We are putting together a cool jersey design for the occasion. Here is one sample.
Will update once we get the final version ....
Friday, April 23, 2010
RTCC 2010 - Here we come!
As time slowly slides from spring into ... late spring, the Ride to Conquer Cancer likewise approaches. We have a team together for 2010, our second year doing "The Ride", and it's called "Tri-Cyclists 4 A Cure". It will include my wife Sue and a group of Ironman triathletes.
We are putting together a cool jersey design for the occasion. Here is one sample.
Will update once we get the final version ....
We are putting together a cool jersey design for the occasion. Here is one sample.
Will update once we get the final version ....
Monday, April 19, 2010
PARIS to ANCASTER Bike Race 2010 - April 18, 2010
April 19, 2010 (Toronto, ON) - Two weeks in a row and 2 bike races. Had a great time at the 17th annual 60 km Paris to Ancaster ride. Too bad lens was a little dirty on the blackberry cam ... But gives a little soft focus effect ...
I ended up coming in 458 place out of approx 1230. Definitely some room for improvement... Time was approx 2:35, which I am pretty pleased with overall. Hell, I was happy just to finish. And I survived (you can only say that the next morning cause until then it feels like you are about to have a heart attack at any moment - you know, kind of shaky, not 100% normal, etc.)
And I can think of a few things that cost me probably 5-6 mins and easily a couple of dozen or more spots - I promptly lost a waterbottle out of that water bottle cage within the first 500m (hit some good bumps on a dirt road) and I braked to get it then thought maybe not so good idea with all the hundreds of people likely close behind me; we got stopped at an intersection for 3 minutes to let some backed up cars pass (I was literally the first person the traffic cop stopped after having blown by several dozen mountain bike riders on a flat section); and since I had other waterbottle in jersey pocket, I stopped to drink a couple of times at 2 rest stops and got banana at same time too.
Notes for next time - use a Camelbak - easier to drink from more often since often tough to take even one hand off the bars because of terrain. Lose 20-30 pounds. That should help too.
By the way, bike was awesome. I used every gear, more than once. Although I noticed there was this bizarre rubbing sound when in large chain ring and in the larger rings of the rear cassette. Took me a while to figure out what it was 'cause it was kind of like wheel rub noise, i.e. occasional and regular. Shifting otherwise was very good and braking was so good almost hard to believe - compared to my touring bike, the brakes on this thing dug in and stopped it instantly. Actually had to be careful going down the technical stuff not to brake too hard with front wheel ...
Chain only came off once (to inside) and I had put what is called a "chain fang" on the bike - basically a plastic clamp that goes around seat tube and closes gap between inner chainring and seat tube - which allowed me to shift the chain right back on because it did not drop between seat tube and chainring.
The bike handled great - I was going up stuff that I could not believe possible, going through stuff I was surprised the bike could handle, over things, through deep bumps, etc. Course I had to be careful to keep my weight back far enough to avoid some clear over-the-handlebar type scenarios (as I watched others balance on their front wheel - a losing strategy). Glad I had those tires because seemed to be pretty good on flat parts but had lots of traction for what ended up being some serious mud, some serious singletrack climbs, etc. I have so many visuals playing through my head of what the bike had to deal with its too bad I did not do the helmet cam thing. One wild (and long) ride!
Actually some guy named "Jacques" from Montreal came up to me after the race and was admiring the bike and the welding job on the frame, etc. He does a lot of cyclocross in montreal apparently and rides a steel frame too .... He had a real retro look to him ....
Got to say, it was the only bike of its kind there!
Paid $5 for a bike wash at the end so left all the mud in its natural habitat. Air dried it on the bike rack on the way home. A wax and a polish and it should look like brand new.
What a blast and look forward to doing it again next year.
I ended up coming in 458 place out of approx 1230. Definitely some room for improvement... Time was approx 2:35, which I am pretty pleased with overall. Hell, I was happy just to finish. And I survived (you can only say that the next morning cause until then it feels like you are about to have a heart attack at any moment - you know, kind of shaky, not 100% normal, etc.)
And I can think of a few things that cost me probably 5-6 mins and easily a couple of dozen or more spots - I promptly lost a waterbottle out of that water bottle cage within the first 500m (hit some good bumps on a dirt road) and I braked to get it then thought maybe not so good idea with all the hundreds of people likely close behind me; we got stopped at an intersection for 3 minutes to let some backed up cars pass (I was literally the first person the traffic cop stopped after having blown by several dozen mountain bike riders on a flat section); and since I had other waterbottle in jersey pocket, I stopped to drink a couple of times at 2 rest stops and got banana at same time too.
Notes for next time - use a Camelbak - easier to drink from more often since often tough to take even one hand off the bars because of terrain. Lose 20-30 pounds. That should help too.
By the way, bike was awesome. I used every gear, more than once. Although I noticed there was this bizarre rubbing sound when in large chain ring and in the larger rings of the rear cassette. Took me a while to figure out what it was 'cause it was kind of like wheel rub noise, i.e. occasional and regular. Shifting otherwise was very good and braking was so good almost hard to believe - compared to my touring bike, the brakes on this thing dug in and stopped it instantly. Actually had to be careful going down the technical stuff not to brake too hard with front wheel ...
Chain only came off once (to inside) and I had put what is called a "chain fang" on the bike - basically a plastic clamp that goes around seat tube and closes gap between inner chainring and seat tube - which allowed me to shift the chain right back on because it did not drop between seat tube and chainring.
The bike handled great - I was going up stuff that I could not believe possible, going through stuff I was surprised the bike could handle, over things, through deep bumps, etc. Course I had to be careful to keep my weight back far enough to avoid some clear over-the-handlebar type scenarios (as I watched others balance on their front wheel - a losing strategy). Glad I had those tires because seemed to be pretty good on flat parts but had lots of traction for what ended up being some serious mud, some serious singletrack climbs, etc. I have so many visuals playing through my head of what the bike had to deal with its too bad I did not do the helmet cam thing. One wild (and long) ride!
Actually some guy named "Jacques" from Montreal came up to me after the race and was admiring the bike and the welding job on the frame, etc. He does a lot of cyclocross in montreal apparently and rides a steel frame too .... He had a real retro look to him ....
Got to say, it was the only bike of its kind there!
Paid $5 for a bike wash at the end so left all the mud in its natural habitat. Air dried it on the bike rack on the way home. A wax and a polish and it should look like brand new.
What a blast and look forward to doing it again next year.
La Bici Squadra's Hell of the North - sponsored by Rapha - April 11, 2010 - Toronto's own Paris-Roubaix
April 12, 2010 (Toronto ON) - It's not often that I enter a bicycle race. In fact, I never have until I decided to participate in La Bici Squadra's "Hell of the North", 2010 edition - sponsored by Rapha - an homage to Paris-Roubaix, held on beautiful sunny Sunday April 11, 2010. So I missed the actual Paris-Roubaix via live internet video feed. Which is too bad cause I have recently taken a real shining to the races "other than" (ie preceding) the Tour de France. I guess I might have to wait for it to come out on DVD .... However, what I got myself into instead will not be soon forgotten.
First off, I managed to get all of my various pieces of gear and other stuff ready and packed ON TIME first thing Sunday morning. Almost a first. Second, I got out the door AHEAD of schedule. Wow. Third, no traffic to deal with so got to Cedar Beach resort in Stouffville, off of Musselmans Lake, in under an hour. Next, to locate the starting point. I roamed the Cedar Beach Resort trailer park for a while - no sign of a bike race starting line - then headed further down the road towards the lake. Noticed a bright orange arrow placed beside the front door of the Cedar Beach Grill and figured this had to be registration. Luckily it was.
Shortly before 9 am, the whole group (I heard it was about 90 riders) assembled in front of the Grill for the start and, following short announcements about course, safety, etc., we were off. I figure maybe three-quarters were riding cyclo-cross bikes and one-quarter road bikes or other (being tri-bikes (insane types) and some MTBs (cautious types)).
I had brought my Colnago C50, known for its multi-surface prowess, with the Paris-Roubaix inspired Vittoria Pave Open tires, the ones with the bright green stripes on either side of the middle black compound, known for withstanding the rigours of pave (or cobble-stone) routes so therefore perfect for whatever this little randonnee should hurl my way, running on DT Swiss 1.2 RR rims, being 32mm aero rims with aero spokes and DT Sw 280S hubs. Perfect for the road sections and probably extra strong for the offroad. Enough with the tech talk!
Apart from those who were truly racing and therefore likely launched like rockets from the start, the main group held together pretty well for the first 20 KM or so and I just followed the wheels in front of me and generally tried to stay out of trouble. I made the requisite move to the front of the peloton, lead for my few minutes of glory, and then promptly retreated back into the glob of bicycles to resume grinding along.
Following a right turn into a short and sharp 15% climb at KM 15, we coasted down the other side, ran for a while and then, at KM 26, were directed into the "Trench" (at least I think this was the "Trench"; there was supposed to be a "Trench" somewhere and this sure looked like what a trench ought to be).
It started out innocently enough - a turn off the main road into what appeared to be a muddy grass track following what then appeared to be a snowmobile trail through the woods. Then the six foot wide puddles came into view and the soft shoulders of the track on either side started to look decidedly ... soft. Too soft for my 25C tires to go through without getting sucked in. So off the bike I came. From that point, it was a question of where to walk to avoid getting feet soaked, or to just go for it. I looked down and the toes of my neoprene shoe covers were pushed up over the fronts of the once dazzling gold Sidi Ergo 2 Bettinis. Oh well, nothing a little gold shoe polish wouldn't fix - I hoped.... One of a few tips I would note and hopefully learn from as I plowed on through this veritable quagmire.
The good news was that I was not getting passed by too many other riders - I expect a large number were ahead of me already and had high-tailed it through the mud with their cyclo-cross bikes and better preparation for the conditions. The water became my friend as it helped clean out the mud and leaves, etc., that were lodging around the brake pads and fork area of the bike as the truth quickly became clear that the Colnago has little mud clearance. After what felt like (and was more or less) 2 KMS of hard slogging, I literally saw the light at the end of the tunnel and kept marching, now walking mostly through the puddles rather than the muck around them (the goretex socks I had put on were good but not quite high enough). Finally, back on to pavement.
Offers by marshalls stationed at this exit to clean my brakes were shrugged off with a "Oh, I'm sure they'll clean themselves out" and I hopped back on the bike to enjoy solid asphalt again. I was then confronted with an unexpected but not totally surprising status update - mud and speedplay zero pedals really don't get along too well. So I rode along, trying to get back up to some reasonable speed (ie around 30 km/h) in order to catch up to some riders I saw ahead, all the while whacking the bottom of my shoes against the pedals to try to clear the cleats of mud. A couple of riders passed me and I decided this was the train I needed to hitch onto as I continued to try to get back into the pedals.
KMs we managed to work together and mopped up a few riders en route to the next off-road section, a 13 KM long treed rail bed running South between miscellaneous fields. Just before we got to this, one of our merry band flatted out completely - both front and rear. Luckily this happened before he got stuck in the middle of the off-road section, which would have meant a long walk if he wasn't prepared to fix both flats...
Off-road number 2 was a lot drier than the first section, but rockier and sandier. But there were still a few mega-puddles to circumnavigate. Thinking I would be shrewd by going straight through and avoiding the mucky shoulders, I plowed through one only to go headfirst off the bike in the middle of the second. Refreshed, I dragged myself out and decided to clean the mud out of the brakes. A few minutes later, I was back up and riding, trying yet again to get back into the pedals.
The trail itself wasn't too bad, the trick being to find the firmest and flattest part to maintain speed and keep from bouncing. I got a little too close to the outside of the shoulder a few times as I weaved back and forth across the trail but was lucky not to ride off the edge into the ditch. A few more dismounts to hop over animal fences and more struggling to get back into the pedals (practice was definitely not making perfect) and the end of this stretch eventually came into sight. Those on cross bikes had vanished ahead of me, the Colnago handling the rough stuff pretty well but I guess not perfectly. At least no flats or other mechanical issues. No complaints with that. Finally, back onto pavement.
At this point, we were at around KM 54. The next 25 KMs were on pavement, mostly rolling countryside with, luckily, not much wind. I rode with a couple of different riders who were out there, but the field had pretty well been blown apart. It was now time to dig deep and keep driving for the finish. Speaking of finish, I was slowly running out of drink. I guess 2 bottles were not enough. The next time, I would definitely bring a third. At about km 70, I was at the bottom of bottle no 2 and starting to fade. Both riders who I had been hanging on with were now ahead and I was trying to buckle down and focus on getting efficient. I popped 2 gels (new ones I had never tried - e-load green apple flavour) and slowly got some energy back. As I caught up to one of my former companions on a hill, a group of five riders passed by and I tried to catch up a bit. Over the hill, down the other side and then a short right had them in my sights as they started up a dirt road. We must be getting close. Close indeed ... to the final off road stretch.
After hopping over a concrete street divider, we went into what looked like pure mountain bike terrain. This was the "technical" section. And it was. Sandy, rocky, up, down and across rain carved sandy singletrack with lots of rocks. No place for a road bike. And yet the unsuspended road bike was managing to climb on the uphills and descend the other parts, all while staying upright. No doubt my unbelievable bike handling skills; but I must give the Vitt Pave tires a lot of credit - really no slippage at all and I was quite surprised that I did not need to get off to push it up any of these craggy hills. Mind you I was not going anywhere fast and I was starting to get a nice knot in my upper back as I finessed the bike over and around all manner of obstacles. The group ahead on the cyclo-cross were gone by now but I was happy just to make it through without issue. After another hop over a concrete barricade, back onto the end of a dead-end street - pavement again - and then over a hill to join back with the main road. Over another hill and there in sight was the Cedar Beach Grill, just on the other side of the lake where we had started three and a quarter hours before. I buckled down to cover the last 2 kms and wasn't feeling too bad, knowing the end was close. Rounding the end of the lake and coming up to a last little climb before the finish, my legs started to cramp - first my hamstrings, then my quads, then both. I stood up and tried to straighten each leg to try to prevent seizing up altogether like a spider in a flame and barely made it up the hill to the finish line. I was told they stopped counting finishers after the 50th rider so I was clearly not in the top half. But, frankly, I was happy to finish in one piece and, overall, without incident. What a great day.
Notes for next year: 1) maybe mud clearance would be better - cyclocross bike may be worth it; 2) MTB pedals and shoes a must - speedplay zeros or equivalent a big NO; 3) 3 big bottles of hydration - maybe salt tabs to combat the cramping, although I had both e-load and e-fly in the bottles so that surprised me; 4) debatable whether shoe covers were useful - the ones I had kept flipping up over the toes, but I am sure they helped keep feet a bit warmer which was a concern.
Things that worked - 1) dress was appropriate - thermal long sleeve, windproof jacket and vest, bib shorts with leg warmers only, compression socks with gore-tex over socks, winter cycling gloves; 2) pre-race nutrition seemed to work - hydration worked well until I ran out; 3) ziplock bag was important.
First off, I managed to get all of my various pieces of gear and other stuff ready and packed ON TIME first thing Sunday morning. Almost a first. Second, I got out the door AHEAD of schedule. Wow. Third, no traffic to deal with so got to Cedar Beach resort in Stouffville, off of Musselmans Lake, in under an hour. Next, to locate the starting point. I roamed the Cedar Beach Resort trailer park for a while - no sign of a bike race starting line - then headed further down the road towards the lake. Noticed a bright orange arrow placed beside the front door of the Cedar Beach Grill and figured this had to be registration. Luckily it was.
Shortly before 9 am, the whole group (I heard it was about 90 riders) assembled in front of the Grill for the start and, following short announcements about course, safety, etc., we were off. I figure maybe three-quarters were riding cyclo-cross bikes and one-quarter road bikes or other (being tri-bikes (insane types) and some MTBs (cautious types)).
I had brought my Colnago C50, known for its multi-surface prowess, with the Paris-Roubaix inspired Vittoria Pave Open tires, the ones with the bright green stripes on either side of the middle black compound, known for withstanding the rigours of pave (or cobble-stone) routes so therefore perfect for whatever this little randonnee should hurl my way, running on DT Swiss 1.2 RR rims, being 32mm aero rims with aero spokes and DT Sw 280S hubs. Perfect for the road sections and probably extra strong for the offroad. Enough with the tech talk!
Apart from those who were truly racing and therefore likely launched like rockets from the start, the main group held together pretty well for the first 20 KM or so and I just followed the wheels in front of me and generally tried to stay out of trouble. I made the requisite move to the front of the peloton, lead for my few minutes of glory, and then promptly retreated back into the glob of bicycles to resume grinding along.
Following a right turn into a short and sharp 15% climb at KM 15, we coasted down the other side, ran for a while and then, at KM 26, were directed into the "Trench" (at least I think this was the "Trench"; there was supposed to be a "Trench" somewhere and this sure looked like what a trench ought to be).
It started out innocently enough - a turn off the main road into what appeared to be a muddy grass track following what then appeared to be a snowmobile trail through the woods. Then the six foot wide puddles came into view and the soft shoulders of the track on either side started to look decidedly ... soft. Too soft for my 25C tires to go through without getting sucked in. So off the bike I came. From that point, it was a question of where to walk to avoid getting feet soaked, or to just go for it. I looked down and the toes of my neoprene shoe covers were pushed up over the fronts of the once dazzling gold Sidi Ergo 2 Bettinis. Oh well, nothing a little gold shoe polish wouldn't fix - I hoped.... One of a few tips I would note and hopefully learn from as I plowed on through this veritable quagmire.
The good news was that I was not getting passed by too many other riders - I expect a large number were ahead of me already and had high-tailed it through the mud with their cyclo-cross bikes and better preparation for the conditions. The water became my friend as it helped clean out the mud and leaves, etc., that were lodging around the brake pads and fork area of the bike as the truth quickly became clear that the Colnago has little mud clearance. After what felt like (and was more or less) 2 KMS of hard slogging, I literally saw the light at the end of the tunnel and kept marching, now walking mostly through the puddles rather than the muck around them (the goretex socks I had put on were good but not quite high enough). Finally, back on to pavement.
Offers by marshalls stationed at this exit to clean my brakes were shrugged off with a "Oh, I'm sure they'll clean themselves out" and I hopped back on the bike to enjoy solid asphalt again. I was then confronted with an unexpected but not totally surprising status update - mud and speedplay zero pedals really don't get along too well. So I rode along, trying to get back up to some reasonable speed (ie around 30 km/h) in order to catch up to some riders I saw ahead, all the while whacking the bottom of my shoes against the pedals to try to clear the cleats of mud. A couple of riders passed me and I decided this was the train I needed to hitch onto as I continued to try to get back into the pedals.
KMs we managed to work together and mopped up a few riders en route to the next off-road section, a 13 KM long treed rail bed running South between miscellaneous fields. Just before we got to this, one of our merry band flatted out completely - both front and rear. Luckily this happened before he got stuck in the middle of the off-road section, which would have meant a long walk if he wasn't prepared to fix both flats...
Off-road number 2 was a lot drier than the first section, but rockier and sandier. But there were still a few mega-puddles to circumnavigate. Thinking I would be shrewd by going straight through and avoiding the mucky shoulders, I plowed through one only to go headfirst off the bike in the middle of the second. Refreshed, I dragged myself out and decided to clean the mud out of the brakes. A few minutes later, I was back up and riding, trying yet again to get back into the pedals.
The trail itself wasn't too bad, the trick being to find the firmest and flattest part to maintain speed and keep from bouncing. I got a little too close to the outside of the shoulder a few times as I weaved back and forth across the trail but was lucky not to ride off the edge into the ditch. A few more dismounts to hop over animal fences and more struggling to get back into the pedals (practice was definitely not making perfect) and the end of this stretch eventually came into sight. Those on cross bikes had vanished ahead of me, the Colnago handling the rough stuff pretty well but I guess not perfectly. At least no flats or other mechanical issues. No complaints with that. Finally, back onto pavement.
At this point, we were at around KM 54. The next 25 KMs were on pavement, mostly rolling countryside with, luckily, not much wind. I rode with a couple of different riders who were out there, but the field had pretty well been blown apart. It was now time to dig deep and keep driving for the finish. Speaking of finish, I was slowly running out of drink. I guess 2 bottles were not enough. The next time, I would definitely bring a third. At about km 70, I was at the bottom of bottle no 2 and starting to fade. Both riders who I had been hanging on with were now ahead and I was trying to buckle down and focus on getting efficient. I popped 2 gels (new ones I had never tried - e-load green apple flavour) and slowly got some energy back. As I caught up to one of my former companions on a hill, a group of five riders passed by and I tried to catch up a bit. Over the hill, down the other side and then a short right had them in my sights as they started up a dirt road. We must be getting close. Close indeed ... to the final off road stretch.
After hopping over a concrete street divider, we went into what looked like pure mountain bike terrain. This was the "technical" section. And it was. Sandy, rocky, up, down and across rain carved sandy singletrack with lots of rocks. No place for a road bike. And yet the unsuspended road bike was managing to climb on the uphills and descend the other parts, all while staying upright. No doubt my unbelievable bike handling skills; but I must give the Vitt Pave tires a lot of credit - really no slippage at all and I was quite surprised that I did not need to get off to push it up any of these craggy hills. Mind you I was not going anywhere fast and I was starting to get a nice knot in my upper back as I finessed the bike over and around all manner of obstacles. The group ahead on the cyclo-cross were gone by now but I was happy just to make it through without issue. After another hop over a concrete barricade, back onto the end of a dead-end street - pavement again - and then over a hill to join back with the main road. Over another hill and there in sight was the Cedar Beach Grill, just on the other side of the lake where we had started three and a quarter hours before. I buckled down to cover the last 2 kms and wasn't feeling too bad, knowing the end was close. Rounding the end of the lake and coming up to a last little climb before the finish, my legs started to cramp - first my hamstrings, then my quads, then both. I stood up and tried to straighten each leg to try to prevent seizing up altogether like a spider in a flame and barely made it up the hill to the finish line. I was told they stopped counting finishers after the 50th rider so I was clearly not in the top half. But, frankly, I was happy to finish in one piece and, overall, without incident. What a great day.
Notes for next year: 1) maybe mud clearance would be better - cyclocross bike may be worth it; 2) MTB pedals and shoes a must - speedplay zeros or equivalent a big NO; 3) 3 big bottles of hydration - maybe salt tabs to combat the cramping, although I had both e-load and e-fly in the bottles so that surprised me; 4) debatable whether shoe covers were useful - the ones I had kept flipping up over the toes, but I am sure they helped keep feet a bit warmer which was a concern.
Things that worked - 1) dress was appropriate - thermal long sleeve, windproof jacket and vest, bib shorts with leg warmers only, compression socks with gore-tex over socks, winter cycling gloves; 2) pre-race nutrition seemed to work - hydration worked well until I ran out; 3) ziplock bag was important.
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