There's nothing hard about riding a bike across a grassy park, especially on with relatively short grass on relatively parched hardpack dirt. That is of course until you get 10 buddies out, and try to ride across it as fast as humanly possible. Couple lap games later and we're full of lactic acid, can hardly breathe... now that's 'cross practice.
Did a lot of barrier work... and what turned out to be my surprise favourite - roll down the hill with no brakes and corner as hard as you can before your tires slide out. Just gotta try to remember that sticking point when I'm going for the inside line ; ) Got some decent two wheel drifts going...
Thanks Bunnin for wetting my whistle after with a cleansing ale.
Thursday, 30 August 2012
Tuesday, 28 August 2012
Ibis Tranny departure
I hadn't intended to part with it... but a colleague inquired. One who valued a 26er still, one who liked the build, understood what the Tranny had to offer, understood (and already owned) a travel bike that also had its own way of packing up. I've gotten so used to the 29ers and the Flash in particular that I much, much prefer riding that sized wheel offroad. As they say, hit the bid when it presents itself.
It'll be happy in its new home, and so will its new owner. My garage is slowly gaining space. Miscellaneous parts are finding new homes via ebay too.
Saturday, 25 August 2012
Banff Gran Fondo
We woke up at 5 for a pre-fondo snack, then tried to sleep in for a while. Cindy sleep talked and asked if I had what I needed to fix my flat. I was hoping that wasn't an omen for the day.
Nice but cool morning, few speeches off the start. 988 riders got times at the end, they referenced more than that starting, but I forgot the number they said.
Felt ok off the start, was in first 10 on the climbs through town and Tunnel Mountain. Got out to Minnewanka and I felt a bit surprised that first climb cracked me off the lead group, so I think it had 8 (I would have been 9). Sort of dawned on me that I have 25h of aerobic from last week but not hard intervals, along with our surprisingly over meaty dinner last night at Bison in Banff. Adios Shawn, Jared, et al.
I sit up for next group feeling not so happy about that turn of events and we do the shortened course with 2 Minnewanka laps (bears by Louise on 1a). The two lane system was good for the Minnewanka circuit. I feel fine out 1A to Castle Junction. Tom Brodzinski was hammering away impressively. I ate and chilled as I didn't see any reason that the group was going to change for remainder of ride.
At turnaround at Castle, I measured about 3 mins ahead for lead group. Some guy in our group really was into commanding a paceline to "catch them". I didn't want to be a downer, but guy next to me laughed, and I said if we were meant to be in the lead group, we'd all have demonstrated superior power output by now. We caught one who fell off lead group.
Last few hills didn't separate the 2nd group, we came in off highway together. In retrospect I felt fine and wish I would have gone to front especially for the cattle guard coming off the highway onto Mt. Norquay road - I was behind 6, who fanned out and rode across the wood they had down on the cattle guards... so easily could have just gone up and cooked it for the last kilometre and left it to fate on who would come around at the end, since the guard made a bit of a bottleneck. But then the last bit was so narrow we just rode in our spot without passing. I didn't though... I braked to accommodate at the cattle guard, which dropped back a bit right away. One guy went up outside to try to pass, and hit a cone, and swerved in front of a truck that was going our direction. That all seemed really demonstrative of how unnecessary a high stakes finish was for a fondo, so we rode pretty normal last two corners and I rode in just behind Tom. Anticlimactic, but fun overall.
Nice ending "scene" with food and such, although I went to shower right away (town power was out which made that interesting at our hotel). Came back to see Cindy cross, she rode hard, but stopped to warm up her fingers and eat at one point, then also for someone to give her gloves. Would have been better to ride with windbreaker in retrospect.
Results are here. (note they appear fixed now). They make sense in the grand scheme, like who was in the fast groups or not. They don't super make sense though, as right now it's showing Shawn in 6th instead of the big W, even though his time is the lowest. Jared stayed right in there too which was awesome... (side note - with that much power, let's work on Jared's appetite for off road riding before next TR!) Anyway, so something's not quite right. If I just click the time column, click next page past all the zero's who presumably just didn't show up, it starts on page 22 with Shawn at lowest non-zero time, and I'm 18th by counting down the column not their place label, which makes in intuitive sense as Tom Brodzinski is right ahead of me, which is actually what happened, and given there were 7 in the lead, and a handful ahead of me as we crossed, that all checks out. Cindy was at about the half way mark overall, no lung issues, just chilly at times. She was happy after. I think they quoted lead "groups" in general being about 39km/h average... I don't have exact distance but the winners were 2:40, we were 3 mins back, and I heard someone saying 104km on the reroute course.
It's funny... I hadn't pushed that hard all week down in Breck. My legs are sore from - it's different riding adequate atmospheric pressure tempo vs. being air limited.
Although environmental "discussion" made the media pre race, it turned out not to be an issue. We did avoid part of 1A by Louise as there's bears in area. Sort of funny as yesterday as we drove in on Tunnel Mountain Road there were people getting out of cars to take a picture of a giant Elk, which doesn't seem like a good idea at all to me. Environmental groups ahead wanted an environmental impact study done (people stay in Banff hotels and drive cars on both highways all the time would be my quick one) but maybe that's just the way the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society or their spokesperson in this article use political codeword to ask "please provide us more funding us to observe the animals in Banff Park". Who knows. Either way, event went off fine from my perspective.
Nice but cool morning, few speeches off the start. 988 riders got times at the end, they referenced more than that starting, but I forgot the number they said.
Felt ok off the start, was in first 10 on the climbs through town and Tunnel Mountain. Got out to Minnewanka and I felt a bit surprised that first climb cracked me off the lead group, so I think it had 8 (I would have been 9). Sort of dawned on me that I have 25h of aerobic from last week but not hard intervals, along with our surprisingly over meaty dinner last night at Bison in Banff. Adios Shawn, Jared, et al.
I sit up for next group feeling not so happy about that turn of events and we do the shortened course with 2 Minnewanka laps (bears by Louise on 1a). The two lane system was good for the Minnewanka circuit. I feel fine out 1A to Castle Junction. Tom Brodzinski was hammering away impressively. I ate and chilled as I didn't see any reason that the group was going to change for remainder of ride.
At turnaround at Castle, I measured about 3 mins ahead for lead group. Some guy in our group really was into commanding a paceline to "catch them". I didn't want to be a downer, but guy next to me laughed, and I said if we were meant to be in the lead group, we'd all have demonstrated superior power output by now. We caught one who fell off lead group.
Last few hills didn't separate the 2nd group, we came in off highway together. In retrospect I felt fine and wish I would have gone to front especially for the cattle guard coming off the highway onto Mt. Norquay road - I was behind 6, who fanned out and rode across the wood they had down on the cattle guards... so easily could have just gone up and cooked it for the last kilometre and left it to fate on who would come around at the end, since the guard made a bit of a bottleneck. But then the last bit was so narrow we just rode in our spot without passing. I didn't though... I braked to accommodate at the cattle guard, which dropped back a bit right away. One guy went up outside to try to pass, and hit a cone, and swerved in front of a truck that was going our direction. That all seemed really demonstrative of how unnecessary a high stakes finish was for a fondo, so we rode pretty normal last two corners and I rode in just behind Tom. Anticlimactic, but fun overall.
Nice ending "scene" with food and such, although I went to shower right away (town power was out which made that interesting at our hotel). Came back to see Cindy cross, she rode hard, but stopped to warm up her fingers and eat at one point, then also for someone to give her gloves. Would have been better to ride with windbreaker in retrospect.
Results are here. (note they appear fixed now). They make sense in the grand scheme, like who was in the fast groups or not. They don't super make sense though, as right now it's showing Shawn in 6th instead of the big W, even though his time is the lowest. Jared stayed right in there too which was awesome... (side note - with that much power, let's work on Jared's appetite for off road riding before next TR!) Anyway, so something's not quite right. If I just click the time column, click next page past all the zero's who presumably just didn't show up, it starts on page 22 with Shawn at lowest non-zero time, and I'm 18th by counting down the column not their place label, which makes in intuitive sense as Tom Brodzinski is right ahead of me, which is actually what happened, and given there were 7 in the lead, and a handful ahead of me as we crossed, that all checks out. Cindy was at about the half way mark overall, no lung issues, just chilly at times. She was happy after. I think they quoted lead "groups" in general being about 39km/h average... I don't have exact distance but the winners were 2:40, we were 3 mins back, and I heard someone saying 104km on the reroute course.
It's funny... I hadn't pushed that hard all week down in Breck. My legs are sore from - it's different riding adequate atmospheric pressure tempo vs. being air limited.
Although environmental "discussion" made the media pre race, it turned out not to be an issue. We did avoid part of 1A by Louise as there's bears in area. Sort of funny as yesterday as we drove in on Tunnel Mountain Road there were people getting out of cars to take a picture of a giant Elk, which doesn't seem like a good idea at all to me. Environmental groups ahead wanted an environmental impact study done (people stay in Banff hotels and drive cars on both highways all the time would be my quick one) but maybe that's just the way the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society or their spokesperson in this article use political codeword to ask "please provide us more funding us to observe the animals in Banff Park". Who knows. Either way, event went off fine from my perspective.
Friday, 24 August 2012
Thursday, 23 August 2012
Breck Epic comparisons to other stage races
I’ve gathered a few thoughts on this race vs. others. It seems to be a question a lot of people ask. I mean to illustrate differences, not to promote or condemn other races. If your question is “which race should I do” my answer has always been “all of them” – every one builds fitness, and adds people, experiences, countries and scenery to your memory banks!
Convenience: Excellent.
Breck is tops. The other races travel. Various amounts of that travel burden finds its way to the rider. TransPortugal includes no travel outside your daily ride (you ride from hotel to hotel) and your gear is transported. TransAndes and TR are near that in convenience. BC Bike Race is the other spectrum, where you’re put nearest to bike specific trails via other methods of transportation, solely to enjoy the singletrack. Breck commutes to start line from our house on High Street was either 2 minutes on singletrack, 20 seconds around the corner and down the street, or 3 minutes to the ski hill start stage. Stayed in town, didn’t move, town has all the conveniences of a great tourist town. Great event for bike riders with families as the combination of road trip plus Breckenridge and surrounding amenities and sights are terrific.
Trails: Good for mostly not being mountain bike specific.
Breck trails are scenic, epic, access remote back country. Not many of them are purpose built cycling trails. A western Canadian rider might find that different. They’re wide, made for vehicular or other access. They’re fast, with big rocks. Not many are difficult technically. The race emphasizes fitness (aka breathing at altitude) and scenery in my view over particularly demanding mountain biking skill set. This shouldn’t detract – there are portions of single track glory. I’m sure the steeps, rocks and roots would be challenging for the average Floridian. BCBR is nearly all purpose built bike trails. TransRockies is getting very close to that. Breck is more raw… yet as it’s not a “transportation” race, it has more technical than say a TransPortugal. I might even call this “North America’s luxury La Ruta”. Climbs for the most part are gradual, unlike La Ruta or first few days of TransAndes which are steep enough to leave my back sore for a few days after.
Fitness: Bring it, you’ll need it
Breck requires a higher level, or different, or at least difficult to attain level of fitness. Days for fit racers (ok, I’m putting myself in there, so beware of massive hypocrisy) average 4x4 hours then two shorter. Shawn and Thomas rode more consistent, I blew day 2 with the tire and attempt at good deeds in the rain. That’s not a long race (mean time on bicycle at TransAndes, TransPortugal, and old TransRockies were all higher), yet it’s longer than BCBR in terms of mean riding time per day. Having said that, it’s more draining than time on bike or distance would indicate… and it’s the elevation. Everyone will struggle with the elevation, regardless of preparation or where you live. I say that as mountain biking is an oxygen uptake and processing limited sport. But what does that struggle feel like? For same perceived effort, you go slower. On day one “neutral” leadout, the pack thins out before the first singletrack, and you’re in “your” spot. 15-20 people can stay in lead group each day beyond the first 10 minutes – each day starts with climbing. On a steep climb you could do at home, you might need to grab a tree and breathe for 5 seconds, even in granny ring. Or you might find yourself pushing on a very gentle grade, yet not be able to ride it any faster. So it’s a bit invisible really. Legs for me weren’t as sore as I couldn’t gather enough air to drive them hard. You recover slower… it’s noticeable. I felt much more tired than 4 hour gradual climbing days would imply. On the bright side, altitude response comes in a few days, and everything is still do-able before hand… it’s not like you get there and can’t function.
Attitude: 5 stars
The Breck Epic is biking positive, sportsmanship positive, competitive in the right ways, riding against yourself and nature and the little duo of tired devil and chickening out devil on your shoulder that hold you back which are tougher and more relevant competitors than a guy next to you. This stood out in my mind. Kudos to Mike for setting the tone. More sport in general, more adult sport, should be this way. Help each other, compete well. Be embarrassed if you think of cutting corners, cutting off other riders, or just generally being a tool. The mountains here are more competition than your bretheren, and after day one that becomes pretty apparent to participants, so I think most cool their jets on the head to head thing. Also, ratio of the uphill challenge to the downhill lack of selectivity means riders tend to stay in their spots more than changing via up/down competence ratio. I’ve stayed away from the size and scale of TransAlp, Cape Epic based on my perception from other riders’ reports of this concept. BC Bike Race has the challenge present too… a highly competitive amongst each other field that jockeys based on climbing/descending prowess, sometimes to fault even beyond 100th spot, when it could be just about enjoying trails together and yielding where it makes sense. Breck is also community and charity positive, with dollars going to causes. Ancillary to race items, souvenirs, support, etc. is priced inline with “helping you complete the event happily” not “we have you away from all other services and are going to gouge you”… which does occur at some events…
Bike:
I see this as a 29er hardtail race. The sections where I felt I wanted suspension were measured in meters at a time, totalling an inconsequential amount for the whole event. Bring puncture/tear resistant tires.
Monday, 20 August 2012
Economy in action
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