Bromont Camp Wrap

Sorry about the delay....  It's always pretty hectic when I get back from a trip like that...

The last two days of camp were spent on the track.  We did a lot more motorpacing and threw in some all-out efforts.  I do have some pictures but they are on my laptop and I have not switched them over yet...

The most challenging workout involved laps at 40km/h behind the motorbike interspersed with 1 or 2 lap bursts of all-out efforts.  

You take your turn, alternating behind the moto until Eric Calls out, "Meyrick!!  Deux tours!" or "Meyrick!! Un tours!"  [Meyrick!! Two laps! or Meyrick!! One lap!]  

Then you sprint off the front, accelerating as fast and as hard as you can from 40 to whatever max speed is.  This also meant that recovery occurred at 40km/h and efforts were 45-55 or so....  It was pretty challenging.

We did several 20 minute sets like that and one 30 minute set.

On Friday morning we did some start practice.  I did about 6-8 standing starts and got faster on each one - that was good.  Below you can observe a world class standing start - since I have no video you will have to trust me that mine is relatively dissimilar at the moment...

 

That guy is a machine...  

In general I would have benefitted a lot from riding my own bike during all of these practices - the bike I borrowed from the centre was significantly too small - especially for out of the saddle sprinting which there was a lot of.

My final thoughts on the camp were this:

Positives

• It was good to meet Eric.  He is the new coach of the ParaCycling program and therefore someone I need to know and who I want to know me.  He will be a great resource for me to be able to call upon as I continue to work away towards my goals. 
  
• The riding.  It is always great to focus on riding and have top-notch coaches to put you through your paces.

Negatives

• These camps are great for riding (duh) but they don't work very well with the rest of my life.  As a father of three, husband of one, and a business owner it is a challenge to be away from everyone and everything this way.
  

Having said that I remain very excited about entering some bike races (Nationals in a few weeks) and laying down some baselines.  You have to start somewhere to get anywhere....

Back Home

The first order of the day was to reconnect and spend some time with Sacha and the kids.  This was achieved with a super fun day-trip to Washington State where we visited Fairhaven, Chuckanut Drive and Larrabee State Park.  I am already planning the amazing ride I want to do along Chuckanut Drive, through Sudden Valley along Lake Whatcom - combine it with an open water swim at Larrabee and it will be amazing!!!  Let me know if you want to join me.

Larrabee State Park

Cooked up this route on Map-my-Tri...  It is an amazingly beautiful ride - especially along the lake and ocean.

Upon my return I was pumped to see a package in the mail....  a new TT helmet (just like Vince's).  The kids have been modeling it for a few days now:

I was also extremely happy to be eating Sacha's cooking again - I survive cooking on my own but she is the superior chef in this family...


In other news... today was Aia's graduation from Pre-School. Next year kindergarden! Congratulations Aia!!

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Bromont Sunset

In this photo the sun has set on the bike wash behind the Centre.  In just the same way, the sun has set on this pre-Nationals Training Camp... all that is left to do is get up at 5:30 am and get to the airport for my flight home.  It will be great to see Sacha and the kids.

Had things gone differently I would be waking up for Escape from Alcatraz tomorrow.  If I could teleport myself there I might do it...  Oh well, for 2009 that ship has sailed.

I don't have any time to tell you about the last couple days of camp, other than that they went well - of course it is late and I still have to dismantle and pack my bike and all of my gear.  I will post about it once I am home.

Au revoir for now, Bromont.  See you in a few weeks for Cycling Track Nationals.

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Bromont - Day 3

The sun came out in Bromont today... which meant we were able to hit the track...

We were motorpacing in a group behind Eric (the ParaCycling Coach). He rode the motorbike at a steady 40km/h and we followed in a group behind taking turns at the front.

The purpose of this was to:

a) Get the hang of the exchanges.
b) Put in a longer effort on the track (it is easier to go fast for longer behind a motorbike...)

Some pics from the track today:

Eric explaining the nuances of the track...

Eric getting ready to lead us for one of three 30 minute 40km/h effort behind the motorbike.

Post-workout I decided to take action against the rash of flats I have been getting on the road...

New rubber:

That's also the new 3T 140mm stem...

After that was all done we did the obligatory bike shop trip...  Cycles St. Onge is one of the best bike shops I have ever been to...  (apart from the Bike Gallery of course...)

Aprés le bike shop we picked up a few groceries, and fooled around a bit...

BUT the highlight of the day was hitting (literally) the BMX track with Brayden around 7:30 this evening...

Let's start with what it is supposed to look like:

(Go ahead and enlarge those...  I am proud of those shots as they were hard to get...)

Now for how we looked:

Moi (boring old fart - allergic to getting air - trying not to hurt himself...)

Monsieur Brayden (what he lacks in skillz he makes up in courage...)

The crowd goes silent as Brayden edges to the gate, eyes the first jump, focused, calm, he pushes forward... 

...rockets down the ramp, achieves a flight of about 18 inches and promptly kisses la terre de Bromont.

That one is worth enlarging too...  ouch...  luckily no real damage was done and the world can still look forward to dealing with Brayden's offspring one day...

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Bromont - Day 2

This morning we started with a meeting and a bike fit.  

My position on the bike has been a source of continued interest amongst the CCA coaches...  After raising the saddle a couple of centimetres in Florida (March), it was raised again today by another cm.  This may not seem like much to those of you who don't ride but 3 cms is a large adjustment.  And my stem which was increased from 100mm to 120mm in Florida will be increased again to 140mm - another big change.

The result should be that I am more aerodynamic, and more efficient.  Fingers crossed...

We were to hit the track at 12:30pm

We almost did but then it started to rain which makes the wooden track too slippery...

Sebastien getting ready to motorpace us on the track as the first few drops fell...

Since the track was a "no go" we were sent out for a road ride.  It was my first decent tour of the area - about 2 hours in length.  Unfortunately, the ride was marred by my second and third flat in two days.  

The final flat of the day happened crossing a railway track - the pavement was all broken around the track leaving big holes and protruding metal - my bunnyhop cleared the first wheel and landed the second right on the ugliest chunk of metal....  Pssssstsstsss.....  lucky I didn't break my wheel.

Note:  You gotta really be hauling to clear the rear wheel over the far track with a bunnyhop... Your tube and wheel are at stake because if you fail it is way worse than just rolling over.  Stupid....

Sebastien and I riding in the Quebec countryside...

The BMX track at the National Cycling Centre - as viewed from the kitchen window.  This would be a better place to work on that bunnyhop.  Did you know that BMX is in the Olympics? 

The TV.  I put the box of kleenex there for scale...  Beside the TV you will notice the rabbit ears...  Between everything being French and the reception being crap the size of the TV has been a non-issue...

The kitchen.  It works...

The track from the kitchen window.  It is super handy having everything right here.  Now the clouds and rain need to clear and we can get some work done...

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Bromont - Day 1

My journey to Bromont was relatively smooth - of course the flight was delayed, then I got switched to a different flight, meanwhile my bike took a whole different (and way longer) route to Montreal....  but it's hard to complain given that 229 people went down in the Atlantic on Air France last week.

Anyway, after waiting at the airport in Montreal for an hour or two, my bike finally arrived having visited Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal in a single day.

4 Things I have noticed about WestJet:

1.  Your itinerary is just one possible way to get to the destination - it often bears no resemblance to the route or departure times you will experience.

2.  The staff are very nice and therefore it is a bit easier to handle #1.

3.  You HAVE to bring cash or you will starve while the guy beside you eats sandwiches and Pringles.

4.  If you are really nice sometimes you won't be charged for the bike box.  Dust off the flirting skills - make that 50-something WestJet lady at the check-in counter feel special.

So anyway, that should give you some idea of the challenges I faced on the way out here....  no big deal but it was long and I was very HUNGRY.

Today's high was 15°c (59°F)... and it was pouring almost all day.

When I packed for this trip I think I was basically anticipating similar weather to Vancouver - hotter, if anything.  Well, I probably should have done a little research...

Nevertheless we put on our rain gear and booties and hit the road for the first ride of camp.  The plan was to ride out to a 5km loop and do steady efforts around the loop in a two-man team.  Kind of time-trialling without the TT bike.

... and I sucked.  Really quite badly.  I am hoping it was simply the travel, lack of proper food for a day and a half, and some missed sleep but I had NOTHING out there today.  I also had a monster headache and any bump on the road (of which there are many here) aggravated it.

Tomorrow is another day though, and I now have some groceries, a belly full of pasta and some good breakfast food that I am excited to eat.  Hopefully that will make a difference.

One more thing (jumping around a bit here):

Skype - with all the fuss over Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, Blogging etc. skype kind of got forgotten (at least by me).

Sacha, the kids and I have been on Skype every night - FREE crystal clear calls with video.  It's awesome!

Skype to land line or mobile phones is also awesome and SUPER CHEAP - I bought a $10 credit before I left and have made many calls - but only used 75 cents so far.  It would have been WAY more if I used my mobile phone.  If you have never tried skype I would highly recommend it - well worth the minimal time and $0 investment it takes to get it up and running.

Here are some pics from my room - so you can see the luxury, we had it pretty good in Florida. I will try to get some shots from the road or track tomorrow if it stops raining...

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