5 Minutes of Power

So time today is going to be a bit tight, mainly due to last minute packing, purchasing and planning. We did, however, want to get out for a bit of a ride today to make sure that the racks were working well and that we'd installed everything right.

Head out of the driveway, turn right. I go down the hill and turn around, Hillary is a ways behind me, which isn't odd, since she tends to descend at a lower rate. Call it survival instinct perhaps. I go a dozen or so metres further and glance around again and she's gone behind a parked vehicle. Uh-oh.

Blown tube. So Hillary got to repair her first ever flat tire. Unfortunately, due to the aforementioned short of time, the tube replacement time combined with re-pumping time kind of killed about half of our allotted cycling time. So our round trip ended up being 5 minutes.

Now that's training.

White Rock

I had forgotten how hilly BC could be. I mean, one would think that this wasn't the sort of aspect that you would forget. Though perhaps forgetting is the wrong word, as I knew in theory that flat land was at a premium in an easy loop around town.

I had also forgotten that the Tour de White Rock Hill Climb climb, really was a Hill Climb. Thing hit %16 and I felt sad in my legs. On the one hand, I'm seriously concerned that I don't have enough gears (34-27) to get up the monsters. On the other hand, the worst grades that we're likely to see is something like 8-10, and the 10s aren't sustained for too long.

The bike feels pretty good other than some minor issues with brakes being on. Always. At least that's what I tell myself.

We're getting a goodbye turkey tonight, at the Taylor household, any sort of family related event requires the baking of a turkey. I've been doing my best to make sure I have a massive calorie surplus for the past few days and I intend to continue the trend tonight. Again, it is amazing what you can justify to yourself when you are going to be spending the next two and a half months riding a bicycle.

Bikes and Code

Bikes and Code, seems like a good way to go, assuming that I have the dedication to keep posting following the trip. I suppose it probably goes without saying that this will mostly be about bikes for the foreseeable future, but I will make no promises regarding tangents.

Today is my last day of work for the next three months. Starting May 1st, I am riding my bike across Canada. Riding the full distance along with me is my fiancée, Hillary and one of her co-workers, Tanya. We're flying out to Vancouver tonight so we can start in my hometown of White Rock and will end in Halifax, sometime in July. There are also a few other riders who may be joining us for a few days here and there. When and where is still unknown.

But no fully loaded touring this will be. This will be a tour in style. An RV, driven by parents for various stretches will be accompanying us for the distance. This will simplify many of the classical logistical problems of a cross Canada tour. We can pretty much pack everything we think we need and not have to worry about lugging it over the Kootenay Pass.

We expect to average something in the ballpark of 100km per day, though we'll probably have at least one imperial century somewhere along the road. (100 miles = 160km) Roughly speaking, our route will be hwy 3 through BC to Cranbrook, then taking a turn for the north to go through Banff. From there, Calgary, Saskatoon and Winnipeg. That pretty much covers the month of May, so I'll get into the next stage once we're closer.

So that's it for now. More info once we get the bikes together in BC.

w00t.

Paris - Roubaix

In what was likely my last real ride before heading out to Vancouver, I, for the first time, cracked, popped, blew up, reached deep into the suitcase of courage and found there was nothing left. Feel free to add your own favourite Phil Liggettism, but you get the point. An interesting experience, to be sure.

The event was the Ottawa Bicycle Club's annual Paris-Roubaix This Is a Cyclo-Sportif, Not A Race Race. (Race map here) In a possibly poor pre-race plan, I elected to do a 110km ride on Saturday, the afternoon before, and while it wasn't a hard ride, it was long and probably depleted some reserves. Considering how I'm spending the next few months, I saw mileage over the weekend as the better option.

In any case, I went into the race a bit tired, but feeling pretty good. I know I'm in better shape than I have been at this time of the year before, albeit a few pounds heavier, which hasn't been a real concern yet. My main goal was to stick with the main pack until getting shelled, then just do a nice, comfortable TT for the rest of the day. Things don't always work as they are planned.

As I'm not a serious racer, I stayed in the middle of the main field, such as it was, through the neutralized start and up the first hill. I was aiming to be right near the end of the group of fast people and sit in for a while. I misjudged. At about the 5 or 6km mark, there was a crash and suddenly the main group was pulling a bit ahead and I was one of the leaders of the chase. I spent much of the next several km trying to catch the field again, occasionally working with other dropped riders, or people coming up behind. Unfortunately, I never made contact again. After 15 or 20 minutes of chasing, my heart rate monitor was showing 96%, with 2ish hours to go, I figured that this kind of effort wasn't sustainable and backed off. It's time trial time!

Sometime shortly thereafter, I was picked up by a largish group of 15-20 riders and stuck with them until just before the aptly named Middleville. For the previous climbs, I had worked my way to 2-4 place in the group, then drifted back over the climbs but stayed in contact. In the final climb up into Middleville, the last steep section, I just popped. Before I knew it, the group was 50m in front of me and that was all she wrote.

For the rest of the ride, I went very, very slowly up the hills and decently on the flats and downhills. Still, while the final results aren't up yet, I believe I was about 5 minutes faster than last year, so I have no real complaints.

And now my racing is done until August, realistically, until September when the 'cross season starts again!