Is This A Logo??

Is This A Logo??

Tuesday 3 July 2012

The Last Two Weeks: Part Two A Sask., Part Two B XCMarathon Challenge 60Km Race

Part Two A: Saskatchewan

As mentioned last post, I returned from the Summer Solstice 24 hour race on Sunday and flew out to Saskatchewan on Monday where my sister met me at Regina airport to drive to my small hometown (two hour drive).  I had a nephew graduating on the Tuesday in Saskatoon…unfortunately timing kept me from attending. 

My daughter was graduating high school in Estevan on the Wednesday.  This is me and her (in case you thought that old dude was her escort!!)



I also was able to catch my niece’s grad enough to get a pic with her before heading back to catch my plane home on Friday night.  (Again, that old guy is me…not the general Saskatchewan grad escort!)



By the way, during my stay my mother mentioned that she still had my very first bike ever stashed away in the garage.  So we had to drag it out to take some pics!!  (Yes, that old guy is me!!)



The interesting thing is that that little ball of steel weighs more than my current mountain bike!!  Seriously!

Flew out of Regina at 7pm Friday, and with a 4 hour lay-over had me land in Toronto at 5:45am on Saturday where my Loving Caring (she would have to be to drive to Toronto that early!!) Wife, Heidi gathered my exhausted arse.



Part Two B: XC Marathon Challenge 60Km Race in Mansfield

So, I get back home Saturday morning, and get my life back in order (OK… at least similar to the order it was in before I left)…which basically meant opening my suit case and letting Heidi’s borderline OCD complex kick in and have to clean it out (just kidding…ish).  I head down to BicycleWorks to pick up my Mountain Bike (where I had left it before my vacation to attend to a couple of minor mechanical issues…a perpetually loose pivot bolt, and a broken spoke in the rear wheel), only to find out that the chain-stay was broken…so my bike won’t be available for the race Sunday.  Paul at BicycleWorks offers to lend me his bike…it’s not an SWorks but it is a carbon Epic decked out with all the top end components so I jump at his offer with a very appreciable nod!  So with a borrowed bike, it’s off to the races!

So…how out of shape can you get in a week??  Apparently a lot; a week of non-athletic eating (hot dogs, sausage, bacon, bannock…mmmmmm bacon and bannock) and an abundance of beer and whiskey is not really conducive to maintaining athletic performance.  The race, for me, was a mess…no serious crashes, however I did go over the bars on a steep descending sandy switchback that I tried to take the inside line on a little too fast.  However, a lack of energy and endurance of any kind kept me from maintaining any kind of respectable pace…and the heat and the extreme Mansfield sand (sand sucks for mountain biking!!) did not help.

So what do I have to do now?  First, get back on the training nutrition plan.  This is already done.

Second get back to training…not just riding.  This means much more road riding; with all the great weather we have had I have been hitting the trails with almost no road riding.  But road riding is so great for building endurance…and they have to be training rides.  This means extended rides at race pace, and rides involving endurance training…like High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) rides.  Trail rides will be geared towards training…hill repeats, extended race pace rides, and rides to work on certain skills (steep descending switchbacks??).  Apparently my mountain bike will be repaired and ready tomorrow.

So…let’s get back to work.

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