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