Cross training

In weather like this riding isn't really fun.To do something that was fun Jacob and myself hit up Hardwood Ski and Bike for some hickery.We loaded up the truck with our black coffee, work boots, chain saws and axes and headed to the forest.Chopping wood is a great cross training tool because it provides interval activity. As the motion of raising the splitting maul goes through its course, the triceps are extended, the abdominals are flexed, and the deltoids are recruited. Secondary stress is placed on the forearm flexors and the hip flexors during the course of one swing.Just a nice all around bod work out while heating your home and chillin with your man friends. Any ways its always nice to head out there and find a new way to work your body, go out and find your new way!! Cheers, Tristan

Someone has to do it

Since Matt is off and Andrew cant find his password I thought I should come back for a post or two. Been riding a lot over the last couple months with form coming back nicely.Actually super stoked about that but find I'm still lacking direction.Do I want to race or do I want to have fun on the bike at a fit level? I have all winter to find myself and with that hopefully some great weather to ride in. Ive seem to have managed spraining both of my big toes after completing the Marathon AWI Racing hosted.Pretty odd injury actually,I wonder how long it take to heal....the two little piggies have me off the bike and on the farm helping my parents get her ready for winter.It's been a nice break with some of that odd cross training you only find on a farm.You know- cutting trees,firewood stacking, stall cleaning, farm equipment repairs,digging holes,filling in holes..... and the list goes on.I might actually start a program.... Thats all I have for now but I'm going to try and get out in the storm tomorrow and find the tree that almost hit me tonight.Hopefully will have some pics or maybe a video! yawhooo Cheers, Tristan

Week of training

Been a solid roller coaster of mix weather training this week.We've pretty much had it all from sunny,windy,raining,snowy,hailing to freezing and I road it all.Riding in theses conditions for the most part can be fairly dangerous but one thing it does to a rider is make them mentally strong. I'm still not wearing the hr monitor or using any training aid but I think I logged in around 15hrs bike time this week which I'm fairly happy with.I'll leave ya'll with some photos and a vid of the after math which my Tuesday rain ride to Trek Store left me in.

Cheers,

Tristan

stub was almost my name today

Training has officially started today.What for?beats the hell out of me but I leaning to be average at O-cups and alright/fairly good at some endurance.I was already average at O-cups so that goal should be easy.I'm also some what interested in building some power.Maybe I'll train myself and see what creation I come up with.Sounds good to me!

Because I'm a bad ass manly man I road the winter bike outside today.Look at the weather app on the phone and it just said I'm retarded.It was the first time that app has been 100% correct.Not only is it crazy on the Monck road during the day but day traffic it's self hates cyclist. Total of two honks and too many close calls to count.I also forgot to mention the -14 not including windchill weather.Took me 20 extremely painful minutes to defrost my feet! Beautiful day however with an even more beautiful sun set.Good ride and good times.

Tomorrow is going to be a killer with a ride,gym and MNS snowshoe to top her off.Stoked!

Cheers,

Tristan

Soorry

Sorry I've been away but I had my self a little foot mishap on new years that has kept me off the bike...Still not really riding but I am back to the gym pumping iron.Sold the the Rabobank as well so looking at new bikes for next season.Ordered a Giant TCR Advanced SL 3 today for a road bike and thinking a Trek Superfly Elite for MTB.I think two very promising choices for what my goals are for the up coming season.

Going to try and get on the bike Sunday.I'll let yall know!

Cheers,

Tristan

Bout time

Its been a while since I've post but that because that hole marathon thing and me in bad way with muscle tightness.I'm slowly recovering and now just getting back on the bike.Finished building the winter bike last night and took it out for it's first spin this evening.Quickly said fack that and came home.Why? Christmas shoppers dont have time to be safe around cyclist riding at night.. So later or early rides!!

Last night got out with my people for a night ride in Midhurst.Just the right amount of snow covering and the right amount of attacks.Andrew and I split from the group a couple time which was when the most close calls happend but none the less there were still plenty of good battles for the group to see.By the time I'm done with Andrew he's going to be a rock.A dirty rock but a rock non the less.

Might make it out to copeland tomorrow for a group ride.Jacob says theres good scenery this time of year.

Cheers,

Tristan

Forest Gump turned to Terry Fox

Couple good MTB ride in the snowy forest have been down the last week or so.Not too much to report on them other than riding XC in the snow builds more skills than anything else.

Friday Jacob M and myself decided to run our first ever Marathon which we are now calling a Manathon.Jacob made the route and I just showed up late.Turns out he planned the route as if we were riding it and through in loads of solid hills and a beaver fever pond.Things were going solid for the first 25k but once we had to hike the the pond the freezing cold water cooled down our legs pretty good.Two k of that took us about an hour to conquer and made starting running again pretty hard.Non the less we pursued and demolished our non training for it Manathon.

Tried to get out for a ride with Andrew Saturday afternoon but my body only had about 3k of patheticness left in it.Not all a loss however, it helped a lot to loosen up the muscles.

Legs are feeling back to normal so Midhurst MNS it is.

Cheers,

Tristan

A new Spak

There isnt really a new Matt but Andrew is taking over his role as daily blogger.Someone had to do, Andrew I think you'll do great things with your new role.

Sunday got out for a nice group ride in the Valley with Jer,Tammy,Jacob,Andrew and Peter. The route was an "adventure" so no one but Andrew knew the route and I still dont even after riding it.Solid trails though, groomed and smooth.Peter might have to look back on some tech tuesdays though because his 30lb bike is less reliable than his racing rig and thats not how 30lb bikes role.

Looks like some good weeks to come and looking forward to riding them.Monday night ride tonight in Midhurst.Should be goodly fun.

Cheers,

Tristan

song of well my life,

Did you hear those shots?

Been getting in some good rides over the last couple days.Met up with Tammy, Jer and Andrew on sunday for what turned out to be probably the best group ride for a long while.It had all the necessities- great weather, temperature,trails and company. Lots of laughs and just the right amount of Tammy getting lost but not enough of Pete, gotta fix that Pete before you head south...

Tonight was MNS and they seem to be going in they way of "it's not all about the ride but about the entrance as well" so Jacob and I whipped together "the burning car" entrance.

Step 1- what is required is one sheet of plywood,one Paris to Ancaster T, can of super lube,lighter and a bunch of fireworks.

Step 2-Set up the wood,T, and lube out of site and on your vehicles roof and light er up.

Step 3-last step is to drive to the pre arranged meeting spot while shooting fireworks out of your vehicles window.

Solid entrance,thanks to the other cyclist whom warned us there were hunters hunting at night and thanks for the ride!

Andrew,good rough housing tonight. I think we both have a lot of this to do before next season cough

Cheers,

Tristan

feeling ducky

Well because I'm "training" again you get another post.Monday night ride was pretty sweet.Jacob and I drove the Subaru down the fire roads through the forest to meet the rest of the crew at the meeting parking lot.A lot of low hanging branches and trees out there so one bike dismout was required and one more should had have happened.The Giant clipped one branch taking it off the roof racks.Pulled a spoke but nothing serious enough for me not to ride it.

Jacob and I discussed on our travels that since a newb was showing up we should put the hammer down occasionally for initiation. I guess we'll see if he shows up next week.Mark also showed up after weeks of vacationing.Nice to see him again.Watson confessed his love to the 29 inch wheel and even said quote "my 29er saved my life".I like the "new style" of MNS seems theres a lot more rough housing and battles then there use to be.Riding is made fun when there is an element of death.....

Today I got out for a nice soak in oro.Not to exciting another then the near death by line 9 and 15/16th.I've been riding with music lately which has been nice but occasionally you find yourself in sticky situations.I couldn't hear the dogs coming so by the time I noticed them they were already at the yellow line.Really I had two options which was to brake and reduce the chance of being T-boned or pedal to the pavement and ride the gravel.Chose option 2 and took the W.Finished off the ride safe.Good times

Cheers,

Tristan

Back to the future!

Ya, I'm back.I've been riding on a solid basis so I feel it's time to bore y'all with the details.Knees aren't clicking on day to day use so thats awesome..Just took a solid year!Couple big things in the mix but I'll keep them on the DL till they materialize.I'll give you a taster however and tell you that my main goal set is to domate the fall 8 with fellow non team member Andrew Watson(dont stand me up)..Also The Tour De France(its a long shot but who can blame a man for dreaming).So keep tuned for those who are left following this blog of mine!At least I'm coming back during training season because everyone knows its the only season to read blogs.Especially a blog which put Man Ride on the map.

Keep up peeps, man season is here!

Cheers,

Tristan

A Post

I've been meaning to post but riding has just seemed like a better thing to do... Canada cup tomorrow so I'll be out there with my single speed in hand.Spak will also be racing with me but unfortunately wont stand a chance.If your around the Hardwood Ski and Bike area come on by at 1:30 and witness the destruction.Hopefully I'll do a race report tomorrow.

Cheers,

Tristan

Bicyle people should know how...

Yesterday night was the Hardwood Ski and Bike weekly race series so I decided to ride out and save some cash on gas.Arrived in good time and got to show off the new AWI Racing kits.I think Jack is pretty upset about not being on the team.

Jacob and I decided to race serious to lay down a new fastest lap time and put some pain into everyone else.Gun went off and straight into a MTB TT to the first single track.We had maybe 40 seconds by the time we got there so the power stayed.I'm still trying to find my lungs so Jacob got away while I caught my breath.About half way through I found some fitness and road a solid second half.Jacob held the gap to the end finishing with a one minute lead on the previous fastest time.Im not sure where I was but I'm calling it last (AWI Rules).

Ride home was pretty good.Usually Old Barrie RD can be iffy but wasn't bad last night.However there is usually one guy that doesnt know how to pass a cyclist and last night I give that award to the worlds only purple bike shop.So heres a lesson on how to pass a cyclist.If there is no oncoming car (like last night) go in the passing lane.If there is an oncoming car slow down until its safe to pass.It's not hard to be safe and a cyclist should know better.Heck a shop owner should know better especially one that drives a Purple bus.I dont expect sharing the road from non cyclist but from a cyclist and shop owner you better be passing me right.

Cheers,

Tristan

checkin in

Hey Just posted a race report on the AWI site take a gander pleassssse.Other than that Iv just been trying to whip myself back into form.Had a pretty sweet race at Hardwood last week.Tried to race a bicycle with out tires, not a great idea...Kinda like skis with out wax and with out snow.

Tonight the MNS hit up Midhurst for some MOnday night riding which is always pleasant.A lot of Tristan line bashing so I turned it up to 7 and rode with Jacob for the majority of the ride.After the group decided to join us I tried to put Watson into a tree, another tree and then a swamp.Andrew is pretty good and handled his own.

Cheers,

Tristan

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

finding treasure

Browsing the net and found this doesn't look like it's finished but a good start, needs a tad bit more color I think. I'm back at work now so I'm squeezing rides in when ever theres a spot.Other than that just livin the dream.

Cheers,

Tristan

"dude get a folding tire, that way when you run over glass you wont flat"

Panpake ride

Yesterday was the MNS anual Pancake ride, unfortunately Man Ride Productions had to do a hostal take over of said ride due to the lack of manliness within the MNS group.By Pancake Ride morning everyone had spaked out except for Jacob, Liz and myself.So the three of us decided to change the start location from Barrie to Horseshoe Valley and keep the ride alive.

Start time was 9:00am, temperature was -10 and the sun was out in full force.If you dressed right and wore black you were solid gold for the ride.Warmed up climbing out of the valley and continued on our way.Sign sprints on the way out were takin by Liz, Jacob and I couldn't wheel her back in...

Arrived at Shaws Maple Syrup and built up more of an appetite waiting in the 30minute line. Once seated Jacob informed me that men eat the 3 large pancake with 3 sausage meal, since I'm still proving my manliness I was forced to order the same.Food arrives at the table and the waitress tells Jacob and I that no one has finished the number three combo yet.Challenged was excepted and JM and I put our game faces on.Bite after bite we both came closer to food bonking.Last pancake I attacked hard off the start and finished it off.The waitress was impressed but she wanted it all gone, so I picked up my syrup bowl and pounded it back.I was almost a father.Jacob Couldn't finish his but theres always next year.

Starting the ride home was a bit slow going but slowly we got back up to a decent pace.First sign sprint came and Jacob eased pass me pushing me to go for it.I waited and waited and when he turned his head from me to the sign I put the power down. First pedal stroke I blew my chain.legs were flying, I was screaming, cleats were grinding and off towards the ditch I went. Watson spaked out so no one had a tool to fix it.Jacob towed me to his house but didnt have a tool to fix it.So that left Jon, Jacobs dad to drive us to Hardwood to fix her up.Thanks Jon.Got it fixed and headed home under the nice sunny blue skys.Good ride and good times.

Think I might get out this aft.





Cheers,

Tristan

sickness

Hey ya'll just checkin in to tell ya im still kickin.I've been pretty sick for the last week and a bit and not in the blogging mood.Im getting over it now so I should be out on the bike tomorrow.

cheers,

Tristan