Well, my first “official” week of back training is in the books. Lets just say it was an excellent week of riding. It was so refreshing to get out on my road bike and pedal. I felt good – really good. Who knows maybe all of the easy riding and rest has actually built some fitness or at least helped me to stay where I was before this latest slow down.

Basically, it is just great to back on a structured plan that has focus. I did enjoy getting out in the woods everyday on my ‘cross bike and working on my technical skills – but I have to admit after close to four weeks of riding alone on the same trails and doing pretty much the same drills, I was getting a bit stale.

Today after a week of riding the road bike, it was back to the woods. I’ll admit I was a bit nervous. I hadn’t ridden my ‘cross bike in over a week so I was concerned that maybe I wouldn’t have actually learned anything the four weeks prior. In other words that I’d be right back where I was in June.. Well, I’m happy to say – this was not the case. In fact I was able to push my limits even further today.

I had an excellent ride and it was a treat to back on those familiar trails working on my technical skills. I hit up my favorite little loop that essentially features a quick downhill, a fast sandy double berm, a quick corner and a steep little climb. This is loop is all about flow and control. It is a really small loop but it does the job. Some days I work on the descent, carrying as much speed through the berms as possible and trying to float up and over the steep climb. Other days I ride the loop in reverse, working on downhill cornering technique, bike control through the sandy berm and then acceleration up the climb. Either way it is a small loop that hits on a lot of the essential cyclo-cross skills.

Today my goal was to see how much speed I could take into the sandy berm. Well I found out! I also learned that nothing crazy happens when I end up riding over the top of the berm! In fact I have to say even the times when I didn’t line things up quite right and the bike ended up sliding out or acting squirrely, I still stayed off the brakes and just focused on looking forward and pedaling.

A sign of good things to come. In past years (heck two months ago), I would have panicked, hit the brakes, pulled a foot out and became frustrated with myself. Not now. Now I seem to have developed some real “bike sense” – and I’m trusting the bike to do its thing. I think along with this comes heaps of confidence and a really strong desire to have the season of my life.

I can’t explain it but I really feel like this is going to be a big year for me. Maybe I’m jinxing myself by writing this. But I’m always honest on this website. When things are going well – you’ll know. When things are going not so well – you’ll know.

I’m looking forward to a couple of good rides this weekend on my road bike and then it is back to the woods on Monday. I have to say that my coach Steve Weller has been amazing through all of this. We are taking the training week-by-week and I know that he has a plan and I’ve got complete faith in his ability to get me where I need to be.

Oh, and the new clothing design? Lets just say – it is awesome. I’ve got a great graphic designer doing a bang up job on the clothing design. I’m pretty stoked about how it looks. Yes, there is purple in the design (sorry Sheri – no pink). I’m excited to pull on the new Ottawa.cx skinsuit and to do some racing.

I don’t have much to tell you about today… I know a bit surprising for me since I seem to be able to write and write some more.

All I really have to tell you is that I’m in a super good groove right now. In fact I might expand this to call it a super solidly good groove.

Three excellent days on the bike. Two of these days with some intervals. Good numbers. Good sensations in my legs. An excellent feeling in my heart and soul. Confidence is sky high.

Super positive about the upcoming season. I actually believe this will be my best year ever. I’m healthy. Really healthy. My technical skills are much further ahead than they were this year. My fitness and strength will come back – difference this year is I’ll actually be getting strong as the season progresses.

Yep, a super solidly smooth good groove.

On the racing/training kit front – I’ve got an excellent graphic designer on the case and she is seriously looking into the color purple. Cool stuff!

Okay, I said I don’t have much so I best stick to it!

I’m so happy that today has arrived! Today is the start of my “real” training again. I’ve got a brand-spanking-new training plan and I’m good to go. Such a great feeling. Now, of course you know I’m not starting from “scratch” here – I’ve been training and riding all summer but things have been more focused on the easy and steady rather than focusing on intensity. But now that all my blood count and iron numbers are happily sitting in the middle of normal – it is time for me to get back to normal.

Today was actually an easy way to start a new training program: hot power yoga and an easy 45 minute ride. Things hot up on Tuesday and Wednesday with some longer rides and a bit of spicy intensity. Nothing too crazy yet since my coach wants to see how my body reacts to the intensity. I’m raring to go, but I’m following the plan and won’t be doing anything “extra” – in fact I’ve promised not to do extra intervals or to add an extra hour or two to my rides…

With this training comes thinking and planning for the cyclo-cross season. As you likely know I’ve been working hard this spring and summer to find a new sponsor or two – well sadly I haven’t had any luck so far. I can’t really wait much longer to hear back from emails and phone calls  – since I need to get a new jersey, short and skinsuit design done and get this off to Champion Systems Canada for production. So this leaves me with some questions – what to do with the clothing design? Here is last year’s design:

So now I need to figure out what to do this year. I’m thinking of doing a complete re-design. But I’m not a graphic designer – so I’m looking for ideas, suggestions, references. Really if you have a suggestion – email me or post up in the comments. My favorite color is purple but not sure how this would work… I’d also like to get rid of the white…

Got even more good news today… My white blood cell count is continuing to improve. And my ferritin level is nice and comfy above 100. This means one thing and thing only: back to training. So very happy. I have been riding these past few weeks, but I haven’t been able to do any of the fun stuff.

You know the fun stuff like tempo, threshold, VO2Max, or long rides. But now I can. I’m super stoked. If it was up to me I’d start tomorrow with a super long and challenging work-out. (Good thing I’m not my coach…) But luckily I have Steve Weller to keep me on track and in check.

Long ride tomorrow and then a couple days of no riding (I’ll be running instead) – since I’ll be off in Burlington to cheer on Marc at Road Nationals. But then on Monday it is “on like Donkey Kong”…

Uhm, yes, I’m excited. I really do have great feelings about this upcoming season. I don’t feel behind. I don’t feel freaked out. I feel super happy that I’m going to be able to race and train at full capacity. There is always a silver lining and I guess this one has finally revealed itself – I really miss it when I can’t do it. I’ve had some valuable weeks riding my Stevens Carbon Team in the woods, working on my skills and boosting my confidence.

Now it is time to get out on my Stevens SLR Aero and put some kilometers and hurt into my legs and lungs. Definitely good times ahead.

I suppose it is true “good things come to those who wait”. Well I’ve waited and I’ve waited. And now the good things are here.

Yes, this lesson finally clicked today. The faster I go, the easier it is. With speed the bumps and roots seem to disappear and flatten out. With speed, getting around a tricky corner is almost effortless. The faster I attack a steep climb the easier it is to get up and over it and prevent the mid- hill stall and fall over to the side… The more speed I take into the turns and cambers the easier it is to keep on moving forward and not get bogged down. The more speed I can take with me into the sand, makes it so much more easier to get through it without the front wheel diving down and the handlebars going haywire. The faster I let the bike run down steep descents, the sooner the descent is over and I have less time to think about what it is I’m doing on my bike.

Speed is my friend. Speed is your friend. Now I’m talking reckless riding with a “no-brakes” attitude. No I’m talking about letting the speed that you’ve worked so hard to find and amp up on flats and pavement do the work for you in the technical sections. I’m not a technical wizard but over the last few weeks of training and learning, I’ve had some major light bulbs go off.

Lessons that Marc and the young guns have been trying to teach me over the past few years are finally coming to fruition. I remember being told that each race and training session I would learn things that I didn’t even realize and one day these lessons would be apparent. Well, it seems the time has come. I’m learning. I’m catching up to my competitors with these technical break-throughs. I may not have the overwhelming power of Katie Compton or the technical finesse of Sven Nys but I’ve got a jersey full of confidence and trust in my abilities.

Each time I go out I ask myself to let the speed run more and more, to try attacking the hills in a harder gear and to sprint that much faster up the climbs. Clicking, learning, and getting it – all this is happening for me in my suburban stomping grounds.

This past weekend featured the Canadian elite road championships. I did not attend these races but I did follow them closely on Twitter and on various websites. Lots of impressive rides and some definite breakthroughs (even for those not on the podium). Clara Hughes won the individual time trial championship on Friday and on the weekend an article ran in the Toronto Star featuring her accomplishments. What stood out for me though in this article is that Hughes revealed she has a sole sponsor who is providing her with $120,000 to support her cycling season and quest to race once again at the Olympics. Here is what Hughes had to say about this support:

“He said the reason he’s supporting me is ‘I really like what you do and I like the example you set for young people.'”

“A part of my mission is to show what’s possible and also I hope to show when you support an athlete, you’re a part of their process, a huge part. The person that funds me, I send him updates all the time. And he emails me back ‘I feel like I’m doing this with you.’”

Hughes said she doesn’t think people realize the difference they can make in helping an athlete achieve their dreams.

“I remember reading about Silken Laumann,” she said. “She had a supporter, a man who gave her $10,000 when she had nothing. I think she tried to convince him not to, but he just wanted to help her and be part of her success. I remember thinking that was the coolest thing.

“I’m so lucky and I don’t feel like I should be the only one.”

In my opinion this really shows the type of person Clara Hughes is. She really appreciates the support she is receiving and even more, recognizes that not all athletes are as fortunate as her. I wonder if more athletes realized that sponsorship is so hard to come by, they would appreciate what they have that much more. Yes, this is a cyclical process – appreciate what you have, show your sponsors that you appreciate it (and are overwhelmed by it), and maybe you’ll end up getting more support or maybe another athlete will get some support. All this adds up to strengthening our athletes and giving everyone a warm happy feeling in their soul.

Okay, a bit corny I know but sometimes I can’t help myself. For my part I’m pretty sure it is clear how much I appreciate and am thankful of the support I get from my sponsors. When I pull on my cycling kit, I see those logos and I remember that these companies didn’t have to sponsor me – they chose to – so I better do my best to represent them the best I can.

And now that I’m moving so much faster, you’ll have to look extra hard to see the blur of logos as I race by! In case you can’t remember who my sponsors are, here is a cheat sheet:

• Stevens Bikes
• The Cyclery
• Clif Bar
• Champion Systems Canada
• Bell Lap Coaching
• Outdoor Gear Canada