Eat, drink and don't be like Gary.

To celebrate Ryder Hesjedal's victory I went out for a ride down to Creemore and then back up to Glenhuron (don't stick your finger in the spokes) and back home. On the way down I decided to do some wind sprints and for the entire ride I pushed hard. For the 58 km ride I averaged 29.5 kph and I was completely spent when I arrived home. My heart rate moniter said I had burned 1750 calories over the 2 hour ride.
I showered up and then sat down to watch the Indy 500 but found I couldn't keep my eyes open. This has been happening often this year after working out. I get very sleepy and lethargic so it was time to google it and see what some people in the know thought about this problem and I guess I am not surprised by the answers.
I have always been notorious for not drinking enough water while exercising going back to my hockey playing days. I take some water on rides but rarely finish the bottle even though on a day like today I sweat a lot. I have also not been bringing food with me on rides or eating beforehand and this could mean that after a couple of hours my blood sugar levels are dropping significantly. The third thing could be simply that I have been riding a little too much. I am relatively new to this road biking thing so it's possible the almost 300 kms I have ridden in the last nine days is pushing it a little bit.
So it seems the solutions are simple and from here on in I am going to try to be more careful. I will drink more water on rides as well as bring an energy drink along. I will also try to eat better before rides and bring some form of snack (mmmm, banana bread) on rides. I am still going to work hard but if I take care of my diet and hydration things should improve and these waves of sleepiness after rides hopefully will end.

Ryder Hesjedal

For the first time ever a Canadian has won the Giro D'Italia bicycle race. Ryder Hesjedal powered his way to the win on today's individual time trial. He had been one of the favourites to win the race and was in the top 3 for the entire race and also wore the pink jersey for several days. Another great fact is that he did it on Canadian bikes made by Cervelo.
I first became aware of Hesjedal 10 years ago when he was racing mountain bikes on the pro circuit, one of only a few Canadian males at that time. I don't even know if he ever won a race. Like last years Tour de France winner Cadel Evans he eventually started road biking and now has reached the pinnacle of that discipline.  Hesjedal was instrumental in the Cadel Evans Tour de France win as well because it was his job to help protect Evans from attacks and to lead him up the climbs.
This win means Hesjedal has now inherited the title of Canada's greatest rider from Steve Bauer who had a 4'th place in the Tour de France. It's a great day for Canadian bicycling. Congratulations Ryder.

Training night

Tonight I went with the Collingwood Cycling Club on a training run. We started off with 14 riders but lost a couple within the first 5 minutes, probably because they were beginners who could not keep the pace. It didn't feel right to drop them but what else could we do? Wednesday is beginner night.
We rode up to Rob Roy with yours truly being the second last to finish the climb. Then we made our way to McIntyre where we turned around and started doing wind sprints. We did four 1.5 km sprints, the idea being to "crush" yourself, or at least that's the term one of the experienced riders used.
And therein lies the problem. One of the reasons I stopped mountain biking a few years back was because I was tired of busting my ass, working so hard, gasping for air after doing a tough steep climb like Alpine. I was good at it but I simply wasn't ready to pay the price anymore to be a good mountain biker.
Now I see that to be a good road biker who has some climbing prowess I will have to feel the pain again. I will have to push the envelope, ride so hard sometimes that I am gasping for air, my legs feeling like rubber after going harder than I thought I could. I am not sure if I have it in me anymore. I am enjoying learning the finer points of road biking and this should help me to push myself but it remains to be seen whether the desire to push myself hard is that intense. Only time will tell I think.
As it stands right now my desire to improve is there and I seem to have some competitive desire back so let's hope I can keep up with the 70 year old guys in a month or two. Little steps. As soon as I rocket by those Old Age Security collecting guys I will set my sights on the guys who have just qualified for their Canada pension. Like I said, little steps.

Collingwood Cycling Club

About 3 weeks ago I heard there the CCC was starting back up after being dormant for a few years. It sounded like it was well organised and the response could be described as overwhelming. As of this morning there are 252 members of all different ages and abilities.
The cost to join was $77 and that included an OCA membership which you have to have to ride with the club. If you already are a member of the OCA that cost is subtracted form the $77. Should I decide to do a mountain bike race at Blue Mountain the OCA card is required as well so it was money well spent.
I arrived at Fisher field this morning at 8:45 and collected my membership card and went to the intermediate group ride. We were to ride to Creemore and back and hopefully learn some of the finer points of riding in a group. Going there was fun and quick compared to riding solo as I normally do. We stopped at the coffee shop in Creemore for 10 minutes and then headed back. Leaving Creemore was the toughest climb of the ride and it's clear that I will never challenge the good climbers. It's unreal how fast some folks can get up a hill. The ride ended up back at Fisher field around 11:45 and I have to say I am glad I joined. It was fun riding in a group and it will be nice to meet some new people who enjoy riding on the roads around Collingwood. I have often said that I would never want to be a member of any club that would have me (thanks Groucho) but in this case an exception has to be made. I am looking forward to many club rides this year.

For Sale

Good day, I was hoping that someone out there might be interested in buying a useless piece of shit. I purchased this useless piece of shit in the winter after reading glowing reviews on how well it worked. I am guessing the reviewer was related to Helen Keller in some way although I think even Helen could have spotted this useless piece of shit easily. Sadly I couldn't. Here is a picture of the useless piece of shit.

It is supposed to be a bicycle repair stand but the useless piece of shit doesn't really work for wide framed carbon fibre bikes. I have tried several useless piece of shit modifications but I still cannot get this useless piece of shit to do its job properly.
I must admit my Scottish roots had something to do with the purchase because it was, how shall I put this, inexpensive,......or maybe.....yea, I think cheap would be the word. Now you would think I would know better because this is not the first useless piece of shit I have purchased in my life. There was the useless piece of shit CD-DVD player that was......OK, it was cheap. I eventually destroyed that CD-DVD player with an axe and recorded the event with my useless piece of shit camera which didn't work so the actual destruction was never recorded. Shit!
I may soon have another useless piece of shit for sale soon as well. It's called a BlackBerry playbook and if this useless piece of shit auto-corrects me one more time I going to start looking for the axe.
I would like to add that a sure way to tell if something is a useless piece of shit is if it makes your face go like this.

Next week I may discuss the finer points of something else that I am very well schooled on. They're called fucking useless pieces of shit.

Revenge is sweet!

Today I was emailed a photo by Lori that was taken of her skiing by the staff at Beaver Creek. We all had them done (Cam, Lori and myself) and mine is posted on an earlier blog. Thankfully that photo makes it seem like I can ski a little bit. Lori happens to be a much better skier than I am, probably one of the best skiers if not the best skier I know. She makes skiing look easy regardless of the conditions on the hill. It is a rare day when Lori falls unless I have crashed into her and decide that if if I'm going down, damn it, she's coming with me.. I not only crash, I crash in spectacular fashion due to my need for speed and my lack of a "maybe I should think this through" gene.

Kitzbeuhl, stage right

As I said earlier my impression of my photo skiing at Beaver Creek was for the most part favourable. I actually have an edge in the snow and look reasonably proficient but now Lori has sent me her photo with what looks like better form if you discount the ski pole in her right hand pointing to Kitzbeuhl, Austria. But I'm OK with her form being better because I have grown up (sort of) and I am comfortable with the fact that she is a better skier than I. Always will be. But why would she feel the need to rub it in. How petty. How childish. I would never stoop that low.
Well OK maybe I would. I can be as petty and childish as the next person. The sound I am most familiar with while skiing is Lori laughing at me, not with me. These things are hard to forget, impossible to forget actually and you know what they say; revenge is a dish best served cold so lets have a look at these rare photos.

Whatcha doin Lori?

Is there a problem?

That's good "getting up off your ass" form

Revenge is so sweet. The only disappointing thing is I couldn't get my camera out of my pocket quick enough to get the picture of Lori on her back with her ass in the air, pointing uphill (perhaps to Kitzbeuhl?). It was a race, me trying to get the camera out and Lori trying to get up before I did. I WON!!! The evidence is there. A picture is worth a thousand words. Three pictures, three thousand words.The world is my oyster. Life is good! 

Memory Lane

I walked the hill yesterday, climbing the Cascade trail which is a beautiful climb when the water is rushing down the creek. At the top I headed north and decided to go down the hill on Memory Lane. Memory is a great ski run in the winter and it now lives up to it's name with a small memorial park near the top where many "live to ski" diehards are now remembered there. Friends like Karen Menyes Gasparini and Anthony Mosely lived to ski and snowboard and now their name plaques are among many other gone but not forgotten skiers. I hope when my day comes my name will end up there as well although it's not a club I want to join anytime soon.

Memory Lane memorial

I continued down the hill using the mountain bike trail in the woods and was surprised by how steep and difficult it was. There are some rooted and rocky sections that are without a doubt experts only and would certainly have one hanging off the back of the bike.
Farther on down there are some trick and fun looking man made obstacles such as the ramp below which has a couple of banked turns which are not that hard but a lapse in concentration could find you dropping off before the end of it.

Farther on down there is a really cool ramp which has been built around a large boulder which gives you the option of threading the needle around the rock or go over the rock. Either choice is a tough one and I'm sure this ramp has been responsible for more than a few crashes.

The final man made obstacle is a really fun looking ess ramp which is wide and relatively easy to ride but a good way to end the obstacle section.
I must admit Blue has done great job making this a challenging and fun downhill which would test the skills of just about all riders. 

Guinness and the Ess

A new job? with the update!!!!

For the first time in 36 years I have gone to a job interview. The last 4 1/2 months off have been nice but after a while one can get pretty bored so in the last month I have sent out job applications to several golf courses, Blue Mountain and the Scenic Caves in hopes of securing part time work. I had no bites from the golf courses which is probably good because many of the jobs required a 6:00 to 6:30 AM start time. On average I get up around 6:30 to 7 which is not exactly late but to have to get up at 5:15 in the morning did not appeal to me. I also applied at Blue for a mountain bike guide job but they wanted someone 5 days a week and that was not something that interested me.
Several weeks ago I did see a help wanted ad in the paper for the Scenic Caves. They were looking for zipline-treetop walk guides which sounded like a fun job and something I might like so I applied and yesterday was interview day. If I remember correctly, 36 years ago I would go to job interviews trying to seem older and more mature. I doubt anyone bought that act but eventually I did get the job at Bell because my Aunt, a Bell employee, gave me an interview reference card. Yesterday I tried to look young and vigorous, bright eyed and bushy tailed, hale and hardy, rough and ready. I guess I was hoping the interviewer was blind and deaf. I limped out of the car with a stiff knee, my thinning grey hair and orthopaedic shoes exposing me for what I am, a 56 year old who has had his share of hard knocks physically and psychologically. Lucky for me it's easier to hide 36 years of Bell induced disillusion than it is a sore knee.
The interview itself seemed to go well and I will know in a few days  whether or not I will once again be gainfully employed. My fingers are crossed even though that hurts as well.





I GOT THE JOB! I GOT THE JOB! What the hell am I doing? I don't need a job. I'm retired. What the hell was I thinking. Who cares if the dog is sick of looking at me lazing around. Tough shit for him. What about my afternoon nap?.......naps. I'm going to search for my marbles now.