I'm stuck in Pemberton, but the one good thing is the riding here. Great trails for XC, good roads for riding. So I put my bike together and got ready for a 75min ride with 4x5min @20kTT pace, 5min recovery.
Got through my second 5 minute piece and had averaged 41.7 and 40.2. That's when things got interesting. Turns out that Sea to Sky Highway goes through a massive native reserve between Pemberton and Lillooet. So I was getting funny/dirty looks for a while, until I discovered that Sea to Sky also goes up a 13km, 4000 foot mountain pass as well.
Now at the time I didn't realize it was that massive, but once I started the climb I HAD to see how far it went. At every switchback I figured it would end around the corner. Nope. 48 minutes later I got to the summit at 1300 vertical meters. The best part is that - if you've watched the news at all this summer you know there's a massive forest fire in Lilloet - so the air was pretty yucky. But I managed to keep things aerobic spinning in my lowest gear on 12% grades.
Then it got really interesting. I got to the top and so now it was time to turn around and go back down, seeing as its the only road I know around here. Within 100 meters I was above 60, and holy crap was it a technical descent. I think there were 5 switchbacks with a number of sweepers that I took at 70+. Then right at the bottom there was one final switchback that I had to brake hard for (car signage said 20km/h around the turn, I took it at 45).
It was about then I could actually hear my carbon rims getting hot and starting to squeek, then my front tire blew. The glue had melted and the tire rolled off the rim, and I had to go into ninja mode to stay upright. So then I was 20km from my hotel with a flat tire. Long story short a truck driver stopped and loaded me up and was kind enough to drive me back (and was telling me the entire way how much he hates cyclists on the road). The good news is my ride actually only ended up being about 90 mins since it took me 10 minutes to descend then I got a ride back! Thus concludes my adventure today. Now I don't have a pool or a bike for tomorrow, and I need a new tubular tire before leaving for OZ on Wed night. Fun fun.
Monday, August 31, 2009
From biking mountains to mountain biking
So it turns out that I'm actually spending the next four days in Pemberton and not downtown Vancouver, which I'm not particularly thrilled about. I'm staying with my cousin who lives in Vancouver but she was called up here for work and I had to tag along. Its a pretty nice place but not the ideal location for trying to squeeze in my last few workouts before world champs...no pool within 30km, no track within 50. Like I said, not thrilled.
Today I needed to scope out some running trails so I tried mountain biking for the first time. I've ridden a mountain bike before, but today I actually mountain biked...on a mountain. And I must say, it sucks!!! I had the bright idea of putting my clipless pedals on to go ride up a freakin mountain. Luckily I only bit the dust on the way up and not going down, but in the 3 hours I was "riding" I think I was walking the bike half the time. The riding is so technical and I'm just not any good at it. I like riding my bike on smooth pavement without trees, rocks, glacial rivers and bears attempting to end me. It was still fun though. But I discovered that the trails would be impossible to run on, so I'm pretty much stuck running out and back on one of the two paved roads in town (one of which being Sea to Sky Highway). Not thrilled!!
I've learned on this trip that I need to be in one place, doing my own thing if I want to get into any sort of training routine while travelling. I've been doing as much as I can the past week but I'm getting really fidgety having to adjust my schedule, and not swimming as much as I should. I'm driving to Whistler tomorrow morning for the only pool around and I'll have to do the same Tuesday morning. I can't wait to get to Gold Coast simply so I can get myself in a routine again and focus for a few days before the race. Lesson learned I guess, hopefully I won't be fat and out of shape for the race.
couple pics from my ride
Today I needed to scope out some running trails so I tried mountain biking for the first time. I've ridden a mountain bike before, but today I actually mountain biked...on a mountain. And I must say, it sucks!!! I had the bright idea of putting my clipless pedals on to go ride up a freakin mountain. Luckily I only bit the dust on the way up and not going down, but in the 3 hours I was "riding" I think I was walking the bike half the time. The riding is so technical and I'm just not any good at it. I like riding my bike on smooth pavement without trees, rocks, glacial rivers and bears attempting to end me. It was still fun though. But I discovered that the trails would be impossible to run on, so I'm pretty much stuck running out and back on one of the two paved roads in town (one of which being Sea to Sky Highway). Not thrilled!!
I've learned on this trip that I need to be in one place, doing my own thing if I want to get into any sort of training routine while travelling. I've been doing as much as I can the past week but I'm getting really fidgety having to adjust my schedule, and not swimming as much as I should. I'm driving to Whistler tomorrow morning for the only pool around and I'll have to do the same Tuesday morning. I can't wait to get to Gold Coast simply so I can get myself in a routine again and focus for a few days before the race. Lesson learned I guess, hopefully I won't be fat and out of shape for the race.
couple pics from my ride
Monday, August 24, 2009
Glimpses of Kelowna
Ryan Smith, Steve Hewick and James Loaring kicking some ass and working together in the men's elite race. Great racing guys
Whitfield dominated from start to finish, and high fived just about every kid there after he finished. Class act.
Tich and Jones sprinting for second. Jones took it at the line.
Pre-race for me
Whitfield dominated from start to finish, and high fived just about every kid there after he finished. Class act.
Tich and Jones sprinting for second. Jones took it at the line.
Pre-race for me
Dismounting as race leader!
Simply put, I just hurt on the run...
Simply put, I just hurt on the run...
...but I held it together for the win
Haha I look less than pleased here, but I promise I was the first person to shake their hands at the finish and here.
A crazy and wonderful day of racing all around. And people have started paying attention to me now that I've justified my hard work, and confidence, all summer. Now its time to search out a bike sponsor!
A crazy and wonderful day of racing all around. And people have started paying attention to me now that I've justified my hard work, and confidence, all summer. Now its time to search out a bike sponsor!
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Nationals Race Report
This will probably be a pretty short report since I was seeing stars the entire way, and I really don't remember many details. My day started at 5am for the race I've been focusing on all year, and I felt good when I got to the race site this morning. I wasn't nervous at all, just focused.
It ended up being a wetsuit swim for age groupers by about half a degree, but the water was pretty choppy with a strong wind coming off the lake for our entire race (and died down just in time for me to finish). My race strategy today was "don't think - go faster" so that's exactly how the swim worked out. I had a good start and got clean water out in front of everyone. I felt strong throughout the swim and was second out of the water behind some guy who had lead out of the water in every race he's done this year. I came in at 10:47 in choppy conditions... pretty much the swim of my life.
I got on the bike 20 seconds down from the leader, I knew that it was just a matter of time before going by him so I relaxed the first time over the big hill and just bombed the descent. I took the lead about 4k into the bike and I just kept my head down and gave it everything. I was riding scared the second lap hoping that I wouldn't be passed, and I ended up riding pretty well. I didn't get a bike split but I think I had the top bike split or close to it, around 32 mins (edit: I had the top bike split at 32mins and change...never thought I would win a race with a strong swim/bike, rather than running guys down). The course ended up being pretty slow today as we had all the climbing with the tailwind, then the way back into town which was supposed to be fast was into a pretty good headwind. But I came off the bike 50 seconds up on 2nd.
When I hit the run I immediately knew it wasn't going to be easy, everything just hurt and nothing was clicking. I stayed relaxed and tried to get into a bit of a rhythm...since at that point it was my race to lose (I discovered today that its much easier to chase than to be chased on the run). I was only sure that I had it with about 800m left, and it turned out that I put another minute into second place by that point. I was still feeling terrible and was on the verge of throwing up, so I let off a little just to make sure I didn't blow up in the last km. I ran an 18:10 or something...pretty slow but enough to hold on. I probably pushed too hard on the bike for a better run split, but I won the race on a really good swim and strong bike, so I'm not going to sweat the run time.
So I'm age group national champion. I'll be doing my autograph signing/baby kissing tour when I come back from Australia in a few weeks. And yes I'm aware its not that big a deal, but it basically ensures that I'll get my elite card next spring and can come back next year to race elite nationals which was my goal for this season, and its my first race win. I decided that I should win more often, that was fun! I'll post a few pictures when I get around to it. I feel like sleeping now.
It ended up being a wetsuit swim for age groupers by about half a degree, but the water was pretty choppy with a strong wind coming off the lake for our entire race (and died down just in time for me to finish). My race strategy today was "don't think - go faster" so that's exactly how the swim worked out. I had a good start and got clean water out in front of everyone. I felt strong throughout the swim and was second out of the water behind some guy who had lead out of the water in every race he's done this year. I came in at 10:47 in choppy conditions... pretty much the swim of my life.
I got on the bike 20 seconds down from the leader, I knew that it was just a matter of time before going by him so I relaxed the first time over the big hill and just bombed the descent. I took the lead about 4k into the bike and I just kept my head down and gave it everything. I was riding scared the second lap hoping that I wouldn't be passed, and I ended up riding pretty well. I didn't get a bike split but I think I had the top bike split or close to it, around 32 mins (edit: I had the top bike split at 32mins and change...never thought I would win a race with a strong swim/bike, rather than running guys down). The course ended up being pretty slow today as we had all the climbing with the tailwind, then the way back into town which was supposed to be fast was into a pretty good headwind. But I came off the bike 50 seconds up on 2nd.
When I hit the run I immediately knew it wasn't going to be easy, everything just hurt and nothing was clicking. I stayed relaxed and tried to get into a bit of a rhythm...since at that point it was my race to lose (I discovered today that its much easier to chase than to be chased on the run). I was only sure that I had it with about 800m left, and it turned out that I put another minute into second place by that point. I was still feeling terrible and was on the verge of throwing up, so I let off a little just to make sure I didn't blow up in the last km. I ran an 18:10 or something...pretty slow but enough to hold on. I probably pushed too hard on the bike for a better run split, but I won the race on a really good swim and strong bike, so I'm not going to sweat the run time.
So I'm age group national champion. I'll be doing my autograph signing/baby kissing tour when I come back from Australia in a few weeks. And yes I'm aware its not that big a deal, but it basically ensures that I'll get my elite card next spring and can come back next year to race elite nationals which was my goal for this season, and its my first race win. I decided that I should win more often, that was fun! I'll post a few pictures when I get around to it. I feel like sleeping now.
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