Ah, the early season. The weather is unseasonably warm. The sky is brilliant blue. Perfect weather for us eager cyclists. Never have I been able to ride outside in March. Super spoiled. But this can all be a bit dangerous for us eager beavers….

The program reads 2 hours. It is your first week of training after a long break…. Your pal wants to ride for 4 hours. Ah, this is where the battle begins with the voices in your head. “Do it – you’ll be fine – you’ll ride super easy” “Don’t do it – stick to the plan – 4 hours is too much”

Sound familiar? I’m guessing yes. It is so easy to cave into peer pressure, even more so when you’re an athlete. You have a plan and you trust it. But then you hear of so-and-so riding for 6 hours on Saturday and then 8 hours on Sunday. Uh oh – you did 2 hours each day. You better get out and ride more. Ride harder. The others are doing it. So they must be right….

It is so hard to stick to the plan. But I truly believe the key to long-term success is trust. Trust in your plan. Trust in your gut instinct. I fully subscribe to the mantra of Tim Harris “the hardest thing a cyclist can do is not ride”. So true.

The weather looks like it will be fine for the upcoming week. Do your best to not give into temptation. Stick to your plan and keep your eyes on the goals you have set. Remember your goals are not necessarily the same as your friend’s goals – therefore you have different training plans.

I know, easier said than done. Such is life.

It is Friday. Normally this isn’t a rest day for me. Normally I ride seven days a week. But this is not the normal time of my training cycle. This is my first week back training after a four week break. I really really want to ride today. Especially since I didn’t get to ride yesterday. Thursday was a core/strength day – but no riding. Yikes – two days in a row with no riding.

You cyclists can appreciate how not riding for two days in a row can cause your brow to wrinkle a bit and your palms to sweat…. But I’m sticking to the plan. After all, the plan has worked so far. In fact the plan has worked really well. So today I rest. Besides Saturday and Sunday are looking darn good – 2 hours on Saturday and 2.5 hours on Sunday. No complaints here. Also some yoga on the schedule as well.

This rest day does give me time to get other stuff done. You might be scratching your head about this – since most of you know that I’m not “working” right now. Well, I may not be working in an office, but I am spending my days hunched over my laptop working on various writing projects. Some pay, some don’t, some might. Progress is all I can hope for. I’m pretty excited to be working with Canadian Cycling Magazine – I’m writing for this new magazine on a freelance basis and on a part-time basis I’m working with the editor to keep the web site up-to-date with the latest news of our fine Canadian cyclists. The web site should be live today (I’ll post the link when it is live). So if you’re a Canadian cyclist, don’t be shy – drop me an email and tell me what you’re up to.

Hopefully next week, I can post about the my team plans for the 2010 – 2011 season. I’m just waiting for the club registration to be finalized. Not really any big changes – if you check out my sponsor page, you’ll see I’m still supported by the same fine companies. Really just a change in my racing kit. Actually, if you poke around the site you’ll see I’ve made a few changes: new banner, updated the About page, updated the links on the right – general housecleaning work.

Alright, I best be off. I’ve got a few writing projects I want to get done this morning. Looking forward to riding outside this weekend. Tempted by a four hour ride on Saturday…. But this isn’t on the plan… Not sure. I best stick to the plan. The plan is the way to go. Right?

Last weekend there was a special ride for Erwin Vervecken and his fans. This was to be Erwin’s last ride as he officially retired from the sport of cyclo-cross. My friend Luc Van Der Meiren, participated in this race. Luc was generous to write a race report for us. Many thanks Luc for taking the time to tell us all what it was like.

Erwin Vervecken’s Retirement

On Saturday 27/02/2010 Erwin Vervecken said goodbye to cyclocross and topsport! For all his fans and cycling colleagues he planned a big mass-event in his hometown of Herentals (Belgium). Everyone who wanted to take part in this event was welcome. If you had a mountainbike or a ‘cross bike you could ride along with the greatest riders off cyclocross. (Participants: men elite: Zdenek Stybar (World Champion), Sven Nys, Niels Albert , Kevin Pauwels (my local hero), Bart Aernouts and Erwin Vervecken himself of course; elite women: elite Daphny Van Den Brand, Helen Wyman, Nikki Harris, Christine Vardaros, Joyce Vanderbeken and Nicole De Bie-Luyten. Even ex- collegues took part in this race! I saw Roland Liboton (7 times world champion), Danny De Bie and many others on the starting line!

But before we started our race there was a special race for kids, they really enjoyed their own race! After their race they got a package with all kinds of stuff in it, from lots of sponsors such as sports drinks and food.

At 2.30pm it was our race. The whole night and morning it rained a lot, so the track in the field and woods from Herentals was very, very muddy! We had to choose between two distances: 20k or 40k. (2 or 4 laps of 10k). There where 3 starting boxes: first box was for the elite men and woman, next box was for all riders with another license and the third box was for the whole bunch of freeriders. With almost 750 people it was not easy to have a fast start. The start was on a football field, but after 200m the road was only 3m wide so it was important to have a good start. My brother and I started at the rear of the pack, because he said he would do it on a slow tempo! But after 200 m we stood still, then we rode a few meters and back of the bike, walked a few meters and back on the bike again! First half lap was very muddy and all singletrack, if you wanted to pass then you must go trough deep mud and water. The Elite men and woman had a clear track so they started really fast!

Just before I ended my first lap I was passed already by the head of the bunch, they rode two times faster than me!!! I think I made a wise decision to do only 20k (2laps)! The pro’s did 4 laps and they had already taken a shower before I ended my two laps! They are really fast, when they passed me, I almost caught a cold!!! In my last lap I made a mistake on a little downhill and fell of my bike and bruised my ribs! Ouch!!!

At the end of the race it was Erwin Vervecken himself who won, behind him the other pro’s made a show of honor and applauded the man who stopped his beautiful career! Afterwards there was a big party for everyone! All the pro’s and fans enjoyed themselves with food , drinks and dance! Then Erwin hung his bike on a hook and that was the really end of his career! Now his new career as sport marketing manager can begin by Golazo Sports, focusing on cyclocross and mountainbiking!

I’m still recovering from my bruised ribs but I was glad that I was there!

(Thanks again Luc for taking the time to write a race report! Greatly appreciated.)

In a word – awesome. That was how the much anticipated Tuesday ride was. It was great to be out pedaling and moving forward rather than pedaling in place.

I hit the road shortly after 10 a.m. The sun was shining and the sky was a brilliant blue. I bundled up with all my top winter riding gear and got busy. It was just so soothing to be out and feeling my body power me through the air. My legs ticked over nicely finding a relaxed and smooth rhythm.

No SRM for me today. Focus right now is on high cadence and getting back into the training groove. Perfect – just what I need right now. I pedaled along through Barrhaven to Richmond onto Stittsville and then finally ending up at Marc’s office in Kanata. All on my trusty Stevens Super Prestige.

It took a bit to get used to being around cars again. Didn’t realize how spoiled we are in Belgium to have the amazing bicycle path system and very quiet country roads to explore. I think most motorists were shocked to see a cyclist out on the road! Extra bonus of the ride is that the roads were completely dry.

There was a bit of a headwind but, with the ‘cross gearing, it wasn’t an issue. Besides, I think I was smiling too much to notice the headwind. The ride flew by and before I knew it I was putting the bike in my car. Sigh. Ah well, I get to do it all over again tomorrow.

Not sure where I’ll go on Wednesday. Most likely I’ll hit up some of my favorite training loops. Barrhaven – Richmond – Pierce’s Corners? Guess I’ll just have to see where the spirit takes me.

Yes, I’m writing about the Tuesday ride on Monday. Just chalk it up to eagerness. I’m so keen to start training again. I might even go to bed early so that Tuesday comes faster…

Since we’ve had some pretty darn fine early spring weather, I’ll be hitting the open road tomorrow. That’s right. No trainer time for me. I’m going to put on some layers, wrap myself in my trusty neck tube and face the elements. It is going to be a good one. A nice easy 90 minutes focusing on cadence rather than power. Perfect way to ease back into the training mode.

I did ride outside on Sunday. I had this crazy idea that even though it has been very warm, the trails wouldn’t be soft. Silly me. They were so soft it was like riding in rice pudding. Ah well, it wasn’t cold out. So I powered the trusty mountain bike back into Barrhaven and did a little tour of this growing suburb. I just rolled along listening to my music and enjoyed being outside. The easy hour flew by in no time. And it was just what my tight quads needed after my running escapades on Saturday.

Yep, that run really did a good job of reminding me how hard running really is. Everything was smooth as silk on Saturday afternoon. But by Saturday night after enjoying a fine dinner with the Hoppner family (thanks again for the great meal and night out), my quads, calves, even my feet – had seized up into tight wads of tightness. Sigh, suppose this is what I get for running a bit too far and a bit too hard for my first run in over 4 months. But it was worth it. The run was awesome – loved hearing the heavy breathing and feeling my legs power my body through the air.

Today has been pretty mellow. There wasn’t any riding on the calendar today. Just a core/stretch day. So I hit up my fave yoga studio for a 90 minute hot power yoga class. It was awesome. The focus today was on the splits… Not a friendly move for a cyclist with tight hip flexors. But like the run, it was all good. I love seeing how far I can push my body and how long I can hold the poses. The instructor for the Monday morning class is excellent and she is also addicted to pushing her body. We did so many planks (I think four of them – all held for a minute each) and then more ab work. Did I say it was an awesome class? Well in case I didn’t – the class was awesome. I had a nice walk home soaking up the fresh air and enjoying the feeling that yoga leaves me with.

And now I look forward to tomorrow. I’ve already got a ride planned out. An easy roll out to Richmond, then after a few twists and turns, I’ll point myself towards Kanata and finish off at Marc’s office. Luckily I can shower at his office. Then we’ll go out for a nice lunch and I’ll take off with the car to do some errands. Sounds like a pretty darn good way to spend a Tuesday. Ride. Lunch. Errands (i.e. Sbucks coffee and computer time).

By the way, I occasionally post here about different recipes I’ve discovered. Well, I tested out two new recipes last week: chicken cordon bleu and eggplant lasagna. Both recipes were from Clean Eating Magazine. Both were amazing. They were given the “make again” rating. The chicken cordon bleu was uber easy. The eggplant lasagna is a new favorite – who knew that using eggplant instead of lasagna noodles would be so tasty? I also made beet oat squares (thanks to Mical Dyck for posting the recipe) – these are really good as well. The purple color is a knock-out.

Alright, I best be off. Time for a smooth epsom salt bath and some time with Rouleur magazine. (I’ll be careful to not get the pages of this precious magazine wet. Hint if you are thinking of my birthday (April 13), well put Rouleur magazine on the idea list…)