Cottage Training Camp

Got back a few days ago from a great 10 day vacation / training camp at the cottage in the Muskoka's... we had amazing weather and the riding up there is spectacular. There are so many long and beautiful loops that you can do on the road up there that you never get bored of the scenery... and 3hr rides go by very quickly. Aside from spending lots of great quality time on my bike preparing for Provincials this weekend.... the rest of my days were spend fishing, swimming, playing and enjoying my the family.... and we had Jake's 4th birday and Luke's 6th birthdays while we were away. Such a great trip that we really didn't want to come home... but 'tis life sometimes.

Funny story about how small the world can be.... so i finish my 3hr ride (which in itself deserves the Rolo Ice Cream bar that i ate) and pull into the marina to get some gas in the boat. I notice the pretty young girl behind the counter and quickly suck in my gut before pulling out my credit car to pay. She smiles at me, looks me up and down and says "Trek Store Toronto.... my boyfriend's uncle owns that store"... to which I promptly say in a deep, manly voice "Who's his uncle?".... "Barry Near".... so we continue chatting about the store and riding and Barry... and i slowly let out my gut because i realize that she only looked me up and down because she was reading my clothing... :(

Before i head into another race weekend... and a big one for me at that... i just wanted to throw out a big thanks to everyone at the races that cheer me on... i may not always look your directions or recognize your voice... but i do always hear you and it motivates me. Yet another great thing about the sport is that spectators encourage everyone... not just their friends or families... but also their friend's competitors because we are all in our little worlds of suffering and hearing someone call your name and tell you that you look strong.. even when you don't feel that way... makes it that much less painful. So thanks to those of you who come out to cheer and those of you who follow my efforts through this blog... it all makes my legs just a little bit stronger.

And speaking of encouragement.... a huge best wishes and "telepathic transference of strength" goes out to Emily Batty who is competing at the World Championships next week....

Give 'em hell Em...

Midland O'Cup

Another OCup down... and another good ride for me.... although my legs were feeling a bit "tender" after my CrossFit Run on friday... won't make that mistake again. I didn't get a chance to pre-ride the course... but it was basically the same as the Provincials Course from last year... a great one for me and my riding style... except for the first 400m. And in that first 400m which consisted of going from the bottom straight to the top of Mountainview Ski Resort, Jason Everaert went up that hill like he wanted to catcht the Pro Men.... man he went up it fast... but i bridged up by the time we hit the singletrack. I actually crashed 3 times in the first 1/2 lap... i was riding like a Minime Girl.... hitting every tree, rock and root out there..... When i finally settled myself down, Eric Jobin and i caught up to Jason and i rode with him for most of the lap. I had a pretty hard 2nd and 3rd lap and got a good gap, and finished feeling pretty good. The story of the day was the heat and humidity. They were saying on the Weather Network that the Humidex would take it to 40degees.... and i totally agree!!! I haven't sweated that much in a few years.... i've never had drips of sweat fall from my helmet while riding singletrack.... it was wild.... and even worse when we stopped. It took me a good 10min to put on my Podium Kit.... way too hot.... but the Rolo McFlurry went down REAL nice...

So i've changed my mind on the Marathon Race... turns out it would be a 2hr+ drive from the cottage.... not into a 10hr day just to do a long ride... i'll have better training riding with Eric Batty (fellow Trek Store Dude) on some of the amazing roads up in the Muskokas...

Branching out...

Time for O'Cup #6 this weekend... up to Midland and the Mountainview Resort.. last year's provincials site and a great course. It has lots of climbing, some really good singletrack and a real good challenge. I just finished a pretty good / hard 5 day block getting ready for it... now it's just time to recover. I'm tossing around doing the Marathon Race next weekend... leaves from somewhere near Bracebridge (perfect since we are already at the cottage) and wanders around Haliburton for 80km or so. Might also be a real nice piece of training before Provincials at the end of August.... hmmmm....

Or I'll save myself the tired legs, stay at the cottage and play trucks and fish....

Now I remember why I don't road race anymore....

Because it SUCKS!!!! ... okay.... only part of it sucked... well.... i guess i had some fun.... alright... it was still a good time. I decided to race road Provincials last weekend... and it would have been a tough course in dry conditions... but of course we had crazy weather and some wild lighting and heavy rain. With so many tight corners and downhill S-bend chicane right near the finish line... it made for some nervous riding for a while. Once it finally stopped raining and dried up a bit it was much more fun and i was feeling much more aggressive.... but the rain returned and i had no intentions of ending my mountain bike season with a crash in a road race. With 3 laps to go... and dry roads... i had the intentions (and the legs) to do some good hard work to get Steve Heck into a good spot for the final sprint.... but as the corners became wet again, Steve was on his own. And unfortunately he wasn't on his own sliding across the road in the S-bend.... went down hard into the curb and banged himself up pretty good. So i'm glad to have finished ON my bike and with some good training in my legs. I was only in the Red Zone once during the race and never found myself in difficulty. Glad the legs were there.... So since there is no pictures of the road race.... here is a few pics of my kids... aka the Schlek Brothers of the Future...

Jake at the start of his first "race" at Buckwallow...Luke leaning into the corners.... A really big fish we caught....