Monday 30 January 2012

Finny Arm and Tzou Date


Yup!!! That's mine :-)

Yippee, feels so darn good to be home and riding outside!!!! This past weekend I caught up on a lot of great riding that I've been missing. Saturday I convinced Pro City Sistas riders Jen and Sylvia into doing the infamous Finnlyson Arm climb!!! For those of you who haven't ridden it, or don't know what said ride is, it's a wicked steep climb sometimes hitting 26% grade at stretches, climbing over 200m in around just 2km!!! Thanks to all the boys of the Pro City Racing team for joining us, and awesome job to Syl and Jen for crushing that one off the bucket list!!!

Oh ya, and all this on my sexy new Trek Project One! Thank you so much Regan for this amazing surprise and for Bill Fry for making it happen! I go in to the shop to pick up my winter cross bike ...... to find the bike I've wanted since it first came into the shop. I LOVE IT!!

On Sunday Regan and I went up and over the Malahat to Duncan, BC to ride at one of my favorite places on the island....one of many that is. Shortly after starting our climb up out of the parking lot we ran in a large group with local riders David Huntley, Kevin Knock, Trevor Jones and a couple others. Regan and I latched onto the back of this ride and ended up hammering out a solid 2 hours of awesome trails....including some locals only knowledge. It's always a great ride when you're pinning a super fast fun downhill for over 5 mins and hit the bottom with the biggest s%$t eating grin!!! Then climb back up to hit some more, and realize that you're heart rate on the decent is almost as high as it is on the climb. We had a great ride and didn't get rained on at all.....finishing ride temperature of 13 deg C certainly helps :-)

Thanks Guys!!

Knackered and Happy!!!! Need a Pioneer Burger


Post ride carrot.....until we got our Pioneer Burger!!

I'm definitely feeling a little worked today, after 2 months off the mountain bike (since my hernia surgery) and almost a month on the trainer, I've lost a lot of my punchy power endurance. But watch out, cause I think it's coming back!!!

Saturday 21 January 2012

I'm Back!!!!!

Well, almost...once I get done my work term up here in Fort McMurray, watch out I tell you. Just finished my first "workout" that consisted of intervals that raised my heart rate higher then just endurance pace!! It felt really good...and really bad all at the same time.....being a little out of shape doesn't help with the feeling bad, but hey, got to start somewhere.

Skiing, running and trainer intervals all in the same week....yup!

Quick update on recovery:
Hernia...I was 6 weeks on monday, so I'm officially allowed to lift heavy objects and exert myself. Things are feeling good, it's still a little sore and a little stiff, but starting a little core work to build up my strength and stability again.

Shoulder - well, it's going a lot slower then I'd really like it to. Trying to get into to get either an MRI or an Ultrasound is proving to be a lot harder then I was hoping. Doing some strength exercises are definitely helping, but I am still getting the "I'm going to throw up pain" when I forget and move it too quickly or too far. I found as long as I don't fall, I'm comfortable XC skiing.


Sponsorship side of things....wow, I really am not very good at this. Some people just have the right words and the right contacts and the right....I don't know. But yes, right now I currently don't have a bike or a full on plan for the 2012 season. But I don't give up that easily!!

That's all for now....when I'm done with all my trainer sessions up north here....watch out, I'm going to be an animal!!!!!! Just about done my first 3 week rotation, really excited to go home from the cold snow to the cold rain for a week :-)

Saturday 7 January 2012

Here I go again

Back in the good ole great white north…only it's not too white and not too cold this year!! No such thing as global warming, really??

With camp life comes trainer time!!! I'm used to coming up north in really good shape and just maintaining. But due to a separated shoulder (which is now thought to be torn) and recent hernia surgery, I'm starting the year off in relatively bad shape.

Soooooo trainer time!!!! First couple spins my legs are burning and my but…well, it's gone a little soft in my sedintary month haha. My goal for my first rotation, get myself back in shape!!! So with the 3 week rotation they have me doing this year, big yuck, I've got lots of trainer time.

I do have my skis up here again, but with the amount of snow I'm seeing, I'm not too sure how the trails will be..... And not too sure how my shoulder is going to like that.

Here's to hoping my broken body heals and starts feeling good!!! Back to the trainer for now.

Sunday 1 January 2012

Back in the Saddle

Nearly 4 weeks after surgery, I finally managed to ride outside.....for longer then 4 minutes!! Thank you Robin Farrell for riding with me and waiting for me on all the hills and feeding me with enough coffee at Starbucks to get me home. Wow, it's amazing how much fitness I've actually lost!! My walking kept me sane, but it's really no where near the same as actually riding. 2 days of riding easy and I'm sore all over!! It's only going to go up from here...hopefully.