Ah, nothing quite says spring in Ottawa like snow in April. Couldn’t believe it when I saw the snow this morning. Sigh. Ah well, could always be worse… I waited for the roads to dry up and hit the streets south of Barrhaven at around 11:30 for my ride.

The wind was fierce. Really fierce. This wind combined with no sunshine made for a grey and unforgiving ride. I only had to ride for 2.5 hours so I knew I could handle anything for this amount of time. What I didn’t plan on was the flat tire. About 45 minutes into my ride I could feel my rear tire going soft. Darn! Once I got the tube out I discovered a thorn in my tire. It took forever to get that thorn out. I debated calling Marc, but really that wasn’t going to solve my problem! I must admit, my enthusiasm for the ride did waver for a bit after fixing the flat and getting rolling again in the headwind. But after a tasty nougat bar, my spirits were lifted and it was time to do the intensity blocks.

I did two five minute tempo blocks to open my legs up and then I hit up Shea Road in Richmond for some sprints. On the schedule today were 5 x 150 meter sprints to be started with a cadence of 90 rpm. So with the headwind this meant I had to do the first three in my small ring. Yes, my small ring. The final two were done with the tailwind and my big ring. What a feeling to be sprinting all out with a super strong wind pushing you down the road. I felt like my bike was going to take off! All in all, an excellent ride. I was a bit chilly by the end of it, but a warm shower and lunch pushed me forward and home!

And now for something special… Most of you know that the famous Almonte-Roubaix was held this past weekend on Sunday. This year, young Timothy Austen raced in his first Almonte-Roubaix. Timothy is 13 years old – not an easy race for a young guy in his first season of bike racing. Timothy agreed to write a race report about Almonte-Roubaix. So here is Timothy’s report on this much-loved and respected Ottawa cycling classic:

For the first time and most definitely not the last I lined up for the start of Almonte Paris-Roubaix. The race was great with mostly sun it made for a little bit of dust but it was definitely better than a mud bowl. The race started being the youngest rider in the race by three years, I thought it was prudent to line up at the back. After Bob pulled away and the real racing started my dad and I started whipping through the peloton. Through the first forested section otherwise known as “The water bottle stealer” we kept on catching people. Once we were “out of the woods” it was on to the first section with real hills. Call me crazy but I really like the hills in this race not too huge but not small really helpful when you’re trying to catch groups up the road. The race continued through roads like this and we inched closer to the groups ahead of us. After a good portion of race spent chasing we were finally in a group. Even through the ridiculous construction section. Where we saw no less than four people changing flats. Then into the dreaded new section. Great scenery we got to admire it lots creeping up the hills. But we got through. Then into the second forest or “the beach” as I prefer to call it. I made it up the switchback hill actually dropped some of the members of my group. But sadly, the vertical wall of sand at the end of the section, I opted to just dismount and cyclocross run up it. But I had a bit to eat and recovered quickly. My dad and I were back to chasing down the groups in front of us. When there were four of us, I took off. Losing my dad and the other two group members. I ripped it up through the third forest or “quarry” named after it’s excessive amount of rocks. Then I struggled to the finish. But still beat my dad by nearly two minutes. It was a great day and I can’t wait to ride it again next year.

Thanks Timothy for the excellent race report. Reading Timothy’s report kind of makes me think of doing the race next year…. (It should be noted that Timothy’s dad – Ian, is the one who got me into bike racing and dragged me out to my first and last Almonte-Roubaix in 1995…)

What a great weekend of riding I had. Really three solid days of excellent rides. Friday was the “testing” day. Saturday was all about getting out on the mountain bike. And Sunday I hit up the road bike for a smooth three hours. Three days of solid training, challenging rides, and big smiles.

Sunday’s ride was a pretty decent day on the bike. I rode out to Almonte to watch the finish of the famous Almonte-Roubaix race. I missed Marc’s finish but I did get to see other friend’s finish and rode with a few others. Great to see the smiles on people’s faces as they crossed the line.

I’m into another block of base building. So lots of long rides with various intervals thrown in to keep the energy systems firing. I really enjoy these long rides. At the beginning of this phase, three hours seemed like a big deal to me. I would be fatigued for the bulk of the day and the length of the ride would wear on me. Not anymore. Three hours feels pretty good. Nice to see and feel this improvement in my fitness and training capacity.

Some plans are being tossed around for the cyclo-cross season. Considering race plans. Looking at travel dates. Lots of good stuff happening. Most people don’t think about ‘cross until late August or even September, but when there is clothing to be designed and ordered, multiple plane tickets to be booked, and long-term accommodations to be arranged – the planning has to start early.

The week ahead is looking pretty darn good. Long road rides. Long mountain bike rides. Yoga. Time spent off the bike working on and thinking about the mental side of the game. Teaching myself to trust in my abilities and to constantly have those feelings I did on Jan. 31. For me, the brain battle is huge. I struggle to continually feel confident and powerful. A lot of this has to do with letting go worrying about what others think. I’m getting better at this. But it can be hard. I’m learning that I don’t need to justify my actions to anyone. I’m doing what I know is right for me and that is what is important. Each and every time I get on my bike I need to remind myself of how far I’ve come and how much further I can go. To do this, I need to let the little things really be little things. Easier said than done, but each day is a step forward. Working on changing the “I think I can, I think I can” to “I know I can, I know I can”.

All this to say, wow – how awesome is this life I have right now? Need to remember a very important mantra that I once saw written on a famous Canadian’s wrist: I’ll Never Be Here Again.

(As part of this mission to stay confident and powerful, I’m also trying to “toot” my own horn every now and then again. So this being said, click on over to Cyclemania to read my guest blog post and take sometime to explore this website – some great cycling content and photos.)

Ah, two excellent days of riding are now in the books. Two different bikes. Two different types of terrain. Two different effort levels. Two days of reminding myself why I love riding my bike.

Friday was “testing day”. All in all, it went pretty much okay. This was my first time doing such a test outdoors – normally I use the controlled environment of my basement and the Computrainer. But it is a new year with new methodologies. I had originally planned to do the two important efforts on Malakoff Road, but the wind was not in my favor. Well, it was – that was the problem. I find that with a strong tailwind, it is not possible to do intervals. So I changed plans and did my two intervals on Shea Road. Shea is a great road for this – a couple of stop signs, but it is pretty darn flat and not that busy with car traffic.

First up was the five minute maximum effort. Ugh, I hate this one. I started really well and then faded like a heavy rock. Suppose this is what is supposed to happen. But geez, it hurts so much! After a 20 minute recovery ride, it was time for the 20 minute threshold effort. Basically go as hard as I could for 20 minutes. Now this I don’t mind. Turn the brain off, wind up the legs, click through the gears and give it all I’ve got. This went pretty much okay. First threshold and above effort of the season so I knew it wouldn’t be exactly where I wanted/expected. But all in all, a good baseline of measurements.

Good roll home with some fine podcasts to listen to. Thanks to Andrew for the tip on the Velocast podcast. This one is top-notch. Really enjoyed it! This one and the Bicycle Podcast from the Guardian are so far my favorites. Maybe one day, I can be interviewed on these?

Once home, I could tell that I had a pretty solid effort out there. My legs were achy, tired, and immediately full of lactic acid when I walked up the stairs. All good signs of a solid ride. I made sure to eat a decent lunch and get lots of fluids in me to help my recovery.

Today was all about the mountain bike. I must admit, I was a bit nervous about this ride. I hadn’t ridden at Kanata Lakes since 2005. Yes, five years ago. In fact Kanata Lakes was the scene of my last and final mountain bike ride. I crashed hard. One of those crashes were the stem hits you in a compromising place and then the bars go into your ribs and somehow you end up landing on the top tube and scraping your legs on the chainrings. Yep, it was a bad one. I put the mountain bike in the garage and didn’t look at it again until this season. But it is time to get back on the horse.

On the schedule for today – three hours of mountain bike riding. What the coach says – I do. I loaded the trusty mountain bike into the Matrix and with some trepidation made my way to Kanata Lakes. Well, lets just say – I had so much fun. It was awesome. I forgot how refreshing it is to be surrounded by nature. I was a bit tentative at the start but after about 45 minutes, I began to find my courage and was able to test my nerve. Some basic skills came back to me. I remembered some key mantras “look up and ahead”, “keep pedaling”, “easy on the front brake”. I zoomed all over the place. At times I had to get off and walk. I’m not sure of the names of the trails but I did end up crossing the railroad tracks and bombing around on a bunch of trails on that side. At one point I was on Ridgetop (I found out the name of this trail thanks to a friendly guy I met out there) – Ridgetop is a bit beyond me right now, but it is my goal to ride this trail by the end of the season. I ended up riding some trails multiple times and it was encouraging to clean sections that on the first time through I had to dab or get off on.

All this to say, it was a great day on the bike. Sun was shining. There were a few people out but it wasn’t crowded or anything. I think that because the trail system is so vast at Kanata Lakes, you can ride for a good while without seeing anyone. As I was driving home I flashed back to 2003 – when I started riding again. It was the mountain bike that got me back into cycling. I wanted to be outside more and around nature. So I bought a mountain bike, took some lessons, and started riding. I loved it. It was from this that I moved onto road racing and now to cyclo-cross racing. And now here I am, seven years later – back to where it started so I can keep moving forward and achieve my goals. Pretty awesome how things really do come full circle. Can’t wait to see what is next.

As for tomorrow – well, I’m riding out to Almonte so I can catch the end of the famous Almonte-Roubaix race. Best of luck to my pals racing this race, those racing at Mansfield, and the others racing at G.P. Ste. Martine. Pedal hard and keep the rubber side down!

Groovy. Groving. Feeling it. Rolling along. Looking ahead.

Pretty much my state of mind right now. I’m over the three days of rest… Thank goodness. Lets just say those three days were rough. I wasn’t really prepared for the mental rollercoaster I’d be on. Turns out that my training stress was pretty intense and then combine this with force time off the bike, and I went a bit loopy. Kind of went into a bit of low mood state. Just not excited about anything and feeling kind of down. Strange. But apparently quite normal. So suffice it to say, I am so happy to be back in the full-on riding groove.

Headed out on Thursday for a 90 minute opening ride. Nice to get out there and put a bit of ache in my legs. It was chilly though, and I was a little under-dressed. Didn’t think of the headwind I’d face on the way home and how this would make my hands feel. Yep, they were cold. Bright red and with limited dexterity in my fingers when I got in. Another lesson learned….

Today is measurement day. A chance for me to see where I’m at regarding my fitness. Normally I do these tests on my Computrainer, but we’re changing things and I’m doing the test outside. Bit nervous about doing it outside but I know it will be okay. Besides if things are a bit off, I’ve got another test in four weeks.

Got my new training program for the month ahead. It is awesome. Lots of long rides. Lots of time on the mountain bike. Lots of yoga. Really enjoying this phase of training. Only bummer is that I still have to hold off on the NRC training crits. Ah well, I understand why. Makes sense. I’m looking far ahead to September and ultimately Jan. 30, 2011, so the training crits will have to wait for a couple of more weeks. Good news is that I’ll be out doing the mountain bike series this summer.

Tomorrow I’m hitting up Kanata Lakes for a smooth mountain bike ride. It has been a long time since I’ve ridden at Kanata Lakes. Totally looking forward to it. Soon enough I’ll be hooking up with Ottawa’s fast young mountain bike guns for some rides and lesson. Also going to be doing some training out at the Creative Wheel Center. Loving this forward momentum right now.

Had a great talk with my coach yesterday. One big thing that came out of this talk is my on-bike nutrition. Turns out that I’m not eating enough during my rides… Funny because I thought I was eating enough (Friday’s bonking session notwithstanding). So now I’m aiming for 200-300 calories per hour on rides longer than two hours – and if there are intensity components to the ride, I’ll be eating even more. Lucky me.

Things are looking good for the summer ahead. Going to do a bit of road racing and crit racing. Double days will start soon. Running shoes might even come out of the closet soon as well. Running is one of the weakest aspects of my cyclo-cross skillset. For now, it is all about the base phase. I’ve got lots of four hour rides on the schedule and even a five hour ride. Can’t hardly wait.

Well, I’m off. I’ve got a warm mug of chai tea here and a bit of writing to do before I head out for my ride. I’m sure I’ll be posting tomorrow about my test and how it went. Best of luck to the Ottawa crew racing this weekend in Mansfield. As for Almonte-Roubaix – I won’t be racing but I plan to ride out to the race and watch the finish – I’ll be cheering for you!

I’m on day three of recovery. Sigh. I know this recovery is needed to make the gains and see the effects of the training I did the past four weeks. But still, I don’t really enjoy recovery days. I like being out riding my bike. Sure, I got out for 90 minutes today and yesterday. But 90 minutes really doesn’t do it for me after the long rides I’ve been doing.

Ah well, it all starts again tomorrow with a bit longer ride with some intensity thrown in. Then the truth really hits the fan on Friday with the almighty critical power test. This is when I’ll find it out what the power numbers are really like. Haven’t done such a test in a while – it will be hard, but it will be a good hard.

Some excellent riding on deck for the weekend. Mountain biking one day and a long ride the next. Can’t ask for much more. Hoping to hit up Kanata Lakes for a ride on Saturday – haven’t ridden there in a long time (2005 I think). I know it has changed a lot since then, should be fun to take the bike out and see what the body and brain remember. I had a blast at Lime Kiln so I’m looking forward to taking things up a notch and testing myself.

Fun time out at the NRC training crit last night. Great to see lots of friendly faces and to watch the racing action. New short course this year. Makes for some fast laps and positioning is super key. Soon enough I’ll be out there trying to stay on the wheels of Ottawa’s fast guys and girls. Can’t hardly wait.

Talking to coach Steve tomorrow. Cool. Catch up on all that has gone on and talk about what is next. I’m really feeling the bike vibes these days. This is when I feel my best. My brain is happy. My legs are happy. I feel free when I’m out there zooming along taking in the fresh air and blue sky. Even the rain isn’t a problem these days. I’ll take a ride in the rain over my cubicle days anytime.

A lot of people have asked me recently if I’m working these days. Yes, I’m working – but I’m not going into an office and I don’t have a steady paycheque. I’m working as a freelance writer. So this means that sometimes I’m rather busy with interviews, research, writing and editing and other times not so busy. It is a strange existence really. One that is hard to get used to. But it is coming and with each deadline met and article written, I get further ahead. You can check out some of my writing in the recent issue of Canadian Cycling Magazine and online as well. I’ve got a few other irons in the fire that will keep my busy soon enough, so things are good.

Well, it is a beautiful day, time for you to step away from the computer and get out for a ride.

(P.S. check out the right sidebar, I’ve added a couple of new links.)