The race I Almost Didn't Finish

The night before the race I had all the usual excitement of a pre race. I even stopped at The Epic Ride in Orangeville and picked up a new Chain, lube, a tool, and a cycling computer. That night once we reached the cottage I tore the bike down and did some fixing. I lubed up the new chain in the morning and was headed 30 mins south to the race. We were a little behind on time so I was stressing a little but all would be well. I finished off my registration and picked up my race package. From there I dropped off my 6 pack for the 6 pack throwdown of the Solo Singlespeed group (A fun side race which includes beer and conversations after the race). Back at camp I got in my gear gave the bike one lst go over and headed down to the start line.

At this point everything was normal. This is what a race start feels like. go Go Go, wait for a bit then go. Nothing out of the ordinary except for the large beads of sweat building all over me while standing still. Then the race started and off we went. A cloud of clay dust immediately lifted from the course and our eyes and lungs were filled quickly. I passed by My wife and kids smiled and waved and then put my game face on and rode.

The first four laps were awesome even with some course congestion on the first two. It was a fun course but most of the trails had just recently been cut and we had been in drout mode for well over 2 weeks. The trails needed some wet and a pack down. It ended up being very washboardy and dusty with loose corners and a decent amount of technical challenges. All in all fun with only a couple real climbs and the rest was just short ups and downs. 1'st half of the course was a gradual climb and second had more decent. You always finished off each lap with more energy than you had 1/2 way.

All in all writing this I am beginning to wonder what went wrong?? About 4 hours into the day I let the heat get to me. Even with sponge baths and watermelon at the Solo transition area i was overheating. I was drinking lots and even dumping more water over myself in solo pits. When the heat got to me it got into my head. I unfortunately was also studying results at the transition each lap and finding myslef further back than I wanted to be in the results. If I had been paying more attention I had had a slower first lap than many and was actually fighting back well.

I met up with another rider who had caught me in the solo pits after I had a fairly long rest period. I thought he was a slower rider but he ended up being the eventual 3rd place rider in the race. I rode with him for most of our 8th lap and picked up on some of his tricks for riding this course. Late in the lap i decided to pass and loose him. I hammered out most of the rest of the lap and when getting my sponge bath and looking back there he was. A crucial mistake had been made. I used more energy than necessary. I should have waited a few laps to try to pass. A lap or two later I met another rider in the sponge transition and assumed he was in position 1 or 2 and I was being lapped. This tore me down a little further. I went to camp and ran into another Singlespeeder who had just dropped out due to heat exhaustion. I had heard just before that my family was coming back in a couple hours and that they were making signs.

I think the only thing that kept me in the race battling the heat and my mental demons was the idea of those signs. When they arrived I had a surge of energy and finished stronger than I had been. All in all those two guys I let pass between lap 8 and 11 were 3rd and 4th place. I was happy to come in 5th in the singlespeed solo category as I had thought I was riding around 8th or 9th all day. It is amazing how much of a race is mental.

Looking back I would have been really pissed at myself if I had quit and I am glad I pushed forward. I thank my Family for their support.

More photos over on my tumblr here...

The Endurance Fuelling Mind F#@K!!

Yup, It's almost race day. Saturday I have my first real workout for 2011 an 8 hour mountain bike race. All of my other rides and races this year have been either shared team pain or short races. This one is 8 hours of pain in heat and humidity. I have been here before but I am feeling the same thing I always do. A routine question keeps popping in my head: "What do I eat?!?". I am racing in the Solo Singlespeed category and although I am not truly vying for a podeum position I don't want to bonk either.

Last year in this race I did the Perpetuem and Heed thing and it worked ok but I ended up with late day gut rot as usual. The next race I added Endurolytes and even though it was fall and cooler weather I think they actually helped. This summer at the Summer Solstice 24 hour I cut out the Heed completely and had no gut rot. I did include endurolytes again though as well as some new foods.

Sometime this spring I was introduced to Powerbar Gel's. The first one I grabbed felt kinda weird and liquidy compared to the hammer ones I had had in the past. Examining the packaging I was pleased to see there were more caffeinated flavors and varying amounts of caffeine options per gel. May 1 I ran my first Marathon and decided to fuel with on course refreshments and these Gel's. It felt kinda bold as I had yet to eat one as i generally don't train with Gel's and powders. I had one 1/2 hour before the run, it was awesome (well as awesome as a gooey substance in tinfoil-esque packaging can be). It was much easier to ingest than any hammer gel I have ever had. On course I had 2 more during the run and found the same. I also found the energy did not die off quickly on me.

When packing for the 24 hour I decided on an interesting mix which worked well for a 5 man team approach to eating. 2 hours before lap one I had a Peanutbutter and Banana on whole wheat wrap(Race Taco?!?). 1/2 hour before the lap I had one Powerbar Gel which I was preaching to my teammates about and gave them each one to try, and Endurolytes. I then took water on the bike and stuffed a just in case gel in my jersey pocket. The lap felt great so upon finishing I had a Race Taco, a scoop of Perpetuem, and a can of Pepsi (I know that does not sound right). Before each lap Powerbar Gel and Endurolytes. On each lap Water. This became the routine until approx 3am when the pre-lap cocktail started to contain a little RedBull (eh well). Anyways during and after the race I felt awesome and my lap times were more consistent than they have ever been at one of these events.

So I am writing this and learning a bit at the same time. From what I have said before my body seems to like: Race Taco's, Powerbar Gel, Perpetuem, Endurolytes, and Water. It seems to dislike Heed for some reason.

Saturday I will likely try to pre-fuel with a solid meal and go with the powder/gel mix mentioned with a backup plan of Race Taco's in the cooler if I need something solid. As always apre-race I will be craving grease/salt/beer but what can ya do?!?

Thanks for listening to my notknowingness of it all... I'm out...

A taste of why I love lunch hour

Lately I have been doing a lot of lunch running. It was just the way through winter and this wet spring. I was experiencing the "runners high" and it kept me coming back for more. The urge to get out and bike has been there but not as crazy as in years gone by. I have had great commute rides on the fixed gears and a few lunch rides too just the drive has not been quite the same. So I ran, and I ran, and I ran and experienced the fun in running. It has truly been great.

Yesterday Paul said to bring in the MTB today as it has been dry for two days. I was a little nervous about weak legs after the Marathon Sunday but what the hay I brought it in. The morning commute was awesome. High cadence + extreme oxygenation high. Then I made my way through the morning hungrier than usual.

Then came lunch time....



Yeah I think I just had a taste of the preverbial Herroine of MTB. I may not be running for a while (I likely will tho). Talk at ya later... I'm out.... Might just go riding again ;-) If original video does not work in your location try this one... (Thanks EMI for region censorship)

8 hours of Sweet Mellons and then Some Beer

All last week I am looking at the weather forecast, Rain Thursday/Friday but sunny and 17 on Saturday, Perfect! Friday I take a half day off work and we head to the cottage. Once at the cottage we get things ready and check the Saturday forecast RAIN/RAIN/RAIN. Of course I brought out my it's not going to rain all will be great comment but I did not believe myself.

Saturday morning I wake up and hear the pitter patter of my son playing in bed as well as the pitter patter of rain on the roof. Now I was getting a little down as I have never been very successful at riding let alone racing in the rain. When I was out walking the dog it was pouring and I decided that screw it, this is going to be a fun day. Went back inside packed up my race gear and packed myself full of Turkey and cheese wraps so we could hit the road.

My wife was driving and I was looking out into the rain that just kept getting harder and harder until what's that ahead Blue sky and Sunshine. As we get even closer we came by spots that had not seen any rain. Maybe we were all worried for nothing. Maybe not... As we pull into the parking lot this crazy mist started it was thick and seemed to slime everything up instantly. I mentioned to a couple people as I passed them that this was nothing compared to at the cottage 1/2 hour away. The reply "so it's going to get worse?".

Went up to the lodge to get my plates and swag for the race and ran into a online/race acquaintance Dave who offered me a spot to pit under his tent. I eagerly accepted. After getting my bike and gear in order I saw my family off as it was not going to be the kind of day to hang out along side the course and cheer me on with a 4 and 9 year old. Back up to the pit area I made some final adjustments to my bikes rear brakes to eliminate the squeal and got my stuff together. Dave then pointed out his car and said to dump my dry post race bag in there. I did this and came back. Shortly after this lady I have never seen before comes up to me and says, "hey, you just scared the s#!t out of me!!". Turns our Dave's wife was sleeping in his car when he sent me over, oops. He then introduced us. She was still kind enough to cheer me on through the race and even mix me some Perpetuem late in the day.

Well back to the task at hand. After meeting and shaking hands with a few guys I have only talked to online in the past we all made our way down to find a place in the starting coral of riders. I met Mike and Jim there and mike gave me my gloves his wife had accidentally packed up 2 weeks prior after the 6 hour race. They were doing this one tag team as mike had raced Crank the Shield a 3 day stage race the weekend prior and was racing The Squeezer on Sunday. Chatted to them and others in the crowd and realized that the Singlespeed Solo guys were all pretty much alligned in the coral. 1 minute to race was called overhead. We finished up with the smalltalk and get ready for the horn.

Off we went into the trails, up up up the beginning climb. I had heard mixed reports on the course being a climbing course and being a technical course. The organizers always say it is a fast and flowing course. At this point I was thinking this climb is not that bad there must be another one ahead that is bad but up we went then back down a double-track section definitely designed to break up the group through a tunnel and... back up the opening climbs. Wow that was the shortest lap ever, well not really next time when we get to the top of the hill we go down a different route and into the course. I think I staged myself a little further back than I should have as I ended up in a tight group of riders through most of the first lap. Everything was slick especially exposed roots but as the organizers said everything was flowing well, but not fast yet.

fast came in the second lap I must have just got in a nice spot just in front of the masses. I realized quickly that Marc was on my tail and chatted with him a bit and kept pushing ahead of him on climbs. He was relentless though and kept catching me in the singletrack. I need to be a little more confident in wet singletrack but have found myself rubber side up too many times in the past in these conditions. Anyways I messed up on a rooty hill crest and got bumped by another rider and pushed off course. The other rider and Marc passed and dropped me quickly. I decided I was not going down that easy this early and gave chase. it took me the rest of the lap but I passed through the timing tent just behind him and caught up to him on the opening climb continuing the conversation from earlier to let him know I was there. I think this was a little of his own medicine.

Lap 3 I just decided I needed to lose him and kept pushing it around the course. I thought I had done this successfully until the end of lap 4 when I had just grabbed my yummy Watermelon slice at the timing tent and was getting back on course. I heard that Marc and Dave had just crossed head to head and were only seconds behind me. I had to lose them. I pushed through most of the lap harder than I had in the last couple laps. I was able to keep in front of them until almost the end of the lap when Dave pushed past me with power that just said you cant catch me. I realized that this was only lap 4 and I should probably slow my pace a bit so that I don't burn out before the end. Midway through the 5th lap Marc was able to squeak by me and start to create a gap.

I was really starting to love the watermelon at the pit's by the end of lap 5 and had found a great groove. I figured I was probably quite far back in the group with no podium chances so just decided to try to do better than the summer race and just kept my average pace as high as I could comfortably. I need to try not to discount myself like this in further races because I always end up closer than I thought I was.

Around lap 9 or 10 I was in a bit of a watermelon stupor when I heard someone off to the side of the course yell my name. A couple guys I thought were ahead of me were in street clothes discussing their day and I had to do a double-take. Not sure what happened to end their day early but it gave me a late day lift and I was off again. I was able to ride with limited pit-stops all day due to the temperature and was still feeling great except for being a little weaker on the opening climbs. On lap 10 Dave was successfully able to lap me and in lap 11 another Mike slipped past too.

At the end of lap 11 I saw my family cheering alongside and knew we were getting close to the end of the day. I grabbed a slice of watermelon from pits and set off. Hearing talk from the guys ahead that it was 5:05pm and cut-off time was 5:30pm for the start of another lap we had all decided this was our last lap. Time to just ride hard and enjoy without conserving energy for any more laps.

I kicked it into high gear and cranked through all of the fun spots in the course and rode climbs as hard as I had that morning. A ride behind commented "you look like you have another 8 hours left in you.". I let him know it was an optical illusion and away we went. The sun decided to peak through the clouds and a couple pine sections actually seemed to ride dry. One nasty section of peanut-butter trail still sucked the energy out of me but that is how it goes.

I came down the end of the track to my favorite section of super fast flowy singletrack and just cranked through it then one more time through the tunnel and out to my family. I hammered to the dismount sign and swiped in in 4th place. What a fun day and I was not completely wiped out. Later it would hit me that maybe if I pushed harder through the middle of my day I may have been able to make up the 20 minutes that Marc was able to put between us but 4th was something to be proud of anyway. Ended up with 12 laps that my cyclocomputer put at 132km ridden.

I grabbed the bike and the family and I went up and gathered my gear and load it in the van. On the way to the van my big toes started to hurt in the worst way. I screamed and my wife thought I had just lost my marbles. I had a quick shower which seemed to soothe the toes and then grabbed a Big Wheel Deluxe Amber and chatted it up with a few fellow riders.

I had so much fun. I don't know if I can remember a better day on the bike. Even though it rained through most of the day and it was all of about 13 degrees Celsius. Of course just before we leave this is what we were greeted with. Silver lining.
I am inspired to find another event before the end of the season but am not sure if it will be do-able. I am hoping that WOW decided to run winter WOW in the end because that has always been a favorite but things look grim on that angle.
I could probably just keep rambling but I should cut myself off. I'm out...

6 Hours of Fast Flowing Trails....

Could not have asked for a better day. 21 degrees Celsius sunny and clear. I think it was almost exactly the same kind of day as last year. Got there just after Mike. Morning was a little cooler when we showed up and unpacked. We gave ourselves just over an hour to prepare on-site and a little time to chat.

Mike figured out that after a wheel truing the previous night that a spoke had been overtightened and snapped. We also found a bit of a wobble in my rear wheel. All the while the kids frolicked around in the transition zone asking Mommy if they could stay instead of going shopping.

We had a brief meeting to establish rules/safety/etc... Then 15 minutes to gather our things and head down the dam to the starting line. It was very informal down there we all chatted and no-one crowded the start line except for one of the youth teams that was just raring to go. I checked out a sweet singlespeed from True North Cycles that was also prepping to go. A few more words the 5-4-3-2-1 horn blows...

As usual we establish position up an open hill to spread out the field and then into the singletrack that we would occupy for the next 6 hours except for in the transition zone. I took a different approach this year and decided to get up front early and see if I could hold it instead of working through the field like last year. Not sure if this was the best plan now looking back. I found myself in a group of 3 with two tag teams. I was following as they were regulars here (I thought). The leader took a wrong turn the two of us followed. We rode a ways before realizing that we had already done this section of trails. We found our way back to the trails and I continued to chat with the guy from True North Cycles for most of the lap. We worked through the field and caught up to Mike late in the 1st lap. We went through the timing tent with Mike in first place and me in Second after 1 lap.

At the beginning of Lap 2 I decided I needed to put some distance between Mike and I. I passed him early and worked to try to lose him. He just kept catching up in downhills and I would get away from him on climbs and strait aways. Eventually I realised that it was no longer Mike's click click click rear hub that I was hearing but instead it was the hub of Hugh Black on this beauty of a bike that he had built. We chatted for a couple seconds and I offered him the pass but he was happy with my pace at that moment. The lap was finished in this fashion.

Lap 3 I rode with Hugh's tag team partner again (Unfortunately his name escapes me right now) and we talked about all of the trail systems that were around and the merits of singlespeed. It was nice to take the edge off the race and just ride for a while. I would love to be able to get a custom bike built by these guys one day but don't think it is in the cards anytime soon. Lap 4 Hugh had more gas in the tank than I did and passed me midway through the lap. I did not see them again which I think tells me they were unable to lap me.

The rest of the day was great just riding at my pace and passing here and there when necessary. I was able to make minimal pit-stops and got some great cheering from the sidelines later in the race from my wife and kids. All the while Mike's wife kept pleading for me to slow down. I was trying to push hard and lap Mike so that I knew he was not right behind me but this was not to be. instead every time I heard a loud clicking hub in the woods it was time to increase my speed again an hope it was not him. By the last couple laps I think I must have lost it as the clicking came and went but no riders ever appeared.

My "last lap" was great, I have this odd method of seeing landmarks that I have ridden by all day and mentally crossing them off as the last time I need to complete that today. I did that all the way around the course and when I got back through the timing tent I still had 3 minutes left to start another lap. I was actually surprised at how energetic I was doing a Victory lap before the post race BBQ and Beer. It was kinda odd riding by my landmarks again though.

After the race I walked down and jumped into the lake. Wow did that feel amazing, why did I not do that last year? Then after a quick clean off and clothing change went up and grabbed a Trailhead beer (Thanks Krista). The BBQ was amazing right after the race, big burgers, potato salad, and caesar salad followed by a Birthday cake for the kids. Wellington Brewery provided some Trailhead Lager also but I did not partake as Krista had brought a great mixer pack for Mike and I.

All in all it was a wonderful day with amazing conditions for a ride. 114.55km's later and a first place win did not hurt either!! One lap shy of the first place tag team also.

That's all Ive got for now... I'm out...

#bikeschool egggy edition #2... healthy cycle...

Well, I am about to step back in time a few years get ready....
Talking to a new co-worker about cycling (mountain biking to be exact) and how we both had ridden a local trail quite a bit but not in the past few years. "We gotta get out sometime" was the topic of many conversations. These conversations stretched out across approximately 3 years. Yeah we had been off the bike for too long. The both of us had.

One crazy day I contacted my friend, a cycle store owner and asked what kind of deal he could give me if I was going to get back into biking. He hooked me up with a 15% off plus tax free deal for me on a Kona Blast although he made many free alterations for me. I asked about a friend and he said if I had 2 purchases same day he would honor the same deal. So from there i played it this way, hey Paul you are getting a new bike, here is the deal!!! He was in but one upped me with a Kona Caldera. History was made. Wednesday rides starting/finishing my place 10k to the trails 22km-27km of trails then back was official.

At this point I had one young daughter and I had quit baseball for cycling and 1 night vs 3 looked great to my wife. Anyways this is not the real #bikeschool story. More of just a lead in. I was a pretty tame mountain bike enthusiast just getting back into the game.

one day I decided to do the whole ride with no stop/chat's and just ride it hard. I did it i cranked and cranked out there, across the whole trail Paul and I switching up the lead position as we saw fit. Riding back my 210lb body said no-more. I rode it out but was in a beyond bonk position. Home was a great place to be to think about where I was and what I needed to get into better riding shape. The #bikeschool lesson this time was that in order to be able to continue with my passions of hockey and cycling I may need to take care of myself a little better.

Health is important as learnt via #bikeschool...

Ouch, this post is off topic as it has to do only with geared cycling... More about my evolution in future sessions... I'm out...

#bikeschool

A little while ago I caught onto what started as a joke between @Bikerly and @LovingTheBike on twitter. They were talking about #secretevilplan, I was curious and threw in some fun anecdotes. From there it turned into jokes about water bottle concoctions etc... Then we joked a little less and started to think about where we could go with a #secretevilplan event even though we are geographically diverse. I was not successful in coming up with a plan but @bikerly came up with a great one. And we move forward.

Was called up by a close riding friend Chris who I had not ridden with in years and another old friend's younger brother was to come along. We tossed the idea of meeting at a new location for two to three of us as I was not sure if Ryan had ridden there before. I knew my buddy Mike had ridden there before and we had only ever raced together and regularly near missed group rides together. An unlikely group of riders all different speeds and styles showed up at the lot.

All of us excited about a ride we got through the "hey how goes it's" etc quickly and got on the bikes. Ryan apparently knew the trails best so he led. I decided to jump in second and we were off. Went through a couple nice tight pine switchbacks and then into a dark spot. Not sure if it was Ryan's yell "mud" that spooked me or just a slippery puddle, I dropped the bike but successfully ran along side somehow. Mike and Chris passed and I rejoined the back of the train. I slid in front of Chris on a loose rocky climb only because I needed to keep the momentum on the singlespeed. We rode through a few more pine switchbacks and stopped for water and a little chat. All was well and we started up in the same order as we stopped. At this point Ryan moved forward followed closely by Mike, Myself and Chris. After a few more tight twists and turns and a little gravel climbing I realized Chris had lost a little pace on us. I took a left and yelled out left for him to follow. Two more climbs and I realized that where there had been four there were now three.

I decided now would be a good time to stop and wait for Chris as this was a group ride with friends and not a race. I also called to the guys ahead but they were on their way down a loose rocky downhill and did not hear me. I watched as they rode off into the distance. Waiting a little longer I turned back expecting a bail or mechanical had occurred. Not only did I not find Chris but another group of riders had not seen him either. I was in a set of 50km of trails that I did not know from Adam, and to that matter I did not remember the way out as I had followed a tire in and not paid attention to which turns were made.

I rode for approximately 15km before finding the carpark. I yelled names every so often and asked other groups if they had seen my group or a stray. There was writing in dust on my van saying Chris had been there 10 mins ago but went back in. The chase was on I sprinted through "all the original singletrack" without the mud bail this time. Realized I was lost again and wound through a real nice technical section of climbs (that likely are mapped as downhills) found the carpark alot quicker this time though after about a 5km loop. Got to the carpark and Mike and Ryan were there, we started talking and Chris showed up. They all started putting their bikes away and we chatted for a while. I said to Mike that I was still feeling great and had heard from Ryan about a nice loop I had missed. He apparently did not realize I was serious and got changed.

The others left and I turned back in, Mike yelled out that he wanted another loop but was already comfortable so he left. I had an amazing 10km loop with no worries about finding the others and packed it up and went home.

How does this story relate to twitter and #secretevilplan? How does this relate to @bikerly or @lovingthebike? These two guys were nowhere near this ride. I did not even chat about this ride with them before or after. I may have tweeted about loosing friends in the trail but that's about it. What did I learn while riding this set of trails? Did I learn about a great new set of trails? of course I did but this is not my point. Did I learn that riding alone is more fun than in groups? Heck no!! Really I may have learned a little about riding but this is not really why I am writing this story.

I am writing this because @Bikerly came up with a great idea for #bikeschool, things learned while riding. Not necessarily things learned about riding. I learned on this ride in particular that I there needs to be a better way of communicating amongst a group when group riding, maybe it should be radio's maybe it should be cellphones? Maybe everyone should stay still when they realize they have been separated and then slowly retrace their steps. Probably does not matter what the method is but communication of a plan before the ride is key. Or maybe communication with friends is the real key.

If you have stories of things you have learned about life through cycling tweet about it using #bikeschool or maybe some more #bikeschool bloging. Now I guess we will have to think up another #secretevilplan.

Be Sure to also checkout these cycle blogs regarding #bikeschool

http://lovingthebike.com/
http://bikerly.wordpress.com/

Broken Record... 26 or 29 with 27inch inseam...

Damn I need to test ride a 29er. I am having serious bike envy out on the trails of late. The local Ontario Misfit Psycles bikes are constantly catching my eye. After Winter WOW I was talking to a guy that I finished along side and felt his bike. Even with the big wheels it came in 5 or more pounds lighter than my old rig. I would have to keep the old toy as a cottage bike as it has lasted me so well all these years.

On the other hand my buddy who owns a shop locally and sells Kona products thinks I should be looking at the new Explosif 2010 frame. He has fit me on bikes before and thinks it would be far fetched to put me on a 29er. Says there is no way to get the bars down low enough to allow me to get the proper control. I asked about the Unit as it has a nice price tag and he said they just wont fit everyone. If I want to be on one he would put me on it but it would not be ideal.



Both bikes look great. My budget constraints definitely keep me out of the running for the beautiful new dissent(fe) but I have seen many happy riders on the dissent(al) and that helps me to dispel the myth that Singlespeeds must be steel. I know a couple Singlespeeders that would not agree with this comment though.

My new bike account is running dry right now but hopefully this winter will allow me to scratch something together. Otherwise I will be contemplating well into next season. Contemplating is fun tho, the fun thing is once I choose a frame it will be time to start dreaming of parts to build the new toy up.

Anyone out there 5'6" with a 26.5" to 27" inseam riding 29er's? Or is my monkey body just built to ride a 26er ever-more?

Eating for an Endurance Event

I have read many, maybe too many articles on fueling the body for a race or Epic adventure. I have put together my basics over time and they seemed to keep me in good shape through the 6 hour this past weekend.

I start my altered eating plan 2 days prior to an event. I like to have Liver and onions for dinner this night to increase Iron, and vitamins. The day before the race I try to get some Cod Liver from the local European market ever since my Father in law gave it to me one night before a race and I did well. And for evening the night before the race I have Liver and onions with spaghetti and Tomato sauce fried in the pan also. Covers the Iron, Vitamins, and Additional Carbs needed for the race.

These things I figure are all just done to get inside my head and make me feel prepared. May not actually do anything on the day of the race but they make me feel prepared. I think convincing myself I am ready is half the battle.

On the day of the race I like to start my day out with a heavy breakfast consisting of cereal, fruit, and yogurt. Just get enough easily absorbed calories into myself before I switch to a race diet just prior to the event.

30 minuites before start I like to have a piece of fruit and some Hammer Gel. As the event progress's I fuel myself between laps with Hammer Heed, Hammer Gel, My Mother In-Laws peanut butter granola bars (My wife makes these now), and fruit. This past weekend I was stopping every 2-3 laps and having half a bar, a shot of gel, some fruit and washing it down with heed. I drink water alone on the course.

This mixture of foods seems to keep me going well without feeling hunger and without bonking.

Maybe this post will add to some other guy like me who likes to mix all the things he hears into his training/eating regime.

Thats all I have to say about that....

EPIC 6 Hour Race

Amazing day yesterday. Started out nice and cool but sunny. Sun stayed up thru the whole day. Mike and Heidi found us a great spot to setup for our solo race just before the timing tent under a couple of trees overlooking the lake. We showed up a little late after peeling ourselves and kids out of bed after my daughters cheerleading party the night before.
Got setup re-lubed the chain, met another singlespeeder that took an interest in my old Nishiki. Then it was time for the pre-race meeting and all the minor formalities. And then off to the bottom of the hill to start out a day of fun times.

The horn went and we were off up the hill. This being my first ever solo event I was on a mission to find the right pace to keep going for 6 hours. To many endurance riders who do 8's and 24's this may seem laughable but for now it was my mission. Then into the singletrack and of course the group tightend up and we all rode the same pace. Then I took a wrong turn and went into the tape. It was heckling by Mike that made me loose the Slow and Steady win's the race philosophy and it was time to hammer. Passed a few riders before deciding I was going to kill myself and settled in between 2 other solo riders that were keeping a really nice pace. We rode like that for the first 2 laps and then one went in for food.

Lap 3 part way thru the other guy and I ended up modifiing our pace slightly and I was off on my own for a while. Seemed like a good time for a first pit-stop. Stopped fueled and off. 2 more laps passed with some nice quiet riding and started to hear some nasty noise in my chain. Started quick degrease with Baby Wipes and relube at every 2 laps during pit stops. Seemed to help things out.

A couple laps later I was passed on one of the hardest climbs of which there were not many by a guy sporting a Misfit Psycle who was just flying. I think those things have motors :)

As the race wore on my pace was slowing slightly and I was trying to decide if I should drop it a bit to keep from bonking. I passed the timing tent and for the first time checked how I was doing. Turned out I was in 2nd place and only approx 2 hours remained. Any previous plans of slowing pace vanished. I went back out and hammered. 3/4 thru the lap I passed Mike and he started to joke with me but I had to let him know I was stoked to place and moved on. Climbing the final hill of the lap I dropped my chain. Been riding this bike with no major changes since last August and never dropped a chain before. Popped it back on and 2 more pedals and it snapped. Bugger all, picked up the chain and ran the bike and chain in.

Distraught I went to camp and not exactly sure what happened there but Paul who had stopped by to cheer for a bit had gotten me a quick-link for a 9 speed chain from another rider. We forced it onto my 7 speed chain and popped it in using pedal and wheel leverage. And I was off again. All hopes of placing crushed. I started the lap out in 3rd place.

Last couple laps were kind of a blur but when I came in at the end they told me that there was someone who made it out for another lap before 3:30pm and that I had completed back in 2nd.

Amazing race held by GORBA. Thank you for letting myself and Mike join the club last minute in-order to compete in this club race.

Afterwards they had a great BBQ and Krista gave me a Beer. Mike turned down a beer I assume because he is doing a run today. Madman played Hockey Friday, 6hour Saturday and Terry Fox Run today. Not sure I could do all that.



He experienced some nasty mechanical on course also as his freewheel jammed and had to ride his geared/suspended toy basically as a fixie thru all of his later laps. Good on ya madman. Just check photo enclosed you will see the crazy in his eyes :) ...

Thanks Heidi for keeping our bottles topped up and thanks Krista for all the great pics you took. Another great day on 2 wheels.

I think that's it for now... I'm out...

26 or 29 on my next Singlespeed MTB???

I am lovin' the look of next years Kona Unit but have always read that for short riders 29ers don't fit the bill. In the last couple weeks I have found that there is a new thought on this. I read a decent article that has made me rethink the big wheel - small guy issues "The 26-inch Hard Tail is Dead". I may not agree with the title but the information inside seems to make sense. Was talking to a guy the night before the 24 Hours of Hot August Nights over beers who shared these opinions. He said to me "It is an amazing feeling to coast down a hill passing 26ers who are pedaling". He is the owner of Misfit Psycles so may be a little biased. I am loving the diSSent FE frame and associated build kit but am a little poor to ride a toy like that.

Prior to all of this I was trying to figure out how I would fund raise enough to buy myself a Kona Explosif frame and a decent build kit to go with it next year. All excited that Kona has decided to release the 26er chromo Singlespeed compatible frame again.

Oh well, will probably end up thinking about this far too long and wind up broke next year anyhow. I will live to contemplate another day. In the end I will probably just replace the bottom bracket in the old Nishiki and keep on pounding the pedals on that fun old toy. Maybe I will pour over this topic on my 20K lunch hour ride on the old fixie today....

More next time... I'm out...