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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Track Clinic

I have organized a Learn to Ride Clinic at the Burnaby Velodrome.  This is all part of my master plan to have other people to ride with at the 'drome.

If you are interested in joining there are a handful of spots left....  Here are the details:

• When:  Wednesday March 4th, 8:30pm - 10:00pm
  
• Where:  Burnaby Velodrome (MAP)
  
• What:  Learn to Ride 1 Certification course and open track time after until facility closes.
  
• Who:  7 or 8 riders I have roped in (so far) as well as myself.  The course is taught by certified instructors.
• Why:  Because the track is A LOT of fun and a great workout.  It's also a great way to get time on the bike in the winter.
• How:  To register you need to click HERE and fill out the form, name, address, yada, yada, yada....  It costs $30 and includes:  Instruction, insurance, track bike rental, and track time.

So there you have it....  come one, come all - it is a lot of fun and it would be cool to see some MJR readers there.

You never know....  you might love it and before long you'll look like this:

If you do sign up let me know at:  meyrick@meyrickjonesracing.com

Have a great weekend!

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Burnaby Velodrome

Yesterday was my first day on the track at the Burnaby Velodrome.

My first impression was that the track was WAY steeper than I expected in the corners.  I guess the tracks I have seen before are 400m tracks and this is a 200m track.  That means the corners are a lot tighter and therefore a lot steeper.

We were told that in order to stay upright we had to maintain a minimum of 30km/h in the corner.  Any less and the tire would slip without warning and you tumble to the infield.  Ouch.

I didn't take this photo (and I have no idea who this guy is) but he is demonstrating the steepness of the corners quite nicely.

We were instructed on how to get going and how to stop....  in between you just ride (at >30km/h).

My first 7 or 8 minute stint went by in a flash - I was gripping the bars pretty tight.  I had very little in the way of thoughts as I was super-extra-overly focused.  My dismount began mentally about 6 or 7 laps before it happened physically.  I kept slowing down to get off the track then losing my nerve and sprinting to get back to 30+ for the corner.

The second stint was way more relaxed and I began to experiment with some harder efforts.  I tried sprinting out of the saddle, climbing the wall and shooting down to the sprinter's line (which is low down.)

Third and fourth stints were just messing around and getting a feel for the bike and the track...  a couple of timed efforts.  We did a few "Flying 500s" - 500m is two-and-a-half laps of the track.  My fastest lap was 16.something - not bad, but leaving lots of room for improvement.

Jeremy Storie and Stephen Burke did a great job of teaching us the etiquette, skills and tricks of the track....  I am looking forward to more of the same today.

My pictures were pretty bad - the lighting is dodgy....  but here are a couple I took of Darren late in yesterday's session.  I'll hopefully get some better ones and maybe a bit of video today.

Darren chilling on the "Côte D'Azur"....  The mellow blue zone where you can go sub 30km/h without eating it...

Darren laying down a "Flying 500"....  The best line is the black line (shortest route around the track) but generally if you are between black and red you are in the right area for sprinting.

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Rough Weekend - but it's a New Week!

It was a pretty rough weekend around here.  There is a gnarly wave of sickness running through this peaceful hamlet....  It had Mattias, then Aia and finally Sacha down for the count this weekend.  Viggo and I are holding strong though...  *knocking on wood*

Actually Mattias was a victim late last week and was actually fully recovered in time for the weekend and so we were training buddies on Saturday (him = Otters, me = Masters) + a Lighthouse Park trail run.

The trail run was so awesome on Saturday we decided to repeat it on Sunday with full camera support.  Mattias is a super fast trail runner - there were several times I thought to myself "I wouldn't actually be going any faster by myself."  He is a descending maniac.

I even shot a video... unfortunately, Welcome to the Jungle (Mattias' favourite song) didn't make it by the YouTube copyright police... so it's a silent film.

I am gearing up for an exciting week.  Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I will be taking part in a track cycling camp organized by CCA.  Two hours of track time per day and probably a few road rides with the fellas.  It should be pretty awesome.

I actually have that "butterflies" feeling - like the one you get before your first triathlon - I have never ridden on a track, add in a single speed track bike with no brakes and no free wheel - it could get ugly.  (Hopefully it will go better than that first open water swim start though...)

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