Laying Low

Not much going on in blog-land. Working a ton, putting in a shit ton of base miles, and avoiding the cold.

I'm working with Coach extraordinaire Sean Gilbert this upcoming season, and I'm really optimistic he can help me work towards my goals this year.

The 6 hour rides start soon to get the base built up nice and big. Looking forward to it.

My bike stable is getting a bit revamped too, after things settle down with that, I'll post some photos of the goodies that are coming through.

Winter Trophy Cross Finale

You know a race is tough when a solid two days later you still feel like crap.

As of 9:12 AM, Tuesday, Jan. 12, I can safely say I still feel like crap. My legs are so unbelievably sore that getting out of bed is a little bit of a task.

On with the race report: myself and some other brave souls make the trek out to the last Winter Trophy race.

The turn out wasn't too bad, considering the freezing temperatures and solid foot of snow on the ground. There were seven people in the A race, which made things fun.

On the line, people were advising us to run our bikes from the get-go. I figured they were messing with us or something, and didn't listen too closely.

I quickly learned they were serious. I took about two pedals from the start and came to a dead stop. I ended up shouldering my bike and ran like the dickens.



Thanks to Julie for the awesome photos as per usual...

I'd very quickly get used to shouldering my bike, as I had to do it a shit-ton throughout the hour. This created a pretty hilarious dilemma for me. I've got little chicken legs, and even though my leg warmers are size small, running causes them to fall down.

And fall down they did. (Sorry for subjecting you to this)



Not very pro at all.

So I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. After running my bike, I'd get out on the road section, which was a great time to put the hammer down and try to close some gaps. I really never had the opportunity to do so, as I was too concerned with riding no handed and pulling my leg warmers up. It was freezing and without them I think I would have died.

Besides that bit of hilarity, things went well enough. It was a very singlespeed unfriendly course, as the road section was good for my gearing, but I was wayyyyyyyy overgeared for the snow, hence my dead legs two days later from pushing a 42x17.

This look of agony on my face was pretty much maintained the entire race:



I ended up rolling across the line in third behind Garth Prosser, who I think had some secret to riding the snow and lapped the field twice, and Matt Weeks, who was having all sorts of mechanical problems.

I'll take it.

The race schedule should be done for me... but surprisingly it's not.

Next up is the Vulture's Knob cross series for a couple of fun races, then it's back into the base miles.

You Should Have Stayed in Bed CX

Turns out the name was right... Sorry Rody :-)

After having the Winter Trophy Cross race cancelled, I figured I'd man up and go to the Groovy Series out at the Knob.

As I went outside to start loading stuff up in my car, I realized the accuracy of the name, made a prompt 180 and went back to bed.

When I finally awoke from my slumber, I ended up realizing my mistake and regretting it all day. It was freezing, yes, but I should have still went. It was too late to pack up and get to the Knob, which is an hour away, so I was resigned to my house for the rest of the day.

Or was I?!?!?!?!?

After much bugging via text message, I somehow convinced Scott to get out of his house and go for a ride with me, -10 degree windchill be damned.

So off we were. We ended up with 30 rolling miles around Hinckley. Me on the fixed gear, Scott on his cross bike. It was cold, but actually pretty managable once you were moving. I am going to invest in some winter shoes though, as my booties don't want to fit over my shoes, and are very quickly giving up the ghost as a result.

Here are some snaps from the ride: