So very strange… I wrote a post yesterday and now I realize it didn’t make it. Must have been eaten. Oh well. Take 2.

So I updated the photos page. There are a bunch of pics there from last season – go check it out.

Got in some excellent riding this weekend. Four hour ride on Saturday with a solid little group. Good pace. Great conversation. Little coffee shop stop. I threw in my 500m intervals and it was all good. Nice way to spend the late morning/early afternoon. Sunday I got out for a little over three hours. Discovered some new roads. Got in some longer intervals. Excellent. Though it was hot yesterday. My two bottles were not quite enough. As for today – little recovery ride and then some ‘cross riding.

Chilled out day today. Marc is busy gluing tires. Murphy (our cat) has been desperately trying to get in on the gluing action. Doesn’t seem to be working that well.

Looks like there will be a few more ‘cross clinics happening here in Ottawa. When the details are firm, I’ll post them up here.

Heading down to Mass. on Friday for the Cycle-Smart ‘cross camp. Looking forward to it. Good instructors. Nice area. And I heard a new caterer…

Well, not much else happening. Sorry the post didn’t make it on Sunday. I’m guessing I forgot to press Publish…

Hope you got out on your bike this long weekend and were able to get in some good training. All the hardwork needs to be done now because soon enough  you’ll only have to time to race and recover. The question of the day is: how far you willing to travel for a cyclo-cross race?

Had an excellent training session this morning. Marc and I hit up the park on our street and did lots of cool and challenging stuff.

Started off with the typical warm-up – tight turns, wide turns, riding the line on the soccer field. Just stuff to get the blood flowing and the brain ticking. Then we hit the sand box. There is a sandbox at this park with super deep sand. Kind of like the sand at Mol. Ya – it is that deep (unfortunately not very long).

But it works for sand riding practice. Worked on lifting the front wheel to prevent it from digging in, keeping the legs turning over, and looking ahead. After a few goes we were getting through the sand box faster and smoother. I nearly hit the swing set a couple of times… It is amazing how quickly sand can sap the legs.

Then we moved on to remounts. We practiced on a slight rise. The idea is that by practicing on a slight rise/incline you can discover if your remount is breaking down. I.E. where you are losing your forward momentum. Excellent drill. It really forces you to focus on forward momentum. Not sure where Marc got the idea for this drill. It is a good one.

Then we set up some flags on the face of a steep incline and worked on turning on the face of the hill. This drill broke me on Tuesday. Today – not so much. I nailed it. Success! What a great feeling and the best way to end a training session.

This was a very successful training session. Why? Well we did three specific drills – broke them down step-by-step, worked on each step, and then when the last step was accomplished/nailed, we moved on. So we finished each drill with a feeling of improvement and confidence. Just what you want from a session.

I know I promised more pictures. I will get some up. Probably won’t be until the weekend though. Sorry! Life is busy (you know how it is).

Enjoy the last long weekend of the summer. I’ll be doing some good hard long rides and getting in some specific ‘cross training sessions. Should be good. Oh, and there will be some nice chillaxing time as well.

Oh it is that time. Yep, registration is open. The technical guide is available. Oh yah, it’s time to start thinking about Canadian Cyclo-Cross Nationals. This will be a double weekend with the the nationals on Saturday Oct. 11 and the Jim Horner Grand Prix on Oct. 12.

All the information is available here.

Get your bikes ready. Practice your running. Fine-tune your top end. It is ‘cross time!

The cyclo-cross schedule you’ve been waiting for is now posted. Check out the Eastern Ontario Cyclocross Series.

This is an excellent race series run by some very dedicated volunteers. The OBC series is where I was first introduced to cyclo-cross. If you are looking for a welcoming and friendly race atmosphere – this is it. The courses are well laid out and are 100 per cent safe (no worries of crazy descents!). There is something for everyone in the Eastern Ontario Series.

Please go to the registration evenings at The Cyclery. This will make things much easier for everyone involved on race day.

Massive shout out to Bob, Cheryl, and Ian for organizing this series for us again this year. Remember to say thank-you after your race (and help out by picking up a few flags and barriers!).

Here’s to an awesome Ottawa series. My favorite part about this race series is the kids – I love watching the little guys zoom around the course and drag their bikes over the barriers. Definitely inspiring!

Well, the 2008 road racing season is now over for me. On to the 2008-2009 cyclo-cross racing season. If the ‘cross season is as good as the road season was – well I’ll be thrilled. The road season was a good one. I made some big strides with my fitness, my race sense, and the caliber of races. I got to meet a lot of cool people. An excellent year. Am I satisfied? I think so…

I’m the type of person who is never really satisfied. I always want more out of myself. If I’m third then I spend a lot of time trying to figure out how I could have been first. If I’m first then I spend even more time trying to figure out how I could have been first in a more convincing manner. This attitude is good and bad. It is good to always “want more” but this on the flipside, it is important to “be happy” with what I’ve done. Tricky.

In the coming days, I’m planning to post some more pictures to the site. Just need to figure out the best way to do this (I’m new to WordPress).

Lots of time on the ‘cross bike now and even more time on the road bike fine-tuning the fitness. Canadian ‘cross nationals are super early this year – Oct. 11 in Edmonton, Alberta. So I don’t have many chances to race beforehand. This means lots of time spent drilling it on the bike trying to get that ‘cross racing edge.

Here are some videos to get you amped for the season:

2008 World Cyclo-Cross Championships:

2008 World Cup in Hoogerheide, Netherlands:

Overijse (I did this race!):