Do you ever have one of those weeks? One of those weeks where each day is just so darn good? So good that you’re afraid to push the limits, lest you mess it up and cross the line into not-so-good? This is the kind of week I’ve had.

Everything just seems to be coming together so well. My body is finally getting better and I’m feeling like my old self again. I really notice this on my rides. I’m recovering much better and I’m not wiped out wit fatigue. And I want to ride and ride and ride some more. This is awesome. I’ve started working with Beth Mansfield of Peak Performance and I think some really good things will come of this. Quite fascinating right now – I’m tracking my calorie/food intake and my activity level/efforts in an online database. The numbers are fascinating. Looking forward to what Beth does with the data.

Got a great gift yesterday… My new mountain bike/’cross shoes are here. These sweet yellow puppies are sitting in my living room right now. Oh man they are smooth. Fit like a glove. So light. Can’t believe how light they are. Looking forward to popping some cleats on them and taking them out for a spin next week. Thanks so much OGC – your support is overwhelming.

The new bikes are coming together nicely. Looking forward to getting out on them and giving them a few test rides. I’m still riding my old bikes until the new ones are ready. No biggie since thank to Steve at The Cyclery, they will be dialed in to the same specs as my current bikes. Makes it much easier to move to new bikes when there are professionals taking care of the little details for me. Thanks Steve!

I got out for a pretty awesome ride this morning. Hit up the woods by our house and just let my feet guide me. I ripped around the pine needles. Floated through the sand. I put together a couple more training loops that offer up some other types of riding. There is one section with a series of bridges that require a great deal of front wheel lifting… Not one of my favorite things. So I put together a loop that involves hitting up some bridges quite quickly (coming off a descent) and then being forced to lift the front wheel repeatedly to get onto the bridges, then rip through some singletrack with two forced dismounts, and back onto another trail with a couple more bridges and a steep little climb. It is not a long loop, but it has enough in it to keep the brain going and adrenaline flowing. Fun times.

Extra bonus of today is a visit from the FedEx man… Oh yah, my new Ottawa Cross clothing should be arriving any minute. So stoked. Looking forward to checking out the new kit and some cool new duds. A massive shout out to Steve aka Fearless Leader for once again taking the time to do my clothing design. Yeesh, without him, I’d really be in a sorry state – no bikes and no clothing. A naked bike-less cyclo-cross racer – not a good visual image (the tan lines alone are enough to scare young children!). I’ll post up some photos of the new kit next week. Not a major re-design – just a couple new sponsors added.

We are off to Binghamton, N.Y. today for a weekend of criterium racing. Marc and I are both racing in the Chris Thater Memorial Races. Should be some fast times. I’m racing on Saturday and Marc is doing the double – masters race on Saturday and the elite/pro race on Sunday. If you’re at the races, come by and say hello. I’ll be racing in my smooth blue Cyclery kit and Marc will be sporting the Ride with Rendall kit (oh, and his National Champs jersey!!).

Well, I best be off. A couple of little errands to run before we hit the road. Have a great weekend. Whatever you do, I hope it involves the outdoors, sun, bikes, family, friends, and good food.

Had a ton of fun on the ‘cross bike again today. Original plan was to go out and work on skills in the park. But then Marc said he was going out to our favorite training grounds… So I changed up my plans and decided to go out for a ‘cross ride with him. Super glad I did. Marc has put together a cool training loop that gives us a lot in three minutes:

– sand
– twisty singletrack
– deep grass
– tight right and left turns

Not bad for a mere three minutes. Cool thing about this loop is that it can be extended to include some speedy downhills and some run-ups.

Had a blast chasing Marc around the wood. Then even more fun making him chase me!

Dudes, it is coming together. I’m feeling good these days. Body is feeling much better. Head is in an excellent space. Bikes are clicking along smoothly. New team clothing will be here soon. First race is right around the corner.

Pretty darn sweet.

(P.S. I’ll be out at 7 a.m. tomorrow at the little park on Mount Shannon Drive in Barrhaven if you want to come out for some fun and learning with the flags.)

I’d have to say that today was a most excellent training day. Had a bit of a lazy start to the day with some lingering over breakfast and the Internet. Kicked the day of training off with a two hour endurance ride featuring a bevy of tempo intervals. I felt good. So good. The wattage was where I wanted and my legs were pretty much happy with the efforts. Zipped in the garage, switched bikes, quick change of clothes, a chocolate mint Clif Builder bar, a splash of lemon water and I was out the door in a mere 20 minutes for part two of the training. Hit up a park near the house for some cyclo-cross action.

Luckily the park was completely empty, giving us free range to do what we wanted. I warmed up by riding the lines. Yep, riding the marked up soccer field – lots of tight turns and twists. Then some mount and dismount practice. I find these two warm-up drills help get the feel of the bike and remind the body how to do things progressively with speed and finesse. Then it was flag time. This park features a shallow slope so I set up the grid and Marc and I got to work on riding the grid. We attacked it by riding up across the hill then riding down through the grid. The highlight of this training session was getting some excellent feedback from Marc. Helps to have a set of eyes there to give a different perspective on the drill. Then we practiced descending with speed, cornering and attacking the climb. Again, more lessons learned.

What a difference it makes to train with someone else. Lots of positive interaction. We were able to talk about the best ways to attack the drill and work through different ideas.

We were both pretty baked by the end of this 90 minute session. Normally I like to take a bit of a break after my road work-out before heading out for a ‘cross skills ride. But today we had a bunch of other stuff on the agenda. So we decided since the top priorities were the training, best to get this done first and then we could relax a bit and get our other errands done. Pretty satisfying in the end to be able to relax and chill out after two excellent work-outs.

On deck for Sunday: three hour ride, 30 minute ride and maybe a skills session at the park again. I kind of want to get out there and practice everything I learned today. I’m a slowish learner so I need to get out there and repeat, repeat, repeat. As my old taekwon-do coach told me “practice makes improvement”.

We are booked. Booked for our trip out to western Canada for the Canadian Cyclo-Cross Championships. We managed to get a super price on tickets from Ottawa – Edmonton thanks to the little company that does it right: WestJet. We compared prices on Air Canada and WestJet – we are saving $400 with WestJet and the prices for the extra bikes is much lower with WestJet. Yep, I’m a fan. Maybe even a superfan. At first it seemed a bit crazy early to be booking flights, but dudes, we aren’t that far away from Nationals. The action goes down Oct. 10 in Edmonton and then the following day we have the Jim Horner Classic. Nice.

I’m looking forward to returning to Edmonton. I had a good race there last year and I’m looking forward to improving on that result. And to top it off, my parents are making the trek out from Saskatchewan to cheer on me and Marc. Now that my dad is well-versed in cyclo-cross, he’ll know the drill: arrive at the venue early, wait patiently, stand at the start line with extra wheels and a pump, collect extra jackets and water bottles, race around the course cheering and taking a whole lot of pictures, be there at the finish with warm-up clothes and a big smile. Pretty lucky to have this kind of support. It will be my mom’s first time at a ‘cross race. I think this will be easier on her than standing in freezing cold arenas watching my wee little brother getting bodychecked into the boards or watching me get punched and hand out some out sturdy lefts and rights in the taekwon-do ring. I promise there will be no punching or bodychecking at ‘cross Nationals. Can’t do much about the cold though….

So I had planned to go out and do some skill work yesterday. But I decided to listen to my body. I had a super good ride behind the motor bike on Wednesday morning (well, I did implode 28 minutes into the 30 minute session…). I felt super good on the ride into the office after the work-out. Legs were a bit sluggish on my commute home, but nothing crazy. So why the rest in the evening? Well, some of my UC symptoms returned – they had been dormant for a few days, and on Wednesday they came back. So remembering the message I received from my gastro doctor about “taking it easy”, I decided not to push things. Turns out it was the right decision.

I’ve felt great today. UC symptoms are gone again. Had a great endurance ride this morning followed by a smooth commute in. Good ride home followed by a 30 minute run. And the good news – my body is still playing along nicely. Feeling great. Wouldn’t even know that I have the UC. So this is a banner day. Yes, I did sweat a bit about not doing my planned skills ride yesterday. But you know what? It is not a big deal. I don’t want to put myself in a hole. (It has taken me a long time to accept that ‘less is more’ really does make sense.)

I am stoked to be hitting up the trails tomorrow after work. Looking forward to playing in the sand and just being one with sticks and twigs. Saturday afternoon/early evening I will be out doing some ‘cross drills. So if you’re in Ottawa and you want to come out – seriously – email me. I’m going to be there and hopefully Marc as well. Just planning on setting up the flags and doing some stuff. I’ll bring out the trusty PVC barrier as well. Hey, at the very least it gives you an excuse to dig out your ‘cross bike an come out to Barrhaven for some fun.

Okay, I’m out. Have a good one. See you on Saturday or on Sept. 19 in Pennsylvania.

Came across this article (thanks to Marc) on Pez today. Thought it was a good follow-up to Monday’s post.

Toolbox: Surviving Fatigue

Going out tomorrow morning for a spin behind the motor bike. First time doing motorpacing this season. I’m sure it won’t take long for the wonderful motorpacing sensations to return. Short term pain for long term gain.

Planning on making it a double tomorrow and hitting up my neighbourhood park for some ‘cross skills work. If you want to come out, drop me an email. Training partners are definitely appreciated.

Can’t believe that the race season is nearly here. I’m really looking forward to it. Miss zipping around on my bike for a fast 40 minutes. Also really miss watching Marc race and getting to cheer him on. It really isn’t the same to watch a road race. Watching ‘cross racing is a true spectator sport. This sport of cyclo-cross is booming – I love it. The more the merrier.

Soon enough we’ll be in Belgium. Yay! This is the highlight of the ‘cross racing season. Nothing like being in the land of rice tarts, fresh bread, group rides, televised ‘cross races, and good friends to feel at home.