The weather finally looks like it is going to get pretty good this week so some longer rides should be in order. I'm really anxious to get longer rides in but finding it difficult for a variety of reasons. I probably won't start racing in earnest until May....maybe a few fun events like Paris-Ancaster before, but just for fun.

I thought I use this opportunity to mention some of the companies that are helping me out in one way or another this year.

Princeton Tec - www.switchback321.com
Princeton Tec has been a leader for years in outdoor lights and this is their first year venturing into the highend bike light market with their Switchback series. These lights are based on LED technology and already have very favourable reviews. They are a great value for the money with excellent battery life and 3 different offerings. Switchback 1 = 1 LED (great for commuting), Switchback 2 = 2 LEDs (great for the helmet as a spotlight), and Switchback 3 = 3 LEDs (great for the handlebar for a flood light). All get 5+ hours on high using a Li-Ion battery. Check the website for more details.

Castelli - www.castelli-us.com
Castelli are really stepping up their product line this year with innovative, technical new products. They sponsor the Saunier Duval Pro Cycling Team and have some great new products as a result such as the Superleggera Jersey and "Free Bib" shorts. Watch for some reviews on a variety of their items.

Industy Nine - www.industynine.net
I've been lusting for these wheels for while and they finally became a reality. Custom built in the colours and rims you want with an instant engaging hub make for the ideal wheelset. Cheaper than the high end Mavic offerings while still being lighter, stiffer, and more eye catching are just some of the reasons for their success.

Kenda - www.kendausa.com
I've been riding Kenda tires for a long time now. They just released the Small Block 8 in a 29er format so these will be going on the I9's as my hardpack, fast tire. I'll still be using the Karma as my sloppy conditions tire when appropriate even though it is great on the hardpack as well.

Formula Brakes - www.formulabrakeusa.com
I've been using the new Formula Oro K24 brakes for about 8 months now and they have been phenomenal. Excellent feel and power plus pretty light to boot. They also have the Oro Puro which is a slightly lighter version of the K24 with a carbon level and titanium bolts. One step below the K24 is the K18 which just lacks the FCS (Feeling Control System) which allows for adjustment of how far the level travels before the pads engage. A great feature I really like.

I'm also looking at getting the Garmin Edge 305 GPS cycling computer for my mountain bike. This way I can map my routes and actual compare rides to see if I'm progressing faster or slower than previous rides. It also has a heartrate monitor, speed, distance, elevation gain included with it. It looks like a lot of fun and a great training tool.

Stay tuned for reviews of all these great products in the future!

Steve

Finally got in some decent riding this weekend. Yesterday was a great day. Not too cold and the wind was very manageable. Felt great for the entire 2.5 hour ride. So decided I would go for another ride today. Temperatures were about the same so I decided to do my 3 hour loop. Everything started well and I had a slight tailwind and felt good. About halfway through I was getting a little tired and made my turnaround. Right into the wind. I knew it wasn't going to be fun but wasn't too worried. I got off the dirt roads I was on and would be on pavement the rest of the way home. Unfortunately the wind picked up....a lot. I was getting a little cold, but not too bad. But I was suffering big time. The wind was unrelentless and more than once a gust of wind blew me off the road and on to the gravel shoulder. Then my iPod died. So now I didn't even have music to take my mind off the misery. At some points I was barely making forward progress the wind was so strong. I thought about calling my wife, then started thinking I should flag down a pickup truck, throw my bike in the back and beg for a ride at least close to home. But I finished the ride under my own power. The planned 3 hour ride took almost 4 hours. And it turns out the wind was about 45km/h with 55km/h gusts. I sure am tired now. But 6.5 hrs of riding this weekend is good and hopefully get me on track for more good training.

My new Industry Nine (www.industrynine.net) wheels should be here in another week or two. I'm really looking forward to getting them. I'm going to put the Kenda (www.kendausa.com) Small Block 8's on which should make them fast. Planning to head to the Toronto Bicycle Show next week and hopefully pick up the rest of the stuff I need. If not I'll be ordering from one of the shops in the U.S. I need a bunch of stuff like bottom bracket, chainring set, chain, cables. Plus a few things I'd like to get like new waterproof booties, a new helmet etc. But might hold off on those things.

Last week was 24 hours in the old pueblo....I sure did miss going down there. I'm going next year for sure. Even though I'm never in good shape, it is always fun to just go down for some riding with my brother. Also thinking off going down to Arizona for about a week and a half next year to get some really good riding in on a daily basis (maybe a few weeks after Old Pueblo).

New tires and soon to be new wheelset

UPS delivered all of my Kenda tires today. I'm looking forward to trying the Small Block 8 to see how they ride. They look really fast.

I got exciting news today and it looks like I will be running Industry Nine (www.industrynine.net) wheels this year. I just have to decide which rim but they will look something like this:

The weather is still really cold and snowy here in Oakville, but looks like it will be about 1 degree on Saturday so I am going to try for an outdoor ride in the afternoon. Riding the spin bike is just no fun.

Steve

Long time no blog as usual. December and early January we awesome for riding and I was getting in plenty of 3-4 hour rides again. Sadly the weather is back to normal and everytime I want to head outside for a ride it is either way too cold or it has just snowed. So mostly I've been using the spin bike. I got a Spinerval video (Have Mercy - basically 2 hours of intervals and pyramids)...done it a few times but find I prefer to just use the MP3 and crank out my own sessions with a focus on climbing.

Not going to Old Pueblo this year....too many other things happening. It looks like the first race of the year is going to be the Ice Breaker. I'm going to do some 8 hour races. One race I am struggling with is the 24 Hours of Albion Hills in August. I usually do this race solo but not sure I want too this year. I'm also thinking of doing the Shenandoah 100 which is the following weekend so there is no way I can do both. I'll probably wait until August to make that decision.

I just ordered up all of my new Kenda stuff for the season. They released the new Small Block 8 for 29ers which looks really fast so I have a bunch of those on the way. Plus I got some of the always reliable Karma's.

Clothing wise it looks like I will be wearing Castelli product for 2007. I got some of their stuff last year and really liked it. Then managed work something out with them for this year. I am really excited about it. They have a lot of new designs and products for 2007. You can check it out at www.castelli-us.com

Steve

This blog hasn't been too busy lately and neither has the rider. I haven't ridden much since October, just here and there for the fun of it. The 2nd half of this year was pretty crummy for cycling....bad weather, no time, no motivation. I finally decided to stop beating myself up for it and just take time off the bike. As the new year approaches I am beginning to get the itch to ride again and I'm starting to think about next season. Nothing really solid planned out but I think Solo 24 hour races will take a back seat to mix of 100 milers and "regular" races. I really want to focus on my speed this year and opposed to getting in only long rides. I want to crank out super fast laps (and maybe turn a lap or two faster than Dave) so that is what I am going to focus on. I still love the long rides, but those will only come on the weekends...now I can focus on shorter (ie. 90 mins) rides during the week to work on speed. That's the plan anyways. I've been known to change my mind on occasion.

24 Hour World Solo's

It has been a few weeks since the World Solo Championships. It has taken me that long to digest what happened. He is a recap:

Thursday: Leave around 8am and drive for 12 hours with the kids (age 5 & 7). Luckily we have a DVD player in there and they are extremely well behaved. We stop somewhere in Kentucky for the night. The drive through Tennessee and Kentucky was quite enjoyable.

Friday: Arrive in Conyers, Georgia around 1pm. Check-in to the La Quinta motel. I call my brother (who is racing as well....he's from Arizona) and tell him where we are and he says it is pronounced "La Keeeenta"....I say whatever...I am Canadian and can say it how I please! We go over to the race site and get our pits set up. Talk to Hendershot for bit and see the Trek guys as well as the other major players. It is going to be exciting. Go to the riders meeting and hear the same story we always do. Some chuckles around the "no collusion" rule....there goes my plan to shadow Eatough for the whole race! :-) We head over to Ruby Tuesdays for dinner which was a mistake (mistake #1). Felt sick the rest of the night and have countless trips to the washroom.

Saturday Morning: Wake up in the morning with a migraine headache. Only brought 1 migraine pill with me and fuss over using it or not. Decided not to (2nd mistake). We head over to Walmart to pick up last minute items and I take a few more trips to their washroom. This isn't good. Get back to our pits and got interviewed by the people doing the 24-Solo documentary about Chris Eatough. I sure hope it makes the movie (I was filmed a few times on course as well).

Saturday Noon: The washroom breaks have subsided thankfully but the headache is still there. How much Ibuprofen can I take at a time? Call up has taken place and I am in the top third of the group to start the Le Mans run. I go pretty hard as I don't want to be last. Things go well until about 3/4 of the way through and I start having trouble. Shouldn't have gone out so hard (mistake #3). I'm not last though (far from it). I hop on the Asylum 29er and head out. Everybody is hammering but I am hanging on. The first half of the course is good singletrack but very bumpy. We head out to the 2nd half of the course....the rocky area. Literally riding on sheets of rock that have little mini pot holes everywhere. It is tough going and keeping momentum is a challenge. Riding along and come to a steep downhill. I see a skull and cross bones....must be a tough drop off but it isn't too bad. After that head straight back up a very steep, incredibly bumpy stretch. I make it about 3/4 of the way up and walk the rest of it. The rest of the lap is pretty uneventful but my time is dismal.

Saturday night - I've been lapped multiple times by the leaders as I mount my light on the bike for the first night lap. My brother and I decide to ride together and it turns out to be a good thing. Half way through the lap (where we pass by close to the pits) his light burns out and my light is almost out. Our 3 hour batteries were lasting 40 mins. We each grab another battery and finish the lap. We put in fresh batteries for our next night lap and sure enough halfway through the lap the lights are out. We head back to the pits....no more batteries left for me. I guess I need a new lighting system (mistake #4). My brother grabs a back up system he brought and finishes the lap. Riding the remainder of the night would be futile so we head back to the hotel for the night.

Sunday Morning: Up at 6am and head back down to the pits. I saddle up...it is a little dark but within about 15 mins it is light enough for no lights (I didn't have one anyways). The race has now come down to my brother and I. He is technically a half lap ahead of me. I got started in the morning first to finish my half lap and then did another lap. He is in the pits. We are tied. I wonder if he will do 1 or 2 more laps. I head out right away and finish my lap just after 11am but hold on to my baton just in case I need to do another lap....I had the energy but wanted to see the winners come across. I go back to our pit and my brother is out on a lap. I go back to the finish line to wait for the winners and he comes through around 11:20am. I don't think he will go for another lap so I watch Chris Eatough come through for 2nd place (poor guy was in tears....I felt so bad for him) and then Craig Gordon come through for 1st (and nearly collapses). It was also cool to see Sue Haywood win. I watched the interviews and then saw my sister in law come by. I ask where my brother is and she said he is on another lap. I look at my watch and think it is 11:45am and I could probably squeeze one more lap in but would need to catch up to my brothers sizeable lead. I am majorlly pissed now and ride back to the pits. Only to find my brother sitting there with his street clothes on. He and his wife thought it was a pretty funny joke and they certainly got me! We had been playing jokes on each other all race (hiding eachothers bikes etc) so he got the last laugh. But I still beat him!

In the end the race didn't go according to plan but I didn't go in with huge expectations. I knew my conditioning was suspect (....I guess that is what happens when you don't ride enough) but I had a great time and thought it was cool riding with some of the stars of this sport.

We packed up on Monday morning and headed to Florida for a well deserved vacation. It was quite eventful as well with the strangest thing happening is me saving the life of a grandma and 2 year old girl from drowning in the hotel pool.

The drive home was awful. We had about 22 hours to cover and drove for about 12 hours the first day with the plan being to stop in Charlotte for the night at 8:30pm. Unfortunately there wasn't a hotel to be found for a 100 miles and we ended up driving until 1am before we found a stinky, smoke filled room with a busted toilet to stay in. The most disappointing thing was having to drive through the Virginia's at night....it is such a nice drive in the daytime. We managed to get home the next day around 4pm and quickly got back to our regular routine.

I have done a few fun rides and plan to get back into the swing of things in a few weeks. Many thanks go out to Wicked Fast Nutrition, Kenda Tires, FSA, Rudy Project and Formula Brakes for supporting me this season. It was a tumultous one but I had a good time none the less.

So I was supposed to do the Pauls Dirty 100KM a few weeks ago. I had the best of intentions and even woke up at 4:45am to get ready. Unfortunately I woke up to rain and the forcast of thunderstorms. So I nixed the race and went back to bed!

Leaving tomorrow to head down to the 24 hr world solo championships in Conyers Geogia. Getting pretty excited, especially because it looks like they are filming a full on movie about the race and Chris Eatough trying to win his 7th title. Who knows, maybe I might make it into the movie. It's nice to dream anyways.

Race reports to follow a couple of weeks later cuz we're going to Florida afterwards for a holiday.

Steve