Sunday Football & Cycling

So good to relax on the couch and watch my Packers back in action. Good to get a win out of it too - even if it was a bit of a rough start to the season. Also managed to escape for a nice short but intense road ride for 20kms. I love this time of year with the crisp cool air! Lots of great mountain biking ahead!

Sept Long Weekend Cycling

Life continues on and we decided to take a break from cottaging it and stay home for a change. It's a little chaotic packing for our family it seems - it almost be nice to just have a set of stuff always packed to make traveling anywhere easier. I did manage to escape a bit though - a 40km Giroux loop with road bikes - complete some significant winds that allowed us to hit & maintain 50kms/hour going north and unfortunately has the opposite effect when going south - around 26km/hour. Jason & I enjoyed the ride though! We had some friends over for a bbq on Sunday and it was good just to chill out in the amazing weather.

The aim for certain members of Team Bodydriven was to mtn bike the classic Ingolf route but a 40 percent chance of rain ended up coming true at about 9am - and it poured. The thing about Ingolf is that it is amazing riding when dry, with some super technical stuff - but when wet it is absolutely treacherous - sort of like riding on ice! The rolling granite (complete with obscene sections of boulders or split rocks & little drop-offs (a few big ones too) can get a little slick and if you don't trust the rubber on your wheels it can get a little dicey.

Thankfully we avoided any downpour for most of our ride (about 10 minutes of rain in the epic 2 hours) but we did our share of close-calls and minor wipeouts. No bleeding though. A total of 16kms may not sound like lots but it is all rough riding and my hands are still sore from clenching the handlebars. Tomorrow it's back to college - registering a whack of new & returning students - and I teach my first class on Thursday - communications, Friday - outdoor ed, and next Tuesday - interpersonal processes - wooh!

Monday's Windy Ride

With winds around 30kms I wasn't sure how I'd do today but it turned out to be an excellent ride. 40kms and quite a fast pace again considering the wind. Paul & Pat joined me on yet another road ride with those skinny tires - hopefully get a good fat tire ride on the mtn bike this week too!

20 Km Sprint

Sprint & 20 kms normally don't go together when I ride mtn bike but I took the road bike for a spin just to keep the muscles going and I cranked it through some pretty big winds. Not a big workout but fun.

40kms in between rain storms

We had a weekend of T-storms (some places even had tornadoes) but I've managed to get a wee bit of riding in - another 40kms this Monday...18km/hr winds though gave something to push through and then take advantage of on the way back - a good 10kms with a speed of over 44 kms/hr. I've been prepping all day for a team-building session this next weekend at Red Rock. Hope to have some more post-worthy stuff then.

Another 70 Klicks

Wow - had a very fast ride out to Richer & back - just over 2 hours and 70kms. On the way there 19 riders and most enjoyed a breakfast but 9 of us headed back to either work or spend time with family...quick pace but excellent conditions. I'm feeling it now though...stiff legs and I've been eating/drinking all day! Rough getting up for a 7am ride though...

Road Bike Giroux

Put on some more kms this evening with Pat & Jason - good to escape on two wheels as always! Around 40kms with a little extra riding around town. Not much of a wind but was with wind the last leg so were able to keep it almost at 40kms/hr for quite a few kms. Bugs are out - not used to getting hit in the face with them - thank goodness for sunglasses! Hope to get out and do a good mtn bike ride this weekend! I should also note that I just crossed the 300km mark on my road bike and the 100km mark with my mtn bike - not bad but I pale in comparison to some of the die hard MIT roadies in the area who are already at 900kms+. That's okay - for newbie I think I'm doing good especially consider that since May 12 I've been a little less free to escape!

Escape: Mtn Bike

For whatever the reason - it has been hard to get away this past week and do any significant riding. In part it has been rainy & cold - but I'm not really that much of a suck. It has taken awhile to get used to the three kid thing - I definitely don't want to just leave Wendy alone and so it's worked out that my escapes have to be somewhat coordinated. I took advantage of one today and put on about 15kms in the Sandilands on a cool ridge (yet to be named) near Suicide Hill. I did some exploring of a newer trail which I really enjoyed. I got back and decided to do a quick 10kms on the road bike - I'm wearing the gear anyways...and the forecast is for rainy cold weather tomorrow. We actually had some sun and it felt like 12-15 degrees out but it has already cooled off. Well - i better check on supper!

Road Warrior

Well, I finally had enough nerve to join the MIT'ers for a great but freezing cold ride to Richer & back. 67kms in just over 2 1/2 hours riding time - with a nice breakfast in between. 30km winds out of the north slowed us down on the way out but helped us on the way back (took an hour on the way back). Zach is one week old today and the girls are enjoying their own escape to Star Lake with their grandparents. It is only six degrees right now and I think we started out with 4 degrees. So-called high is calling for 14 degrees - big change from 30 degrees yesterday. Well, I need to take a shower and spend time with Wendy & little Z!

Sneak Cycle

I snuck out for a short 23km spin on the bike this lovely Mother's Day. Baby Z was sleeping with his mother and so I had my opportunity to get the body back into motion. It was a quick & fast ride with an ave. speed of 30kms. So needless to say I didn't get that longer ride in yesterday with the arrival of my son Zach. Alls good and we're enjoying a lazy afternoon at home (other than my little sneak-out).

More Road Kms

Just a sneak of 17kms - just enough to get warmed up on this cool day...hopefully tomorrow I will get longer ride if the baby doesn't arrive in the am.

Road Kms

It has become apparent to me that I may be in shape for mtn biking but road cycling is another story. So I decided to put some kms on my wheels on a very windy Monday. Time unfortunately limited us to just over an hour and a bit but we managed to squeeze in 33kms. The wind helped us on the way back where my ave. speed was about 40kms/h and we did a few sprints as well. I of course couldn't keep the sprint on nearly as long but managed to get a max of 48kms for a short distance. Pat & Paul joined me and the ride was a good one except for some lady who didn't like us on the highway and honked her horn repeatedly. Sometimes its tough to not respond to such idiocy.

Another Road Ride

Escaped for a 42km spin with Pat & Paul R. - nice temps, weird gusty & changing winds but it was just good to be outside and on a bike. I'm not liking my saddle - tried different adjustments but may have to put some cash into a more comfortable one. Hoping for a mtn bike ride sometime later this week.

Sandilands Escape

Yep - I decided to test fate and cruise out to the Sandilands to see if the trails were ready to be ridden. Last time I was here I was skiing! Oh here's a vid I did of xc skiiing. Getting back to biking in the Sandilands - I wasn't completely disappointed - yes there were some sections of snow but for the most part i could muscle my way through them. It just felt great being back in mtn biking paradise!

The snow was primarily on the north faces of the hills but everywhere else was actually quite do-able riding conditions - wet but definitely rideable.

I put on about 7kms according to my odometer - I still need to test it with other riders. So I decided once I got home that I'd put on a few more kms on my road bike while the weather held out. I did a short ride to Mitchell and back - bbq'ed some steak and had a wonderful supper with the family. The video below was shot with a hand-held point & shoot digital, lo-fi editing (eyespot online), but I think the results capture a moment well!

First official MIT ride of the year!

Well - I'm pretty much smoked right now energy-wise after our 44km ride to Kleefeld and back with 7 riders from MIT. It was good to be out though - perfect weather temperature wise other than the stiff south wind.

That's me on the far right.

My last 10kms I was definitely dogging it energy wise - I engulfed my energy bar and got some spark back but I'll have to remember to take it earlier next time. I'm loving my new bike - I'll have to adjust the seat somewhat and actually get in shape but overall it spins really nice! Weird being one the youngest guys riding though - totally opposite of mtn biking where I'm an old-timer. I had really good intentions of training over the winter but that wasn't to be, meaning my first few rides are going to be killers. Here's some pics...

I'm missing in this one to let Dale in, the ringleader Jac, and a shot of us leaving Kleefeld

Ready to Ride...

Spring is in the air and my legs are ready to spin through the Sandilands hills. Yep the Anthem1 arrived and I put it all-together - very sweet ride & amazing looks! I'm hoping I'll prefer it over my Trance which I hope to sell - even if I will miss the extra 1" of travel I am looking forward to a lighter bike this season. The hills are calling and I'm hoping the rest of this snow just disappears. Road-wise the Alliance A-1 is just trippy and superlight - when I pick it up it feels like I could throw it like a paper airplane...the asphalt calls too - time for speed!

Back to the Wild

Okay - I freely admit to enjoying my time on the road bike but wow was it good to be back on my mountain bike this past Monday! The fire restrictions have lifted for now, meaning that backcountry travel is again permissable - so yeah it meant I got a few rides in this weekend and on Monday Pat joined me for an epic 18km ride in Ingolf, Ontario. There is something amazing about that place - maybe its the rolling granite or the technical singletrack but it is absolutely paradise for mtn bikers like me. It's hard on one's body though - lots of drops, loose rocks, roots, tight corners, exposure on lake shore cliffs, and the kms may fly by but not without some wear on the muscles!

I also spent some time on my hidden trail near the cottage and rode it successfully with only two sections where i needed to dismount. I have to say this again - as much as road biking was a great experience - mtn biking still is way more addictive and satisfying. I think it is because it is somewhat like chess on two-wheeled adrenaline - you have must make moves & decisions to make on the fly!

Tonight - Pat and I escaped to the Sandilands and did our classic 10km loop to Suicide Hill and back. We met a bear on the way in and he or she seemed quite relaxed and unalarmed at our sudden presence. The air was really muggy and we both felt in our lungs on some of the climbs. Legs felt great though - lots of tight, winding singletrack - the lack of riding this trail though in the past three weeks meant we had to stop a few times to remove debris and some of our descents were almost blind due to low-hanging branches. Fallen trees from a recent t-storm also resulted in some detours or tree removal. Anyways - great to be back in the wilds of the Sandilands on my bright blue Trance!

Below are some shots from a cross-country race in the Sandilands that my riding buddies Pat & Jason participated back in June.

Pat rounding a corner...

Jason in motion...

I love this shot of Pat on another corner - the motion blur worked out quite well!

Jason pushing the limits of speed...

The Open Road Part Two

Well my road biking saga continues with a successful 80km ride to Richer and back to Steinbach. It helped having nice cool weather and some great & interesting people to ride with. Occupations of this assorted bunch included: a doctor, teachers, water plant technician, travel agent, professor, bike shop owner, etc.


I think at one point we were about 14 or so riders, riding in two lines taking advantage of the amazing effect of drafting behind each other. I don't have a speedometer on my borrowed Norco bike (thanks again Pat) so I wasn't able to keep track of my average speed but I would guess it would have been around 32 kms/hour - our last 6-8 kms had us tracking at a good 40 kms an hour thanks to a second wave of energy for me and a mild tail-wind.

I'm getting more into this sport but got a good taste of humility after trying to pull the group in the front during leg one and had to pull off & recover for a couple kms. But hey - its only my second attempt at this road cycling thing and at heart I'm still a mtn biker yearing for tight single track and hills to climb and descend. We did hit some faster kms on a hill - I think Pat hit 50kms/hour - I know I was riding with him at 45kms/hour for a bit but I don't know if I went any faster as he blasted past me. It is incredible to think how efficient a bicycle actually is - that I can propel my 185lb body that fast simply by pedaling a chain through a series of cogs. Each ride is getting more interesting and I love the sweet spot of drafting - reminds me of finding the sweet spot of surfing on a wave. We'll see how climbing the stairs is later today!

The Open Road

I have to admit that when I first started mountain biking I thought "roadies" were geeks. In part, it perhaps was the bright colors and the skin-tight clothing but my I truly thought that the open road was boring compared to the challenge of obstacles and singletrack. Slowly, I've come around and come to appreciate the sport of road cycling. The Tour de France is something I've followed consistently over the past 5 or so years and I've come to appreciate the determination, the strategy, the speed, and the overall beauty of the sport.

This morning, I went on a "short" ride with my buddies Pat & Jason of 45kms that we completed in about an hour and twenty minutes (one of the perks of having a buddy own a bike shop is that I get to try out a $1400 bike - thanks Pat!). There is something about being on the open road early in the morning. The chill from the night is still in the air, and the air itself seems so fresh and pure. The big race around France comes to an end this weekend and so I salute the riders here on my little blog - still cheering for T-Mobile (even though I think we're currently in fourth with Andreas Kloden). I've been amazed by Floyd Landis' effort considering his hip problems - if he ends up winning his story will go down in history with the legends!