2010 Olympics

Vanessa, Audra, and I took a month away from what is known as life to enjoy the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, BC. By far the most memorable portion is the country unity. GO Canada GO was on vivid display on buildings, cars, people, streets, television, SkyTrain, buses, dogs, and all types of objects. I cannot explain the feeling that brought to me. I am Canadian again. I *want* to be Canadian for the rest of my existence.

There is so much to remember. So much to write down. I already let one month go by and lost some of that feeling. Man you should have been there. 3 hockey games, speed skating, ski cross, snowboard parallel slalom, hours of taking in the vibe on the train, in the city, in the restaurants, even hiking with the dog or training on the bike. The vibe was everywhere, and an excellent one.

We - mostly Audra - took literally thousands of pictures. Here are some quick favorites.

39 x 21

If my racing season is successful I may have to write a training book titled "39 x 21 training".

See, it all has to do with procrastination. Once I started riding my indoor trainer I decided I would put my 11-21 cassette on my PowerTap wheel so I would wear it out since I really don't use that cassette any longer. Since I have a PowerTap I like to use it to train with power, so I use that wheel exclusively for training.

Since my bike is setup for an indoor trainer I have been fortunate to get plenty of outdoor rides in in the last two months yet my 11-21 cassette remains on my bike. I am 900 miles away from home, I have another set of wheels that has my favored 11-28 cassette, I brought the tools to exchange the cassette, yet before every ride I decide to leave the 11-21 cassette on my bike. I come up with plenty of excuses such as "I'll do a flat ride today" or "I'd rather not spend the time working on my bike when I can ride it" or "I have to maximize daylight" or junk like that. Secretly I am going with "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger".

In the last week or two I found dozens of roads around Burnaby, BC with a grade higher than 12%. I saw 17% at one point. Those are tough climbs with a 39x21 gear ratio. In case you don't know Burnaby, BC is basically on the Pacific ocean. Elevation is 45 feet in our campsite. I keep thinking everything is flat here. This brings me to my theory that my Garmin 705 hates me. For some reason it keeps finding routes back to my campsite that have the most severe climbs possible. It hates me. I am certain of it.

Today's fortune

I should not have discussed my past fortune cookie experiences.

I should not have grabbed today's fortune cookie from a meal that wasn't even mine.

I was quite confident the fortune cookie saga was over. Now I am doubtful.

Suncrest was on the menu today

Adam invited us to a ride starting at the mouth of Suncrest today with the intention of riding around the point of the mountain, climbing the north side of Suncrest, riding down the steep southern face, then going home.

At least that was the intention. Ryan showed up and muscled his way, well, won a rock/paper/scissors session to make us go up the steep side of Suncrest right away rather than at the end of the ride.

As you can see below this climb has a bunch of sections over 10% grade, some reaching 14%, yielding an estimated grade of 8% for 3.5 miles.


Within the first 1/2 mile I start looking down at my bike, thinking there is something wrong with my gearing or I have a flat. I can't be in my lowest gear already. I am fit damn it. I have been working out all winter. What the f***?

A bit later I realize what the f***: I am running a 11-21 cassette with my 53-39 crank set. Yeah, I did it, I just blamed the hardware. In November I replaced the cassette with an older 11-21 because I was going to be doing FLAT base miles and that cassette is just not used anymore since I have a 53-39 crank set. May as well use it up during the winter. Therefore today's climb up Suncrest was done at 5 mph in a 39x21 gear. This was strangely reminiscent of a certain Little Cottonwood canyon climb during a certain 1000 warriors race. Don't do that.

Then came the downhill. Turns out I'm still a featherweight and I don't believe there is anything I can do to help gravity. I pedaled the whole way down at nearly my functional threshold power but couldn't be useful for anyone and could only keep up if I was in someones draft. Pathetic.

All in all the day was gorgeous, the company was great, and we got a few quality hours in. Tomorrow: Ski day!

Base miles milestone

1082 miles ridden so far for the 2010 season - my 2010 training season began November 16th 2009. I am not THAT much of a freak where I would have ridden 1000 miles in less than one month.

The 1082 miles translate to over 67 hours on the bike. Mostly indoor. One one hand I am starting to get pretty tired of my trainer and really want to ride outside. On the other hand I am increasingly enjoying being on the trainer as it is simpler than dealing with traffic, road conditions, and finding terrain to match the workouts. But, as I start more race-specific training the need for real mountains and real terrain also increases. Outside good.

1000 miles is a well known milestone to denote the end of a base period. It is recommended to get 1000 miles in before starting to beat the crap out of your body to get to the next level of fitness. Here comes the pain.

2 excellent rides this weekend.

If you didn't get to ride this weekend you missed out. Travis organized a great outing in Park City where he, Ryan, and I were treated to mostly blue skies and clean air for almost 4 hours. Then Sunday's ride was the almost famous Wardy Sunday at Noon event which yielded a group of 6 people. Nice stuff for January.

Those 6 hours on the bike allowed me to reach my 11 hour training goal this week, which is a relief as I didn't really think I was going to reach my goal as of Friday evening. And I am feeling better about riding in sub 30 degree weather. Sad, sad accomplishment.

Lastly I reached a weird milestone during Saturday's ride where I broke the 1000 watts barrier of power output. It was picture worthy. Saturday's ride also bumped my personal best 5-second duration power output to 963 watts. I have a long way to go to reach my season's goals but it's a start.

2009 to 2010

2009 in retrospective

Professional

Not the best year. Third or fourth attempt at managing people with the same result. Just not a manager and don't want to be one. Otherwise tired of being the bad guy; I just don't want to deal with grown adults needing supervision to do their jobs. Just let me solve technical problems and get out of the damn way.

Personal

Great. I am super lucky. I don't deserve it especially given how selfish I am.

Cycling

Good energy outlet. Great early season, unfortunate knee injury, shitty team dynamics. Wished I could have excelled.

2 new bikes: One was too tall, the other was stolen. Good and bad.

2010

Eat, sleep, work, train

Getting serious about competing on a bicycle. Spending approximately 12 hours per week training starting in November. Will win races, will excel, will destroy LOTOJA.

Olympics

1 month in Vancouver for some awesome Olympic experience. Too bad I wasn't chosen as a volunteer but I hope we make the most of it.

Home improvements

It's time to update the house with new carpet, maybe pergo-style flooring in the upstairs bathroom, new non-yellow canned light rings, and possibly new door hardware.