12 months of cycling
Year in review. It's that time again. And even though the cycling season is really March to October, I figured I'd do a 12 months of cycling review from another busy season that saw me racing in the red and white for Escape Velocity. Once upon a time, there used to be an off-season. Now, with an indoor track season in the winter and a cross bike for those blustery fall days, there's really no excuse. You can ride and race pretty much 12 months of the year. And here's the proof:
January
Nine days in and I'm racing flat out at the Burnaby Velodrome. Highlights: going head to head to head with Christian Meier, Geoff Argue and Mandy Poitras in a no-holds barred Points Race. A good event, hard fought. Just lucky I didn't have to race Tyler Farrar or Kenny Williams in the A Group. Cough.
February
Road racing started on Feb 29th this year, with the Escape Velocity/Devo Spring Series. I rode in the A Group, essentially Cat 1/2, and had some good days. Also had some very off-days. Got spanked on a regular basis by Symmetrics, who came out swinging. A sign of things to come for those boys.
March
In the middle of the Spring Series, I found myself at the Vancouver Aquarium for an important government press conference. The Burnaby Velodrome was awarded an Infrastructure Grant for upgrades to the facility. This $550,000 grant was an important step in the survival of this unique facility and was a long time in coming. March 15th was quite the day.
April
Harris-Roubaix, Walla Walla, Tahuya-Seabeck-Tahuya: the race season was officially in full swing by April. TST was good, but also a disappointment. I had one of those days where I felt so strong I figured I could win the race. But then sat around in the pack waiting for the finish and got caught behind some sketchy descending at the end. A shame, although teammate Ian Lockley finished third. And who can forget the hardest event in all of April, the Pacific Populaire randonneur event...
May
More highs and lows. A week after DNF'ing Columbia Plateau and some physiotherapy on my knee, I came back swinging at the Tour of Enumclaw in Washington. Had the full services of the Devo/EV crew and was 5th going into the Road Race stage. Wound up 7th after I attacked too soon and too hard (twice) at the bottom of the Mud Mtn climb. Patience the virtue there. Should have let others do the work and save it for when the climb gets tough near the feed zone. 7th overall in the best attended Cat 3 stage race in the Pacific Northwest.
June
June was dominated by the races at the end of the month: Canadian National Road Championships in Kamloops and the Yaletown Grand Prix in Vancouver. As a Cat 3 racing with the Elite/Pro men at Nationals, I held my own. Managed 15th place in the Criterium, then lasted 4.5 hrs the next day in the Road Race (14/18 laps). It was 37 degrees, and I'd managed to do 42km of climbing when I pulled the pin, just a few minutes before the lead group lapped our "laughing group." Gord Fraser went onto win, taking his National Champion title and securing his spot to the Athens Olympics. At least the other Gord won.
Then it was onto Yaletown, where I declared all day in the office, "I'm going to win this race tonight." Well, I came close as me and Kevin Calhoun lapped the Cat 3 field with only 2 laps remaining. Pros: I lapped the field. Cons: I got stuck in the ensuing pack sprint and came 2nd as Kev slipped by me. A prime example of how to snatch defeat from the hands of victory.
July
Superweek. The 10 days of racing you live for all year. Delta, Gastown, White Rock. This year I helped out with Gastown and did an interview with the Georgia Straight. I was Mr. Gastown, the only guy in the race with an office on the course. And of course, I didn't race. A huge crash in Delta, less than 200m from where I grew up, put my arm in a splint for 2 weeks with a suspected fractured scaphoid. It wound up being a bad sprain (luckily), but that was me for Superweek. There's always next year...
August
Data, data, data. August marked the arrival of my new Polar 720i heart rate monitor and wow, was that fun. Now I have altitude, heart rate, speed, distance, and cadence at my fingertips. I also was a lab-test specimen at UBC and did my first ever V02 max testing with Ben Sporer. 69.5 ml/kg/min @ 427.5 watts, max HR 192bpm. Not quite the 83.8 / 600 watts of Lance Armstrong, but interesting nonetheless.
September
Eugene Celebration: end of the road season. Welcome to Cat 2. My first fully licensed race as a Cat 2 was Eugene Celebration. The road race went really well, other than the fact that I didn't eat the entire time, as we chased Doug Ollerenshaw of Jelly Belly around all day long. I bonked 3km from the finish and it wiped me out for the rest of the weekend. Reminder: no matter how strong you're feeling, how well you're riding, don't forget to eat. The rain sucked too, but it was a somewhat satisfying way to end the road season: Feb 29 to Sept 19th. That's a long haul.
October
Cyclocross! The missing link in my Road, Track, and Cyclocross license. I'd always wondered what it was like and now with the arrival of Jake the Snake, my new Kona cross bike, I was finally able to suffer with the rest of them. Did 2 races, one at Vanier, the other being Provincials at Vanier and suffered terribly in both. Great fun in the mud, but damn hard.
At the Cycling BC year-end wrap up, the Burnaby Velodrome is awarded the Club of the Year award. A nice gesture from CBC for all of the hard work done by the BVC over the past 4 years.
November
Back to the track. After some long, slow rides and some weightlifting, I was back to the boards of Burnaby for the first winter track race of the season. I went hard, really hard, and suffered for it as a result. 2 weeks sick and a serious dent in my December training was the result of my foolish attacking. Again, while it hurt, it was a lot of fun. Can't think of a better way to spend a late-November weekend.
I'm also honoured to receive the Escape Velocity "Dedication to Training" award -- 8 to 10 quality hours / week and you can do a lot. Coach Jeremy Storie has a lot to do with that.
December
The one month this year, I won't race. Amazing, but true. Instead, it's back to the trainer, the long rides, and the weights, knowing that 2005 is just around the corner. I find myself jonesing for Mallorca. Sigh. 10 weeks until the road season is underway and we do it all again. Clothing and bike orders are in and before we know it, Spring Series will be upon us.
At a glance
Total mileage: 11,500km
Total days of racing: 45 (Wed track, Tuesday nighters included)
Results of note:
Yaletown Grand Prix - 2nd
National Championships - Criterium - 15th
Tour of Enumclaw - 7th GC
Pacific Populaire (Randonneur): New course record 2hrs 52min
January
Nine days in and I'm racing flat out at the Burnaby Velodrome. Highlights: going head to head to head with Christian Meier, Geoff Argue and Mandy Poitras in a no-holds barred Points Race. A good event, hard fought. Just lucky I didn't have to race Tyler Farrar or Kenny Williams in the A Group. Cough.
February
Road racing started on Feb 29th this year, with the Escape Velocity/Devo Spring Series. I rode in the A Group, essentially Cat 1/2, and had some good days. Also had some very off-days. Got spanked on a regular basis by Symmetrics, who came out swinging. A sign of things to come for those boys.
March
In the middle of the Spring Series, I found myself at the Vancouver Aquarium for an important government press conference. The Burnaby Velodrome was awarded an Infrastructure Grant for upgrades to the facility. This $550,000 grant was an important step in the survival of this unique facility and was a long time in coming. March 15th was quite the day.
April
Harris-Roubaix, Walla Walla, Tahuya-Seabeck-Tahuya: the race season was officially in full swing by April. TST was good, but also a disappointment. I had one of those days where I felt so strong I figured I could win the race. But then sat around in the pack waiting for the finish and got caught behind some sketchy descending at the end. A shame, although teammate Ian Lockley finished third. And who can forget the hardest event in all of April, the Pacific Populaire randonneur event...
May
More highs and lows. A week after DNF'ing Columbia Plateau and some physiotherapy on my knee, I came back swinging at the Tour of Enumclaw in Washington. Had the full services of the Devo/EV crew and was 5th going into the Road Race stage. Wound up 7th after I attacked too soon and too hard (twice) at the bottom of the Mud Mtn climb. Patience the virtue there. Should have let others do the work and save it for when the climb gets tough near the feed zone. 7th overall in the best attended Cat 3 stage race in the Pacific Northwest.
June
June was dominated by the races at the end of the month: Canadian National Road Championships in Kamloops and the Yaletown Grand Prix in Vancouver. As a Cat 3 racing with the Elite/Pro men at Nationals, I held my own. Managed 15th place in the Criterium, then lasted 4.5 hrs the next day in the Road Race (14/18 laps). It was 37 degrees, and I'd managed to do 42km of climbing when I pulled the pin, just a few minutes before the lead group lapped our "laughing group." Gord Fraser went onto win, taking his National Champion title and securing his spot to the Athens Olympics. At least the other Gord won.
Then it was onto Yaletown, where I declared all day in the office, "I'm going to win this race tonight." Well, I came close as me and Kevin Calhoun lapped the Cat 3 field with only 2 laps remaining. Pros: I lapped the field. Cons: I got stuck in the ensuing pack sprint and came 2nd as Kev slipped by me. A prime example of how to snatch defeat from the hands of victory.
July
Superweek. The 10 days of racing you live for all year. Delta, Gastown, White Rock. This year I helped out with Gastown and did an interview with the Georgia Straight. I was Mr. Gastown, the only guy in the race with an office on the course. And of course, I didn't race. A huge crash in Delta, less than 200m from where I grew up, put my arm in a splint for 2 weeks with a suspected fractured scaphoid. It wound up being a bad sprain (luckily), but that was me for Superweek. There's always next year...
August
Data, data, data. August marked the arrival of my new Polar 720i heart rate monitor and wow, was that fun. Now I have altitude, heart rate, speed, distance, and cadence at my fingertips. I also was a lab-test specimen at UBC and did my first ever V02 max testing with Ben Sporer. 69.5 ml/kg/min @ 427.5 watts, max HR 192bpm. Not quite the 83.8 / 600 watts of Lance Armstrong, but interesting nonetheless.
September
Eugene Celebration: end of the road season. Welcome to Cat 2. My first fully licensed race as a Cat 2 was Eugene Celebration. The road race went really well, other than the fact that I didn't eat the entire time, as we chased Doug Ollerenshaw of Jelly Belly around all day long. I bonked 3km from the finish and it wiped me out for the rest of the weekend. Reminder: no matter how strong you're feeling, how well you're riding, don't forget to eat. The rain sucked too, but it was a somewhat satisfying way to end the road season: Feb 29 to Sept 19th. That's a long haul.
October
Cyclocross! The missing link in my Road, Track, and Cyclocross license. I'd always wondered what it was like and now with the arrival of Jake the Snake, my new Kona cross bike, I was finally able to suffer with the rest of them. Did 2 races, one at Vanier, the other being Provincials at Vanier and suffered terribly in both. Great fun in the mud, but damn hard.
At the Cycling BC year-end wrap up, the Burnaby Velodrome is awarded the Club of the Year award. A nice gesture from CBC for all of the hard work done by the BVC over the past 4 years.
November
Back to the track. After some long, slow rides and some weightlifting, I was back to the boards of Burnaby for the first winter track race of the season. I went hard, really hard, and suffered for it as a result. 2 weeks sick and a serious dent in my December training was the result of my foolish attacking. Again, while it hurt, it was a lot of fun. Can't think of a better way to spend a late-November weekend.
I'm also honoured to receive the Escape Velocity "Dedication to Training" award -- 8 to 10 quality hours / week and you can do a lot. Coach Jeremy Storie has a lot to do with that.
December
The one month this year, I won't race. Amazing, but true. Instead, it's back to the trainer, the long rides, and the weights, knowing that 2005 is just around the corner. I find myself jonesing for Mallorca. Sigh. 10 weeks until the road season is underway and we do it all again. Clothing and bike orders are in and before we know it, Spring Series will be upon us.
At a glance
Total mileage: 11,500km
Total days of racing: 45 (Wed track, Tuesday nighters included)
Results of note:
Yaletown Grand Prix - 2nd
National Championships - Criterium - 15th
Tour of Enumclaw - 7th GC
Pacific Populaire (Randonneur): New course record 2hrs 52min
3 Comments:
Wow, great post, great pictures, quality racing. You've had a busy year.
By
Anonymous, at 10:07 pm
gordo,
it's dec 31st, 7:35pm. i'm so sad you haven't raced this month. get your ass over to my place and let's fix that. a cruiser bike showdown. i'll even ride the 'ladies' bike. couple gin & tonics, (hand crafted oregon gin, courtesy the famous david s)
bring a big bowl.
sp
By
Anonymous, at 7:38 pm
Gord: you sure you wanna be so proud of that Pacific Populaire time? I only finished three minutes behind you, and I suck. Well, I suck wheels, anyways. Yours, specifically.
Excellent summary. It makes me want to go racing again already. Sorry I'll miss the New Year's Day club ride, even.
By
Ryan, at 2:28 am
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