"Yo... Bunny Man!! Let's take a selfie that I can tweet"
"Yo ... Bunny Dude. That bike is the @&$#%!!"
"Yo .... Bunny. You must be sweatin' your @$$ off in that suit!"
Funny... But still love the suit and the fun that it brings...
Sunday, June 28, 2015
Still at it!!!
Got the call the other week from the TDSB HPE Dept to bust out the Bunny Suit to rabbit the 5k Run / Walk. Started the day with the elementary kids and had a great time as usual... But it's funny to see how the high school kids are...
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Kicking it Kelso Style!!
After many years of avoiding the drive to Milton.... it was time once again to make the trip to a Classic Venue!! One that I have always performed well on, if not always loved, it was time to climb the escarpment and blast the flats while still trying to dance through the rocks along the way. ...
Great weather awaited us, and with a smaller group on the start line due to the Bruce Country Road Race, it was myself and my Eric Jobin off the front... a Duet of Dirt.... my Partner in Pain.... my Brother on a Bike... my... Okay - I'll stop...
With a switchback climb that took us most the way to the top, it was full gas through the upper fields and some tough rocky sections before laying down the gas again....
We stayed together for the entire race, working our way through all of the 30-39 year old racers who started ahead of us before playing out our own strategies for taking the Win...
I knew that the later part of the race would be hard to pass on, so I made a strong effort to get away on the last section of double track... but let off the gas just enough to allow Eric to get around me before the trees narrowed, so I was forced to stay tight on him looking for every chance I could to pass.... but that time didn't come until the final uphill finish.... not enough time to get around so I had to settle for 2nd... even though Eric isn't technically in my category so I still got the Win.... but it still feels like I got beat!!
As all racers do.... I spent some time thinking about the race later that night to figure out where I went wrong...
"So Barnes.... what happened today? Why didn't you get the Win?"
"Well Barnes... you never really took control of the race. You need to stop waiting around for others to make a mistake or allow you to get away.... you need to Make those opportunities and Lead rather than Follow....."
"Yeah... I guess you're right Barnes. I need to stop saving myself for later in the race instead of attacking... I'll always have enough to finish strong, so I need to stop being afraid."
"There's always next time Barnes...."
Great weather awaited us, and with a smaller group on the start line due to the Bruce Country Road Race, it was myself and my Eric Jobin off the front... a Duet of Dirt.... my Partner in Pain.... my Brother on a Bike... my... Okay - I'll stop...
With a switchback climb that took us most the way to the top, it was full gas through the upper fields and some tough rocky sections before laying down the gas again....
We stayed together for the entire race, working our way through all of the 30-39 year old racers who started ahead of us before playing out our own strategies for taking the Win...
I knew that the later part of the race would be hard to pass on, so I made a strong effort to get away on the last section of double track... but let off the gas just enough to allow Eric to get around me before the trees narrowed, so I was forced to stay tight on him looking for every chance I could to pass.... but that time didn't come until the final uphill finish.... not enough time to get around so I had to settle for 2nd... even though Eric isn't technically in my category so I still got the Win.... but it still feels like I got beat!!
As all racers do.... I spent some time thinking about the race later that night to figure out where I went wrong...
"So Barnes.... what happened today? Why didn't you get the Win?"
"Well Barnes... you never really took control of the race. You need to stop waiting around for others to make a mistake or allow you to get away.... you need to Make those opportunities and Lead rather than Follow....."
"Yeah... I guess you're right Barnes. I need to stop saving myself for later in the race instead of attacking... I'll always have enough to finish strong, so I need to stop being afraid."
"There's always next time Barnes...."
Friday, June 5, 2015
Tremblant - Finally great weather!!!
So the Team headed over to Tremblant for the first Canada Cup of the year.... and after consistent races of mud and rain, it was finally a warm and dry day!!! The course was in great shape, and was all new this year... incorporating the Cadet Downhill beside the old Feed Zone and some fun stair drops in the Village before heading back up on an extended climb.....
Starting at the bottom of the Village always add a bit more Punch to the start, but I felt really good in the warm up had a strong start.... chased down the Lone Lead Out Man that created an early gap... I came around him at the top of the extended climb but got jumped by a late charging racer before the single track.... which is always tough to ride clean - especially with this year's lapped traffic. A few dismounts and runs later, the 2 of us were away and rolling for the first lap, where i then took charge of the pace for the 2nd lap. I could tell he was having a hard time holding my pace, so a little extra on the extended climb on the 3rd lap (with 2 to go - we did 5 laps this year) and i got the gap i needed... from there it was just a game of trying to ride smooth and powerful while putting riders between myself and my Chaser....
All in all it was a great day, and i rolled across the line just over 2min ahead. Turns out, my Chaser was the Trek rep from Western Quebec / Eastern Ontario and the 40-44 Road National Champ... so we had some things to talk about!!
Great day also for the rest of the Team, with Soren winning by a comfortable margin, PG having a great ride to come in 13th, Tyler riding well until getting bumped off a bridge before finishing 15th ... but Adam ran into some tough luck crashing hard in a small group on a high speed downhill.
Always a great time in Tremblant with the Team..... and the Beaver Tails make it all worth while!!!!
Check out our Trek Canada Team site for full details.... www.trekcanada.ca
Starting at the bottom of the Village always add a bit more Punch to the start, but I felt really good in the warm up had a strong start.... chased down the Lone Lead Out Man that created an early gap... I came around him at the top of the extended climb but got jumped by a late charging racer before the single track.... which is always tough to ride clean - especially with this year's lapped traffic. A few dismounts and runs later, the 2 of us were away and rolling for the first lap, where i then took charge of the pace for the 2nd lap. I could tell he was having a hard time holding my pace, so a little extra on the extended climb on the 3rd lap (with 2 to go - we did 5 laps this year) and i got the gap i needed... from there it was just a game of trying to ride smooth and powerful while putting riders between myself and my Chaser....
All in all it was a great day, and i rolled across the line just over 2min ahead. Turns out, my Chaser was the Trek rep from Western Quebec / Eastern Ontario and the 40-44 Road National Champ... so we had some things to talk about!!
Great day also for the rest of the Team, with Soren winning by a comfortable margin, PG having a great ride to come in 13th, Tyler riding well until getting bumped off a bridge before finishing 15th ... but Adam ran into some tough luck crashing hard in a small group on a high speed downhill.
Always a great time in Tremblant with the Team..... and the Beaver Tails make it all worth while!!!!
Check out our Trek Canada Team site for full details.... www.trekcanada.ca
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
