Bit of a reminder to myself and possibly others as well. Harden the f**k up!
Just noticed that Dave's blog has 4. most visitors from Finland. Those guys back there know how to HTFU and still think it's business as usual. No wonder I stayed away from MTB scene back in the day.
lauantai 26. kesäkuuta 2010
tiistai 15. kesäkuuta 2010
Swamp Donkey Or A Falcon?
OK...I'm late with this and there might not be room on internet for more of this topic but here goes.
I used to not like XC racing all that much back in the old country. Rocks and roots were my least favorite things. So the solution was very easy, I didn't do XC races. I accidentally registered for Finnish nationals back in 2002 and finished the crapfest just to confirm that I didn't like that stuff. I used to do some DH and quite a bit of XC as a teen, but my idea of fun was bit different than your average Finnish XC race. I got back to this stuff in 2007 because, as some of you may know, if you want to do more than half a dozen of races (or something along those lines) here in Manitoba, you need to do every single bicycle related race/event all over the different sub-genres of this sport. 2007 provincials course was fun though with good amount of climbing and all the non-XC stuff that I knew from back home. So yeah...it was fun for a while. I even got my own bike and let Daniel keep his rigid winter rig.
It was time to get a reality check though. Last Sunday at Falcon Lake sucked more than...well I can't really use the proper comparison here, but it sucked a lot. The rocky parts of the course were worse than any other XC race I had done before. Oh yeah, in addition to rocky sections, the sections in between were 50/50 swamp and somewhat ridable stuff. There were no sections long enough for me to ride hard enough to feel like racing. It was ridiculous, too bad the organizers couldn't make the decision to run at least some parts of the course on double tracks and gravel trails. Or maybe they did...maybe the course was even worse before the added 1km of logging road.
Maybe 4 km in was the moment when I realized that the race was over. I should have realized it even before we started, but I'm not that smart. I just thought that how bad could it be, I've done worse, it's not a bid deal and come on...the race posting said that it would be up and down so I should be just fine. Well...it was flat and worse than I pictured.
Post race I didn't hear too many positive comments, I had to wait till Tuesday to hear Tristan rave about the best XC race he has ever done. All I can say is that he has some serious issues and should seek help. But what can you do, he doesn't seem to understand that riding without a powermeter is like not riding at all. The time and effort put into riding just gets sucked into a big black hole and become nothingness. I will offer my consultation just to make him understand that the soul of cycling lies within the tiny numbers on the tiny LCD display. 6 hours in Ingolf is not an epic ride, downloading your record 60 min power onto your computer is epic.
But seriously. Good for the guys who had fun doing the race. If someone really had awesome time running through the bog, I have nothing against that. I've had awesome time on my bike and it's great if someone else had awesome time on Sunday, I guess it's their turn.
At least the junior member of Team Hoot support team was super pumped about the mud and outdoors in general. I guess it was better than being stuck in the city.
Otherwise the training is going good. I backed off a little bit trying to get longer rides in this and next week before switching back to L5 stuff. My trip to Finland is all but certain because we haven't booked the flights yet, but if I'll get there in August, I'll do some racing. If we won't get the flights, cycling is the least of my worries.
Ja suomilukijoille. Kuvitelkaa mielessänne tekninen enduropätkä ja sitten kuvitelkaa sitä samaa pätkää kilometrikaupalla. Teknisten pätkien väliin sitten polveen asti upottavaa suota ja mutaa. Nyt alkaa mielikuva olemaan aika lähellä sitä, mitä sunnuntain kisa piti sisällään. Kiva että joillain oli hauskaa.
I used to not like XC racing all that much back in the old country. Rocks and roots were my least favorite things. So the solution was very easy, I didn't do XC races. I accidentally registered for Finnish nationals back in 2002 and finished the crapfest just to confirm that I didn't like that stuff. I used to do some DH and quite a bit of XC as a teen, but my idea of fun was bit different than your average Finnish XC race. I got back to this stuff in 2007 because, as some of you may know, if you want to do more than half a dozen of races (or something along those lines) here in Manitoba, you need to do every single bicycle related race/event all over the different sub-genres of this sport. 2007 provincials course was fun though with good amount of climbing and all the non-XC stuff that I knew from back home. So yeah...it was fun for a while. I even got my own bike and let Daniel keep his rigid winter rig.
It was time to get a reality check though. Last Sunday at Falcon Lake sucked more than...well I can't really use the proper comparison here, but it sucked a lot. The rocky parts of the course were worse than any other XC race I had done before. Oh yeah, in addition to rocky sections, the sections in between were 50/50 swamp and somewhat ridable stuff. There were no sections long enough for me to ride hard enough to feel like racing. It was ridiculous, too bad the organizers couldn't make the decision to run at least some parts of the course on double tracks and gravel trails. Or maybe they did...maybe the course was even worse before the added 1km of logging road.
Maybe 4 km in was the moment when I realized that the race was over. I should have realized it even before we started, but I'm not that smart. I just thought that how bad could it be, I've done worse, it's not a bid deal and come on...the race posting said that it would be up and down so I should be just fine. Well...it was flat and worse than I pictured.
Post race I didn't hear too many positive comments, I had to wait till Tuesday to hear Tristan rave about the best XC race he has ever done. All I can say is that he has some serious issues and should seek help. But what can you do, he doesn't seem to understand that riding without a powermeter is like not riding at all. The time and effort put into riding just gets sucked into a big black hole and become nothingness. I will offer my consultation just to make him understand that the soul of cycling lies within the tiny numbers on the tiny LCD display. 6 hours in Ingolf is not an epic ride, downloading your record 60 min power onto your computer is epic.
But seriously. Good for the guys who had fun doing the race. If someone really had awesome time running through the bog, I have nothing against that. I've had awesome time on my bike and it's great if someone else had awesome time on Sunday, I guess it's their turn.
At least the junior member of Team Hoot support team was super pumped about the mud and outdoors in general. I guess it was better than being stuck in the city.
Otherwise the training is going good. I backed off a little bit trying to get longer rides in this and next week before switching back to L5 stuff. My trip to Finland is all but certain because we haven't booked the flights yet, but if I'll get there in August, I'll do some racing. If we won't get the flights, cycling is the least of my worries.
Ja suomilukijoille. Kuvitelkaa mielessänne tekninen enduropätkä ja sitten kuvitelkaa sitä samaa pätkää kilometrikaupalla. Teknisten pätkien väliin sitten polveen asti upottavaa suota ja mutaa. Nyt alkaa mielikuva olemaan aika lähellä sitä, mitä sunnuntain kisa piti sisällään. Kiva että joillain oli hauskaa.
sunnuntai 6. kesäkuuta 2010
Plans Fell Through
So no Canadian nationals for me. Or I'm 95% certain that this won't happen. The technical guide was published on May 31st and under eligibility it reads that "Master age riders must race in their age category". 2600 km driving in one weekend, plus few hotel nights and other related expenses for 120 km masters 30-39 race...no thanks. Apparently my UCI class will be master if I'm over 30 and don't hold a pro license. I asked for clarification, but haven't heard anything back and the race is in three weeks. It seems odd to me, but this wouldn't be the only backwards thing in Canadian cycling.
I would have probably had my arse handed over to me anyway, but that would be good every now and then. I've been gaining power quite nicely over past weeks, actually my power shot up after Bikes on Broadway, but that doesn't mean that I could finish the nationals road race. I've had 0 contact to real racing since 2005 or 2006 and being relatively fast locally gives no indication of my actual form. I've heard rumors of guys pushing +400 average watts in finnish races in a breakaway for an hour. Knowing the race course, that must be in the range of 450-500 watts while pedaling. That's lots of W in my humble opinion. By numbers I'm quite a bit stronger than 4 years ago, but I guess the rest of the world has been training as well.
Next weekend will be the Falcon Down MTB race at Falcon Lake. It appears to be the fourth race of the Manitoba XC cup, so while I thought that I missed just the Brandon race, I might have missed another race as well. Need to check. Falcon Lake is bit closer to home so no need to drive for half a day. This might be the only race where full suspension would help, but in anticipation of Back 40 I swapped the parts to my hardtail. But my 1x9 hardtail climbs much better than the tank fully so should be good times. I'll miss the Tuesday night Stony Mountain crit though because I'll be in Chicago this week. After few crash fests and recent lame riding, I don't think that I'll miss that much, but I kinda like the hill on that crit course even if it's not quite enough to break the group.
I would have probably had my arse handed over to me anyway, but that would be good every now and then. I've been gaining power quite nicely over past weeks, actually my power shot up after Bikes on Broadway, but that doesn't mean that I could finish the nationals road race. I've had 0 contact to real racing since 2005 or 2006 and being relatively fast locally gives no indication of my actual form. I've heard rumors of guys pushing +400 average watts in finnish races in a breakaway for an hour. Knowing the race course, that must be in the range of 450-500 watts while pedaling. That's lots of W in my humble opinion. By numbers I'm quite a bit stronger than 4 years ago, but I guess the rest of the world has been training as well.
Next weekend will be the Falcon Down MTB race at Falcon Lake. It appears to be the fourth race of the Manitoba XC cup, so while I thought that I missed just the Brandon race, I might have missed another race as well. Need to check. Falcon Lake is bit closer to home so no need to drive for half a day. This might be the only race where full suspension would help, but in anticipation of Back 40 I swapped the parts to my hardtail. But my 1x9 hardtail climbs much better than the tank fully so should be good times. I'll miss the Tuesday night Stony Mountain crit though because I'll be in Chicago this week. After few crash fests and recent lame riding, I don't think that I'll miss that much, but I kinda like the hill on that crit course even if it's not quite enough to break the group.
More Stuff for Sale
Another item for sale: 2008 Giant Anthem frame with Fox RP2 shock, seatpost collar and headset. 3.5" travel
Size: L or 20"
Color: Black and aluminum
Not used too much. For sure less than 2000 km on this frame.
Asking $450
_________________________
Pair of Campagnolo Victory Strada tubular rims. Mint condition, never ridden. I have them laced onto Chorus hubs, but haven't actually tightened the spokes. Both rims are 32h.
Asking $60 for the pair.
_________________________
Old steel road frame. Spray painted fast black. 56 cm. Cast drop outs and appears to be pretty decent quality.
Asking $40
If you want 1" threaded headset and Shimano BB with this frame, the price would be $60
_________________________
Michelin Pro 3 Race tire. 700 x 23 mm. Black.
Asking $50 each. $95 for the pair.
_________________________
Local pick up and cash payment. Paypal only if item(s) need to be shipped.
Size: L or 20"
Color: Black and aluminum
Not used too much. For sure less than 2000 km on this frame.
Asking $450
_________________________
Pair of Campagnolo Victory Strada tubular rims. Mint condition, never ridden. I have them laced onto Chorus hubs, but haven't actually tightened the spokes. Both rims are 32h.
Asking $60 for the pair.
_________________________
Old steel road frame. Spray painted fast black. 56 cm. Cast drop outs and appears to be pretty decent quality.
Asking $40
If you want 1" threaded headset and Shimano BB with this frame, the price would be $60
_________________________
Michelin Pro 3 Race tire. 700 x 23 mm. Black.
Asking $50 each. $95 for the pair.
_________________________
Local pick up and cash payment. Paypal only if item(s) need to be shipped.
torstai 27. toukokuuta 2010
Second Post in One Day, Stuff for Sale
OK...Spring cleaning time.
For Sale!
Crossladen.de Traktor frameset: Frame, Kuota Fork, Cable Stop and Headset, 55cm. Asking $250. Offer!
The frameset above with Columbus Muscle 31.6mm seatpost, Race Face Ride 110mm stem, Truvativ Rouleur crankset and Truvativ GXP BB. Asking $320.
Complete bike. Everything above with 105/Ultegra/Fizik/Tektro/Shimano 505(or crank bros Smarty)/Challenge/Mavic Open Sport. Asking $600.
Offer and keep an eye on more stuff for sale. Photos to follow.
For Sale!
Crossladen.de Traktor frameset: Frame, Kuota Fork, Cable Stop and Headset, 55cm. Asking $250. Offer!
The frameset above with Columbus Muscle 31.6mm seatpost, Race Face Ride 110mm stem, Truvativ Rouleur crankset and Truvativ GXP BB. Asking $320.
Complete bike. Everything above with 105/Ultegra/Fizik/Tektro/Shimano 505(or crank bros Smarty)/Challenge/Mavic Open Sport. Asking $600.
Offer and keep an eye on more stuff for sale. Photos to follow.
tiistai 25. toukokuuta 2010
BoB - Bikes on Broadway 2010
Dave...Don't hold your breath waiting for my posts.
So my annual tradition since 2007 is behind us again. I mean Bikes on Broadway, my only annual road race where I'm not expected to make the race. The race where you expect to race in summer weather since it's end of May. The only Cat 1/2 road race "near" Winnipeg on this side of the border. This year the race was surprising in many ways.
It didn't look too bad when we took off from Daniel's house at 7:30ish on Saturday morning. The mighty iPhone was promising +18 and cloudy and we were on schedule. Of course it started pissing little bit before Regina and by the time we hit HWY 11, it was pretty much pouring and the wind was so called "laivankansituuli" or similar to the wind you experience on a cruise boat deck while sailing on Baltic Sea in February. We finally arrived in Saskatoon at 3 PM local time, checked in to U of S dorms, took our bikes in and headed to the registration via Starbucks. By this time, the weather had turned pretty miserable. Start times were a nice bonus this year, but I guess that cost Daniel's warm-up because we didn't really want to spend too much time in the rain and cut our schedule bit too short.
The TT was a TT. I suck! When the weather is +7, 50 km/h headwind and pouring rain, I suck even more. I should be fine with all the insulation I nurture with beer and food, but nope. I wanted to start slow and failed miserably, I couldn't spin...all in all it didn't go well. Daniel did pretty good beating me by 30 seconds and Tim was 15 seconds faster than me. I assumed the winning time to be around 13 minutes, but Chris McNeil hammered through the course in 12:32. Bruce Copeland was second at 12:56 and he came past me as if he was sprinting to the line. I thought that the race was done after the TT.
Sunday dawned miserable. The race wasn't going to be long, just 120km and there was just two hills both ways over the river. The wind was still there, but it was headwind-tailwind so whole lot less interesting than crosswind. I was expecting ERTC to put the hammer down from the gun and use the 10k crosswind to do something. That didn't happen, but they let me and few other guys go. Of course there was an H&R guy marking us, two ERTC guys and Chris from Saskatoon. I felt that I was doing a fair share of work and the others seemed to be kind of coasting along and we never got more than a minute something gap. It's the same story every time at BoB, it's the TT and then just sucking wheels for two days. Some 60 km to go the triathlete of the two Edmonton guys, the one who wasn't too interested in working before, decided to attack and H&R guy went with him. Triathlete was pretty confident attacking that far away with the bunch right behind us.Too much Paris-Roubaix and Fabian for you mister is all I have to say. Luckily they didn't ride too fast and I managed to pull them back after few km's. Then came the ballsy and unexpected move, or simply a lucky accident, when five ERTC guys managed to sneak away from the chase group and bridge to the break. Heading back into the wind, I was sure that the group would come together because our front group couldn't really get things going, but the gap kept growing. Some 30km to go ERTC decided to start attacking, trying to shake us off their wheel. They got rid of couple of their own guys quite soon, but there was no way that the H&R guy got dropped after taking it easy all day. 15 km to go the ERTC guys put some pressure on in bit of a crosswind, and that proved to be too much for me and Chris. I watched in amazement how one ERTC guy was riding away with H&R guy and three other ERTC's chasing. We lost 1 minute over the last 10 km so not too great. 100 km went with no problem but after that my legs started to cramp. I may need to do some longer rides before the nationals...if I'm allowed to start that race. Well...what am I supposed to do after I loose 2 minutes in a short TT? I have to attack and try to take time back.
Third stage was the crit. Four corners and short straights. Usually not much happens here, but this year was bit different. H&R block guy from previous day's break was leading the GC so ERTC's job was to put the hammer down. The race started at an OK pace and I was hoping for lots of attacks. No attacks...ERTC let one of their guys go and then blocked the road with 8 guys. I know...you may see this in cadet races and I must admit that I have taken part to this myself as well, as a cadet... So by this time ERTC formed the majority of the bunch and was really putting the brakes on. I tried to get a chase group going once with Chris and once or twice on my own, but ERTC was pretty good at shutting things down. The lone break lapped us and the race was over. You loose when you snooze. But in my frustration I managed to have a run in with one of the ERTC guys. He had even shorter fuse than I have and that's generally not a good match. Long story short...lots of barking, no biting, and I felt like an idiot. I'm the guy who should know by now to not loose his cool no matter what and not to try to egg someone to make the first move.
Well it was an OK training weekend.
Going forward...I still haven't heard back from MCA/CCA whether I will be allowed to start at the nationals or not. I should be allowed to start, but you never know and you won't know if you don't dig out the information from somewhere. It's not that far away anymore and I would need to start looking for flights, hotels etc.
I will adjust training the normal way. Higher intensity, less volume, trying to get the top end where I want. Low end is there but the high end seems to needs some work. Unfortunately I have no road races lined up before nationals. Too bad I can't make US races to work either. Need to figure out something.
Now I need to go to bed and get rested for weekend of trainer riding because the weather will be miserable.
The smart, witty and not self centered blog post is still slow cooking so bare with me.
So my annual tradition since 2007 is behind us again. I mean Bikes on Broadway, my only annual road race where I'm not expected to make the race. The race where you expect to race in summer weather since it's end of May. The only Cat 1/2 road race "near" Winnipeg on this side of the border. This year the race was surprising in many ways.
It didn't look too bad when we took off from Daniel's house at 7:30ish on Saturday morning. The mighty iPhone was promising +18 and cloudy and we were on schedule. Of course it started pissing little bit before Regina and by the time we hit HWY 11, it was pretty much pouring and the wind was so called "laivankansituuli" or similar to the wind you experience on a cruise boat deck while sailing on Baltic Sea in February. We finally arrived in Saskatoon at 3 PM local time, checked in to U of S dorms, took our bikes in and headed to the registration via Starbucks. By this time, the weather had turned pretty miserable. Start times were a nice bonus this year, but I guess that cost Daniel's warm-up because we didn't really want to spend too much time in the rain and cut our schedule bit too short.
The TT was a TT. I suck! When the weather is +7, 50 km/h headwind and pouring rain, I suck even more. I should be fine with all the insulation I nurture with beer and food, but nope. I wanted to start slow and failed miserably, I couldn't spin...all in all it didn't go well. Daniel did pretty good beating me by 30 seconds and Tim was 15 seconds faster than me. I assumed the winning time to be around 13 minutes, but Chris McNeil hammered through the course in 12:32. Bruce Copeland was second at 12:56 and he came past me as if he was sprinting to the line. I thought that the race was done after the TT.
Sunday dawned miserable. The race wasn't going to be long, just 120km and there was just two hills both ways over the river. The wind was still there, but it was headwind-tailwind so whole lot less interesting than crosswind. I was expecting ERTC to put the hammer down from the gun and use the 10k crosswind to do something. That didn't happen, but they let me and few other guys go. Of course there was an H&R guy marking us, two ERTC guys and Chris from Saskatoon. I felt that I was doing a fair share of work and the others seemed to be kind of coasting along and we never got more than a minute something gap. It's the same story every time at BoB, it's the TT and then just sucking wheels for two days. Some 60 km to go the triathlete of the two Edmonton guys, the one who wasn't too interested in working before, decided to attack and H&R guy went with him. Triathlete was pretty confident attacking that far away with the bunch right behind us.Too much Paris-Roubaix and Fabian for you mister is all I have to say. Luckily they didn't ride too fast and I managed to pull them back after few km's. Then came the ballsy and unexpected move, or simply a lucky accident, when five ERTC guys managed to sneak away from the chase group and bridge to the break. Heading back into the wind, I was sure that the group would come together because our front group couldn't really get things going, but the gap kept growing. Some 30km to go ERTC decided to start attacking, trying to shake us off their wheel. They got rid of couple of their own guys quite soon, but there was no way that the H&R guy got dropped after taking it easy all day. 15 km to go the ERTC guys put some pressure on in bit of a crosswind, and that proved to be too much for me and Chris. I watched in amazement how one ERTC guy was riding away with H&R guy and three other ERTC's chasing. We lost 1 minute over the last 10 km so not too great. 100 km went with no problem but after that my legs started to cramp. I may need to do some longer rides before the nationals...if I'm allowed to start that race. Well...what am I supposed to do after I loose 2 minutes in a short TT? I have to attack and try to take time back.
Third stage was the crit. Four corners and short straights. Usually not much happens here, but this year was bit different. H&R block guy from previous day's break was leading the GC so ERTC's job was to put the hammer down. The race started at an OK pace and I was hoping for lots of attacks. No attacks...ERTC let one of their guys go and then blocked the road with 8 guys. I know...you may see this in cadet races and I must admit that I have taken part to this myself as well, as a cadet... So by this time ERTC formed the majority of the bunch and was really putting the brakes on. I tried to get a chase group going once with Chris and once or twice on my own, but ERTC was pretty good at shutting things down. The lone break lapped us and the race was over. You loose when you snooze. But in my frustration I managed to have a run in with one of the ERTC guys. He had even shorter fuse than I have and that's generally not a good match. Long story short...lots of barking, no biting, and I felt like an idiot. I'm the guy who should know by now to not loose his cool no matter what and not to try to egg someone to make the first move.
Well it was an OK training weekend.
Going forward...I still haven't heard back from MCA/CCA whether I will be allowed to start at the nationals or not. I should be allowed to start, but you never know and you won't know if you don't dig out the information from somewhere. It's not that far away anymore and I would need to start looking for flights, hotels etc.
I will adjust training the normal way. Higher intensity, less volume, trying to get the top end where I want. Low end is there but the high end seems to needs some work. Unfortunately I have no road races lined up before nationals. Too bad I can't make US races to work either. Need to figure out something.
Now I need to go to bed and get rested for weekend of trainer riding because the weather will be miserable.
The smart, witty and not self centered blog post is still slow cooking so bare with me.
lauantai 8. toukokuuta 2010
Wait for it
I am planning to come up with a post that will blow your mind, it will be so awesome that it will be mind blasting, it will just blast your mind. I need little bit of time to put everything together and not just type a bunch of words that don't really carry any message to you.
In my end things are not looking too good. I fought off the strep throat - sinus infection but caught some baby cough soon after getting back on my bike. Then I was stupid enough to force myself to do the Grand Beach MTB race in the freezing rain and mess myself up even more. Time is running and my main goal is starting to turn into a miserable 100 km failure.
In my end things are not looking too good. I fought off the strep throat - sinus infection but caught some baby cough soon after getting back on my bike. Then I was stupid enough to force myself to do the Grand Beach MTB race in the freezing rain and mess myself up even more. Time is running and my main goal is starting to turn into a miserable 100 km failure.
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