I decided to do a last minute registration to race at Summerside in the olympic distance triathlon… I figured that with a solid 215 km bike ride and my lsd run still comfortable somewhere around 2.5 hours I was in good enough shape to register and race purely for fun. My goals were:

1. Give the swim my best shot but stay aerobic
2. Cycle at approx anaerobic threshold minus 3-5 beats, perceieved exertion steady-plus-plus. I was aiming for above a 36 kph split, considering that the roads are brutal.
3. See how I would manage on the run, not particularily interested in aiming at the 43-45 minute range that I think I was capable of but making the bike split count and having a tough run. I hoped I would be challenged to keep it under 50 mins if I had the chance.
4. Have an enjoyable time at all costs, I love triathlon and that is the point.

I had a good swim… it was really cold and I opted not to warm up in the water because I didn’t want to stand around and get cold arms (sleeveless wetsuit) waiting to go. I crawled out of the pond after just less than 33 minutes which was pretty good considering the only swimming I had done that month was a little splash the wednesday before (even colder!). I got into transition and fumbled getting the arm warmers on due to a combination of cold hands and wet arms (well duh!) I was out on the bike and ready to get to work.

I averaged 37 kph through the first half (out and 2 laps. I was stoked and had really picked up a huge portion of the mens olympic field. I passed at least 28 guys, which in retrospect means that I had moved up to nearly 5th place.

Then things fell apart, summerside is a brutal course and there was construction and deep gravel on the road. Volunteers had swept gravel from the corners to give a bare patch to ride across. The corners (luckily only 4 on each lap) were a big bunching up spot for riders and I ended up going into one following someone around. I paid attention to just matching their line instead of getting through the gravel and I ended up in the gravel bank. My front wheel went out from below me and I landed on my side. Bleeding from the hands and knee I tried to get going again but I had bent my front derailleur. I stopped, caught my breath and decided that I would take it off the bike instead of trying to fix it, I only needed the big ring anyways. That worked alright and after 15 minutes of fiddling to make the bike ridable I got out of the ditch and headed “home” to T2. I had bottle cages hanging out of my bike shorts (littering is a DQ so I was careful) and looked an interesting sight, there was no flying dismount, I came to a complete stop and steped cautiously off of my bike.

After paying a visit to the paramedics to scoop the gravel out of my knee I headed out on the run and met up with my friend Jill who was doing a sprint distance race. I ran her 5 kms first and got her in to the finish in just over 28 minutes and then I headed out for my last 5 kms. I was aiming for a 21 minute run which would certainly be a stretch but I figured I should make it a challenge. I got my 2.5 km split correct and was starting to experience cramping in my left (bleeding) side. I didn’t feel like I slowed down but obviously did as I finished in 21:30, still inside 50 minutes for the run but outside 3 hours for the whole shebang.

All in all it was still a fun time and the most important goal was still realized. We had a great pasta lunch, I stopped bleeding and the sun came out; things turned out great!

Video from Tonquin of Adrian Boere boot skiing. For more of the story about what happened at Derek’s Bachelor party check out the previous blog entry

About 75% of the people I tell that I have a fixed gear bike ask the question: “What use is a bike like that?” I believe they’re mostly asking why the second bike still looks like a road bike and not a mountain bike, a distiction that the average person understands. I came across the article by Patrick McCrann of Performance Training Systems and I think it really does a fine job of summing up at least the training aspect of the fixie, not entirely the fun or the awesomeness or the flow… but this is certainly an important aspect.

Single Gear Riding (SGR) is a powerful exercise in learning how to manage your effort level on the road. Instead of shifting gears to compensate for terrain changes, SGR teaches you how to use “internal” gears to deal with hills, descents and flats. This is an essential skill for Iron-distance athletes, as you will encounter a wide variety of terrain on race day – often two or three times depending on the number of loops on the course. Every small roller, false flat, and serious climb is a chance to appropriately manage your effort; SGR will give you a solid skill-set that will be incredibly useful come race day. This is not a time trial workout; I think of this as a variation on a weekly endurance ride of 2.5 hours (or more). SGR teaches you:

1. How to “roll into a hill,” using momentum to start the climbing process . Climbing hills is hard work. The fact that we use our gears to manage the hill actually mitigates our true appreciation for exactly how hard it is to climb any given hill. SGR will give you a much deeper understanding of how tough any given hill is without a crutch to lean on. (yeah, Emily Murphy on a fixed gear is a rocking fun time!)
2. The nuances of climbing seated regularly or on the back of your seat . One key way to manage your climbing is to maneuver your body into different positions on the bike to make the most of your effort. In the case of seated climbing, most folks can make it easier by simply sitting up. This opens their airways and facilitates quality breathing. As the climb increases in difficulty, some athletes find an advantage to shifting their weight back towards the rear of the saddle. This allows them to push the pedals forward and over the top of the pedal stroke.
3. How to roll into a standing climbing position and keep your momentum . So many triathletes lose speed on each climb. And no, it doesn’t have to be a mountain to slow you down. If you have ever ridden with roadies, then you know that little “gap” that opens up every time they stand on the pedals. And if you have ridden behind a triathlete who stands up to pedal, then you are familiar with the jolt of adrenaline you get when their rear tire drifts back into your front wheel (yikes!). Learning how to keep your bike moving at the same pace is much easier during SGR as there is no sudden shift in cadence due to shifting. This allows you to develop the skills needed to keep your wheels turning without losing your momentum.
4. How to pedal quickly . Lance makes it look easy, but for anyone who has tried to pedal at 110+ rpms, you know exactly how much coordination that takes. And not just on a physical level, but neuromuscular coordination as well. SGR will force you to pedal at a much higher cadence on some descents (hey, you don’t have to pedal over 28 mph!), teaching your muscles to fire more effectively. This work will make pedaling 95 rpms seem ridiculously easy.
5. How to recruit different muscle groups . Working in a single gear will allow you to explore using different muscles at different stages of your ride. You can focus on the hamstrings pulling the pedals backwards, or on your hip flexors lifting the pedal upwards. You might try engaging your core muscles to aid you in a climb; or you can try relaxing one leg as you let the other one do a bit more work. Whatever you do, this recruitment process will make you a better rider simply by virtue of teaching you all the separate elements that work together to move your bike forward.
6. How to manage your internal gears. This is perhaps the most important part of SGR. Riding without gear options forces you to learn when you should (and should not) pedal with force. On smaller hills, you might be able to roll up them halfway with your momentum and then soft pedal your way over the top. On the longer / bigger hills, you will be forced to learn how to provide an appropriate amount of force to the pedals in a consistent manner. Since you can’t shift, you’ll learn to moderate your effort based on the terrain, instead of just hammering your way through the ride. Your first attempts at SGR will be a bit rough (shifting is a hard habit to break!), but as you progress you’ll eventually erase the dead spots in your riding.

Derek got married in Whitecourt this weekend. It’s about 180 kms “nominally” from Edmonton to Whitecourt so I figured it would be a good bike ride, an Iron kind of effort… it would be the furthest I’d ever ridden but not by a whole bunch so I figured it would be a good opportunity to take a day off work and go for a nice ride in the countryside.

I arranged to have Matt and Jill pick up my camping gear and take it out with them with the plan that they would meet me at the rehearsal dinner on Friday evening. I then learned that the rehearsal dinner wasn’t at Derek’s parents’ place in whitecourt as I had assumed. It was 25 kms north of town. I then also found out that the 180 kms between Edmonton and Whitecourt is based on Whitecourt to the edge of town, it was 10 kms further to Blue house in the middle of town.

The trip (map link) ended up being approximately 215 kms and took me 7:48. That time includes a 30 minute break in Mayerthorpe to lay on my back, chow down some food and refill my water bottles. There were a couple other quick breaks to snap photos so my average total time was 29.5 kms per hour, I would guess I was around 30.5 to 31.0 kph if I would have only counted cycling time. My only other time check was when I first met up with the Alaska Highway and that was an average speed of 31.6 kph to that point.

I brought 4 powerbar – chocolate harvest bars, 2 Protein Blast – caramel fudge bars, 2 Oskri (vegan oddly enough but 460 cals!) – coconut bars, a decent dose of Gatorade and a granola bar. So 2500 calories while on the bike (my basal metabolic rate is only 1900!) I put in nearly a thousand calories for breakfast and that rehearsal dinner tasted pretty awesome but I have no idea how much I ate…

I’m sending in my application today at lunch now that I have received back the endorsement from First.

I’m interested in participating in the sea to sea bike trip from Seattle to New Jersey next summer. As a part of the application process I must seek the endorsement of a CRC church, and because while living in Edmonton I’ve been attending the Baptist church right near campus and my house, First CRC is still what I would consider to be “home”. It would be great if you would bring my request to council the next time you meet, or perhaps raise the idea with them over email I don’t know what kind of schedule council is on for the summer months.

I’m supposed to explain why I’d like to participate. Well first off, I absolutely love cycling and an opportunity like this, to participate in an epic-all-summer-trip is exactly the kind of thing I’d like to do. Next summer is also a unique opportunity for myself as I’ve got a gap to fill between the finishing of my undergraduate studies and the beginning of grad school. The real reason I’m interested in participating in this trip is because of the group that is going and the people I hope to meet, not because it’s the craziest idea I could dream up (I’ll admit that there are crazier ones). Let me elaborate.

After leaving high school I started out at the university in Edmonton, I became involved with Intervarsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF) through some of the first people I met on campus. Over the past 3 years I and have found it to be a place where I have been challenged time and time again to be challenged in my faith and challenged in my developing leadership skills. The leadership team of IVCF has been an amazing community of accountability, calling me to step deeper in commitment with God and his plans. Through intense study of Philippians this past semester many of us have found a real common ground surrounding the idea of partnership in ministry. There has been a real sense of dedication as well as urgency in making our lives, our friendships and ultimately our classes and campus a place where Christ is seen.

I think that the large majority of us, because I don’t think I’m an anomaly, are quick to point out that we form a church, albeit an unconventional one, on campus. I know that this idea is reinforced by attending church services chock full of students. I’ve found, especially during the last bit of this year, that living in such a setting means that I miss out on what a church community comprised of children, parents and seniors has to offer. While it is certainly possible to be stretched and grown in a setting of peers, there are real and significant benefits to being part of multi-generational group of believers. I know that going cycling with the seatosea group is certainly different than hopping on a bunch of bikes with friends from triathlon club and that’s something I’m really keen to be a part of. I certainly hope to learn a few significant things about how that type of thing really plays out. I guess that the appeal of biking every day all summer has evolved into a bit more since I started prayerfully considering the idea and discussing it with other people.

I just received confirmation from First CRC that they will endorse me as a cyclist for the 2008 Sea to Sea bike trip between Seattle and New Jersey. That means I’ll be fundraising like a maniac over the next year and will be biking like a maniac next July and August. Of course there are going to be many more blog posts regarding seatosea over the next year and a bit. I’m really quite excited about the opportunity.

Packed up from work early on Friday (Aug 3) and headed out to Jasper for a long weekend of backpacking to celebrate the single life of Derek and wait with anticipation for the beginning of his new life with Jackie. More pictures are available in the Backpacking 2007 Gallery

We headed out starting on the Marmot basin trailhead and made our way to Maccarib Pass over 2000 meters! We ran into a mother grizzly and 2 cubs before arriving at Amythest Campground (23 kms). We made supper and each drank our one can of beer as though it were a $200 bottle of champagne, beer is heavy you know!

After sleeping in late we woke up and departed to move our tents three kms down the trail to Clitheroe. After setting up camp and witnessing Adrian teach us how to eat cream cheese we were on our way to either find a glacier or climb to the peak of something. After crossing a swamp we made our way up and over suprise col, about 80 minutes of solid climbing on mostly all fours. The view from the top was spectacular.

The descent was significantly less work, as we boot skied several hundred vertical feet. Hans wiped out right at the summit and did his boot skiing totally out of control and riding on his butt, while Adrian and I practised our stem-christie.

We were up before 6 am on the last day and made our way out all the way to the Edith Cavell road before noon in perfect weather, we cleaned off with a swim in an absolutely numbing river and headed home to Edmonton.