A rainy day in Siam

Here is a short race report from the Phuket 70.3. My swimming sucks, at least it was uneventful, 1250 metres in the ocean then 650 metres in a fresh water lagoon. Conditions were great,I just didn't go very fast. They describe the bike course as technical, that being negotiating villages with chickens, water buffalo, scooters, motorbikes and dogs. Also lots of tight corners, limited opportunity to be in the aerobars. Yes those dogs. On the route recon on Thursday I noticed hundreds of street wise Thai muts everywhere, lounging on the side of the road. Race day got them mobilized, you really had to be sharp and try to predict where they were headed. It started to pour rain at about 30k into the bike. Torrential downpour, Bangkok style, made the steep uphills and downhills really difficult. The only way to get traction was to sit and crank at about a 40 cadence. The upside of the weather was there was no sun, still hot and 100% humid but not bad for racing. Being a little bit fearless on the bike gained me a few positions, being half blind and riding without glasses made it interesting. The run was ok, I raced maybe slightly above my current level of fitness, almost collapsed in the last kilometre of the run. I talked to an Aussie in my age group after the race, he told me I had a good chance of a rolldown slot, Vegas is a little far for the asia pacific guys. So i went to the ATM and pulled out 12,000 Baht and was lucky enough to get the second and last slot in my age group on the rolldown, that was exciting. There was a Kona slot as well but that didn't roll down. I'm sure that's the closest I'll get to a Kona slot. Fantastic event, great organization and volunteers, the peninsula takes this event seriously, great for the economy. Now i'm going on Thai time for a while. Thanks for reading.

Mike's done the Thailand 70.3 (Asia-Pacific Championship)

Just looked up Mike's finish at the Thailand 70.3.

It is Sat. evening as I write this and he has already woken up Sunday morning and raced a Half-Ironman.

Looks like a tough bike and run. If you go to this website and type in Healy, you can see Mike's splits. The pros only rode around 2:14 for the bike, which indicates a tough ride that would sap the power out of the age-groupers.

Nice work Mike, 8th in your age-group.

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Okotoks 8km X-Country Race today.

Great racing conditions today made for some fun racing.

Comprising of the Strathcona-Tweedsmere nordic ski and running trails, today's race had well over a hundred competitors. For me it was for sure one of the best races of the year with me being taken by Fast-Legs Frank in a great back and forth which had both of us hacking up lungs at the end!

Lots of friends and teammates there.

The pictures are of Marilyn Taylor, Carl Miiller, Mike 'JC' Godfrey, Slayer Sigouin, Frank and me.

Here is the Garmin Data from the GPS Contour+ Camera

Here are the Results.

I heard Thomas went out for a big Cyclocross ride today.. no THAT is hardcore.

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race prep - thai style

Arrived in beautiful Phuket Thailand on Tuesday after 22 hours flying. The only people more uncomfortable than me on the long flight were the Chinese national basketball team, legs everywhere -Korean Airlines 777 are not configured for tall people, dinged twice for the bike box but at least the bike made it at the same time as me.

Temperature is steady every day, 33 C, 70 % humidity, great for the tourists, ok for racing I guess.

There's 1000 entrants here, mostly Aussies it seems. Someone actually recognized the Speed Theory jersey, asked if I was from Calgary or Vancouver. Good to be able to get my sponsors name out there. Thursday was an official bike course recon day, roads closed for the recon, which is a good thing. We were guided by Jurgen Zack, the Jens Voigt of the triathlon world. Good that half the racers turned the recon into a race, keeping up with Zack. Another rookie mistake might have been doing the entire 90 k three days before the race! Slayer, if you are reading this, I have 2 days to recover. I wanted to ride the steep hills, I have a 28 on the back, glad I did that, if it is wet, there's no traction and you have to get off and walk the hill, memories of Penticton gravel roads.

Disc not recommended here, should have brought 808 maybe, lots of road bikes too. Sorry Kyle, I will have to replace your speedsuit, the entire back ripped open today before I even got in the water. Big waves and swells in the Andaman sea, but no jokes about tsunamis.

Ah yes, I hate shaving, these ladies were sort of amused, something new for them, they are obviously not from Patong. 300 Baht, the looks from passers by, priceless. I'm 14 hours ahead of you guys, I can post a race report before the race really starts Sunday morning. I'm writing this on a Blackberry playbook so it might look awful on the blog.

Cycling Explained

Thanks to Brent T. for posting this on Facebook. Only too true...

Cycling Explained
by: nofinishline

Several of Stephen Kenny's proteges at Mount Royal ...

.. are working on an entrepreneurial project for cycling and they have requested some of us fill in a short survey about their proposed project for the University.

The link to the survey is here.

I just filled it out and it took me 3minutes. Sounds like a neat project. I wish I did stuff like this in engineering.

Trev

Compress yourself.

A patient of mine is the distributer for CEP compression garments and they are having a cycling products launch.


Learn about how medical grade compression can help you as an athlete.

We are launching our NEW CEP BIKE compression products at our Warehouse Sale at Entrix. The public sale is Dec 2 and 3. Please pass this along to any coaches, friends, teammates, etc.
It is the one time a year we open to the public, take advantage of this special opportunity.
We have introductory pricing deals on:
- CEP compression bike shorts, bibs and socks
- Custom built recovery tights
Plus, a limited number of Cycling Bundles at 55% OFF

Click here to see the invite: http://www.entrixsports.com/message/1089435/1000954

Ride on SUNDAY Nov. 27th at 1pm !! CANCELLED CANCELLED

THE WIND HAS BEEN RECORDED AT 120km/hr.... RIDE IS CANCELLED.

Everyone welcome! Will be a ride starting and stopping at the Marda Loop Phil and Sebastian's at 20th St. and 33rd Ave. and heading south toward Priddis. This will be a fun ride for anyone, but it is NOT a 'no drop' ride. As we head out of town there is bound to be some tempo riding since it is wicked to be riding outside in late Nov. !!

Meet at 12:40pm for coffee.... rolling out at 1pm.

We will head out south toward the Glenmore pathway and then the pathway along 37th to get out of town just in case you meet us along the way.

Come out !!

Trev

Got 'er dun. 200km Mount Lemmon Brevet.

I came down to Tucson to help Stephen Kenny out with a 200km Brevet that turned around on the top of Mount Lemmon, a renowned climb in Arizona that is 33km in length and is classified as an Hors Categorie. Cool! The event is a semi-self-supported affair that is run more like an attrition-style race rather than a typical cycling race with attacking. The pace is kept high and cyclists simply disappear off the back.

Stephen and I went for a ride the day before. He has been hitting it hard out here and is experiencing a solid turn of form. In this picture, I managed to pull up beside him for a moment to snap this shot. If you click on the picture you can see the difference in effort level.

The 60km that preceded the 40km run to the Mount Lemmon Community Center was anything but flat. It was roller after roller after false  flat. We hit the base of the climb in 1hour57min and after a 5min stop in a Subway to get water and pee, we started mile0 of the climb with 4 of us. Stephen and I started the climb conservatively as he has done this hill several times and knows the early grades are steep and the climb is relentless. This shot shows the two other Randonneurs with Stephen (as usual) pulling on the front. The rear rack storage holder on the blue jersey dude was the smartest move since Stephen and I packed everything on our backs and we envied the dude's sparse pockets and his ability to breathe. Next time for sure.

Stephen's pace shed the other two cyclists and I focused on his wheel for the 2hour20min ascent. We had to stop three times; twice for water, and once for a flat (on my 700X28 tire). So moving time up the mountain was about 2hour7min.  This shot shows Stephen after ascending from desert to snow!

Since Stephen is faster than me on flats and ascents I came around on the 33km descent which accounted for about 35min of the 7hours and 56min total time. I am starting to question how much help I was :)

The ride started at 7am in early dawn and we rolled back to the coffee just before 3pm. I told my classes I had hoped to complete in 7hours30mins, but I underestimated the 60km on either side of the climb and the climb itself was spectacular!! Here is Stephen flying down the 33km descent!

Oh, I didn't factor in the wait in the line up in the General Store up at the top of Mount Lemmon for fudge ?!?!  Stephen insisted it was a tradition regardless of if we were in an event or not. It was super, thank god.

Overall, it was a great day of riding and a solid sufferfest, what else would one ask for on a Sat. !  Today it is snowing buckets up there and the road is unridable to bikes. Good timing!

Raise your hand if you have crazy helmet head.

TNDR!

Hey - ring the bell, its warm outside, so we'll be riding from OJ's in Marda Loop at 8:30!

Next time, buy a FOCUS

If you have a Trek Trek 2012 FX or District bicycle READ THIS

http://www.bicycle.net/2011/bicycles-recalled-by-trek-due-to-fall-hazard

Oh… The Horror!!!

You've been a good bike these last 5 years… I'm sorry I killed you. RIP.

We still have our friend.

Teammate Carl Miiller somehow enraged history this past Saturday with Father Time sending a Spartan and some killer dogs to teach him a painful lesson. Luckily for all of us, Carl keeps himself in tiptop shape and the soldier was not able to close the gap. Congratulations to Carl for being faster than a trained professional.

Edmonton Indoor Track city survey

This is a message from Alan Schietzsch, he is heading a committee that has worked very hard the last 4 years to get an indoor cycling training facility in Edmonton. He has this request for the Calgary area cyclists.

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We have a chance to have an indoor cycling track included in a new Rec Centre proposed in Edmonton. Having a track at this proposed high-profile facility means cycling is more in the public eye, more visible, and more respected by regular Albertans. That helps ALL cyclists, whether you Tri, TT, road race, MTB or just love bikes. CALGARY can help - fill out: 

For Question 1: Choose 'Other' and write something like: "I live in (Calgary or Cochrane or _____) and want to come to Edmonton to use a cycling track. 

This will help the city will see the value! Thank you!And that’s ammo for YOU - you can then say “Edmonton has one, CALGARY deserves one too!” – good politics!

Please ask anyone who supports cycling to send the City of Edmonton a very short online question form so they hear from cyclists: http://www.edmonton.ca/city_government/planning_development/coronation-district-park-development.aspx?mid=51
Question 4 is the important one. You can check "I support this concept with the following suggestions________"
and fill the blank with something like "Yes it is important to include a year-round cycling track".

(We try NOT to use the “V word” (velodrome). It is easier for the public to understand and support a “TRACK”.)

Please share http://www.facebook.com/groups/232932236766999/ so you and your friends are in the loop.

P.S.: If you are into TRIATHLON, think of the potential:
The centre that could have a cycling track is next to the Coronation POOL, and the Groat RUNNING trail to the River Valley – NEED I SAY MORE?

And... WINTER TRAINING!

- Alan
-- Alan Schietzsch, Past PresidentAlberta Bicycle Association