I’m one of those bike racers… A coach’s nightmare… One of those cyclists who likes/craves training. I always want to do more. I always want to go harder. I don’t want to rest. I don’t like recovery days. If I had it my way I’d do double days everyday. I just want to train. Training hard and training a lot gives me confidence. I just want to always be out there training…

I struggle on rest days. And rest weeks – yeesh, don’t even get me started… I know recovery is just as an important part of the training cycle as is the pedaling, but I still struggle with it.

But this weekend, I clued. I listened to my body. I had initially planned to go out to Camp Fortune on Friday afternoon for an “easy” mountain bike ride. This was after doing my sweet spot tempo intervals in the morning. But I really was feeling a bit wiped out in the afternoon. So I didn’t go. I resolved to go on Saturday afternoon instead… This would be after doing some insane tempo intervals that involved 15 second intervals every other minute of the 15 minute block… Saturday was an awesome day – perfect for a double day. But, luckily my brain kicked in. This is because I had planned a big day on Sunday – today was four hours on the road bike with an afternoon ride at the Creative Wheel Center…

Well, I didn’t make it to the Creative Wheel Center… My body just wouldn’t let me do it. This is a first for me. It is not that I’m in a mega-crazy training block. Rather I think it is an accumulation of the training efforts lately, the new training zones, and I’m in an ulcerative colitis flare right now. When I woke up this morning I just knew a double day wasn’t in the cards. Normally I’m wide awake at 6 a.m. without an alarm. Not this weekend – I could have slept all morning. I’m assuming this fatigue is due to the colitis flare. Normally I can get through these flares without experiencing an impact on my energy levels. But this one is rough and I’m not able to sleep through the night and to top it off, I’m really struggling with my food right now.

I still had an awesome weekend of training. My ride today was awesome. I did 120 kms solo in four hours. I’m pretty happy with that. I took a long meandering route out to Almonte. Rolled through town and stopped at the Daily Scoop Cafe for a tasty baked good (apple cinnamon muffin top) and a diet cream soda. (Can’t pass up a diet cream soda!)

Tomorrow is a recovery day. So I won’t ride. In the past I’ve been known to ride on my recovery days. In fact I was even tempted by a ride with my pal Sheri Jay – but I resisted. I need to give my body time to recover and I want to make sure I’m feeling fresh for the NRC crit on Tuesday! Yes, I’m finally racing. Can’t hardly wait. I’m a little bit nervous since I haven’t raced a crit in a while – let alone a crit with the fast guys. But, I have to trust in my training and just go out and have some fun.

Many thanks for the continued support with the fundraising for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of Canada – together we’ve raised $595 – this is amazing. Thanks so much.

On Thursday I put my mountain bike in the car and hopped in the car with Marc for a drive out to Kanata. He worked in his indoor office while I worked in my outdoor office… I hit up Kanata Lakes for a smooth recovery ride. I wanted to get out on the trails to do some skill work and I also needed to escape the heat of the black asphalt for a day. I had a fantastic ride. I had moments that I think mountain bikers probably really crave – where the bike and trail feel like one. The bike just floated over the trails – I rode up steep climbs that previously I was stalling out on and I descended some tricky stuff that just last week I was getting off and walking down. All this seemed to happen so fast, I didn’t even realize I was accomplishing these small successes. In my opinion, a sign of a great ride.

Again one of those rides when I just didn’t want to leave. I could have stayed out there all morning riding and pushing my technical limits. The other thing I noticed during this ride was my brain. It was quiet. Silent. No meandering about supper plans, laundry, writing jobs, to do lists, or the ‘cross season. It was quite simply along for the ride, soaking up the experience. Perfect.

Today it was back to the road bike. I got the results of my test from last week so with some new power zones to work with it was time for some fun on the road bike. Luckily the crazy heat of earlier in the week has backed off a bit, so the ride was not so sticky. For some extra spice I had sweet spot tempo intervals on deck. I love these intervals – basically floating out of the top of my tempo zone into the bottom of my threshold zone. These kind of efforts are just enough to put some fire into the legs and lungs. I really felt super strong today on the bike. (Much better than Thursday when the heat really sucked me dry.)

There really is nothing quite like two solid training rides in a row. Rides like this put a smile on my face and make me really look forward to the future.

Many many thanks for your support with my fundraising efforts for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of Canada. Thanks to your amazing donations, I’ve now raised $570! Thanks to Gregory, mom and dad, Sophie, Ross, David, Skip, Mike, Lisa, and the anonymous donor. Your support really is overwhelming. If you’re new here and want to find out what I’m so excited about, check out my epledge page for the Heel ‘N’ Wheel-A-Thon on June 13.

Saturday is looking pretty good. Some crazy intervals on deck in my three hour ride. Then I think some relaxing might be in order. Perhaps a wander around the Glebe with some people watching thrown in. Or maybe I’ll just hide out in the suburbs…. Sunday will be jam-packed – four hour road ride in the morning and then I’m off to the Creative Wheel Centre for some mountain biking fun. I have a feeling I’ll be hitting the sack early on Sunday!

Have a great weekend and be sure to get out and enjoy this great weather. Hopefully you can do it on your two-wheeler!

Dudes, it is a hot own out there today. Really can’t believe how hot it is for May. I thought yesterday was warm but today is a bit ridiculous. Never before in a three hour ride have I drank six bottles! Thank goodness for the kindness of strangers…

About two hours into my ride I stopped at a soon-to-be-opened butcher/bakery on Dwyer Hill road where the friendly guy directed me to a hose in his laneway. Sweet. Well, he forgot to tell me about the four big dogs. In the end, a lady popped out of the house and let me traipse through her kitchen and fill my bottles. I must have looked quite the sight!

I do have to say my intervals weren’t the best today. I really suffered in the heat. I got through them but they weren’t as high on the power scale as I would have liked. Best thing was the last interval ended right by the McEwan’s in Richmond. Perfect. One Coke and cherry slush later and I was on my way. That last bit of the ride home was not fun.

I was in full-on goosebumps mode… Yep, a bit of heat stroke. My jersey was fully unzipped and I was no longer sweating and I felt a bit cold. Luckily I knew the signs. Time to put back the sugar and liquid. Finally after about 30 minutes of very slow riding I started to feel the effects of the liquid sugar.

I had planned to take my new commuter bike out this afternoon and roll over to the coffee shop for some computer action. But I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want to go out in that heat for a little bit. Even as I sit here, now 90 minutes since getting home and I still have the chills.

The human body really is quite fascinating. Number one lesson learned today – don’t ride at the hottest part of the day when the city announces heat advisory messages… I think tomorrow’s recovery day calls for a ride in the shade…

If you’re going out for a ride today, be sure to bring your bottles and some money to fill up during the ride. Trust me, it is hot out there.

(I’m raising money for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of Canada and will be participating in the Heel ‘N’ Wheel-A-Thon on June 13. You can donate to the cause here.)

This is not something I normally do on my blog, but the time has come to ask for your help.

As you know I have ulcerative colitis. I’m trying to do my part to raise awareness of this disease and of Crohn’s disease.

On June 13, the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of Canada will be holding its annual fundraiser: the Heel ‘N’ Wheel-A-Thon. This event is held across Canada – very likely in your community.

I’ll be out at the Ottawa event participating. To this end, I’m also collecting pledges for this event. I’ve created an online pledge page.

My fundraising goal is $500. Anything that you can donate is greatly appreciated. Myself and all Canadians living with Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis thank you for your support.

To learn more about the Heel ‘N’ Wheel-A-Thon, be sure to visit the website.

Thanks again for your support. It really does mean a lot to me.

I’m in that phase of my training where I’m starting to see and feel the hardwork I’ve put in pay off on the bike. The long rides and multiple back-to-back days doing tempo and sprint intervals are translating into feelings of strength, power and confidence. Combine this with time on the mountain bike and I’m feeling more and more like the cyclo-cross racer I know I can be. The mountain biking has done two things for me so far: given me a break from the road and taught me that I can get better and improve. There is nothing more tangible than riding over an obstacle, through a rock garden or down a descent that only a week ago left me stumbling, braking, and shaking my head.

I’ve had a couple of decent days of riding on this long weekend in May. Saturday I hit up Kanata Lakes bright and early for three hours on the mountain bike. Me, the trails, my iPod and my new leg armour. The ride was excellent. I did get into some trails that were a bit “heavy” for me. I did get lost. Ending up popping out onto Huntmar. But thanks to a passing cyclist who happened to be the husband of a friend I used to ride and play hockey with, I was well on my way back to the trails. When the three hours was over, I really wanted to keep riding… I would have but I had to get the car back for the Scott boys (and besides three hours is plenty the day after my test). So about the new leg armour: not really happy with what this “protection” has done to my knees… Essentially now I have massive scabs on the tops of both knees from the rubbing during the ride. I bought the correct size (medium), I tried tightening the straps, loosening the straps, etc. I’m not sure what to do. Suffice it to say I like training with the leg armour since scabs and rubbing aside, they did protect my knees on two occasions. Any suggestions on what to do to make the rubbing stop?

Sunday was about the road bike. Just a short and easy 2.5 hours on the road. Amazing how quickly the ride went by. I hit up some of my favorite roads and just enjoyed being out in the heat of the day. A good ride. Nice to have the fitness to just ride for 2.5 hours.

So, I’m going to be doing some racing soon. I’ve got the go-ahead to start coming out to the training crits and I’m going to race at the Preston St. Criterium and the OBC Grand Prix. Cool. Not a lot of road racing but enough to keep me happy. I really enjoy the training crits – hard, fast, aggressive and best of all, racing with lots of good friends in a welcoming environment. I’ve also got the 24 hours of Summer Solstice Race coming up with the KingsBridge boys.

Also decided to join the club out at the Creative Wheel Centre. Totally looking forward to riding with some new people. I learned after my ride on Saturday, that I need to mountain bike with people who are more skilled than me – it forces me to dig a bit deeper and really “try” to get through the tricky bits.

Lots of good stuff going on. Next on the list is getting my Ottawa Cross clothing sorted out for the upcoming season. I know it might seem early to do this, but I need to get the design finalized, submit the design/order to Champion Systems and then it takes six weeks to get the clothes. I don’t think the design will change much, it would be nice to add some new logos to the clothing… So if you want to sponsor me or know someone who would, I definitely am all ears!

Oh, hope you liked the Youtube video of my A Channel interview. I’ve gotten some good feedback on it. It would have been nice to have had more of a chance to talk about cyclo-cross, but maybe I’ll be on another time to talk about about cyclo-cross, Belgium, the World Cups, World Championships, and the amazing local racing scene…