The Great White North

So here I am, sitting up in the chilly white north of Fort McMurray, Alberta pondering life….I know, sounds very deep…but I think it’s more due to the fact that I’ve just had a huge cup of truckers coffee while trying to stay awake at 2:00 in the morning.

First of all, I’d really like to say that I’m super excited to be working with and riding for the Trek Toronto team this summer of ’09. Barry Near has put a lot of effort into creating the team and trying to give us all the support that we need for the upcoming race season…..huge thank you to you Barry. He’s picked out a team of relatively young racers, I’m by far the oldest at 26 (well almost 27), with a lot of talent and I’m really stoked to see what the summer brings…which is fast approaching.

What am I doing during this winter? Well before Christmas I was doing a lot of cross country skiing and climbing, not much riding as I’m really a wimp when it comes to -30 plus wind chill, but overall training was great. Christmas was great, ate lots of great food, maybe a little too much, but hey, that’s what the holidays are for. Had a very low key New Years which included a night ski by head light in the mountains, which is a lot of fun, especially when it’s dumping big gorgeous snow flakes. Followed shortly by some spicy Indian food to warm up.

Then Jan 3 of the New Year, I hopped in a small white mini white loaded down with 3 other geologists, and very happily my bike, trainer and snowshoes, and headed up to camp just south of my good old home town, Fort McMurray, Alberta. For all of you that don’t know, I finally graduated with my Geology degree in May of 2008..yippeeeeeee. I seriously wasn’t going to take the wellsite geology job, but then I thought, “You know, why not?” … besides, it’s only a 3 month contract.

No, I’m definitely not taking a step back from racing this season, I’m planning with the help of my coach Steve Neal, to train steadily but differently during the winter, and hit the summer just as hard as usual. I see pictures of friends in warm places riding in shorts and I do admit, I’m pretty jealous at times, but in all honesty, I don’t regret my decision. Training is going good, I’m getting in as much time as possible on the trainer, running, snowshoeing, doing yoga and strength while up in camp. Then, during my week off…..holy, watch out…I totally lucked out and last week and had super stellar weather, 15 above for two days, and managed some really good outside riding days. It was great, even though it was really sloppy and wet, it was so nice to be riding outside for the first time in over a month.

It’s maybe not the ideal situation, but I’ve never been one to do things the easy way J

Here’s to a great year in every way possible.

Happy Trials
Mical Dyck