Picked up a clearance spin bike yesterday. Should be good for the rainy weather and winter when I don't want to ride outside. It is made by Giant and is heavy as lead. Used it for about an hour today....working on getting it set up properly.

I have my hardtail up for sale now...want to sell it and pick up a 29er single speed. It is only $750 and has a boatload of new parts on it like fork (Skareb Elite), shifters (SRAM X7), brakes (Avid SD7), wheels (XT/517), post (Thomson), rear derailleur (SRAM X7). A steal for anyone. Could be a good parts bike too.

Steve

Picked up a clearance spin bike yesterday. Should be good for the rainy weather and winter when I don't want to ride outside. It is made by Giant and is heavy as lead. Used it for about an hour today....working on getting it set up properly.

I have my hardtail up for sale now...want to sell it and pick up a 29er single speed. It is only $750 and has a boatload of new parts on it like fork (Skareb Elite), shifters (SRAM X7), brakes (Avid SD7), wheels (XT/517), post (Thomson), rear derailleur (SRAM X7). A steal for anyone. Could be a good parts bike too.

Steve

Wrapped up training camp yesterday with what I planned to be the longest ride of the year so far. Planned on riding from Oakville into the city and hit up the Don trails. I like doing this ride because it is a destination that is far away and takes a long time to ride. I did this ride a couple of weeks ago in about 5:45 so figured on about 6 hours of riding by throwing in a few more trails. Ended up doing it in 5:15 so didn't quite get the hours in I was hoping for but on a positive note I guess I am riding a little faster. So I got in about 1000km or 33 hours of riding over the past 2 weeks....it could have been more if I didn't get sick and have to take 4 days off the bike. It should provide a good foundation for the intensity build coming up. I plan to still do plenty of long rides but will start including more intensity very soon. Gotta get more speed and especially improve the climbing.

Steve

Been getting a lot of quality riding in lately. Did a really nice MTB ride on Sunday for almost 5 hours with lots of trail time. Rode the trails up at Kelso and got a seasons pass. It was the first official day for Kelso, but I was somewhat disappointed in the lack of trail maintenance done. Fallen trees everywhere that needed to be removed. Next time back tomorrow if they haven't been cleaned up I will mention it to the Conservation.

Did an awesome road ride today. Rode my 101km route to do another test of my fitness. Didn't push too hard but didn't take it easy either. Rode it in my 5th fastest time ever which I am happy about (fastest this year by about 15 mins from 3 weeks ago). Plus I still felt strong at the end which is the first time that has happened this year. I think I am well ahead of last years fitness even though I still have some weight to lose. Speed is definitely there, my bigger problem is climbing but only more riding (and weight loss) will improve that.

Looks like I am going to be riding Formula Disc brakes (www.formulabrakeusa.com) this year. They some amazing new offerings that are lightweight and powerful from reviews I have seen. I think I am going to get the Oro Puro which are their lightest offering. Why anyone wouldn't ride disc brakes is beyond my comprehension.

Training camp ends this week but has been good overall and I am looking to keep up and increase the training over the next month or so.

Steve

So it figures I would get sick right at the start of my training camp. I could feel it coming on last weekend and by Monday it was full blown. Such a shame because the weather has been so good. I decided the best thing was to just stay off the bike and get better. It paid off and by Thursday I felt a lot better and went out for a 3 hour ride up to some local trails. They turned out to be too muddy so just started back and did a few intervals.

It is raining today so just going to take it easy. Thinking about buying a spin bike for days like today and for use in the winter. Plus my wife says she'll use it as well.

Steve

My version of Training Camp officially began on Thursday. I kicked things off with a 6 hour ride which was awesome but damn my body was sore on Friday. Since it was pouring rain on Friday and I was so sore I decided to just take it easy and recover.

I did the Donut ride today. The Donut Ride is a historic road ride in Toronto which used to begin at a local donut shop (but it is out of business now). It is a huge ride getting anywhere from 50-125 riders in the group. It is large enough that the group takes up one lane of traffic while we head out of the city....even the police leave us alone. This group is super competitive, yet gets so many different levels of riders out. This can make it sketchy at times but overall a fun time. Many local pro riders come out for this ride, even the infamous Michael Barry (Discover Channel) when he is in town. Back to the ride. It was below freezing when we started and my feet froze almost immediately. The ride started out very casual (more so than usual) and I thought it would be a mellow ride. Once we got out of the city it didn't take long for things to speed up and soon we were doing 45km/h into the wind and my legs were screaming. I held on for awhile but eventually gave up when a small break in the peleton occured. With the wind so strong once the group splits it is very difficult to get back. I ended up waiting for my friend who was in a group further back. At the halfway point we stopped at Mama's Bakery (the usual stop) and I had the best cup of Hot Chocolate ever. Unfortunately when we left to ride again I was so wet that I got very cold. We decided to take it easy the rest of the way....luckily with a tailwind all the way home.

I'm still debating on a ride tomorrow...probably depends how I feel as I don't think I was fully recovered from Thursdays 6 hour marathon when I went out and pushed to the limit today. Might just take it easy or perhap a short 60 min ride. The weather is supposed to be really good the next 2 weeks so I plan to get lots of riding in, particularly on the trails to hone my technical skills.

Steve

1st "Race" of the season

So I decided to make a last minute decision and do a local race called the Hilton Falls Time Trial. The course is a mixed of high speed fire road and low speed very technical rock garden sections. I've been battling a stomach bug the past few days but with the weather being so nice I decided to participate anyways.

The first real race of the season is always a bit nerve racking but I was surprisingly calm. I didn't have any real expectations of the race so that must have contributed to my casual attitude. I did a short warm up and then waited for about 20 mins for my number to be called. They were starting riders off in 30 second increments. They called me to the line and I was off. The course immediately begins with a short climb that gets very steep at the end. To my surprise I got to the top of the climb and could see my 30 second rider (#171 - remember this number) just up ahead. The course flattened out and I was now chasing. In a few minutes I caught and passed him. From there on it was all about catching people. The Asylum was going well and I could feel the momentum of the 29" wheels really carrying me through the corners and flying over roots and rocks. After awhile I hit the first of many rock gardens. Some of them rideable, some not (by me anyways). In many cases it was faster to run than ride as there were many moments the terrain was practically unrideable. Still a lot of fun anyways. I had passed about 7 or 8 people now and hit the last few double track sections. I was absolutely flying and passed some other riders alarmingly fast. The legs were starting to burn at this point but I knew I was near the end and wanted to finish strong. I came through the finish line and was happy to be done and thought I had placed fairly well.

We waited around for awhile to get the results and when they were posted I was stunned (in a bad way). Results showed I finished in 13th place....strange thing was my time was many mins slower than what I timed. Also #171 (who started 30 seconds ahead of me which I then passed 3 mins into the race) finished 5 mins ahead of me and in 8th place! Something was definitely up. It turns out there were a few recording errors and some riders who finished, then turned around for a warm down, thereby coming through the finish line again and getting 2 times recorded. It all ended up with me finishing in 6th place. I still think they got the results wrong and I should have been about 5 mins faster than the have but there isn't much I can do about it now. I'm still quite pleased with this result given my training is only starting to get into high gear.

Training camp begins later this week for about 2.5 weeks, then it is the first Ontario Cup of the year. Hopefully I can do even better at that race.

Steve