That about says it.  Feeling like a bag of shit.  Sick, don’t really know what’s going on.  Kinda beginning to wonder if something is bubbling under the surface.  Maybe there really is something wrong with me and it’s just been hiding under the surface slowly surfacing here and there in the for of little problems.

I wish I could just get this whole situation sorted out and push forward.  I hate the feeling of being stuck in Neutral.  I have the type of personality that needs to know what’s going on.  I am not of the type that does well with the uncertainty.  It sucks.

I have a physical coming up in a few weeks, but I’m thinking about trying to get the blood work pushed forward to take an in depth look at what is going on with my body.

Been doing a bit more reading than writing as you can tell.  It’s not that I haven’t had anything to say, it’s just that I frankly have been so busy, or disorganized that I really haven’t found the time to sit down and punch out an update.  Racing has been filled with ups and downs, I’ve had a couple races where I’ve been satisfied with the efforts I’ve put out and a couple races where I’ve been just useless.  More specifically, I’ve had a couple days where races have been manageable as my right leg felt good, and I’ve had a couple races where I’ve been so inhibited by tighness and lack of muscle activation that I’ve been literally races with one leg.  This weekend was a lesson in both.

Saturday I hit up the Jiminy Peak Classic in Hancock, MA.  Drove down with my father for a fun birthday weekend, just the two of us.  Saturday was 150km of rolling hills, executed in 7 degree rain and wind.  I was surprised to make it though, and my legs felt good.  Pack finish, but was able to put in a few attacks and was able to react to all the snap accelerations.  I was beginning to think that I was over the injury hump and back on the road to recovery…that is until I lined up Sunday.  Useless.  The only word to describe how my legs felt. Pulled out after 40km,  not happy, but I wasn’t too thrilled with the idea of rolling around shit-covered roads getting dropped by guys I should be dropping.

Apart from the racing, life had been good.  Busy, but good.  Kinda just been rolling along as they say.  Not really accomplishing much, but not really trying to accomplish anything either.  Just trying to get my legs sorted out.  My solution lies in the hands of Cindy Lewis of Absolute Endurance Training and Therapy.  She and the whole crew there have been great.  They offer services that range from personal training, to nutritional guidance, massage, chiropractic and my personal favorite…. Active Release Technique.  Basically….30 minutes to an hour of mind numbing, sadistic laughing pain administered by a chiropractor who lightly touches me and sends me through the roof in pain.  Everyone should try it.  In all seriousness however, I’ve found that I’ve been making steady improvements after each and every session and the next day on the bike I feel better and better.  If you need any training advice, coaching or rehab, check them out.

cause people like entires with photos….

I’m sitting here on my couch just hanging out, figured that a couple photos would best summarize what I’ve been doing lots of in the last little while.  Enjoy!

a little shopping on Queen West yielding those beautiful Adisage flips. They are probably the most common purchase amongst cyclists.  Everyone has a pair, they are prefect to make it from the team car to registration or from the kitchen or bedroom outside to the garage before the ride.  A great pair of flips will save your house floor from cleat marks and dents and also save white cycling socks from exposure to dirty floors.

The Bike for the season.  Equipped with Ultegra/Reflex tubulars.  I took these wheels out on an easy spin ride last week and was amazed at how the softened the ride of the R3-SL and also took the edge off the Roubaix style roads that Toronto is blessed with these days.

These photos summarize where my heart has been the past couple of days.  I picked up my new love yesterday and I’ve spent countless hours learning more about the ins and outs of the Rancilio.  It’s gonna take a little time to perfect, but I can say that I’m totally stoked with it.  Bought my first Reg Barber Tamper today.  Pricey, but amazing.  Next up… milk pitcher, knock box and possible a bottomless porta-filter.

So It’s been a while I realize since I’ve sat down to actually write anything.  I guess it’s because nothing “meaningful” has actually happened to me.  Life been rolling along at a fairly consistent pace.  I haven’t really raced a ton, done two races, one went really poorly, the other one I got myself into the early break, drove it with a few other guys, but we got caught with 20km to go.  I did my best to cover some of the firework attacks that went off after the re-grouping, but flying solo meant that I was vastly outnumbered and missed the final move that rolled off the front.  I eventually just sat on the back of what was left of a chase group and rolled in for a 15th place finish.  Not the best result, but I’m content that I was able to get out and put in an decent days work.  I think that racing as a solo this year will mean a lot of those kind of days.  Get out, put in the effort and see if the break can stick.  If not, at least I made myself present at the front of the race and tried… It beats sitting in the pack all day.

getting hungry…break done…fireworks about to start….

lot to say, but haven’t really had the motivation to write anything at all.  Feeling somewhat settled back in Toronto, but not quite fully….yet.

Raced today, legs felt like garbage, totally blocked and unable to push on the pedals.  Shame, because I feel like I’m wasting good fitness.  I didn’t suffer in the race, but wasn’t able to make much use of my time down south.

10pm.  Exhausted.  5 hours in the saddle, 3 state ride.  South Carolina, Georgia and North Carolina…done and done.  Home and the mad cleaning operation…done and done.  Well fed, actually stuffed – beyond perhaps.  Cracked?  Definitely.  I just realized that I’ve basically been on the road since January 3rd.  I’d even call my trip home to be on the road as I never really had a decent chance to get settled in.

4:30 am is quickly approaching.  The drive hopefully won’t be too bad.   Dave Byer and I will be well ready to keep each other awake.  The good thing about the early departure is that it won’t be that dark when we roll into Toronto.  Ryan Belliveau will be staying at my crib for two days before he flies out of Pearson for France.  Should be good times, I think we both have a similar agenda over the next couple days.  Easy spins, hair cuts, coffee and some chillin’ in Toronto.

Check out his blog

http://maritime-boys.blogspot.com/

Hopefully the drive home is safe.  I’ll report more when I get home.

Just relaxing at the house.  12:30 roll out today, 5 hours in the saddle, it was close to 9pm by the time dinner was finished.  Pretty tried, but surprisingly, the legs still felt pretty good towards the end of the ride.  205 watts average for the ride, about 3700 calories burned.  Although that feels like a lot, the more and more rides I put out like this, the more normal those numbers start to feel.  It makes eating tons easier to “swallow” knowing that your body has burned more than 1.5 times your daily intake of food for the average person, and that is only what you burned in the 5 hours on the bike.

The internet is stupid slow, but I came across this post by Will Frischkorn, from Slipstream.  He rode over 200km in the 4 man escape at Milan-San Remo this past weekend.  He was gracious enough to post his ride data from the effort along with a detailed account of what a cyclist would consume over the course of a day like that.  It makes what I put down seem quite small in comparison.

“A couple of interesting training geek things that come from having the powertap, and then overanalyzing what it tells you: 6747kjs, 2 hours and 9 minutes at 330-380, 2 hours and 12 minutes between 380 and 450.  No doubt the most workload I’ve ever done out on a bike.  And driving back to Girona with David and George last night at record speeds (home by 11!) it was interesting to contrast the difference for the guys in the peloton that were going for it at the end.  David was round 5200, George around 5400 – big days, but still reasonable, and for guys closer to 75-78kgs than 68. Numbers that still leave you with enough gas to go warp speed over the last climbs – and George was killing it.  

In an effort to balance out those numbers, what did I eat yesterday? A LOT.  Before breakfast I almost thought it’d be interesting to track it, but then realized that was way, way, way too much work.  I can roughly remember this: Breakfast: plate of eggs, maybe 3?, 4 strips of bacon, 1 breakfast roll, 1 bowl of meusli, 1 bowl of rice with another 2 eggs/ham chopped into it, 2 cappuccinos; On the bus pre start: 1 fruit tart, 1 frangipanne bar; Race: 6 fruit tarts, 1 clif bar, 6 clif blocks, 5 gels, 2 ham/cheese rolls, lots of bottles, 3 cokes; post: 1 more tart, 2 sandwiches, protein drink, banana, some serious ice cream, another sandwich, and when I got home, a bowl of lentil soup and a couple of cookies that meatball left behind:).  I’d be curious to see the calorie count for that, but am a bit too tired right now.  Instead it’s time to make some coffee, and then maybe sleep a bit more.  “

Insane.  That’s about all I can say about that one.  Two more days down here.  Saturday morning bright and early we will be rolling home in the auto.  Can’t really say that I’m looking forward to a 14 hour drive, but good company, espresso stops and RedBull will get Dave and I through it.  Until then…back to back 6hrs?  maybe… gotta get the sun in while it’s still around.  Fenders look like they will be coming back out come Sunday or Monday.

My stint at Rocky Bottom is over.  Last night marked my departure from the camp.  After an easy 3 hour spin everyone returned home at 1 in the afternoon.  By 2 it was full-on.  18 Cadet and Junior level athletes cleaning like little elves trying to get the cabin back into shape before the 4am departure.  By 7pm dinner was finished, bags packed, bikes boxed and loaded into the cargo van and the fast majority of the cleaning either nearly complete or fully dialed.  By 8:30pm I was back at the Mansion at Lake Keowee.  A reliable internet source, a warm shower and a big comfortable bed kept me happy last night.  Today, an easy 3 hour spin with Adam “Chico” Ruppell of Chico Racing.  It’s 11pm, I’ve been up too long today even though I did sleep in and I still haven’t really unpacked or gotten organized about my room yet.  I guess that will be my morning project.  I’ll update more on what’s going on tomorrow morning, but I’m really looking forward to my last few days down here, just riding, enjoying myself and jamming on some rides and seeing about getting some snap in my legs.

We toss around the term epic ride a lot in cycling.  Today it was decided that unless you bonk during the ride, it cannot be considered an “epic ride”.  Today would be what Denise Kelly would refer to as a “breakthrough ride” for many of the athletes at the camp.  I would call it a tough ride by anyone’s standards, and a wicked good time, at least I can speak for the members from my group.  We started off with the typical steady tempo up 178 into Rosman.  Quick couple left-rights and we were well on our way up.  Highway 215 up to Blue Ridge.  Warm, sunny, little tail wind, generally a nice day.  We started the climb up…cool, still sunny, getting windy.  About ¾ of the way up, cooler still, getting cloudy, really windy.  Get to the top….Cold, cloudy and windy.  Needless to say, I made the decision about 2 hours ago that I didn’t need warmer gloves or shoe covered.  Well, as Eric Robertson would say “I can feel my toes, I can feel my fingers and I can feel my nose” in his Eric “ear-ache” Robertson voice.  We ripped across the top of the parkway and blasted down Highway 276 into Brevard.  A quick stop at the gas station for the typical…Pop Tarts, Honey Buns and Ugly Buns – the North Carolina version of a fritter.  Available in Apple, Honey and Blueberry.  Apparently great tasting, but leads to brutal tasting belches up to 3 hours after consumption. Back on the road, 3 hours of solid steady pacing, some quick echelon work, and a nice 15 minute piece to tempo done by Robertson and myself and we were home.  6 hours, 180km, slightly toasted legs, heavily sunburnt athletes and a solid day on the bike.  Tomorrow, some sprints early, then a couple hours of solid tempo riding to punish the legs before who knows what at this point.  Only time will tell.    

Long time no updates

This lack of internet has been killing any ability for my motivation to peak to update. I can get wifi access when I decide to drive into Brevard, NC to get either groceries or coffee. Brevard is probably 30km each way, so I’ve been trying to avoid going into town as much as possible, although I do find myself going in probably a little more often than I hoped. Take yesterday for example; pouring rain and a lack of quality bread cracked me. I pilled into my car at 9am and drove the 30km sans computer in search of bread and a newspaper. Mission accomplished. Found the Bracken Mountain Bakery, possibly the only source of quality bread in the area. The owner explained to me that they get people who drive up from Clemson (60km) and stock up on bread because of it’s reputation. I quickly grabbed a loaf of Blue Ridge Sourdough, wonderful whole wheat sourdough bread. I also managed to score a New York Times. I proceeded to read it cover to cover. I was fortunate to get through it before the ride, as the torrential downpour meant that the newsprint became a hot commodity for shoe-stuffing. I suppose it was noble end for the paper.

We’ve got another 7 days here at Rocky Bottom, my second home in South Carolina. I leave next Sunday evening, heading back to Seneca where I’m going to stay for another 6 days. Looks like it might be a rest week, so I’ll be sure to be putting in 2-3 hour coffee rides on the TT bike. Try to mix things up a bit, get more comfortable on that bike.

Today is Blue Ridge Sunday. An “epic” 165km venture up to the Parkway… It’s about a 45 minute steady climb up there, where we ride across from one exit to another and descend back down into Brevard. From there we will be hitting up this little extra loop up Cascade Mountain Road and then up the back side of Sassafrass Mountain before a stupid fast descent back down to the camp. Hopefully I can get this updated either today or tomorrow. Might even have a second posting for tomorrow, weather and energy depending. Sprint workout tomorrow, then a wicked dinner out at what is supposed to be a killer Mexican joint in town. Just as long as we don’t visit Twin Dragon Chinese Buffet, I’ll be happy.