Schooler's Cycling Stuff

I headed on down to the Provincial Championships on Saturday in hopes of repeating as 'the champ' (i'm sure that's stolen from Tim) one more year.  Unfortunately due to some bizzar weather, and some super tough racing the weekend before, my knees were acting up which resulted in some time off the bike before the weekend.  Even though it was SUPER nice weather, I managed to stay indoors, and not stress them too much.  I decided to hit up a massage after my ride on Saturday though, and even though it hurt, it made me think about not my knees.  Plus plus, i'd say.  Anyways, after a late night drive to Mark MacDonalds place, I hit the sack.

 

Alberta Provincial Championships 2009

 

The course this year was held at the School grounds just off of the Number one highway and Bowness road in Calgary.  In previous years, it was a fairly tricky course with one of the sections contracted out the design from Keith Bailey to Shaun Bunnin.  One of my main competitors.  And it used to suit him VERY well.  Trickey 180 deg. turns on steep grass, and many of them.  This year there was lots of off cambre corners, but nothing that tight.  I love this course because it is very technical with lots of sections on the course that make up many cross courses.  Lots of off cambre corners (some at speed, and some with little speed), all the rideable hills are less than 5-10 m in vertical change, and typically held in a section where it is a fine line between riding it and running it for the big guns, lots of turns, and MANY changes in ground composition (gravel, grass, pavement, stairs).  It was a very cool course, and thanks to Keith for putting together another VERY cool course.  Just imagine what it would have been like if it were muddy!  Keith made the comment, then people chuckled.

 

Breakdown:  The start was good, Ryan managed the whole shot and I squeeked my way into second.  After myslelf and Ryan trading off the pace making for about 4 laps, I decided to try some more pace making and wasn't really worried about who was behind me.  I hit a 180 deg. turn and got a bit of a gap.  I kept the pressure down, and Ryan started to fade.  Shaun bridged quickly, and we had ourselves a race.  Worried?  a little bit, Bunnin is good at technical, and this is his kind of course, on top of the fact that he can usually push it into the red quite well.  Bunnin passed me shortly after and decided to lay it down, Fortunately for me, he literally layed it down in one of the next corners.  This brings to note: Take a look at your lines when your pre-riding it, and practice everything that you didn't do well, sometimes more than once, or until you get it right.  In this case, also imagine what would other people do if you were battling it out with them.  Shaun took it wide, I took it tight, and I was clear sailing when he bailed.  This was the decisive move in the race, and the time gap only got bigger from then on.  Keep it cool, sometimes give up a spot if you think there is a possibily of crashing. 

 

Signing out:   Next race, NJ Mercer USGP's!

It's been a couple weeks since I wrote a blog, so here's the latest wrapup!!

 

So I decided this year to head down to Colorado and get in the second last NACT race of the season in Longmont and Boulder.  Little did I  realize that they are at a pretty high elevation of approx. 5500 ft and my first attempt at some high elevation racing.  I have to thank Blue Sky velo off the bat because they helped hook me up with a host for the weekend to keep some of the costs down.  Thanks Kayla!

 

So Thursday was supposed to be an easy 2.5 hr flight direct from Edmonton to Denver, although when I got to the airport, I had realizes that the 'storm' that was happening in Denver at the moment, might have not been so good.  My first flight was cancelled, but the lady at the front desk who couldn't really read the screen decided to put me on a flight to Calgary so I could get on one from there which was still A OK!  So I headed to Calgary, once there, they said my connection to Denver was cancelled also, so they put me on standby for a 6pm flight.  Luckily I made it on that one, so I got into Denver at about 10pm.  They were right, there was a boat load of snow.  Jumped on the Super Shuttle (got hosed 20 Bucks because of my bikes) and chatted with a very cute potential nursing student (Amy) about life and bikes and triathlons before she got dropped off in Denver, and we were off to Longmont.  Finally made it to Kayla's place after a now full day of travel, and passed out.

 

Sso the Saturday's course was pretty cool, although when I pre-rode it, I noticed that they had shovelled almost half of the snow off the course... Really?  I thought that is what cross is all about!  Anyways, it was pretty fast with lots of hard sticky mud climbs and challenging sections with one sand pit that had a 180 degree turn into it. Ya, ridable? half the time...  and another super bumpy barrier section with a long road climb up to the finish. 

 

This is getting long, so i'll point fom the rest:

 

- Spun out in morning of race

- Realized that school parking lots are 'closed' on weekends and closelined myself in the parking lot

- got to the start feeling alright

- Got 2nd row call up!

- Had a really good start

- Realized I may have started too fast, and went backwards

- Rolled it with Parbo and Zack Macdonald for most the race

- Made too many mistakes

- Tried to out sprint Parbo on the hill

- Finished behind Parbo

- Happy with 12th

 

- Went to the car wash

- left with dirty car and clean bikes

- showered and felt warm

- Spent Haloween eating 2 entree's at the local brewhouse

- went to sleep

 

Day 2  Boulder Cup

 

- By this time, everything was bone dry, no more snow

- broke my tinted sunglasses

- pre-rode course and said hi to Geoff

- Talked about H1N1

- I stayed away from him

- Talked about the sand

- Tried to ride the sand

- Went to to Rudy Project Tent

- Borrowed some sunglasses

- Drank Redbull

- Got 2nd row call up

- Started conservatively as I knew it would hurt if I pushed it

- Was back in the 20's

- Got better and passed lots of guys

- settled with Zack Macdonald and local guys

- tried to attack the group of 5

- got a gap

- hit the sand pit with my head

- went backwards 5 spots

- Finished 19th.

 

- slept some more

- Rode to Lyons, didn't dress warm enough, got cold

- Had shower warmed up

- Packed bikes

- went to airport and donated my first born to bring bikes back home (600 Bucks to be exact)

- flew home

- Slept

 

Next up: Alberta Provincials in Cow town!

 

Another weekend in the bag, and another top 10 result at a NACT race!  Saturday's race was the same as last years, only with way more turns on the bottom of the hill, and this time it was BONE DRY!  The course is basically on the side of the ski hill and you go up and down it once a lap, utilizing as much of the climbing as possilbe, and damn were they good at that. 

 

We started off pretty good, and it was super fast.  It narrowed a bit going into the first couple of turns, and beause of all the turny stuff on the flats, it was basically single file racing until we got to the open sections (which were rare).  After one lap of being behind Osmand, and multiple times of trying to pass him, I finally got around him, but by then, there was a bit of a gap to the next guys.  A few guys started funmbling on the barriers and when I came through on lap 2 Jeremy Powers had just fumbled on the re-mount holding up the group and almost allowing me to catch back up.  I tried for a while to chase them back, and nearing the end of the race I noticed that Jessie Anthony and Andy J-M were starting to fade a bit, and Powers was coming on strong behind me, so I really tried to put in a pretty big dig to catch them, but ultimately Powers caught me before the start of the hill, and I gave it my all to stay with him.  Through the cornering at the bottom again, I caught back up to him and rolled with him until the end and he easily pulled away from me in the sprint.  It was pretty fun though rolling with him at the end.

 

Day 2:

 

Today was a pretty flat very fast course with lots of tall grass to race through.  The year before was super fun when it just poored on us all day which made for a pretty good mud fest, but this time it was bone dry again.  I had a very good start after getting a spot on the inside and most guys took the corner super hot last year and I was able to pass lots of them.  Well, same thing this year, I moved up to 4th spot after the first turn, and managed to roll with the top guys for a bit, before they really started to pull away.  I felt strong early on, but didn't feel like I could last all that well.  It was a very hard race and you could rest a bit if you sat on a group, but if you fumbled a bit at all, you'd lose contact.  I was rolling with Watson, Trace, and Batty for most of the race before I fumbled on a rutty section of the course and took the turn too sharp and basically went head over bars at that point.  Tried to chase back on, but couldn't catch them.  11th isn't that bad!

 

Next weekend, off to Louisville Kentucky!!!!!!

 

Schools

Hey again Everyone!!!

 

So the weekend started off pretty good when I picked up Mike Garrigan and his friend Mike from the airport, and made sure he had some nice accomodations at my folks place for the weekend.  We were able to head out on Friday to go and pre-ride the course, although earlier in the week it really seemed like it would be another bone dry Nationals, until the severe weather warning for Edmonton came on the weather network talking about the arctic weather that was about to roll into town from the north.  I thought nothing of it, then Bam, Lots (for this time of year) of snow, and below zero all day temperatures.  First time outside for a ride was Friday to pre-ride the course.  Thanks Don Fox for putting on another GREAT nationals and Jim horner event, and the course this year was quite outstanding!

 

Along with the conditions of freezing temperatures and a whole cool amount of snow in October, the course itself was super cool.  It started off similar to last year with a whole bunch of crit style corners on the flats including Alberta's first ever 'fly over' which was finished about 10 minutes prior to the 'pre-ride' time and made some cool amount of noise when being ridden over.  Allowed for me to judge just how far people were behind or infront of me without actually looking (tip for those who might be interested...)  Then it cornered some more before jumping almost immediately into the bowl (similar to last year) only once you got back from the first jaunt accross the bowl, you stayed over there with one short punch up the hill again, before a super fast descent back to the 'home' side.  A few more corners and then into the infamous ride/run-up with some super cool off cambre 180 deg turn right after the steep bit.  It was super cool, and this is where most of the spectators were actually watching from.  I think there were sooo many spectators there on the Nationals day that my ears are still ringing from it!  it then jumped back onto the flying fast road section which was super fun before heading right into the sand pit.  It was a pretty deep sand pit, and not the kind you really want to try and ride because you don't really get anywhere before stopping.  Then back through some more corners before hitting the very fast run in to the finish.  I felt super strong on the roll through the 'bowl' and not so strong through the crit style corners on the top, although most times heading into the bowl I wouldn't stress things too much as I could normally get back after a few corners in the bowl.

 

After almost the whole weekend of trying to Chase down Kabush and St.John, I managed to work away at the podium spots to come away with my very first podium at a National Championships, and ditto for a UCI race after besting my first day's performance to get 2nd!  I am not going to lie, the adverse conditions suited me quite well!  The 'home town' crowd didn't hut either as a few times through the bowl, spectators were chanting my name!  It was very cool to hear that, but it also made me think about not wanting to let everyone down, so I had to push an extra gear just because. 

 

Thanks to everyone who came out to cheer for all us athlete in the blistering cold this weekend, some of whom are still hanging out at home with the heat cranked and the hot tea a brewin!!!  it was definitely a True Canadian Championship I have to say!!!

 

Next up, Toronto NACT and Kentucky USGP!

 

Aaron

So I headed down to Calgary last weekend to get some more great racing in the legs the week before Nationals, and managed to come out of it pretty good.  Saturday was Dark Knight, with my favourite racing being done at night, it was a blast!  I love the sand pits!  Finally, some sand that's rideable!

 

Sunday was a different story, when we woke up to about 2 inches of snow on the ground, I knew it would be a pretty good mud fest!  We got to the course and everything was still soaked!  It started to tack up for our race a bit, but was still very greasy.  Especially the sections where the earlier racers were slipping out on.  Made for some fun technical riding, but not so much hammering.  Thanks to Cyclemeisters for putting on a great race with some killer prize money!!  Now I can buy myself some new tires for my car, which has been long over due, and since I got a flat on the way to my parents house last night, it's time right now to do it!

 

Off till the weekend!!!!  Soooo pumped!

 

Aaron