The Fine Grind

eeeeek

2010-07-15T08:56:00.000-07:00

Life has been moving very rapidly, and find that it has taken a complete 180degree shift from merely 2 months ago. As you all know I was racing in Europe and now I'm living the chilled life here on PEI. I went back to my old job of being a kayak guide which is pretty stress free and also a great way to stay outdoors. Along with that Ive been pulling the odd shift at Smooth Cycle.

I haven't dropped off my bike duties completely and still ride often. My interest in cycling has never wained but sometimes the motivation to pound out a hard 5 hour ride does. With that being said though I hopped into the 100km Mtb race Concour the Pass with Ardelle and Brucious. It proved to be a tough day for me though day for though as I suffered from heat stroke and pulled out at the 70km mark. During the last section of single track I wondered whether I was going to make it out alive as I was so dizzy riding the rig. Luckily I had the shops Scott duelly equipped with a Fox Talas which in all honesty did most of the riding for me in the last parts. Not only was I not accustom to the distance, but also the high heat just killed this guy. Bruce had a great race and is showing great form now. The old man took the show...you know who I mean.

I ordered a new MTB being a Opus Stackh. I plan on throwing some of the parts from the Fhast onto the frame along with ordering a couple new bling pieces to spruce it up. When I ordered it I asked for white, but received last years color......which you either love or hate as with most Opus paint schemes.....this one Im not so much a fan, but I think it will grow on me. As it stands I'm waiting on a new derailleur then the bad boy is ready to be built up.....ohhhhh exciting!

I think life is a continual search for balance and Im constantly working on it in pursuit of happiness. PEI in the summer offers this and I find work, riding,fun, and dancing are fairly well balanced in my life right now. Im still throwing in the odd race here and there which is good for me. The problem with racing is that it falls after a Saturday night. Hah.

(Damn bridge was out...added over an hour to ride for 10pm roll in)

Spell Check works in Canada

2010-06-14T07:25:00.001-07:00

Life has been moving on. After France I absolutely needed some time off. I needed to see my friends and family and have some beers and live the easy life here on old PEI. I think I hit the rest a bit too hard as its been about a month since Ive done a race. hah

Im starting to get back on the bike mixing between some mountain bike rides and the odd ride with the boys. The itch to ride and race is gingerly coming back. I felt my life was so one sided in France that when I rolled back into Canada I had to go the opposite direction for a little while....which was a success for sure. I find myself looking to go back on the rig again...which is a good feeling. Toward the end of my time in France I was getting burned out thats for sure.

The Cyst has gone....It lingered for a good few weeks and I tried to pop it a few times with no luck as I didn't have the "balls' to go as deep as I needed to. One night I simply got tired of the damn thing and drove that needle in as far as the bite piece could take and managed to get to the root of the bastard. Its good as new now!

I haven't been taking my camera out on rides mostly from being absent minded so no pics this post.

IN other news Im selling my SRM. Mainly because I want the money to put toward MTB parts and because having the numbers there drive me crazy. It works great, but not for a guy who is slightly obsessive compulsive. hah $1700 or best offer.

New Lands

2010-05-12T04:01:00.001-07:00

Racing has been going horrible to tell you the truth. I was in the Tour de La Manche late last week. It was a 5 stage, 4 day race and is one of the premeier races in the region which has a very high calibre of racers, mostly filled out with DN1 and Dn2 teams.

The first stage proved to play out for me as most other races have done this year. I rode well the first 50km. When we went into the hills I got a flat and had to chase. I managed to get a horrible wheel change from a friendly team that too way too long, and I also got a Campagnolo cassette which didnt work very well at all. Its tough trying to get back onto the pack after a series of tough climbs, especially when the pack is 150 guys strong and pushing it. Needless to say I didnt make it.

So, becuause I didnt make it back on I rode that last 100km by myself into a the head wind(pt to pt) with the broom wagon 15 feet behind me. My lead moto got lost 3 times and twice I had to stop and wait for them to look at the map of where to go. It was brutal.

Ive been nursing a solid cyist that I got form riding my TT bike a few weeks ago and nothing seems to make it better. I even got a perscription form the doctor for it, but its still keeping on.....Anyway. So I rode he TT a good 14km. Nothing crazy..I wasnt the best but wasnt the worst either. The problem was the 20 minutes hard effort with MR cyist caused it to inflamme like crazy.

I started the next stage later in the day, but pulled out after 50km as it was like riding with marbles under your skin...what a nightmare.

So that was it for my racing in France. I go back to Canada......tomorrow actually...and Ill be looking foreward to it.

I had 3 days left in Flers and couldnt ride becuase of Mr cyist so I decided to take a little trip up to Caen to help the time pass. Its a bigger city and there is more going on. I mostly just walked around and did some shopping. Nothing crazy. Its and old town right on the coast of the continent. You may know it as its the closest city to the Juno beaches where the Allies landed during the war.

I knew I would probably find some English here. It seems like finding English people is what I would think buying drugs is like. Everyone seems to know someone who is from England or is fluant in English. The thing is you have to ask, and they may or may not know depending whether they like you or not.

I had my ears open all day listening for the framilier English jibberish when finally at the end of the day I heard two gals speaking English to each other. Now, this is where it gets tricky as you dont want to appear like some crazy person. Basically what I said to them was "You speak English! want to be friends?!"

So this is how it went down. The two gals are here for school to better their French and they are from differant parts of the US. We later got some pizza and met up with two of their friends form England and had a few beers in an Irish Pub. It was great!

Being in an Irish Pub speaking English is very bizzare for me. When ordering you definetly get a shock when you realize your not in either Ireland or Canada for that matter.

It ended up beign a great night. The next day I bummed around the town a bit and headed down south to Flers. Here I sit at the computer desk with my life skattered all over the floor as I have to pack and do laundry...tie some loose ends and fit my life back into the suitcase before heading to the Great White North.

Uncertain Days

2010-05-04T03:27:00.000-07:00

(Canada comes out on top!)

No posts in awile but a few interesting things have been happening. Zack and I went to Mont St Michelle last week. It is a huge attraction in Europe, but I had never heard of it until Benoit mentioned it. Its basically an old Abbey that was made in 700Ad, which turned into a jail and a few other things throughout the years. Words cant do it justice, as its turely amazing to see. It was nice to be purely a tourist for a day.

The real fun started later that night when Benoit dropped us off at the train station. No big deal. He was headed to see his girlfriend who lives in the area, and the plan was the take the train back to Flers for the night.

We soon found out that there is only three trains that depart from that town in the course of a day, and of course we had missed all of them. Well friends, we didnt really have many options of what to do. I miraculously had Francks number in my bag so we called him in Flers to see if he could get us, but he wasnt home. Zack and I then walked to an internet cafe and facebook stalked Benoit to get his cell number. We tried calling him to see if we could devise a new plan, but it turned out Bens cell had died.

Well it seemed Zack and I were shit out of luck(excuse my French). We walked around the town with the ten oclock hour approaching and went into random bars to see if we could use their phones, to make a long distance calls to Flers. Of course with this I had to buy beer at each place. Zack doesnt drink so I found myself with 3 beer into me at 3 differant bars within an hour.

Anyone who knows me knows Im a cheap date, and I was feeling pretty good by this point. Also, it had becoome obvious that no one was answering their phones and we should find a place to stay for the night. The train station seemed like the best option, but was something each of us were looking to get out of.

Keep in mind I dont speak french well, Im basically useless to tell you the truth. Any progress we had made was solely from Zacks french skills, which he tells me arent very good. If it were up to me to get us home and we had gotten ahold of someone, I would have no idea how to get the message accross that were stuck in a town 100kms away. My key role in this was to drink the beer that got us the use of the telephone.

So, Zack and I walking around this cool little town when we spot a group of 4 girls. We walk up the them and Zack speaks french when they abruptly cut him off and say "We speak English" in perfect English! Turns out we meet 4 gals who are teachers. Ones from England, ones from Mexico who speaks perfect English and the rest are from France who also speak English well.

I instantly have a mini freak out, as other than Zack this is my first face to face conversation with anyone who speaks English in over a month, Ho daisy.

So we head to the bar. We all get drinks and I have a couple more beer which puts me in a good mood. The ladies offer us to stay at their place for the night and it ends up being a great night, and an even better story.

The next day Zack and I wake up early and head out to explore this little town that proves to be a sight in itself. Its directly on the water and reminds both of us Maritimes boys, of home. Feeling the salty air and seeing the active fishing harbour is something only a guy from the Maritimes can appreciate.

With that we get some breakfast and wait for the train to take us to Flers. An omlette and a few coffees later we meet up with a brother and sister from Austrailia that just finished an extensive bus tour of Europe. They were quite the cats and we chatted for a good 45 minutes before they had to take off to find a rental car.

We made it home later that day with tired bodies and the scent of adventure still in our minds. It was the random and uncertain days like that, that will stay with me as memories from this trip.

No Blue in France.

2010-04-27T08:32:00.000-07:00

This week is an easier week for me here in France. Easy weeks are dangerous buisness, as there is the potential to go stir crazy. Im not one that likes waking up and having nothing to accomplish throughout the course of the day, so this leads me to have to fill my time with something when the bike demands only a few hours a day.

Ive been having a hard time sleeping as of late. Wether this is from too much on my mind, or too much time at the coffee shop I dont know. Most likely its a combination of both.

As mentioned, in France they dont have coffee shops per se....just bars that happen to serve coffee. I have carved a spot in a couple of small bars here in Flers, and each has its own unique characteristics and benefits.

One is the 'happin' spot in town I guess you could say. Its right in the center of town and it draws a lot of the youth of the town. the atmosphere is good, and the coffee ok. I always feel at odds with the manager though. In realilty, I only go for coffee and the odd beer which doesnt amount to much money spent at once. The fact I dont speak French seems to make it difficult for everyone and sometimes it seems like Im the odd ball of the place.

(The Old Man Bar)

The other place I know as the 'Old Man Bar'. Its a small place tucked away in the corner of Flers. I call it the old man bar as there is only old men and sketchy Turks that go there. The bartender is a solid guy. Ive never been able to have a real conversation with him obviously, but I noticed one day his hands were that of a working mans hands in a former life. This guy would have no use for something as silly as a pair of oven mits. In my mind I picture him tending a farm or being a mechanic and giving it all up one day to open up HIS bar, accomlishing his dream after a lifetime of manual labour.

The coffee is cheap and the beer is good here.

Of course the hip bar seems to draw in the few attractive women that Flers has. Its nice to sit and simply hear people talk who are your age. So here is the draw back, Do I go to the place with the cute gals and the sketchy Turks, or the place with the unreal bartender with the old men and the sketchy Turks?

Either way I cant talk with anyone, so in reality it doesnt matter. I guess varition is the spice of life when it comes down to it. A bar to suit your mood when the mood strikes. When you only know how to order one type of coffee and one type of beer, consistant change in scenery becomes very important.

Clear Days

2010-04-25T14:51:00.000-07:00

I raced in the beer league this weekend. There was a higher end race that the team also went to but there was only so many riders they could send. Since Ive been sucking as of late I got to race in the beer league.

Keep in mind, a beer league race in Canada means that some of the riders have beer guts....but in France they are old pros and upcomming strong guys. Since people have a 'relaxed' work schedule in France, everyone has a ton of time to train aswell. Beer league also brings out about 100 guys at least, even with another big race going on.

About 85% of the races that Ive raced in France, the break has always gone within the first 20km or so. Keeping this in mind for this race I had a good warm up and tried to get in everything that moved. I had some great attacks, and managed to be at the front and got in about 3-4 good breaks but they didnt stick and only lasted about 10 minutes or so.

I rode my ass off until the 50km mark and I thought to myself "Well Ryan, maybe it'll come down to a bigger group today." The course was pretty flat so it was probable. After 5 km of sitting in the pack I looked up and saw the pack split. It was one of those breaks where you knew it was the break of the day.

I thought to myself why me...and moved to the front again and attacked to try to bridge up. I was in no mans land for a good 5-8 minutes when a couple other guys bridged up. We worked for about 20km to try to bridge up but we couldnt find the last bit of juice to get up there. Even in France it seems there are guys who want to bridge up and guys who just want to look cool for their friends, and we had a couple of these guys which didnt make life easy. It was in this group that I finished. I rolled in about 35th or something.

This time of year co-incides with allergy season, and today was quite the show. There wasnt a time when my nose felt clear. Most people wouldnt know, but the farmers blow(close one side of your nose with your finger, and blow) is a constant action among all us cyclists. Usually by the end of the race your covered in both your own and other peoples spit and snot. Its not uncommon for someones snot to get carried by the wind into your face. Its funny, because at the time you dont really think about it, as its just something that happens, but if it happened to me on the street I would be pretty disgusted.

I caught myself walking down the street in Flers and had the urge to clear my nose. I had a finger on one side of my nose to blow...when I caught myself and realized that this is something not to do in normal life. hah.

During the ride with Arnault(Bens brother) last week he came around me and I didnt see him as he pased. Just as he passed I spit out a pretty solid piece of spit...and caught him right in the hip..dead on. A big "ahhhhhh' was let out by both of us and I sincerly appologised in my best French as it was an accident. He relaized this and I whipped my loogie off of him with my hand and rubbed it on my shorts...again appologising.

When was the last time you spit on a FDJ rider?

Lucky 300th

2010-04-22T03:26:00.000-07:00

This is the 300th post on The Fine Grind!

I had a great training week this week, a good hard 3 hour ride with a chill 4 hour ride yesterday. Benoits brother decided to hop in with us. He's an unreal guy who you can sence would never think a negative thing toward anyone. He has absolutely no conceided head on him. This for someone who dabbles between the French National team, and FDJ Protour team. Good Company.

The people here in France have treated us Canadians so well during our stay. I could not ask for anything more and the hospitality has been simply unreal. To take someone you have never met, accept them into your home, feed them for months, and never ask for anything in return is humbling.

One of the things that has been hard on me living in France is that my french is not good enough to actually communicate with these people. I can sence the quality of these people and I know under differant circumstances many of these guys would be my best friends. Because we cant speak, my relationships stop at simple greatful gestures and smiles. It really is a damn shame. Its something I know Ill regret, but not something that I cant really remedy.

The weather has been holding out, and we have a nice day again. I got a tubular flat on the weekend. Because you have to replace the tire this is usually a huge pain in the ass and can be very expensive($30-$120) so its not something you want to do often.

You know cycling is ingrained in the culture when you can buy Vittoria tubulars at the grocery store. No Joke!

Rough Stuff

2010-04-19T04:07:00.000-07:00

The weather has been great here. The boys and I are all rocking pretty good sun-burns/tans and I might spend some time in the sun today to chase away the Casper appearance.

Traning went great this week, the races however did not. We started out Tuesday as Zack and I had a great interval session during a three hour ride. The next day I was pretty stiff and didnt feel particularily perky but we did put in a good 4 hours regardless. Im ashamed to say I bonked a little bit toward th end, but thats how it goes. Either way I felt I recovered well, and was set for the the races this weekend.

The DN1 race on Saturday was pretty bad. For some reason on the first climb I felt I didnt have any power and just lost contact with the main group going into the windy section. It was wierd because my climbing legs this year arent great, but they werent that bad.

I honestly set it aside as a mental barrier. Saything that it probably wasnt my legs but just my head, and that I may have went into the race not full mentally focused as I should have been.

The next morning the questions were answered as I woke up sick. Having another race that day I didnt feel great about it. I suited up and rode the first 40 km, but pulled out after that feeling pretty shitty.

This season has been like that. When ever you think the match get lit, it quickly gets blown out. I still have plenty of matches left in reserve, but its just frustrating to have the good legs one day and bad ones the next.

In other news(or lack there of) We now have four English channels in Chez Benoit. They are CNN, France 24, Sky news and Russia news TV. CNN is the staple here and I find myself watching hte same programs at least 3 times before they get replaced. Its great to see actually. Simply having English tv in the background is kind of comforting.

From what Ive gathered there is nothing going on in the world other than the Volcano errupting in Iceland. Its on about 23 hours a day. As most of you know most of Europe is grounded and France is no exception. Here in Normandy the air was definatley bizzare for a couple days last week. Zack and I figured it was from the Volcano.

I bought a killer coffee grinder in a flea market here. Its made in Holland and is pretty sick if you ask me. I havent used it yet because surprisingly its very difficult to find decent whole beans in France. It makes you earn your coffee.

In the Mind

2010-04-13T02:26:00.000-07:00

I had a decent race on the weekend. It wasnt a crazy high-end one, just a regional France race but it was the first time this year where I felt really great. Honestly, I felt like myself for the first time in a couple years. I didnt get any crazy results but I felt I had decent power and managed to get a top 20 or so.

I missed the winning break but toward the end of the race Zack put out an attack and only a couple of us went with him so we finished in the second group a few minutes back. The course was great being a true roulier course with a ton of wind thrown in.

Yesterday Ben, Zack, Franck and I went to the Normandy beaches to see where the European continent was taken back from the Germans during WW2. It was a team effort with Canadian, English, and American soldiers. Being a history buff it was bizzare to see the places that Ive watched in history documentaries over the years.

All of France gives you the feel that the war is still in recent memory. It wasnt long ago the WW2 happened here. 60-70 years is a blink of an eye in France when you consider a lot of the houses and buildings are over 200 years old.

The beaches and area itself is an interesting place. I got the impression that it was(and still is) a tourist destination as the beaches are similar in beauty to that of PEI or tropical locations. It was difficult to picture the sight of them with the water being red for many days after the landings.

In for the long haul

2010-04-09T03:01:00.000-07:00

Race again this weekend. I feel better going into the race this week compared to last. We've had some great rides this week and the household is very positive.

(Ben crashed last weekend)

As mentioned Im living with team-mate Benoit, a 24 year old Butcher and Zack Garland from Newfoundland. Honestly this has probably been the best living situation Ive ever been in for cycling. Every night we usually make dinner together, we share all of our food, and cleaning duties seem to get done without anything said.

(Thats a load-bearing poster)

We all seem to have differant strengths in the kitchen and the meals have all been great. On top of that becuase Ben is a butcher meat is cheeeeeap!

Ive been thinking about the Biking for Breakfast Challenge on PEI this summer. I've never done it, but Id love to on the Bartali. Hopefully I can get that rig rolling by then. I would hope to do it on that old bike, along with a vintage jersey I bought here in France. It would be sweet to rock out for the 300km in full vintage style. Ideally Id like to do it only with red wine to drink, and a baguette strapped to the top-tube for food.

Ive slowly been buying and stealing momentos from France. Ricard is a harsh drink everyone seems to be in love with here. I enjoy it the odd time, but only the odd time.

I obtained the ashtray with the intention of somehow strapping it to my handlebars for the BFBC to have the odd cigar during the ride.

2010-04-06T13:37:00.001-07:00

(pre race meal, always)

The race went terrible. From the gun the pace was hot. We went into a serious climb and the pack split and split again. It was intense. Like war I tell ya. I found myself on the wrong side of the split and as we crested the climb I made a break for it to get into the break, or the remnants of the pack. On the decent I went as hard and as aero as I could. I got about 3seconds to the pack, so close I could feel it, but it was then that they pulled away.

(hurting a few races ago)

I dnf'd the race. Mostly becuase I was disgusted and embarassed. Its tough to explain but I was just fed up with everything. I didnt want to do the remaining 100km with the groupetto and I was just basically annoyed with myself for poor position and not anticipating the hard attack off the line.

Zack rode well getting a 15th place and Guillome netted the win. That guy oozes talent. I could see it from the first training camp.

That means today was a riding day. We went out for a good 3 hours with some good punches thrown in. It was the first nice day this year I think. The temps hovered around 20, and I could ride with bare legs. This alone was enough to make it a great day. Its one thing to have fun training, but its another to have fun riding. Today was a riding day.

I usually take a Vitamin D suppliment everyday(from the sun) to improve my mood, but a little pill would have to work pretty hard to make you happy after a 4 hour ride in the rain and hail. Its pretty sweet to feel the sun on your skin after being hidden for the better part of 6 months.

2010-04-04T11:18:00.000-07:00

Life is getting back to normal here in France. I race today for the first time in about 2 weeks so it will be hit or miss I think. The past few rides have gone pretty well but I found myself really tired yesterday.

As I am half way through my stay here in France I moved into a new place with a team mate. Im now in Chez Benoit with fellow Maritimer Zack Garland. Its great to have another Canadian around and someone to speak english with. This place is feeling good and Ben, Zack and I have been sharing cooking, washing and cleaning duties pretty well.

Its hard to believe that im half-way through my stay here. Im not going to lie I miss the Red Dirt. I use to crave the instability in my life that travelling brings. The feeling of always being on edge and that new things are around the corner. I find my mind has been wanting the stability of old PEI. Im still loving racing, but there are definitley hard days here in France, both on the bike and in the mind. Its tough to explain to anyone who hasnt lived this life, but at the same time it needs no explination to someone who has.

The boys and I watched Flanders on the TV!!! yesterday. France TV 4 had a good 2.5 hours of it and we had bets for 10 beers who would win. Of course I bet on Cancellara and won....either way I was comming up on top as Im the only one who drinks! hah.

With that Im off to the races!

On my Feet

2010-04-01T13:38:00.001-07:00

Whoa, long time no posts. No, I havnet been slacking, just travelling a bit. Being my first time in Europe and also missing my darling, I decided to take a week off and do some sightseeing. This may be the only time in my life I'm in Europe, so I wanted to make the best of it.

I booked my flights to Dublin (where Mal is living) with RyanAir, which proved to be cheap but ended up being a nightmare. They treated me the worst I have ever been treated by a company ever. Not only did they make me wait 3 hours longer for my flight, they then cancelled it at mid-night. It was then that I had to wait in line for 3 hours in the airport waiting for my new ticket. I was at the ticket counter finally at 3am waiting for my ticket to print off when the printer broke.

I was then told that they wouldnt be paying for a hotel and I had to take a bus at 3am, an hour to Paris, and buy my own hotel(which is against the law in Europe). I didnt get to bed until 5am that morning. The next day at 10pm(over 24 hours lag time) I arrived back at the airport after paying $25 for another bus ride. This flight went ok, but it was still a kick in the face.

Moving on........................

The trip went great. I had fun just being a toursit and looking around Dublin with my lady. I drank much beer, ate a lot of beef stews, and saw all of the sights including the Guiness Brewery. It was great to be able to speak English freely!

From there Mal and I travelled to Paris for a couple days. She has a chill-do-things-as-they-come attitude, while I have a list of things to do, and sights to see attitude. Surprisingly we made it out great, still seeing most of the sights while doing it at a chill pace.

Our rented apartment came with a Saeco espresso machine and we poished off 2lbs of espresso between us in 4 days, it was great.

Of course the highlights were the Eifell tower, Montparnasse, the Catacombs(thanks Bill) Champs Elysee, Momartre(sp?) and a lot of time at churches and simply sitting at coffee shops and going to bakeries.

Traveling through Paris and Dublin was great. Seeing all of the sights and being a tourist is needed to let the mind relaxe, but the best part for me was really just seeing my lady. As a bike racer you spend so much time alone in wierd places not really talking to anyone and living a life that is lightyears away from a normal 23 year old. So because of this, its a huge decompression to see the ones your close to, even for only a few days.

a couple days

2010-03-19T04:02:00.000-07:00

It has been quiet week for me. I had a bit of fatigue at the end of the races and a few weeks of training. Whether it was from the training, the weather, or an underlying sickness, if your tired, your tired.

So with that I havent had any killer days this week. A few 2h+ rides, some alone, some with the boys and a lot of time at the coffee shop. The coffee shop is more of a bar that serves coffee. Its ok...I get what Im looking for. Stu and I had a pretty good date there last week.

We race again this weekend. A DN1,2 race Im told so its gonna be a douzy. Im told its a difficult race, but I dont know what to expect..it could be a race around the parkinglot and I wouldnt know until I arrived there. Suit up and go with the flow.

Ive noticed that Crits and Time Trials dont seem to exsist in France....Their logic seems to be "why would you race 50km Crit when you can race 180km at crit pace, then have a few 5km loops around the town? "

I ordered some books from amazon.co.uk and thank god they came in last week. Other than being addicted to the computer, the coffee shop and the odd ride, my filller for the day has been these books.

Cooked

2010-03-15T11:05:00.000-07:00

Whoo, it was difficult weekend pour moi dans le velo. I knew going into this weekend that I was racing twice. No big deal I thought, espeically when the first race was only 80km. I thought that 80km was odd, but thats what I was told. Saturday rolls around and I find out the morning of, that the race isnt 80km, but 170km.

Franck who told me about the race but he ment he was only going to stay in the race for 80km. So I find out in the morning that the race is a DN1/2/Pro race. This means its just below ProTour here in France. With a couple of French Pro teams thrown in there too, I knew I was getting into the real deal.

Well talk about a hard race. Holy Crow. I only lasted about 80km, and rolled into town for an even 100km on the day but the race was insane. It was probably up there with the hardest races Ive ever done. You are always working and fighting for pack position. Whether your going up or down or on the flats your usually working. Pack position is crucial and you have to fight for it. It had 3 laps of a 50km long course, which was really cool followed by a small crit. We raced though a lot of small towns which threw a lot of road furniture at you, and road dividers just popped out of no where.

I was pretty much terrified for most of the race. To be in a pack of 200ish guys going like 80km/h with people elbowing you fighting for position....the only way to destribe it was controlled sketchy-ness.

There was a huge crash mid-race while we were going about 65km/h. I didnt look back as I knew I would see death for sure. The race was Neutrelized and we re-grouped to get things under control again.

Finally at the 80km mark there was a KOM and with a bunch of attacks from the pack I just blew...knowing I had to race tomorrow, I was ok with that. Its good to see the level of where you have to get to though! I doubt there is a harder race in Canada....maybe Nationals some years or Beauce.

The next day we had a interclub/DN2 race. It was only a 100km but my legs were fried. We still had a good 150 riders but the race was very un-eventful for me. The break went away first km. I made it into the 2nd break a couple times but nothing came of it. My legs were cooked, so I sat in and finished 50th or something like that.

My team mate Ben won the friggin' race. What a guy! And young Stuart proved to surpriese everyone and took 3rd. Holy Crow.

Turns out I won 10 euro in a Sprint during the race that I have no idea I won. Problem is that I forgot to give my number back(standard piece of paper with a number on it you pin on your jersey) which turns out is a big deal in Europe. In Canada or the US it wouldnt matter at all but apparently I HAVE to give it back. So to get my 10 euro prize I have to ride to this town 35km away and find some bike shop to give the number back. Its bizzare, but thats how it goes I guess.

I made the paper in the town where my team is based out of. I think mostly because its an oddity that there is a Canadian in their midst and for no other reason.

Im feeling pretty tired after the past couple weeks. Ive been doing a lot of intensity and that DN1 race being my 2nd real race of the year took it out of me. I think Im going to slip into some LSD and minimalize the intensity before running off to Ireland for a couple days. We'll see how that goes.

The Plain

2010-03-11T02:46:00.000-08:00

(Again, things never seem to work as they should in France so the pics are first, stupid electronics)

Last weekend was the first real race of the year for me, and oh man did I feel it! The thing about racing is that it pushes your limits in all ways. You have to think sharp, you body has to be sharpe and you have to push yourself further than you noramlly would in training.

The worst was my hips. I went from doing mostly LSD and intervals to 3+ hours hard in the drops over terrible gravel-type roads. This is quite a change for the old body and when I got off the bike after the race my hips were sooooooo sore I could barely walk or bend over. The next day every little muscle in my hips were pretty much torn apart and I looked like and old man walking around.

Tuesday I did some climbing intervals. Its interesting using a power meter. I thought I would simply plug it in and go for a ride, not pay attention to the numbers and just send the file off to coach Luc. Honestly I hate electronics and prety much everything to do with them, but I notice I use the SRM as a tool now, and Tuesday I realized how valuable it was. I noticed when I did the intervals on the climb while standing the power was much better than last week, but while doing seated intervals the numbers were a bit down.

Makes sence as 2 days before was basically allllllllll seated power intervals. But its interesting to see real number that show that part of your riding is tired.

Yesterday I made the push for a 4 hours ride. Again, the wind has been brutal here and you find yourself either riding at 20km/h or 45km/h. Like last week the last half hour I bonked which I was expected, especially fighting the wind.

I felt a bit tired too, so Im taking today and tomorrow pretty easy. I have to race twice this weekend....the details of the race is something my understanding of french cannot grasp so Im going to go with the flow. Apparently there is hills in one of them?!

I have one more week of training before I go to Ireland/Paris where I wont have my bike. Im looking foreward to it. Luckily the trip co-incided with a rest week so Im trying to push myself a little bit more as to justify a week of the bike.

Hopefully a week with my darling will ease the mind. As the saying goes, when your head is good, usually your legs are too.

Race

2010-03-08T03:21:00.000-08:00

(The Internet, my computer or blogger isnt working so your getting the pictures first! Stupid electronics!)

After last weeks terrible showing on my part, I entered the second race with a little more aggression knowing I had to fight a lot morein the pack. I couldnt let any gaps form during the start and in the eschelons otherwise in France it seems your done for. It was a smaller field this week with about 70 riders, and the course was differant, being mostly flat but with an UNREAL windy section.

We had a 9km loop, with one section looking exactly like Paris-Roubaix. It had the narrow narrow roads through fields(team cars werent allowed this race, only motorcycles) with super high banks on either side. There wasnt any cobbles but a mixture of dirt, gravel, and broken chipseal. It was so cool to look up while riding and see dust blowing around each rider in the pack.

The backstretch before the finish line was tough as we were only about 20km from the Atlantic, and you could see directly to it. There were no trees or buldings to block the wind and you could definitley feel it!

The race started very chaotic. Everyone was nervous and rammed into the narrow streets from the startline heading into the field section. After a couple laps it calmed down as some guys dropped off, the pack narrowed and everyone got a feel for the race.

A major break happened mid-race. I made a huge push to get into it where a teammate followed me into the wind. We made it, but once we hit the really windy section I simply couldt hold the echelon and dropped back again, cooked from the effort. My team-mate stayed in the break which was good. I though it would all come together in the end for a sprint but the break ended up staying away...hah.

It was so windy its hard to describe. At one point I looked up and saw a rider get blown over into the field about 5ft. If France Im leanring if you dont know how to ride in an escelon you learn really really quickly!

From that point when I dropped off back into the second pack, it was an un-eventful race really. The break stayed away and people continued to drop off. I had to fight each time to make sure I was in the front going into the windy section otherwise you were gonner.

I ended up netting 15th of 20 finishers, 4th in the pack sprint. With about 70 entrees, 15th is ok.

The Boys who were in the break did great. Guillaume netted 2nd on the day! Rodolphe a 7th and Ben a 6th(Im pretty sure ?).

Lessons learned yesterday. If you get blown off the road and find yourself riding in a ditch or on grass or dirt....its no need to panic.

On the Friday spin young Stu and I pedalled to the crazy old town of Domfront. Its about 20km away from Flers, and is right out of the middle ages. Its pretty insane this place. I think Domfront was orginally as castle with a giant wall surrounding it. Some of the wall and castle have colapsed or were destroyed in one of the 10 wars since then, but it was neat because you could look at the ruins and see the walkways built of stone and see inside the castle. The whole town is built on a hill, with a modern-ish town built on the indside. Its really facinating to see.

Stu and I also chatted IN ENGLISH. the first face to face conversation Ive had in a month, and manged to find a real coffee machine in a bar. And we all rejoice.

into thin air

2010-03-04T09:57:00.000-08:00

The days have been passing here in France. The weather has been slowly getting better, but the wind has picked up it seems, which makes for effective training but hard annoying days on the bike.

I rode Monday which normally I wouldnt do, but since my race didnt go so well I hoped to ride off the extra calories I packed in for the race. The legs felt a bit sluggish, but otherwise the ride was fine. I did a good 3 hours on Wednesday that lead to a major bonk. As I mentioned the wind has been annoying and combine it with consistant climbs, it takes it out of a guy!

Ive always ridden alone when building my base, so its been good to get out alone and just explore the area. France is unreal. You can have the best ride of you life simply by exploring. Most roads dont have signs or names but there is usually a direction arrow to where you want to go along the way. The riding here is so nice I would go here as a cyclotourist when Im like 50, hopefully Im still riding then, but the palce is a cyclists dream.

I believe a solid bonk is good for you every now and then. It keeps the body in check and tells it when it has to adapt, and start taking in more energy. This is what I was hoping to accomplish, and Im starting to feel like my old self again.

I did intervals today. HARD ones, and now that I have gotten into the high end, I hope the body knows where it has to go to race effectively. It takes a few of those sessions before It gets the idea I think.

More observations about France.

France likes to burn things. Since most of the houses are about 500 years old a lot of them still use a fire place as a primary source of heat. If you look to the horizon on a chilly day in France you will see a haze of smoke covering the rolling terrain. It looks nice but it reaks havoc on this guys asthma. During the cold snap I was dredding the cold days.

So the French will pretty much burn anything. Paper, wood, plastic, plastic bottles, garbage...anything thats lieing around goes into the fire.....along with burning Canadian cyclists legs.

There also seems to Condom machines everywhere.

downer

2010-03-01T11:31:00.000-08:00

Well that was terrible. I basically got kicked in the face. The worst is that the race started how I predicted it would. There were about 120 or something riders and it started off really fast. I didnt get a warmup and right off the gun I was fighting for position as we went though this small town. Its bizzare to have to dodge traffic furniture with 120 other guys fighting it out.

The packs here are pretty aggressive and the wind played a huge factor today. With stroms all accross Europe we had about 80km/h gusts, and when the pack rolled around a corner to start the first climb out of town I was blasted by the wind. It was horrible posioning on my part. I tried to hide as best I could but I bascially went back-words. The climb then started with me directly in the wind and that was it really. With no warm-up, a ton of attacks, and bad positioning I was popped out the back. I was kind of in shock to tell you the truth..everything happened so fast.

It was a really shitty way to start the year and was a lot like getting thrown into the cauldron on full boil. I am far from getting my racing legs, but the poor positioning is what killed me. Racing in France is not like racing in the US or Canada. You simply cant make mistakes like that, especially with the wind playing such a factor.

up in the air

2010-02-27T01:42:00.000-08:00

The first race of the year is tomorrow. A nice jaunt of 120km. Im nervous but at the same time Im not, as I have no idea what to expect. The legs felt good during quick training ride yesterday so that gives me a bit of confidence. With all the terrible weather I havent been able to get out for a lot of solo rides over 120km. Because of that, I notice I fade after the 80km mark. My game plan for tomorrow is to sit in and concerve until the final part of the race then if I feel good try to get into a break or something. First race of the year is always a gong show.

In europe they say each country has its own style of racing. Ive heard this from many people. In France they say its just attacks. Right from the gun. The whole race is attacking. Team-mates attacking team-mates who are int the break. Attack after counter attack. Simply put, fast hard racing and mass chaos.

It remains to be seen.

I went to the local big-box sport store the other day looking for a Wilson Volly Ball to make a "Wilson" friend. I just wanted someone to talk English to, like out of like on the movie "Cast Away." I even found some sweet straw in the garage for it. Unfortunatley I couldnt find a Volly-ball. I guess it isnt a big sport in France.

yellow cup

2010-02-25T02:39:00.001-08:00

The legs are starting to come back to me after a couple days of rest. I was hoping to hop on the rig today for a couple miles but it seems to be downpouring, which is in vogue here in Normandie lately. For some reason it seems to hail at least once a day aswell. Today just might be another trainer day.

Im not too worried about the amount of miles I get this year as I have a secret weapon. I realize I have been doing everything wrong the past few years. I stumbled upon something that made everything so much clearer for me. GQ magazine(British) has given me step by step instructions on how to win a Stage of the Tour de France, so with this guide, if I follow it I should be a shoo-in for at least one stage. Watch out Mark Cavendish.

Mistranslation

2010-02-23T03:59:00.001-08:00

Whoa, what a past few days! I just completed a good little training camp with the team Saturday and Sunday. It went pretty well until I got horribly horribly sick hours after I got home. I got kicked in the face in the worst way possible. Suddenly I felt like I was going to get sick, then the next 2 days I spent either hugging or sitting on the toilet. If I wasnt in the bathroom I was lieing in bed shaking with cold. It was terrible.

I thought I had food poisoning but no one on the team seemed to have it other than myself, and we ate the same food all weekend. Yikes it was terrible. I feel better this morning and managed to eat a bowl of oatmeal(first food since 1pm on Sunday) and that went down ok, the coffee on the other hand is fighting to show itself though.

Well. Other than that the training camp went ok. It was a weekend of mis-translations thats for sure. On Friday I got a call from my team director telling me we were going to camp in AN HOUR. "Holy Shit" I thought. and I rushed to pack my bags before he arrived to head to the hotel. Turns out it was a mis-comunicatioon and he was dropping another rider off at the house in an hour.

So, we go to camp the next day at 11, get checked in, have lunch and suit up. The new team kits that were suppose to be in Friday were late, which is the case with every other clothing order in the history of mankind.

So, we got ready and I asked how long the ride would be. My impression I got from The DS was 70km which I thought was a bit light but didnt really think much about it. 40 km into the ride we approached the area of Suisse-Normandy, which you can imagine is full of small mountains. So, I was thinking this ride was 70km, so I rode hard up it and to my surprise came out in the font group of about 4 guys in the 5km climb. It was then as the ride carried on that I realized that this ride was much more than 70km. Having only brought enough food and water for 70km I was fighting a huge bonk brought on by the effort of the climb, and I travelled back to the team car to beg for food.

The thing about Normandy that ive learned is that the rides always seem to start out easy. It isnt until 50km that everyone basically attacks and attacks the ride becomes hard. If its not hard enough then you work on paceline, which is slightly easier but you still go like 50km/h.

So I basically rode myself into the ground to finish the ride, but all in all it was a good 120km.

The next day we awoke early to slap out another ride. As the trends are going now in Europe it was cold(about 2-5degrees) and rainy. The pace was ok at first, but then again it went up and attacks and climbs took their toll on me. I rode until the 90km point in the paceline but then just didnt have any power left(not to mention I was harbouring a horrible virus which I didnt know about) and dropped off.

So, I rode back to the hotel. Problem was I got lost along the way. Now, my french is good enough to ask where something is or where a hotel is or even a town is. The thing about France is that in 5km/sq there is about 60 small towns. So, everyone I asked had never heard of this town we were staying in, even though it was like 8km away. YIKES>.

Anyway, I managed to find the hotel and made my way in just before lunch with a total ride of about 135-140km, about an hour more than I anticipated. I was feeling ok, just really frustrated as you can imagine.

Well Im feeling better today and I might jaunt down to the boulangerie to get a coissont. I think I can afford it consdering the only thing Ive eaten for 2 days was perrier and coke.

Other than the sickenss and the mis-communication life in France is ok. I miss my woman like crazy, but I'm heading to Ireland to see her in a month, cant wait!

Patton

2010-02-18T03:36:00.001-08:00

The days are passing and the weather is getting steadily better. I find myself stuck with a slight cold though, so I'm going to take the day off today. I need a haircut and to do some errands aswell.

Ive been having some serious bootie problems as of late. 4 pairs of booties( 2 winter, 2 summer) should be enough to sustain someone right? Well after 2 weeks I have broken 3 of the four winter booties I have. 2 zippers broke(one that was just repaired on PEI) and another the stitching ripped on the velcro. Holy Moly.

I have a very modest size 9.5 foot and am wearing large booties. They just dont make them like they use to I guess. Ive been wearing mis-matched pairs in order to keep the feel warm, but as mentioned, another one broke yesterday.

I went for my first solo ride of the year yesterday. It seems like no one rides alone here. There is always people going on group rides and they randomly show up at your house to go riding. Its nice but at the same time I like my solo rides. Going from riding in a group of 5-10 guys to solo where your open to the wind definitly shows that I still am weak as a kitten.

France is unbeliveable. Yesterday for my ride I went in a random direction out of town, taking random turns and manged to have a great ride. In this part of Normandy its insane hilly. I was either going up or down, similar to PEI, but the climbs are steeper and much longer. Its really unbelieveable riding. Beutiful views, great roads. If PEI is one of the best places to ride in North America, France is 10x that. Not to bad-mouth PEI or North America, but it really is unbelieveable.

I can see why cycling is so huge here. There are great programs to develope juniors, and also the roads are super quiet so parents wouldnt have to worry as much as in the rest of the world. Of the few cars you would see on a ride, they seem more respectful than say.......oh Tucson Arizona. On top of that most of the group rides even have a follow car. Wether it be a father of a young person or just a random guy who likes cycling, there is usually the club's van that follows any scheduled ride.

The team has a training camp this weekend, where we get our new kits and cool stuff. I dont really know what to expect. I dont even know what kind of rides we will be doing. That has been the trend of my time in France. Becuase of the language barrier i just go into situation not knowing what to expect.

Luckily there are some good people taking care of me.

Moi en France

2010-02-14T10:49:00.001-08:00

I managed to hop on the rig both Saturday and Sunday after a good trainer session on Fri. The weather still didnt co-opegrate, but we faced it anyway. Saturday was a nice 2degrees, and Sunday was a very cold -10 for the start of the 9am Sunday morning ride.

I dressed in most of the winter gear I had, and I wasnt freezing, but I was not comfortable thats for sure. Being the Canadian in the group there was no way I could skip out on the cold ride. I told everyone this day was like a nice summer day in Canada. Luckily working construction taught me a couple good tricks to keeping warm on the cold days.

We did a good 100km each day. The legs feel like their comming around, but its hard to tell when its that cold. I had to make sure I had high RPMs as the legs felt like sludge if I dropped below 90.

Some of the roads are still covered in snow, which causes mass panic in France. I had to work on the cross skills and managed to fall once, no harm done though.

Bofore most rides it seems the people get together and have a french coffee. Which is of course fake coffee. Its nice to chill out before the ride.

Couple more bizzare to me facts about France:

-The doors ALWAYs swing into the building. I dont think I've encountered one that opens out.

-The Milk doesnt have a fat percentage on it, and is kept in the isle of the grocery store un-chilled. Pops told me they might kill the bacteria with UV light.

-Your plug adapter for France will work on some houses, but not others, depending when the house was made.

-No one puts milk in their coffee. I put some in mine one day and people saw, now I`m the talk of the town.

Tomorrow, a coissont, and rest.

outrageous

2010-02-11T13:29:00.000-08:00

Well it happened again. The snow fell. This time a good 15cm. This guy went for a walk.