Tour de King Thing

went out for what could potentially be a Great Fall Classic Race at the TdK.... great course, tough trails, fast competition... but a horrible day for it.... started at 6degrees and windy only to upgrade to 7degrees and raining.... and still windy... Not a nice ride for some people (i managed to avoid the worst of it) but we were greated with a cool band and some good eats at the finish... Mike Steed was like myself and many others.... glad to have food, be off the bike but looking for warm dry clothing.... so we opted for hanging out near the BBQ and breathing in the warm but propane-vapour filled air....

Thanks to the Trek Canada Crew for organizing shuttles and rides back to the cars at Seneca College... although Barry took the "scenic" route back..... sorry for the long cold wait Eric Sirois.... probably the last time i talk him into a "great fall ride"....

You'll always be my first...

and the first is always the worst!!! Getting back into the groove of CX racing is always tough... the hard starts, the accelerations, the racing without drinking, the pounding on the wrists and shoulders.... and we started off racing in 23degrees!!! it would have great to have a shot of Heed at about lap 5.... but i was forced to chug it at the end....

2 stories of my race: 1 - Ted Ingram trying to make a sketchy pass on the outside of a loose corner, hooking bars with him, ripping through the tape and then being forced to chase Crouch for the rest of the day.... and 2 - catching my pedals about 8 times on the inside of corners as i get back on the gas.... jumping the back end around and almost tossing me off a few times.... "OK Barnes.... pedal AFTER the apex of the corner...."

everything still worked out well... hammered for a while with Eric Jobin (just like the old MTB days!!!) until he faded and i chased solo for 4 laps.... finished 2nd and won my first cash of the year (almost paid for the gas to get there) and a 6 pack of Wellington beer!!! Gotta love to hate 'Cross....

In your back yard...

Finally got around to riding the Don Trail system the other week... i always thought that it was small, simple and boring.... but i was totally wrong!!! Spent almost 3hrs riding in the trails and most of it was pretty technical off-camber or steep up/downhills.... and caught the sun setting over the skyline... Home Field Advantage definately went to my escort Murray (great guy that i met through XC running at school events) ... i might have the edge physically, but he knew the gears and corners... and dropped me on several occassions...

we entered just at Pottery Road and went all sorts of places that i could never find again or describe, so if you live in the city, haven't ridden the Don and have someone who knows the trails... GO FOR IT!!! i'll definately be back for more... as long as Murray is there to get me home...

Provs Post Race Report

sorry for the delay on the report.... Had to make the long drive to Duntroon 4 times in 2 days for MTB provs... but all turned out well... great course, perfect weather, and had a nice Escort in Mark Batty, who can still rock the fat tires... was invited to Lead out the Kids race.... gotta love the 6 year olds that can lay down the hurt...

GO!! Please note the i didn't get the Hole Shot...

great long power climb that i felt great on, fun flowing singletrack that could be railed, and i attacked half way through the first lap... legs felt awesom so i decided to try it... and opened up a gap pretty quickly....

after a week of rest to heal my strained back (Thanks Dr. Keber!!!) my HR was totally high right from the start... like 15bpm higher than normal, but my perceived level of exertion felt the same... Mark told me that i was just REALLY rested ... i like being REALLY rested...

wrapped up the season with 6 wins out of 6 races (i'm trying to forget about Albion...) and another Series Title....

Post Race Entertainment was Mark borrowing Jake's bike for a game of "Catch Me If You Can"... Mark fell, Jake won...

Time to hit the CX bike!!!

Better than duct tape....

so after a great block of training leading up to MTB provs on the 11th of sept... i came into a small stumbling block... i strained something in my back waterskiing at the cottage!!! "Take a couple days off Barnes... you'll be fine"... "OK... so i took 3 days off and i STILL can't put on my own socks.... we need to fix this..." so i went to visit Dr. Keber at Peak Health and Wellness in Brooklin and had a little treatment and some Kinesio taping done.... made a world of different.... plus a week of rest made for a good pre-ride with Mark Batty on saturday... except for the crash.... i need to take it easy or things are going to start falling off....

All for the kids....

The annual Ride for Karen - a 160km bike ride that raises money to send kids with cancer to 3 camps in the Muskokas - happened on Sept 11 this year... and it celebrated it's 10th anniversary... Kirk and Kris Tobias have tirelessly promoted this great ride to it's amazing size ... over 300 riders raising over $300,000 annually for the kids.... what a great couple guys and a great cause... unfortunately this year i was unable to attend since MTB provincials fell on the same day, but we did our bit to raise money and support a friend of ours down the road (Eric Sirois) as he continues to become involved with cycling and took on the challenge of the 100km route...

we sold snacks at a garage sale and collected empties from part of the neighbourhood... quite successfully i might add... 1 trailer FULL....

plus MORE in the garage.... plus an early run....

raising a grand total of $250 to sponsor Eric for his ride.... thanks to everyone in the area who supported the cause .... the kids are always worth it....

I can say i did it....

The East Coast Open.... potentially a great race and course but tried to do too much on their first go-round.... lots of us XC kids got mixed up on the course and took wrong turns... myself being one of them.... Started off fine with Brent Berger (Lapierre) and climbed hard to the top.... took turns pulling on the rollers under the ski lifts until i took us down the wrong trail... turned out to be O-Chute (a rather infamous DOWNHILL trail).... yeah... we almost died a few times... crazy rock gardens, the Coffin-Drop, Waterfall and a few jumps that made my little full carbon xc bike seem insufficient.... this pic is obviously BEFORE that wrong turn.... so we made our ways down to the start line just in time to see Andrew Watson come across the line with the win (congrats).... but it was great while it lasted!!! for sure a tough course and could be really good with some tweeking...

Congrats also to Cayley Brooks from Trek Canada for her 3rd place wins in both the XC and the Downhill.... that girl's got Skilz....