Meyrick Jones Racing: Odds and Ends

"wise guys" quote:

It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

- Theodore Roosevelt, speech titled "Citizen in a Republic" delivered at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910

Everything you need is already inside.

- Bill Bowerman, co-founder of Nike, legendary coach, and father of the running movement.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Odds and Ends

This post is going to be a bit of a grab bag of odds and ends.... the good news is I found my camera so I took a few pictures this afternoon! No more stealing photos off the internet (and searching for my camera...)

Dryland Training

I don't think I have posted on dryland training yet. Why is it called "Dryland" training I can imagine many of you asking? I'm not sure... I suppose it is to highlight the contrast between the relative moisture of snow and the supposed dryness of land (the inventor of the term "dryland" clearly not a Vancouver resident...)

Anyway, the sessions occur every Tuesday and Thursday night - normally at a track in Burnaby. We have been using a variety of ski training aids designed to improve our technique - CatSkis, Skikes and Roller Skis. The sessions are almost 100% technique and I suppose that is best since technique is where I need to improve the most in skiing.

Our sessions include anywhere from 2 - 6 skiers and Tony (our coach). We nerd it up pretty seriously with our helmets and wild equipment at the track. The sessions are a bit challenging mentally, given that I hate driving across the city at rush hour... but they always end up being worth it and I can tell they are helping.

Here is a video breakdown of the stuff we do (I am working on getting some of my own video but for now this is courtesy of YouTube):

This video shows the CatSkis in action - I would categorize the CatSkis as my least favourite dryland tool.

OK, this guy is using the Skikes (he is pretty awesome on them...) I enjoy the skikes - they resemble big offroad rollerblades.

These are Roller Skis - my favourite. They seem to provide the best replication of real skiing.

Tony delivered my brand new set of Roller Skis today... very exciting! I plan to spend a lot of time on them over the summer so it was great to get out on them tonight. I had a total of two wipeouts - one was low speed and a bit lame, the other was faster and more painful as it occurred on tarmac. No damage done however other than a couple of bruises and I think I have the hang of it now....

These are my new roller skis - they are pretty sweet - even if I did eat it a couple times tonight...

Thursday we are scheduled to ski up Cypress on the roller skis... Yes, you read that correctly. Tony assures me this is possible... it sounds rather difficult, but I am so psyched to be able to tell people that "I roller skied up Cypress"! Nobody will believe it!

Tony looking relaxed as he demonstrates perfect form on the roller skis.

Tony and Andrea (one of the guides for our blind skiers) after tonight's session.

New Bike

With all of the cycling training I am doing now it was a bit crazy to do it all on my triathlon bike. The geometry makes it a bit more difficult to climb, plus the position is a bit aggressive when you want to ride for 2,3,4 or 5 hours. Today I add this bad boy Specialized Tarmac to the quiver courtesy of Stephen at the Bike Gallery. It is pictured here with my Mavic Cosmic Carbone wheelset mostly because I liked the racy look they add to the set-up. I should probably roll the training wheels (shimanos) but I've never been good at leaving the nice stuff at home.... Thanks very much Stephen!

Viggo: Photo Update (yes I found my camera - so here are some shots)

He is doing well and is really waking up to the world in the last week or so... Mattias and Aia continue to be the greatest big brother and sister a kid could hope for.