Might as well....

So while we were spending a beautiful week at the cottage, one of our neighbours came by the dock to ask if I wanted to join them for the MEC Michael Barry ride... and never one to turn down a good ride - I said SURE!!!
Turns out it was a bit of a "Private" event with only 250 riders allowed in, and a waiting list. But then again, who wouldn't want to ride for 160km around Muskoka with Michael Barry???
The weather forcast was beautiful, but the morning was locked down by fog coming across the lake in the boat... pretty nice life eh??  But the weather cleared and the sun dominated the skies, keeping us sweaty and thirsty for day.

The route started at the Warf in Gravenhurst and headed north to Bala, through Port Carling, past Winderemere ("Hey... I can almost see the cottage from here....") before making it's way through Bracebridge and back into Gravenhurst.  All familiar roads to me, and a great day on the bike.
To avoid a large cluster of riders affecting traffic and causing a safety risk, the organizers decided to send the riders out in groups of 12 with 1min between.  Good idea, but I knew no-one in the group and was sent out with a bunch of people who were more there to rub shoulders with Michael Barry than push the pace.  So I lead for a while heading up towards Bala when a pair of ambitious riders from a group behind caught up and blew past.... "OK Boys... It's ON!!!"
So I up go, pulling past these ambitious riders with a long train on my wheel...
"OK Barnes... this is a good strong tempo pace. Hmmm, there's about 30 riders on your wheel."
"Well, no-one wants to pull through, so lets keep the pace. Oh wait, there's only 20 riders now."
"You're in your groove now Barnes.  Good thing you don't need help because there's only 10 riders on your wheel now..."
"Well Barnes, we made it to Bala... oh wait... there's only 5 of us!!!"
So it was down to small group for the next 40km until the rest stop, where I waited for a few minutes to get my bike tuned.  Apparently my Tempo Pace was not appreciated since none of the riders in my small group waited for me!!!

40 Feelings Hurt Km's later, I caught back onto the only 2 guys who pulled through and helped me earlier, so I finally found some people to help out as we rolled through Bracebridge and onto the scenic Muskoka Beach Road to the finish.....
End of the day, it was a 156km (we got ripped off!!!) ride in just under 5hrs.... followed by some Muskoka Cream Ale (passed mine along to another rider....) some french fries and a veggie wrap.
As I was heading back to the car with my food (getting in the lake was ALL I could think about...) I passed by Michael.... then went back and grabbed this Selfie with him....

Funny guy Michael is.... "Should we take another?  I think the sun was behind us and it might now show our faces well.....".... "OK Michael..... but then I have to leave..."
Look for the ride next year, the plans are to have it grow for a few years and then make it into a Grand Fondo.... it was fun!!!

Back to Bucky!!

After a couple year break.... the OCup Series returned to the infamous Buckwallow Cycling Center in Gravenhurst to shake up the riders with it's rocks and roots and technical trails!!!
Bucky has always been a great place to ride.... and a tough place to race.... and this year was no different.  With a few additions for the 1:30 race that saw us tackling West D'Nile and Spur Line every lap, it made for a race that required total focus from start to finish.

On the long double track start, it was clear that ex-moto racer Brett Maxwell wanted to have a clear track, and took off from Rob and I very early in the race.  Once we lost sight of Brett before the 1/2 lap mark, I looked at Rob and asked "Where did he go????"

So it was down to Rob and I to fight it out for 2nd place, and I did my best to lead the race since I felt like I was riding the technical parts quite well.  It also helped that Barry let me use his Superfly 100 Dually!!!!  Always nice to feel less abused during the race....

Around and around we went, to the taunting comments of spectators like "Are you guys trying to catch Maxwell?" and "I thought you guys were fast?"... and those comments were from our families!!
But Trying we were and Not As Fast that day we also were... and it became apparent that Rob and I would be sprinting from the exit of Spur Line to the start of Moose Mayhem since there really was nowhere to pass after that.

I came out with a head of steam and an ambitious mind, trying to keep Rob behind me, but around a bend where my legs decided that we needed to sit... Rob snuck around under some pine branches to take the lead....
"C'Mon Barnes... Pay attention!!"
"Sorry Ambitious Barnes who forgets that his legs are cooked and back is cramping and triceps are fried and shoulders are giving out and....."

So I put up a Sprint Effort to hold Robs wheel to the finish line, but had to be content with a 3rd place on the day..... a bit disappointed.

The Kids also had a bit of a disappointing day also.... with Luke taking a Slip and Slide head first fall down a technical double track descent, and Jake flatting early in the race and walking for an hour to find the finish line with only a toad as his friend....
Barnes family : 0 for 3 at Bucky this year...

Ride for Karen is coming!!!

I know that I have more than a few posts to catch up on..... but here's the first and most important for now.....

It's almost that time of year again.... time for the Ride for Karen!!!

It's a great ride that raises money to send kids with cancer to camps in the Muskoka region... letting them experience what we all love and dream about - playing in the lake, walking in the forest, trying waterskiing, riding in a boat....

I will be once again supporting Kirk and Kris on Sept 13th in their efforts to make a positive impact on the lives of children, and add to the over $2Million dollars they have already raised!!!

Details for the ride can be found at www.rideforkaren.com

I am reaching out for your help in achieving my personal fund-raising goal of $1000 this year, and any help is appreciated!!

A secure link to my personal fund-raising page can be found below.

Jon Barnes Ride for Karen

Thanks in advance.... and be sure to check back for my Post Ride Post!!!

Good way to spend a day...

Went for a nice Family Ride last week... Rode from Edwards Gardens to the Distillary District for some great burritos.

Then continued over to Ashbridges Bay for a chilly swim in the Big Lake.... 

Everyone had lots of fun.... And a bike is always the best way to get around T.!!

8hrs of Playing in the sun and rain!!

Well... since I was fully recovered from Nationals (the drive home was just as tiring as the race!!) it was time for the 8hr race at Hardwood... sponsored by Trek and Hammer Nutrition!!
Barry wanted a couple strong Teams in the race, so we threw together a combination of youth, experience, power and finesse.... Yes I was the "Experience" and it made me mad enough to YELL!!

Adam Morka, Peter Glassford, Sarah Fabbro and myself... not a bad Trek Crew to light up the trails!!
The day started hot and muggy, and got worse from there!!  Sun pounded down on us as we heated up the course, and Adam was our first racer, coming in and giving me a 45sec lead to play with - always a nice feeling!!  A hot lap for me and then it was time for Pete to throw it down, and Sarah to kick up some dust!!  After all of our first single laps, we had a strong lead already, so it was time to start doing Double Laps to give everyone on the Team a chance to rest and prepare for an extended effort.

As it started coming to the wire, we didn't change strategies at all, keeping our sequence and lap numbers the same.  Sarah was able to fight off our Chasers and gave PG a 1min lead going into the last lap - a difference that Very few riders in the country came make up on Pete!!
With time to spare and a perfect track after some quick rain showers, the day was done and we made  Barry happy by taking the Top Step... where all the Young Kids take Selfies!!!

Aside from some great racing, our "rest" time was usually spent with Ryan Corry from Hammer Canada.  He and his fiance are on a cross-Canada trek (see what I did there...?) in the Hammer Mobile Party Bus and were available all day to talk Hammer, fuelling, hydration and life.  It was great hearing some of his stories from the Divide Race that he just completed - a ride from Canmore down the Great Divide to New Mexico - WOW!!!  Need proper Nutrition for That one!!!

Big thanks goes out to all the Trek racers, Barry and Ryan for all the support and motivation.... another great day on the bike!!!

Phew...

You know you've had a hard day on the bike when you end up looking THIS ugly!!

Nationals - a loooong drive but worth it!!

So.... making the drive out the St Felicien Quebec (3+hrs north of Trois Rivieres) takes some real committment... not only to the racing but to the drive!!!  But I had a great trip out with Zach Tatem Mechanical Master (check out his mobile bike repair company at Bicycle Repair Company) and made it there in just under 10hrs.... it's amazing how tired you can get from sitting around in a car!!
After settling into our Multiple Trek Canada Rooms, it was Friday and time to do a few laps on the course... a course that I have raced twice before and have always really enjoyed... quite possibly the best course I have raced..... and it was even better this year!!!
Awesome features, tough climbs, sketchy downhill chutes..... so much fun!!!  And as far as I could tell... all the Big Dog from previous Nationals were in attendance.... making for a real show down!!
Friday afternoon added another competitor to the race - Mother Nature.  She dropped a whole lot of rain on the course Friday evening and overnight, and it didn't let up for the Elite Women's race on Saturday morning.... or even the Elite Men's race in the afternoon.  Super Shout Out to the other Trek Canada racers for their performances - check them out at our Team Webpage at www.trekcanada.ca
The rain came down so hard on Saturday night before my race day that we lost power in the hotel.... gonna be fun!!

Once race time arrived, the rain had stopped, but the damage had been done.  A lot of slick and sticky mud would make it a great battle, and we were off for the starting charge up the long gravel climb of the start loop.  I knew that Rob would want to lead this out, and he was followed by Eric Jobin (usual battle partner) and Brian McKewon from New Brunswick who I have battled with before.  I was 4th wheel as we started the first lap, and noticed a small gap starting to form to Rob, so I jumped up to him and looked back to see that no-one else had bridged across.
Rob and Barnes... pretty common place...

We exchanged the lead a couple times, and knew that I would have to dig deep to stay with Rob on the long singletrack climb since he typically as more seated power than I do.  The first time up though wasn't that bad... and I was happy about that!!!  We swapped the lead a few more times before I took over at the start of the 2nd lap and made an effort to keep the pace high and maybe force some errors.  I went pretty good up the single track climb, and noticed that I couldn't hear Rob's breathing when I got to the double track at the top.  A quick glance back showed a gap of about 10 bike lengths, so I took Emily Batty's advice and used that double track to throw an attack to break away.  It was earlier in the race than I had hoped for ... but if Rob was having a bad day, then I had to take advantage of it!!

I finished the 2nd lap of 5 with a 30sec lead, and focused on riding smooth in the singletrack to avoid mistakes and putting as many people between us on the double track.  With a lap to go, my lead was almost 2min, and I realized that it was my race to lose.  I just had to keep it upright and with air in the tires.  It's a nice feeling to have a gap at the end knowing that the "Real" work was put in a few laps ago, so I continued to be aggressive on the doubletrack and flowed the trees nice and smooth....
Came across the line with a 2min lead for another National Championships.... over a local rider and McKewan in 3rd.... Rob really did have a tough day finishing 4th.

Happy to have conquered the mud, rocks, hills and competition.... and thankful for all those who help me get there.  Amazing sponsors like Trek Bicycle Store, Hammer Nutrition, ESI Grips and Bontrager, a great wife and kids who yell at me while I race (I could almost here them 10hrs away!!) and a great Team of racers who take care of each other even when we can't be together.... Makes for an amazing Trek Canada Team!!!