The Doctrine Training: Oliver Training Camp

Team, I have been fielding a lot of questions as to the difference between the Oliver camp I am offering through The Doctrine Training (May 17th evening to May 22nd morning) and the traditional Penticton STC Training Camp (May 13th to 19th).

Usually I attend the entire STC training camp as a pure vacation and ride my brains out with all my friends. As my passion is for coaching and offering an immersed training experience to athletes, I have decided to split my time up this year. Instead of attending the entire STC training camp, I will be hosting a fully coached (for cyclists or multi-sport athletes), supported (follow cars!), accommodated (on the edge of a lake), and fed (chef prepared and wine) camp in Oliver from Thursday evening to Tues morning (over the long weekend). This will give me the opportunity to give 10 athletes a huge amount of individual, structured attention that will go a long way in their preparation for the season and the development of their hobby.

If you or if you think any of your friends are interested in the Oliver Camp, I have 2 spots left!

The long term forecast for Penticton is looking awesome!

Trev

Crankmasters TT this morning! UPDATED with RESULTS

The Crankmasters TT this morning! If you are just getting up, debating about racing today, don't have any plans, maybe you forgot the race was onor worst of all trying to talk yourself out of it.

Our friends at Crankmasters are putting on a 20KTT. You still have time it starts at 11:30 in Airdrie. The course is pretty much flat, the was repaved last summer, has basically no traffic, and is sweet. This is a great opportunity to get your feet wet if you haven't done a TT before, a chance do a really good interval workout, our just hang out with the cool kids.

Here is the link to their site. Click here

If you rode yesterday, your bike is in the garage right now saying "I really had fun yesterday, can we go for another ride?! Please? I really like it when we go fast."

Besides this guy isn't racing today, something about a collarbone with a couple of plates, screws and other assorted hardware, so 1st place is still up for grabs.


RESULTS HERE.  Thanks to the Crankmasters for hosting this event!

Dramatic Finish

Gotta be one of the most bizarre finishes I've seen in a race in a long time; Tour of Turkey stage 7 today!

http://www.steephill.tv/players/youtube3/?title=Last+2+Km+of+Stage+7&dashboard=tour-of-turkey&id=8dPHTMawyug&yr=2012

Penticton Day 1-3: Be ready

Two weeks tomorow is Day 1 of the Penticton Week of "Shut Up Legs". Below I listed rides for the first three days; each of them is linked to the Map My Ride route. Take a look at each ride, see where we’re riding and get familiar with the distances and area. Keep in mind the distances on the maps are conservative, so add 10-20km to each one to accommodate the kilometres it takes us to ride through Penticton. All rides start at the parking lot at Denny's, which is attached to the Sandman Hotel.

  

Day 1, Sunday, May 13, Start: 9 a.m.

• Long and short ride - Ironman Loop: 160km

Day 2, Monday, May 14, Start: 7 a.m.

• Long ride- Anarchist climb: 180km
• We turn around at the Sasquatch
• If you want to add another 40km, join the crew doing the Mt. Baldy loop until you hit gravel, return back down to Oliver and then head to Osoyoos for the Anarchist climb. 
• Long ride (gravel)- Mt Baldy loop: 180km
• There's about 30-35km of ascending or descending gravel
• Short ride- Osoyoos out and back: 126km

Day 3, Tuesday, May 15, Start: 7 a.m.

• Long ride- US ride: 230km, passport required
• “Road, we are going to @#%&* you up."
• Short ride- White Lake Road to Astrophysical Observatory:88km
• There's potential for getting lost on this one, so know where you’re going. It’s one of the more fun rides of the week.   
• Feel free to start this ride later in the morning if you like.

Days 4-7 coming soon. Remember to confirm your accommodations and get out riding over the next two weeks.

Midweek Mayhem: Registration and "Learn to Crit" Nights

Midweek Mayhem, Calgary's summer long Tuesday night crit series, starts up in May. Registration will open this Sunday. Go here.

May 1 and 8 are "Learn to Crit" nights. There won't be any racing, but a lot of teaching and practice. So, if you want to try crits, but are a little nervous about high(ish)-speed cornering and pack riding, come on out and learn from some old hands that have lots of experience (Note: This won't be me. I'm old and have experience, but my experience is getting dropped and lapped). You don't have to register for the crit series to come out May 1 and 8. Email midweekracing{@}gmail.com to register for "Learn to Crit".

Simon Whitfield vs. Lance Armstrong: A Twitter Slapfest!

So, I saw in today's National Post that Lance Armstrong called the Olympic tri "a shampoo, blow dry, and 10 k foot race". Simon Whitfield is, of course, not impressed.

Triathletes out there, does Lance have a valid point? I'm not dissing triathlon, but if everyone is coming out of the water at roughly the same time and the favourites are drafting off of designated teammates for 40 kms, doesn't it really just come down to the run? Would a half-Ironman distance with no drafting be a better reflection of a true triathlete? Just wondering...

Flat tyres from PR

This may seem like a bit of an odd request, but if you happened to flat on the gravel at PRIII this weekend, I would love to get your blown up tyre. In a quest to keep the trophies from PR as unique and as authentic as possible we are offering you the chance to have your "war momento" immortalized.

To be clear we are not looking for a tyre that gave up the ghost on a training ride, we are looking for something that "died with it's boots on". If you have a tyre that legit didn't make it to the finish of PRIII please keep it and even better keep track of where on the course it blew out and any other interesting details. We can then arrange a time and place for me to get the tyre from you along with the relevant supporting documentation.

Again I stress we are looking for the actual tyres that blew out in the race, we are doing this on the honour system.

Thanks, now back to the real business of the blog, make sure you check out Jamie's post about WNS, or go to the training forum to see about Dan & Harley's TNT tomorrow night or hit up the post about the Cranky's TT on Sunday.

Michael

Wednesday Night Series, Intro meeting... COME OUT TO THIS!

Message from Jamie [Grand Pooba of the WNS]

Calling all newbies and vets alike.

We are going to hold an introductory meeting for the 2012 Wednesday Night Series on Wednesday May 2nd at 6:30pm at Edworthy Park. We'll meet at one of the picnic areas. Not sure which one but I'm not really hard to spot so look for the cool looking people hanging out looking cool and doing cool things and we'll be the group behind them. I'll be the tall guy. We will go over the series timeline, the variety of events, the rules, beg for volunteers, and answer any questions. It is quite a useful introduction. See ya there.

[Message from Trev]   Really try to make it to this meeting and this series, it is the best way to learn how to ride/race in a pack besides Dan and Harley's TNT sessions. After the meeting, let's all go for a ride from there. If there is interest, I can hold a coached hill climb session at COP right after the meeting. We can ride from Edworthy, through Bowness, and hit up COP. We can have a little session on how and when to approach a hill climb session when preparing for the race season, then do the session. Then you can ride back to Edworthy if your car is there, or up to Cougar ridge with me to get in a couple more miles. Who's in?

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20km Time Trial this Sunday, preview Alberta Superweek Course!

The CrankMasters are holding a 20km ITT race on Sunday over the same course that will be raced on during Alberta Super Week. This is a perfect opportunity to test out the race course and make sure to know how to demolish it in Aug.   These Time Trials are perfect for early season fitness gains and race experience, don't miss this (unless you are going up to Edmonton with Harley!)

Look here for more info on the route and start time.

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2 Road races in Edmonton this weekend. Coaching for newbie's being offered!!!

Sarah and I will be out supporting ST colors at these spring series road races in Edmonton this weekend. Both are similar to the Prairie Roubaix without gravel. You do not need an ABA race license as they are none sanctioned. Both Races are posted on the events page on the ABA's main web site. If anyone is thinking of trying their first race this year these would perfect. These will be Sarah's first races. The race season is here and now is the time to have loads of fun!!! If you have any questions feel free to ask! Harley 403-880-7695

Penticton Bike Camp Update

We're less than three weeks away from Day 1 of Bike Camp in Penticton and the weather is looking great. Penticton temperatures are getting into the 20s this week so let's hope it keeps it up through May. Check out this link for an overview of the week- Penticton Bike Camp Overview.

I'll be posting the rides over the next two weeks. Generally, they'll stay the same as from past years. This year, we'll ride the Ironman course both clock-wise and counter clock-wise and we'll hit the US earlier in the week. The last day will be a shorter ride so we can actually enjoy the last night with everyone instead of everyone hanging out in a cycling coma because they just hammered 230km. That's not to say the last day won't be challenging, but there will be time for naps.

One more thing, if you plan to ride the US ride, bring your passport. DON'T FORGET YOUR PASSPORT. Don't leave it at home. Bring it. Here's the link for the Penticton Bare Bones Duathlon. Do it.

Results and Photos from PRIII 2012

Here are the results. Click Here.. it is an Excel Spreadsheet.

There were about 12 people taking photos on Lochend Road... can you post your website albums in the comments or email them to me and I will include them in the post here? I am sure everyone would love to see the photos!

Thanks,
Trev

A humble and heart felt thanks to the cycling gods

What a day for PRIII!

A big thanks to everyone who raced today and of course thanks to all the STC volunteers that made the race possible.

Congratulations to all the winners for their outstanding efforts.

And an even bigger shout out to all the people that chose PRIII as their 1st race. You may not know it yet but you have entered a whole new world. We hope you had fun today and hope that we will see you at more races this season. btw you rode a tough course today, obviously the gravel section is a unique challenge but as you experienced the rentless up and down nature of the course puts a sting in your legs.

I am sure Trev and others will have a more detailed post shortly with full race reports.

My personal thanks to the cycling gods, is for deciding to keep my rear tire together to the end of the race. The picture below is what I discoverd when I was putting my bike back in the car. Sorry to the many of you that had to walk home. It would be interesting to try to figure out how many new sets of tires and tubes were purchased as a direct result of the race today.

PS Tom Kenny assures me this was good for at least another 500km and he has a Rando background so I trust his judgement

[Editor] Here is the Garmin file from Trev's bike computer.

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Custom Trophies for a Unique Event. Prairie-Roubaix III Trophies for 2012.

Mike Godfrey just sent me what he has been working on all day. This included going to the race course and getting gravel from Glendale Road itself.

The winners of each division (Cat A, B, C, Women) will now have bragging rights AND a custom trophy to hang over their mantel or just carry around and start up a conversation with.

RESULTS:
We are going to attempt to have results this year. We are going to do it by copying down racer numbers once they hit a little corral about 50meters past the finish line. So when you finish, head to the corral, and align yourself by your position, this will be the responsibility of the racer. In my experience, most of the time, people know who was in front and behind them right after the finish, when it is on an uphill after a hard course. We will write down your number as you come through the corral. Results aren't really super important, a good race is. This event is all about a good race, but we we thought it would be a nice touch to try to collect some results.

See you tomorrow, it is supposed to be a beautiful day!

Velocity is open

Hey this is a great event with a spectacular crit course. They have changed the order to make it more weekend travel friendly. The TT and RR are the same day (just east of Edmonton) with the Crit Saturday morning/noonish. Great idea. After you test yourself this weekend sign up for the first big stage race of the year. watch this to get yourself pumped.

Prairie-Roubaix III It's go time !!

The weather looks like it is going to be favorable! So make sure to gather your friends on Sunday morning and head out for some wicked racing!

Above all:  RACE SAFE.

DON'T be intimidated to come out and race. This is the PERFECT time to try out your first race. Just show up, line up, ask questions if you have them, and hammer.


1.)   Read the tech guide.

2.)  Park OUTSIDE the race loop and ride your bike to the start.

3.)  This is a racer-policed event. Don't make other racers feel uncomfortable by being 'unsporting'. Just race hard and play by the rules. You all know them. If you break the rules, we will blog about you! If you have questions, just ask. If ever in doubt during the race, opt for the safe solution every time.

4.)  If you start in Cat A, you can only draft Cat A racers. Same through to Cat C.
4a.) The unofficial 'group' the women usually sign up for is Cat C, but it is by no means mandatory (say if you want a longer race). If we get over 30 women, we may race you as a separate group. Although, mixing the groups is one unique thing we can do at this event that you can't at an ABA 'points race'.

5.) The Ambulance will be parked at the SE corner. Tell your spectators where it is just in case.

6.)  Women race free, but still need to sign on and get your number.

7.)  I will talk to EVERYONE at 8:50am and then we can get our race moving. Be sure you are at the Start/Finish area in time to register, drop your extra clothes at the table, talk some serious trash, and be ready BY 8:50am.

8.)  Thank the volunteers as you fly by.


See you all on Sunday, I am pumped to hammer !!

Trev and STC

Tombstone 600KM Brevet – Zettabyte of suffering (look that baby up- just think big)

No video or pictures available from first day-too wet and cold

This was the last of four qualifying Brevet’s, 200KM, 300KM, 400KM and 6OOKM for me to qualify to do a 1200KM event late June.  Trev had come down to Arizona and joined me on the 200KM and 400Km Brevet’s and although I have been accused of twisting his arm to join me on the 600 all of us who know Trev know that’s not true.  Trev likes an out of the box challenge; turns out this went way outside the box.

Friday we had gorgeous weather we even hit the pool. The weather forecast looked ugly for Saturday, high of 14C with rain, it didn’t look horrific and certainly go time for Canadian Rando riders.  We headed up to a hotel by the start of the ride and joined a Susan Reed, the ride trail boss, her husband and a number of ride participants for dinner and pre-ride trash talk.

Congratulating each other for sticking it out!

Saturday morning we woke up to pouring rain and 4C temperatures.  Although we had good gear we certainly didn’t have our cold weather riding gear and it looked nasty.  I immediately dug into the unpublished Rando survival book, Chapter 3 –Improvising to Survive Cold Weather (see below for details).  We biked down to the Ihop (also the start) early, allowing Trev to have his two breakfasts and making sure we hit the start time on time.   Most of the gang was there and you could sense the collective thought, someone cancel this sucker, we barley survived the 500 meter to the start.

The Lowlights:

•  Approximately ten riders headed out
•  It dropped to 2C by the first check point 33Km into the ride (back to the survival book)
• Climbed to Sonoita check point 2, 140KM in, poured rain the whole way, left side of our faces exfoliated by hail, frozen, hands so cold that we couldn’t grab our water bottles, ok Trev tied but it fell on the road, nutrition non-existent.
• Spent over an hour warming and fueling up in Sonoita and looking for extra clothing.  Oddly, everything was closed except the hardware and tack store.  We added a hoodie layer to our current five layers and contemplated buying leather horse riding chaps but they would have got caught in our drive train. 
• Carlton rolled into the Sonoita as we were looking for clothing; he looked blue.  We reported back to him on the location of the hoodies then headed to Tombstone. 
• Now in the high desert, cold, no rain, tail-wind and with the extra layer we sort of warmed up.  Arrived Tombstone 200KM’s in hoping to be shot by the local sheriff.  Trev had a horrified look “oh my God I’m going to die on a Rando event”
• Lost another hour trying to fuel up. Left Tombstone and headed back into a ferocious headwind, now frozen again. 
• Stopped and visited with Carlton who was heading into Tombstone.  He was now sporting a brand new hoodie, and was thankfully ignored by his wife, brother, mother and all friends to come and get him in Sonoita.  All of the hotel rooms were also booked so it was back on the bike for him.  Tough bastard.
• Waved at Chuck shortly after, he kind of had the “what the F!!!!!” am I doing here look
• Arrived check-point three half way between Sonoita and Tombstone just as three riders whom we referred to as the “three amigos” were pounding their way to Tombstone.  They seemed in good spirits but were going to have to push hard to make the check point time but with the tailwind it seemed doable. 
• The wind let up a little at this point and shifted directions, no head wind as we headed back to Tucson and the low desert.
• Trev mentally messed me up by pedaling full out downhill in the dark; no one does this on a Rando event.  I also believe that when he is in his drops he is so aero he creates a low pressure area behind him (Bernoulli effect) which sucks air in forcing me to pedal my as off just to stay on his wheel – oh and we were freezing.
• After one stop we did the last big climb for the day, then another downhill run to the city, Bernoulli Trev again, Stephen pedaling his ass off, still frozen.
•  Arrived at our planned rest stop, hotel en-route, 12:15 AM Sunday with 400km in the bag. (Frozen)  No way we saw 14C.
•  Back up at 7:AM, big breakfast and riding in the sun by 8:15AM no longer frozen.  We heard at the next checkpoint that Carlton was through earlier and were happy that he kept at it, tough bastard.
• The next 213km was beautiful riding, very hilly, I suffered from a bonk coming on but we made it to the Subway in San Manual, last Check point 514KM in before I totally died.
• We then tackled 12km of the toughest but most fun climbing in the ride.  Great scenery, rolled up with these nasty pitches, my kind of climbing.
• Back to Bernoulli Trev for the run down into town, part way down we saw 2 of the three amigos pounding up, I braked to chat but Trev could smell the barn so back to pedaling my ass off.  (This hammering every downhill has to stop on these events, its un-Rando)
•  More climbing through town then Trev pushing a big gear for the run to the finish, done at 4:50PM
• Big pulls by Trev the last day

We were totally trashed from riding in the cold the first day, tired sore bodies with various aches and pains that should subside in the coming days.  Trev fell asleep as soon as we got home, we ordered out for dinner, we even tried to get the delivery guy to spoon feed us, yah creepy.

A few stats:

·      Total distance 613Km

·      Moving average 26.7KM/HR (much of it in the small ring on the first day)

·      Total ride time 23 hours

·      Total time off the bike 11:50 (Includes our 8 hour night stop)

·      Total time 34:50

·      Total Vertical climbed, approx. 13,000 ft.

Chapter 3 – Improvising to Survive Cold Weather – (experts)

3.1.1 Foot protection: Use of small plastic glass wrappers found in one to three star accommodations can be used as toe covers by placing over sock before inserting in shoes. (Sourced these at our hotel)

3.1.2 Leg Protection: Use of plastic trashcan bags torn into strips and inserted over thighs and knees under shorts and leg warmers.  (Sourced at the Ihop restaurant)

3.1.3 Shin protection if knee warmers are only available.  Use of newspaper tucked under knee warmer and sock, preferably 10 pages thick placed over shin.  User should choose an inspirational picture facing outwards and upside down.  When your ass is really dragging and your head is hanging below your top tube you can get a pick-me up from looking at the picture.  (Sourced at the Circle K gas station Check point 1)

3.1.4 Additional body layer and torso wind protection: Use of newspaper, preferably the thickness of the New York Times placed across chest, two layers beneath the rain protection layer.  If your nutrition runs low you can eat the newspaper to get rid of the hunger pains (Sourced at the Circle K gas station Check point 1)

3.1.5 When all else fails: Offer to buy someone’s jacket, money by this time should be no object as you have lost partial mental capacity, the part that was still there before you thought of doing the event. (Unsuccessful attempt made in Sonoita, women with amazing down jacket, her boyfriend thought I looked creepy with plastic bags and now paper mache sticking out of my spandex)

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Tombstone 600km...logged it.

Just a quick note, that Stephen and I managed to log the 600. Sat.'s weather was 5 degrees, extremely windy, and pouring for most of the day... so all hopes of a good time were down the drain, but we 'Got 'r' Dun'.  I have never spent so much time pushing hard on slight downhills in the small ring going 17km/hr ?!?!  We finished this afternoon and hit McDonalds for a large milkshake! Stephen will post a race report as soon as possible. Thank for everyone's emails and texts!

Trev

Crankmasters ITT Sunday April 15

Attention all new STC members

It's time to get out on the road, test your fitness and have fun pushing your limits!

Details are on the crankmasters website.

http://www.calgarycycling.com/cms/?q=node/7

I will be there ready to roll and help out any of you that have questions.

If you have a time trial bike...bring it and get into that aero position! Those of you riding your road bike will tough it out with me Merckx style.

Check out the link if you need to brush up on what an ITT is. Or you want to refresh yourself on what suffering really looks like!




This is the best event to do for a first timer. The Crankmasters are a swell group.

See you soon!

Thursday Night Ride - Cancelled this week

Too much snow accumulating, see you guys on the weekend!

Team,

Harley and I have discussed this a few times and we want to propose a new riding starting location at the Bear's Paw Lion's Club for the Thursday rides. It gives us an opportunity to start in a safer location, without tricky parking lots and busy roads to start off.

We want to start at 6:30 still, just at the Bear's Paw location.

I'm excited to see the new riders tomorrow and I'm going out rain of shine.

Thanks everyone,

Slayer Dan

403-607-4523

The Colonel Sanders Effect

I read this training advice not that long ago; “If you want to ride faster…. ride faster.” It sounds a little simple, maybe even shallow but read it again… I’ll give you a second
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I believe this little saying is some of the best advice I have had in years. Not that I’m an expert in any way, but the wisdom of this is brilliant. Read it again and ponder it another time. You can say Ohmmmm while you meditate on the depth and perspicacity of this statement.

I often ride with some neighbors and friends who are in similar shape than I. Not that I am a rocket by any stretch of the imagination, sometimes it just works out that you ride with others who have similar fitness. (I admit there is joy in crushing my friends when the opportunity permits)
I train hard, put in the hours, log the appropriate kilometers, sweat profusely, eat the required carb/protein/electrolyte crap and nothing improves.

I’m still in Cat 5….....’nuff said.

Last fall I began to ride above my ability; guys who are unquestionably faster than I am. It’s hard, really hard. And I am old, not really old but I feel old. I am getting faster. Not by lots, but by some which is great when you’re, well, old.

Example: Last Saturday I went for a ride with my brother (who I must point out is old.. really old. Even though he has nicer hair than I do), Trev, Physio Dave, Thomas and 10kg Peter (he claims to be 10kg overweight… as if).

When the first serious hill comes along, I am crushed, spit out the back like a piece of broccoli at an all you can eat pizza bar. I catch up. In a tactical error, I am dropped again. The next hill arrives and I am further off the back. I work hard, they ease off, I catch up. Over and over again until I am like a chicken entering a Colonel Sanders farm; my legs are ripped off before I’m completely slaughtered. It felt great!

So, read this simple yet sage advice; “If you want to Ride Faster… Ride Faster.” Take it or leave it but if you choose to accept it, get out there and get your legs ripped off. The “Colonel Sanders Effect" as it were.

Tom

What to Eat...

I have been asked to share with all of you new club members exactly what I take with me for nutrition on a 3 hour ride.

This is still one of the best topics to research and test out as a cyclist. Improper nutrition is the most common mistake made when cyclists begin riding with the pack. Poor nutrition can quickly take a fun group ride and turn it into a death march.

Remember to practice eating on the bike every 20 minutes and ensure you have access to your pockets to ride safe. Over time each person figures out what works best for them. This is what works well for me as these products seem to prevent any gastric distress (no preservatives, added sugar, coloring, gluten, dairy or soy)...

2 hour bottle of perpetuem by Hammer
1 bottle of Ultima
4 gels (Honey stinger, Vega, Gu)
1 pack of honey stinger chews
1 pack of cliff blocks
1 hammer bar
1 bottle of Vega recovery for post ride
1 bottle of Vega sports performance protein for post ride
*Note:The perpetuem has 300 calories in it so if you are not using this product (protein,fat,carbs) you will have to add more gels, blocks, chews and/or a banana.

For rides lasting longer than 3 hours I also bring real food. Peanut butter sandwich, banana, boiled potatoes, nut bars, cliff bar, Lance waffle etc.

Also, I purchase these products at www.enduranceedge.ca to save some $$

Ride lots!!

Clothing Round 2...LAST opportuniy to get clothes this year!

First of all, look at the post below. Harley is an amazing club volunteer and has lots of experience to share with the club. This is what you signed up for !!  The rides on Sunday were really well attended, this is great! We are gathering momentum. Get out and take advantage of Harley's 'Skills Nights' !!

Secondly... Thomas has opened up the second and FINAL round of clothing orders for 2012. We are going to make this short and sweet. Go to this link and order your clothes now. You have until April 17th. Don't wait until April 18th as it will be too late.

Thanks to everyone who made Sunday morning fun! Good turn out and too much food !

Boonen! Boonen! Boonen!

Trev.

Skills nights! Revised

Dan and I have talked and realized its time to get these underway. We both want to urge all who feel that they cannot keep up with most group rides, feel a little out of place, have not ridden much (if at all) and/or who do not know anyone else in the club to come out to these rides. We will go over some good to knows about your bike, some bike handling skills, riding in traffic skills and we will help you feel comfortable riding in a group.

The rides will be roughly one hour at 20 – 25 km/h. No one will get left behind, this is called the “no drop rule”, leave as a group and return as a group. The main focuses will be safety and having fun, it’s that simple.

The rides will be posted in the training form going forward so keep an eye open. I am offering an early bird skills ride this Tuesday, April 10th starting at 6:15 and finishing at 7:15. Meet at Bears Paw Lions Club on Nagway Rd in the N.W. If you google “Nagway Rd, Calgary” it will actually point to the location of the Bears Paw Lions Club. It’s a small road, you cannot miss it. My cell phone is below, feel free to call or text if you have any questions.

IMPORTANT: if no one responds to this by 5 pm Tuesday, I will not be there so please respond below.

Harley
403-880-7695

Hey guys, there are a couple points that I want to add. Firstly thanks to Harley for sending out the first message and getting me motivated and secondly, thanks to Trev for having such a great team and supporting our efforts.

As Harley mentioned, the focus of this night is skills and drills. We want to help people get used to riding safely in groups. With that, we will have to set some rules on the road. This year we will have a senior rider leading the group that cannot be passed. We will also have a senior rider watching the end of the group helping riders that may fall off get back to the group. It would be great to have an intermediate or experienced rider patrolling through the group communicating to the senior riders leading the group.

As far as the learning progression, I am envisioning the first couple weeks of people just coming out to have fun and ride. Drafting and pace line work will the first main skill that will take priority as we will be using narrow roads in the north west. It would be great to spend some time in some soccer fields and ride slow with riders bumping and using elbows to maintain balance. The contact drills are good to establish balance and help riders realize that they still can control their bike while making contact with other riders. After that, we can look at drifting on hills, time trial riding, fun sprints like Dave's broom sprints etc. etc. Harley and I are completely open to feedback for rides and ideas.

Please be on time and if you need to send a text or call please do so. I plan to leave by 6:35 every ride, and I'm pretty resilient, so rain doesn't bother me. I'm half as tough as Harley, he goes out even in the white stuff!

Thanks team, my cell is 403-607-4523

Slayer Dan

de Ronde Van Cowtown route info

I hope everyone is getting pumped for Paris Roubaix on Sunday morning! As Trev mentioned one of the ride options after the race coverage is the route of de Ronde Van Cowtown. A few people have reached out to ask what the ride is about and the route.

A bit of background, this route was devised several years ago as an homage to the spring classics, in particular the Tour of Flanders (Ronde de Vlaanderen). It has been held as an informal ride on and off for several years. The route basically traverses much of Calgary and features 18 named climbs that much like the Tour of Flanders are short, steep that will sap your legs over time. It is not an overly long route around 75km.

From a training perspective the best way to approach it is to use the climbs as in effect intervals, with loads of recovery time in between. There are lots of bike paths and city streets that connect the different climbs so it is not a route suited to long steady efforts.

One of the great things about the route is that you are never terribly far from the start so if time, motivation or family commitments require you can peel off at any point and head back to the store or home as need be. The plan is to leave from the shop after the race coverage and breakfast is done. There will be lots of opportunities to regroup as we go. It is a go idea to print out the map as the route is not marked and if you are on your own in a part of town you are not familiar with you may find your own interpretation of the route. There are also loads of other pitches you can throw in if you aren't finding the route challenging enough.

I will post this in the training ride forum as well.

Michael



View De Ronde Van Cowtown in a larger map

New look to the top of the website to highlight the TRAINING FORUM !!

The team website as it exists is a great place for any teammate to post interesting articles, announcements, trash talk, and race reports. However, make sure to hit the 'Training Forum' link above as that is where all the consistent action occurs. Go to that link and either join a ride, or post a ride for others to join. Make sure, if you plan on coming to a ride that is posted, to tell the ride leader! This is important!

Also, I just made a HUGE order from Cobs Breads for our big breakfast !! I wanted to get something way more upscale than Timmies muffins. I have been getting a LOT of confirmations directly to me, and I think there will be quite a few people there. Make sure to have this on your calendar!

See you Sunday!

Trev

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April 8th morning (7am - 9am). A time to meet, watch in awe, then ride !

My money is on Boonen this year.

Club.. let's have our first big 'Meet the new members, reconnect with old ones, and go for a ride' in 2012 on April 8th at 7am.

Let's meet in the morning at Speed Theory Calgary and watch the Paris-Roubaix action!! I will order a ton of coffee and tea and breakfast stuff like bagels and muffins.

We'll clear the floor, get out the chairs, grab some breakfast, and watch Paris-Roubaix on the projector with the speakers blaring!!  Then, if the weather is agreeable, I'll coordinate several ride-guides to lead rides from the store after Boonen crushes the field.

Let's get the whole club out, there are a ton of names on the roster I don't recognize and all the vets would like you meet you.

Or will it be Boonen's teammate, Chavanel

Marcy will be there and will lead a women's/guys ride out of the NW at 10am, so make sure you are there if you are a women member.

Mike Godfrey will be leading a ride out of the store and be doing some of Ronde Van Cowtown.

Dave Holmes will be leading a ride up to Cougar Ridge for his 'Broom Sprints' ride.

If you are a potential member and would like to come out and meet potential teammates and see if the 'fit' is right, then for sure come out. However, due to the ABA's insurance policies, you can't join us on the ride unless you join that morning.

See you there,
Trev

Holy lots of rides today!

Thanks to Harley, Dave, and Marcy for leading three separate rides leaving at different times today, that was awesome. I was on Harley's ride and there were 10 of us rolling along!

Make sure to take advantage of the training forum, especially if you are a new member. Marcy is offering all her rides for everybody, but really wants to focus on the women contingent, so make sure to show up for her rides.

Dave, great idea (see post below) and I love the focused training. You are absolutely right about the dedicated practice required and I encourage people to come out to this. I will try to make these rides when possible.

Make sure to be watching this site early this week for times for this Sunday's big team breakfast while Boonen flexes his awesomeness again. This will be early enough you can come watch Paris-Roubaix and then head home for an Easter Egg Hunt with the kids, or head out for a ride. Marcy will be leading a ride to the Prairie-Roubaix after the breakfast and I will get a couple more ride leaders locked in!

See you on the road or Sunday,
Trev

Broom sprints are born.

This Sunday was the first kick at lead out/sprinting practice that shall be called from now on "Broom Sprints". New team member Mark and I set off from eau claire and met with Darryl at the Burnco lot on Old Banff Coach Rd. We surveyed the proposed stretch of road and after a quick imperial-metric re-calculation of the distances (Darryl politely pointed out that what I had laid out as a 200M sprint was closer to 375!!) we were set to go.

I had been up in the morning to sweep the corner, but decided to stash the broom in case it needed a tune up. As Darryl and I rounded the corner for the first time we saw Mark using some mad multitasking skills, watching for oncoming cars, and putting in some quality broom time on the corner. Thus 'Broom Sprints' were born

The format quickly became obvious, lead out, sweep, sprint, repeat!

There is a perfect stretch of 400M leading into a slightly uphill 215M drag that has the anaerobic enzymes pumping out your eyeballs in sufficient quantities.

After 3 laps Darryl had the great idea to try a 3 rider train over a 800M, much harder but super fun.

Besides being a riot, it was shocking to me how much improvement was seen in just a few repeats. There was great communication and feedback all around, and it really cannot be overstated how much it helps to immediately and freely discuss each effort. It's been more than 6 months since I've hit a corner at 40Km/h let alone followed a wheel through one. Keeping the gaps small and learning to trust your leader doesn't come easy but was great to practice. The key is communication and repetition.

This format really is perfectly suited to all riders as we roll out at a warm up pace, saving the legs for the work ahead. While it may not sound as fun as a throwdown at road to nepal, it was fun, exhausting and really valuable practice.

I plan to be heading out next Sunday after the Paris-Roubaix party, feel free to come out and try a few BROOM SPRINTS!!
dave

More strange upcoming rules from the UCI

Lev Krivitsky passed this on to me. Top gear *and* bottom gear restrictions coming in 2013?

I've ridden 39 x 23 in the French Alps and it's no fun on those 14% grades to the top of L’Alpe d’Huez. My knees wouldn't talk to me for weeks.


http://redkiteprayer.com/?p=8387