Finding my legs in Quebec

With the van finally in our ownership we made our way to Mont-Tremblant in Quebec. The 700km drive took us some time as we battled our way through torrential rain and thunderstorm. But this gave me time to finally remember the main reason for this trip and start to mentally prepare for the bike race in two days.

We arrived the afternoon before the race and I managed to get a few laps on course in the rain. Though it was my first time off road in a few weeks I felt comfortable and was enjoying riding the amazing trails the race track was set on. Supprisingly the track was very grippy in the wet and I didn't need to change to mud tyres for the race. The rain didn't let up for the rest of the day and night, but thankfully had cleared by the time we got up in the morning.

A back row start postion in the 70+ rider field meant for a hard start but good passing opportunities allowed me to slowly worked my way up the field throughout the race. With the severely deteriorated course making for lots of running with the bike and with the stress of the previous week, meant I really battled out there. I ended up finishing 36^th which is a little way off where I was hoping but not getting too hung up on the result. Was good to get that hard work out into the legs.

The next race was in Baie St-Paul, also in Quebec. Thankfully I could get some better preparation before the next Canada Cup as we arrived a week before the race and were able to stay at a campground that backed right onto the race course. Though very cold the weather was otherwise good to us and made for an enjoyable stay. Will and I were enjoying sitting around for most of the day after the hectic week before. Getting in some solid Breaking Bad marathons on my laptop and strolling around the town checking out some of the impressive art work.

By the time the race rolled around, I was starting to get into the right shape and was ready to make up for the result the weekend before. The course was very technical and hard to ride while fresh, so riding in the race in a fatigued state was going to be hard but I felt ready. Had a better start position here too, but after a riding a little too conservative at the start I made up some places halfway through the first lap and was sat in 16^th. I rode the rest of the race in this position, not able to pass anyone and not being passed by others behind me. Overall pretty happy with the improvement from the last race, but know I have some work to do before the next race in Colorado Springs in 3 weeks.

Travelling like a king

One of many Wal-mart parking lot sleeps

Cooking in the rain the night before the first event.

Post race

Dont worry Mum, I'm eating well

Camp grounds at Baie st-Paul

Baie st-Paul Course

Checking out lines

One of our daily fires. Very cold

Lunch

More food

Baie st-Paul Canada Cup race

Happy with an improvement from last race.

How to: Buying a van in Ontario as a Tourist.

Firstly, if you are planning a trip to Ontario and are thinking about buying a van or any other vehicle, change your plans now. Any other Canadian state than Ontario and you will have no issues but as Will and I found out (the hard way), Ontario car insurance companies have confounding self imposed regulations against insuring non Canada licensed drivers. Though we were completely within the law driving on our New Zealand licences, these big corporations feel us foreigners are much too big a risk for them and will flat out refuse to cover you. This left us a little stuck as proof of insurance is required in transferring the ownership of the vehicle into your name. Anyway before I get into too much of a rant, I will go back to the beginning...

After a long trip and much time spent in airports I made it to Toronto. Will, my travel companion for the next 4 months, was to arrive 2 days later. So I spent those first days cycling all over Toronto in the search of a van for us to buy with the plan to live, sleep, eat and travel in it until September. This was quite a task as Toronto is a big city and my only means of transport was my humble bicycle. After clocking close to 200km and visiting 50+ vans, I discovered this was going to be quite a task. Due to the snow in winter and the necessary icing of the roads, all cars suffer from terrible rust damage after just a few years of use. With all unrusted vans just out of reach of our budget, it became obvious that we would have to choose the least rusty of the rust buckets available. After making this discovery, Will arrived and we made out to visit some more vans on the list. A big 12hour day later and we were no closer to finding the right van. That night a van in seeming great condition and just as attractive price, popped up on Canada's version of Trademe, Kijiji. We made plans to see it first thing the next morning. This ended up being our choice and though some of the rust had been covered up, it was the best we had seen so far by quite a way. We payed for the van after a good test drive.

Now this leads us back to the quest to find insurance.

Our first stop, after some hooting and hollering in joy, was an insurance broker. We were quite bluntly told that we were uninsurable by the first place and then again and again we received the same cold information. By the end of the day, with our heads hung down, we made our way back to the accommodation. After a repeat of this day and sleepless nights in between. We were close to making one of two dicisions. Either attempting to get our money back for the van that we had already paid in full and trying again in Vancouver, where the insurance companies policies aren't the same as Ontario. Or otherwise go through the process of becoming an Ontario licenced driver, involving lots of money and study of the road rules for a theory test.

Once again a sleepless night led me to the internet in the thoroughly repeated circular search of a solution. At 3am on that Monday morning, after reading through a 100 page document on vehicle insurance law in the state of Ontario, I came across a clause that stated as long as we are legally able to drive (which we are), then an insurance company was legally obligated to provide us with insurance. I felt such intense relief after reading and then rereading that sentence. The next morning was time to see if we could get these insurance companies to give us some coverage. Once arguing the law with a few insurance companies and brokers we had some quotes. It was going to cost us a massive $4000 fee for just 4 months of insurance and this price was consistent with all the places we tried. With all risk assessment stacked against us we were being charged the absolute most despite our clean driving records. This victory felt very bitter sweet, as the insurance company still won out in the end by taking so much money from us. Something I am very bitter about, as I was in a similar situation in London last year. There I was forced to drive uninsured for 3 months because I was unable to pay the fee that was over $2500NZ per month.

Anyway to anyone that finds themselves in this situation in Ontario and have found this blog post on a google search. We used the Co-operators insurance, so you can know for certain that they will provide you with insurance. Just make sure you mention the Facility association.

Now we could finally take ownership of the van, we have since christened Candy, and start getting her kitted out with beds and everything else necessary for us to be self sufficient for the next three months. Its amazing how much you appreciate something if you have to really work hard to own it.

My sleeping corner at the airport

Toronto accommodation

Our home for the next 4 months

Exploring Toronto

Premature celebration after buying the van

BIG Wal-Mart shop

Pre bed construction

Our construction site outside Home Depot

Bed construction in progress

Final product - Still in the refinement process. Note the holey airbed on the right.

Around Monte Peller - Video

On Sunday, after a few days of hard training, I was unsure whether the legs would be up for the adventure I had been eyeing all week. Dirk, Sam and I had done 2 days of hard interval work, battling each other in each rep. So I was expecting the legs to be ready for an easier day, fortunately though they felt good and it was mission on. Sam Thompson, NZXC Team Manager, and I headed off with the other boys opting for a shorter day in the saddle.

The first part of the ride was on a flat gradient, riding around to the town Cles', giving us a good chance to warm up for the climb ahead. After a bit of map checking we made our way up the road climb towards Monte Peller. The gradient wasn't too steep and that combined with the spectacular views of the towns and orchards below, and mountains all around, the 1700m of climbing went relatively quickly. At the top we rode along a plateau towards Monte Peller, then around. Here we saw a Mountain Ibex and Marmot. This is also where we found the snow, and for the first 10 minutes it was exciting hiking knee deep, making our way to the decent back home. But after an hour of this my feet were no longer feeling like feet, frozen cold. Unfortunately (thanks to the snow) the road we were following had now disappeared. So we were left with the map to guide us the rest of the way around and down. Sadly, my map skills are well below par and we made a few miss tuens. At one point we were staring down a cliff thinking that was our way home, when our backs were facing our true path back. But after some consultation with the Garmin, we righted our course and were on our way to collect the last of the reward for our efforts, a steep, fast and rocky decent down to Male' - Home.  



Wild flowers near the top of the mountain

I now have 2 weeks before the World Cup here in Italy, so a little more time to pick up some speed. We have a great base here and are working hard with each other to get faster and race ready. So should be well prepared by race day.

Will update again after the race.

World Cup #2 - Czech Republic



Our Accommodation

After Germany Sam and I set off for the Czech Republic and 7hours later we were at our accommodation in the small town Bystre, 30 minutes drive from the race track. We had one week to get to know the rocky and very rooty track here in Nove Mesto, Czech. I really liked the track with wide shortish power climbs and multi-line tech downs. On a time trial lap I was able to get around in just over 14 minutes, which I knew was quite competitive. So I was excited for the race.






Sadly my race didn't go very well. I had some gear trouble during my warm up, so had to go to the SRAM guys who, fortunately, were able to fix it for me. This affected my warm up as I only ended up with 15 min before call-up. The temperature was quite low meaning my start was not the best on cold legs, coming across the line in 95^th after the start loop. The legs started to feel better, just as my chain jammed. I fixed this, losing about 30 seconds to 1 minute (now sitting in last place). Got back on the bike and felt okay, but again jammed my chain and lost more time. Finished my next lap okay, but for some reason my legs were feeling heavy with not the usual power I had during the week of training. I downed some Mule Bar Gels and felt a little better. I got around another couple of laps with my chain jamming twice more, then was lapped out with 2 laps to go. Pretty gutted as I had high hopes for this race. Dirk rode well and despite a crash he managed 13th place in the U23 Mens Race, his personal best. Kate Fluker aslo rode an inspiring race, going from the back of the  back of the field on the start line to an impressive 36th place in the Elite Womens race.

 

I now have 3 weeks before the next World Cup, with one Cat 1 race the weekend before.

Sam and I are off to Germany tomorrow staying the night in Fussen, Germany where we will do some sightseeing for a day. Looking at some of the historic castles, then off to Italy where we will base ourselves for 3 weeks, working together to get faster and stronger for the races ahead!





World Cup #1 - Albstadt

After a very poor week of training in London it was a relief to finally get to Germany where I could focus all my energy on training and preparing for the first UCI World Cup in Albsadt. The course was really fun, but also very hard, with short slippery downhills and short steep climbs, that coupled with the cold and slight elevation of 800m, made for a tough race course where there would be no hiding if your legs weren’t delivering on the day. At first my legs were not feeling like they would be capable of the intensity of a world cup especially on this course, but after just over a week of solid laps on the MUDDY course and getting the right intervals in, I was ready and excited to get going.

Race day came around and the mud we had been so used to from the previous week had mostly dried up overnight and in the earlier Junior and U23 womens races, I had mud tyres on and knew that weren’t the most ideal anymore but they could still be an advantage on some of the slippery sections on the downhills. Speaking to a few people before the race start I heard how the rocks had now become more slippery despite the drying of the dirt.

My race number for this race was 70 meaning I would be called up to the line 70 riders after the first, this was okay considering the field was 130 strong, I would be mid pack. The gun went off and we were up the road and onto the short grass section, elbows out trying to move up the field before the singletrack. As soon as we hit the single track it was time to get off and push the bike as a train of people 8 wide tried to merge into single file, this meant coming almost to a standstill, getting off the bike and pushing through, trying still to make places. At the top of the short climb we were back on our bikes and able to ride the descent okay, slightly more spread out. Then we hit another climb, this one slightly longer and wider and again at the top we came to a stand still, as the course marshals were stopping people making sure riders went one at a time down the next more technical and slippery downhill, it felt like I was waiting at the top for 2 minutes moving only 20 meters in that time before it was my turn to go down. After the downhill we had a short hill followed by another easier decent, where I made a small mistake at the top causing a gap between me and the next rider to open up a little. I was busy shutting down the gap when I hit some of the slippery rock that I had been warned about before the start, they had not been exaggerating, I found out the hard way. My wheels slid straight out from under me and I landed hard on my left knee. In a lot of pain I moved off the track with the help of some spectators and sat down to take the weight off my leg. The pain remained for the next couple of minutes and I couldn’t bend my leg. Some paramedics arrived and were trying to find out from me what I thought the problem was, speaking only in German. About 5 minutes later I could bend my leg and put weight on it, so thought about getting back on the track and seeing how far I could get through the race. Unfortunately the paramedics rules say that if they attend to you, you must fill out a form about the accident and wouldn’t let me go (probably a good thing, as my knee is pretty sore now), forcing me to abandon my first European World Cup. I’m gutted but realistic, knowing that this is only the first race with more to come over the next few months. I now have only 2 more chances to prove my worth to the NZ National team selectors for the World Champs, the next one being a week away in Czech Republic. Hoping that I can recover in time for that.

The other kiwi’s here did well today, with Amber coming back from a tough start to finish 20^th, Dirk made it to 22^nd and Sam Shaw survived a massive ragdoll and rode with a broken seat, standing up for the last half lap finishing in 71^st.

Start of Europe Trip

Finding a car to buy in the UK was fairly easy, after just 4 days I had found a suitable car for my travels- its not very big but has a tow-bar for a bike rack and fold down seats for the gear, the icing is an amazing fuel efficiency rating considering the 2.2 turbo diesel engine. Thinking the hard part was done I immediately started planning my trip across to Germany, unfortunately I was cut short when introduced to the legal robbery that the insurance men of England have constructed. The first appraisals were looking to cost 5000 pounds ($9,000), no less than three times the value of my innocent Opel Vectra. After 3 days and many hours spent commuting on the London Tube between different insurance brokers and firms, I had found my best deal, the last and only option for 2,600 pounds. So I took it. Laying down the money was devastating but there was no other option, I had no time left to change my plans, with the first World Cup in only 1 week.

The night before I left I stayed at my Uncles’ house just west of London, thanks Derek. It was good to catch up with my cousin, Jordan, who is on the U12 Chelsea Football Team. He is unreal, able to make a good player nearly twice his age (and size) look like he has 2 left feet. I was with Jordan when he took on three 19 year olds and beat each of them to score a goal. Jordan Harrison is a name that will be up there with Renaldo and Messi.

The next morning started at 4:00am with a 2 hour drive in between me and the white cliffs of Dover where my ferry was departing at 7am for France. Now the real drive started, and thanks to a stuff up with my GPS settings, I was taken on a scenic back country route that took 13hours rather than the 10 it would have taken had I taken the relatively cheap toll road. Getting stuck behind tractors and being sent down one lane country roads is not the most ideal way to get from France to Germany. Finally, after 14 hours in the car and 2 hours on the ferry I made it to the accommodation in Sigmaringen, Germany where I am staying with the NZXC team and Sam Shaw for the next 11 days.

Europe Plan 2013

This year National racing season has not quite been what I had hoped for, with me overworking my body and not recovering enough in time for each of the races. However, this has not concerned me too much as my main objective this year has been the racing in Europe, which meant working a lot during the NZ season to afford my trip. The nature of my job is very physical and naturally this impacted negatively on my training and recovery. I am hoping that my body will be so used to being in a constant state of fatigue that when I get to Europe and start training my body will recover very well from each session and I’ll be able to make good gains.

In Europe I am competing in 3 UCI World Cups in the first 5 weeks held at Germany, Czech Republic and Italy. These races are very important because I need a top 20 placing to secure a spot on the NZ team for the world champs held in Pietermaritzburg. It is really important for me to make the team because it will mean that I will be able to visit my extended family and my ailing Grandpa in Johannesburg, it may be the last chance I get to see him.

The plan is for me to buy a car in London and drive to Germany where I will meet up with Sam Shaw and the NZXC Team, here we compete in the first World Cup in Albstadt just south of Stuttgart. From here it’s a 10hr drive to Czech Republic for the next round of the World Cup and then onto Italy. In Italy we have 3 weeks before the World Cup to get some solid training in and maybe a couple of smaller races too. After Italy Sam Shaw is off to race in the Gravity Enduro races in France and another Sam joins me, Sam Gaze, and together we will travel between Switzerland and Austria over the next 4 weeks competing in a 3-4 UCI Cat 1 races to push our UCI world rankings up. Then its on to Andorra (via Alpe D’Huez) for our final World Cup.

I will try to keep my blog well updated over the next 4.5 months.

Now I’m off to catch my final flight to London, 25 hours of transit done only 11 to go.

BikeNZ National Cup Round 1 – Bluff

Last weekend was the beginning of the 2013 Race season and it all happened in bluff, the southernmost town in New Zealand. I was able to get down quite early before the race start, so got in some quality days on the track, getting to know all the right lines through the rock filled track. The days leading up to the race we had some poor weather, but thanks to some quality Endura clothing I was unaffected.

Come race day I was confident in my abilty to ride the track fast technically, but with it being the first race of the season my nerves were quite tense, not knowing how my shape was compared to the other boys.

The race started typically fast, with everyone sorting their positions out. I felt quite comfortable sitting in a small group of 4 just behind the 3 leaders. The laps went by and slowly the group of 4 I was in had been whitled down to just me and Logan Horn and we had passed Brad so I was sitting in 3^rd or 4^th, this was on the 4^th lap of 5, that’s when I realised that Logan had entered the race in u23. So with me racing as an Elite, we were not competing against each other for the podium. Just as I realised this, Logan passed me. I thought about going with him, but decided to stick to my rhythm and consolidate my 3^rd position.

Coming down the decent for the last time was such a great feeling. After all the bad races with leg problems and injury over the last few years, I’m back.

Looking forward to the next ‘Cup race in 1 months’ time in Wellington.

October Update

This month has been the start of my serious build up phase going towards Nationals, where the focus is getting in lots of miles on the bike to create a solid base to build my form and strength on for the coming season. As with every year in October I race in 3 hard endurance events, these are great because they are at just the right time of year in relation to the phase of training I am at, also they tend to be on the same course each year so it's really positive to be able to see how you are progressing from year to year.

Motu 160
This is a race of 65km on the MTB (gravel roads) then 95km on the road bike. This event wouldn't be so hard if it wasn't for the weather we seem to get dealt EVERY year, and this year was no exception, with heavy rain and even more extreme winds literally blowing people off their bikes.
I went okay in this race, didn't ride the time I was hoping to in the MTB but I was happy with how the road bike section went. I finished 5th in the Open Mens group.

Whaka 100
Another great race this year. My legs were still acclimatised to the heat of USA so I didn't start quite as fast as I should of, this left me playing catch up for the rest of the race, slowly passing people as the race went on. Finishing in 4th place overall, I was very happy with how the race went. Also, beat my previous best time by over 20 minutes.

K2
By the time K2 came around my body was pretty tired, after 3 weeks of long training without rest (I had done 15hrs of riding in the 5 days before this race), I was looking forward to finishing so I could get some much needed recovery in the following week.
However that was only in the back of my mind. I have finished the K2 in second place in the 19-22 age group twice, so this year I was determined to go one step further, and I am pleased to say I accomplished that target as well as setting my best time by 15 minutes.

So overall this month has gone well and things are on track!

Off-season Update

Well... my off-season has just finished and it did not go as planned. After the Moonride I battled a lot with a knee injury that started off being an IT band issue. So I went to see a phyiso to sort out my injury, however once I had sorted the IT band out I now had a problem with my hamstring, again after sorting that out I had another issue, this time with my peroneus muscle (a muscle that runs down the side of the leg below the knee). So with all these biological imbalances I have been unable to compete in my fore-planned multi-sport events, with all emphasis being on injury recovery.

Finally, 4 months after the event, my knee was pretty close to 100%. Just in time for the start of the build up to nationals. Just in time for a trip to the USA and Canada with my family, to visit my sister who has been working in Vancouver since February. Of course I took my bike along with us and got some pretty solid riding in, building my foundational training on some awesome tracks in the Canadian Rockies. We spent not quite 2 days in Jasper, AB and I managed over 150kms of single track riding in that time in the company of some awesome locals. Another great place was whistler, where I rode the most epic single track of my life on the trail 'Comfortably Numb', an unbelievable trail with a huge variety of technical elements. After seeing my sister off in Vancouver, I wasnt able to get much more mountain biking done, but I did some pretty awesome rides along the roads down the coast of Oregon and California.
It was great getting away from the daily grind and have some time to think about things. Now that I am back, it is time to kick it up a gear and get on with training and work, fired by a fresh spark ready for some hard yards.

Riding along the Oregon coastline...amazing!

Cateye Moonride 2012

5mins before start time

This year I decided to enter the Moonride 24hr Solo event, so that I could cross completing a 24 hour solo MTB race off the 'bucket list'. I had no real expectations (results-wise) and just wanted to last the whole distance. Not knowing what to expect or how my body would handle rotating the pedals for that long. I did know I would have to pace myself and start slower and find the right rhythm and also determine what works best nutritionally.

The start hooter went off at 9pm in a chilly 5 degrees, a few other solo guys hit off the start line like they were only racing 6 hrs so I let them go thinking if they can maintain that pace for the whole race, they deserve to beat me. I hadn't done any laps prior to the race so the first few laps were exciting in the dark, with slippery mud making the track fun. First few laps were pretty uneventful, apart from having a silly crash around a slick corner. I had made it up to the front 3 guys at the end of lap 1, with one mad ex-pat South African riding a single speed rigid bike. Riding behind the other solo riders I worked out that they were a little bit slower on the downhills and boggy flat mud sections, allowing me to ease up on the uphill and catch them again on the downs. Eventually I worked my rhythm out and went ahead of the others, with Jared Scollay coming with me. We traded places a few times in the next couple of hours. After about 4 hours he had a reasonable lead on me and I went through a bit of a dark patch, running low on energy. I fixed this by chewing back lots of sugar and getting some protein in me. Eventually I made it back up to Jared after 6hrs and moved into first place as he pulled off to have a pit-stop. The next 6 hours felt like 2 and things were going well, I was a clear 1 lap and 7 minutes ahead of 2nd place and 2 laps ahead of Jared who was now in 3rd. I had found my pace and was sticking to it, trying to keep my lap times consistent and refuel stops short.

10hours in about to ride the track in daylight for the first time

12 Hours in also coincided with the 12 hour race start, and another 200 people joining us 24 hour racers on the track. At first this was a blessing, with the added wheels on course drying up some of the boggy sections. However after only 2 hours this blessing turned to a curse and inexplicably the course turned even boggier. Already we had been having to push our bikes up the main hill but now we had to push further and longer and some of the sections that were ride-able were now very hard to ride and taxing on the body's energy supplies. I now hit another low patch just as my knee was starting to give me some niggles. I did some stretching and that alleviated the pain a little.
At about the 16hour mark, I had regained some energy and was ready to pick up the pace a little. Unfortunately this didn't last long, after a toilet stop in the bush, I went to get back on my bike and my IT band had completely seized up on my right leg. I stopped for about 5 minutes giving it a good stretch and it felt much better so I got back on the bike and carried on at a good pace. A lap and a half later, after making it up the hike-a-bike hill, my IT band returned to the same state as before. I was only 1km from the tent where my dad was supporting me so I carried on in pain. By the time I got to the tent, I was creeping along not able to put any power into the pedals and in real discomfort. I sort of collapsed on the ground asking for voltaren and my dad gave me a quick massage with deep heat. Unfortunately this hardly had an effect but I decided to carry on and see if I could carry on racing. I got about 500m and realised, it was getting worse and I needed to do more to solve the problem otherwise something would end up tearing. I cut off the course and made my way to a medic who gave me ice and sent me to the massage tables. After a 30-40 minute massage (providing little to no respite), and some consultation with my Dad we decided it would be best to stop my race at 35 laps and 220km. This was a heartbreaking decision as I was winning the race and still felt energised and motivated. Fortunately there was some consolation for the 16 hours 46 minutes I spent on my bike, making the podium in third place, despite finishing over 7 hours early.

Coming past the tent for the 2nd to last time

Massive thanks to my Dad who didn't miss a beat feeding me, charging the lights and cleaning my bike. Equally a big thanks goes to Nigel from ENDURA cycle-wear for the support and providing me with top quality clothing. Endura is the only cycle-wear you should ever consider wearing for bike riding. GU energy for the gels and DZ-Nuts for doing it's job like no other chamois cream can. Thanks also to Specialized bikes, no other bike brand can compare.

The Set-up

I still taste the bitter taste of defeat now but I learnt a huge amount nutritionally and I will be able to take some of this new found knowledge into the Mulit-sport races I plan on competing in the next few months.
Also... I can't exactly cross riding 24 hours in one go off the bucket list, so might have to do another one. Give myself a chance to do things right...