have been slow disappearing, leaving the house to be my cycling castle.I pretty much put a bike in all their rooms and took over the fridge.With them leaving I added a new member to the house, my new Giant Advanced Sl Rabobank or The Rabo for short. It took a couple days to get in to see Andrew Doble for a bike fit but once all said and down it was worth the wait.The Rabo is unlike any previous road bike I've owed, with the ISP, full Dura Ace, C50 deep dish wheels and amazingly good looks it is with out doubt the nicest thing I've put between my legs...The only thing I'm watching out for is the deep dish c50 wheels.When the wind works with you the wheels are stiff and fast but the second the wind becomes furious the wheels soon follow suit.I was out today on the Rabo and down by the lake I was fighting the good fight to keep the bike true.



This past weekend was P2A (Paris to Ancaster) where jacob and I returned for our second year battling the fleet on my parents croozer tandem.Last year we were cursed with many chain issues but blessed with awesome weather.This year was the opposite.It was like mother nature woke up early that morning and said "I'm gonna give ontario swamp weather (new term, meaning: A mix of all weather.example:Like mixing refreshing soda beverages)".With the poopy weather we found our selves doing all of the work when riding with people and when we would break free we would crash and those whom we passed would ride on and leave us were we stood for the pidgins.After the first and only time our chain dropped doing all the work for the sandbaggers became frustrating and the roadie games came into play.When we would have a cross wind, we would ride he shoulder.When guys were in our back draft we would do increases and decreases. There was also smack talk, but I won't go there...



Lazy racers weren't the only thing holding us back.With this super wet spring the farmers fields were still soft and when you put close to 400 punds of man and steel on soft ground you get 400 pounds of man and steel sinking into that farmers field. At times we were riding our easiest gear and throwing down 100 percent effort only to be producing slightly more than a turtles pace.The amount of mud this year also held us back.Last year there were only a couple sections that we had to run, this year if we weren't on pavement or gravel roads we were running.All the little things had us both in a mental slum and it wasn't until the final climb were we finally rid our selves of all that BS and lunch a ginormous attack to show the crowd what two men in florescent ski suits and aero helmets could do with a Trek cruiser tandem.There was screaming and crying and babies being made on the spot, but none of that mattered to us, all we wanted was the finish.And when the finish came, I shot a single arrow into the sky.Glorious. Twas a hard race but a good one, I'm looking forward to the start of a what looks to be a fun season.

Putting my Hardtail back together tomorrow. Gonna be pretty sweet I think, switching up gear ratios and trying a 12,27 cassette. Should be good livin, I'll let y'all know how it goes.

Cheers,

Tristan

On an ending note, here are some classes my brother blew for me. cool beans.

Weekend fun

Got in some pretty decent rides on the weekend, pretty stoked about it.Saturday morning I decided it was time to grab the tandem form my parents farm and bring it into to the shop so Jacob and I can get it tuned for P2A.One of my friends in town wanted to go along for the ride but didn't really know what he was getting himself into. The ride had many first for him such as first time using clipless pedals, first to riding 70k, first time on a bike not from walmart and first time riding a cruiser tandem.

Ride out was alright he just struggled with getting clipped in and out of the pedals.Pace was down as well but I solved that by riding on the shoulder.Once at the farm got the bike ready to roll and took on some water.I told him him the tandem would be faster than the mountain bike he road out on but when we got back on the road and the headwind was blowing us backward I knew I would have to work hard to show him the power of the tandem.For 35k I drilled it, putting 90% to the pedals.He was helping a bit but his pedaling technique was jiving with mine.Got back into town and was completely drained, I might eat breakfast next time...

Today got out for a nice around the lake ride.I like riding around Couchiching a lot, good pavement, good scenery and the roads for the most part are not busy.Only real problem is theres lots of sand this time of year.Good ride though, game me a chance to get a bit of a sun burn..

Cheers,

Tristan