skiing is hard

i did not know what to call this blog, potential title's included:

1. in the pain locker
2. i got a long way to go
3. waxing is a science beyond me

first race of the year for me took place at grand beach today and it was painful, rewarding, but painful. ski racing is fun and it is quite the work out. after my first loppet last year it took me three days before i could put my pants on without sitting on the edge of the bed and using my hand to lift my knees up. not in that type of pain today, but i am feeling it.

the other thing, and definitely the more important, is that my techniqe sucks. it is one thing to ski around windsor, but skiing around grand beach with those hills is another. only bit it twice, but it was watching the 13 year old kid pull away from me that was somewhat humiliating. like biking, learning good techniques and building skiing muscels will take some time.

the other thing that i am discovering about x-country ski racing is that waxing in iffy conditions: colder (borderline between two different glide wax ratings) and fresh snow, made today's wax choices difficult. yesterday i spent the morning at the shop putting on what i thought would be the right glide wax and today i felt like i was skiing in sand. the grip wax was not an issue, but the glide was not what i wanted. now, i don't think anyone had great glide, the fresh snow took care of that, but some seemed to be faring better than others. i know that waxing can be tricky and it can also be expensive with some waxes running $40-60 and more. i am not about to spend huge bucks on waxes (one expensive hobby is enough). waxing also requires a fair amount of knowledge and creativity, one of my fellow competitors used two different waxes and a fluro powder. you can do quite well with some of the more reasonable waxes, but i do need to pay better attention to upcoming conditions and i really need to get my waxing bench made so i can change waxes if needed.

all that said, i'm looking forward to the next race

supercross and provincials

two races in one weekend with a pizza party throw in the middle meant for a rough monday. the races went surprisingly well for me.

in the provincials race i managed to hang with the lead group until olli decided to up the pace. this spit me out the back fairly quickly which put in no-man's-land for a few laps. i managed to bridge up to dylan and brian and dylan and i took turns at the lead until the sprint for the line. second in the 40+ and 5th overall.


as per tradition, saturday night was the annual pizza party for those who volunteered, or committed to volunteer and help with the course clean up, setup and take down.

supercross was again a spectacle to behold. the course was built for the bike handler and included, again, the fan favorite mud bog to beat all mud bogs. i was skeptical about doing well in this race having spent everything in saturday's race, but things turned out well. i big part of that was due to the fact that somehow i managed to avoid crashing on this very technical course. guys that were riding really well and always give me a run for my money (luc, allan, tom, and daniel) all went down at one point or another, some more than once. this allowed me stay ahead and get 4th overall which was a huge surprise.

weekend update

busy but excellent weekend. started off by working on the house. almost all the studs are up and new front door and all the windows are in; next step the insulation and then the siding.



after working on the house mrs. dr. and i went out for dinner, but this was more than just going to a resturant, we borded a bus and headed out to an organic farm for a dinner put on by organza and the dandelion resturant.

mrs. dr and alberto on the bus

the farm

appetizers served on a board

the table

sunday was race day (see the mucr blog for details). the race was perhaps one of the toughest that i've had. after the preliminary sorting out of positions i found myself in about 7th place, behind olli, dave d, adrian, brian s, tom and don s. things became more interesting when tom went down because his pedal came out of his crank (seems like standing up on the pedals and cranking hard and then having you pedal come out equals catastrophe). dave d flatted and suddenly i found myself in fifth, the only problem was i was all by myself. the reason that was a problem was there was a train of death behind me working to catch me - which they were doing rather effectively.

the train

dj broke from the train and soon passed me. for once i managed to jump on his wheel as he passed me worked hard to hang on (luc and allan were still on our tails and not giving up). dj tried a couple of times to drop me, but i managed to stay with him, catching up every time. heading into the last lap i decided to see if i could pull ahead of dj and drop him with a short sprint - didn't work; dj stayed on my wheel.

dj and i going over the hill

because dj was drafting i decided to slow the pace a little not wanting to do all the work and have dj pass me on the final sprint - i had to have something in my tank. at the same time i had to keep an eye on allan who was behind us, i did not want to bring him into the picture as well. coming around the last corners and heading into the last 150m straight away i was planning on when to start my sprint when i heard dj shifting behind me. knowing that it would take him at least 1 if not 2 pedal strokes to get into gear i immediately jumped on my pedals and started my sprint and some how i managed to hold him off long enough to beat him by a wheel - my god, that was hard.

thanks to jonny g for taking my camera and capturing these pictures.

weekends dealing with demons

24 hour racing is a curious creature; attractive to some, cruel to all, and satisfying to those who participate.

on thursday cam, dallas, luc, colin, laura and i left for wausau after work. after a quick stop in grand forks for dinner at burger time (it was going to be subways but someone forgot to tell colin's gps unit that the subway programmed into the map had recently been moved).

the crew getting dinner

after a bite to eat it was off to minneapolis where we were going to crash for the night. because of our late start we only rolled in to our hotel around 1:30 in the morning which meant that it was going to be short night, not a good thing to do prior to a 24 hour race.

mrs. dr. and i shared a room with the bikes - the boys got to fight over the two double beds in the other room

after a quick breakfast at denny's it was off to wausau

after we arrived in wausau we set up our camp and then it was off to town to buy supplies for the race. buying the food can be a tricky thing, you need to find something that tastes good, gives you the calories you need (about 250-300 an hour), and is something that is so easy to take and that won't repulse you later on. one of the hardest and most important aspects to 24 hour racing is nutrition; you need to stay on top of it or you will bonk or get an upset stomach which is a sure fire way to knock yourself out of the race. the foods of choice this race were boost, tapioca pudding, cherry strudels, and the odd banana which was washed down with water and some gatorade (got be careful with that stuff - too much and you'll get an upset stomach because of the sugar content). after the shopping it was time for a ride.

by friday afternoon we were on the trails for the pre-ride


colin coming out of the technical singletrack

after the pre-ride we registered, had dinner, and settled down for the night.

the next morning we set up our station on the course and got ready for the race. i decided to keep an easy gearing for the race and ran 34X19 and swapped out the rigid fork for a suspension fork hoping this would make for an easier race. with the food and water station set up it was time to race.

just before the start of the race; it was too hot to wear the dark jersey which was saved for the night laps.


the start line

finding alberto


speaking of sweet jerseys, i got to get myself one of these

the race started pretty well and i got towards the front following the le mans start. this was good because it meant that i could ride the first sections of the single track rather than walking through it which most of the riders have to do on the first lap until the group spreads out. cam and i started out pretty hot in hind sight (our first 3 lap times include 2-10 minute breaks during each lap as we stopped at our support tent for food and water) and it caught up with us quickly as we both experienced cramps on the 3rd lap - cam's more serious than mine.

dallas loading up for another lap

dallas had the better strategy; slower more even paced laps with less breaks in between each lap. dallas would come in after each lap behind me and leave before i would be ready to start the next lap; i would catch him, we ride together and then get separated on some single track later on the lap. if i would have been smarter i would have pace myself better as i soon started to spend more and more time between each lap getting ready for the next one coming up.

by 6:00 we had to get our lights on the bikes

as night came i was starting to get beat up. it is one thing to do a 24 hour race as a member of a team where you get a chance to recover between each lap, it is another thing to go out there lap after lap and get beat up by the roots and rocks that wait for you on the trail. riding the laps becomes especially difficult at night as the smoother lines you ride during the day are harder to find because of the artificial light changes the way everything looks and you are getting more and more tired, making it difficult to control your bike and pick those good lines. it is also the night time when the demons start to creep into your brain.

me dealing with the demons

it is also at night when you start to play mind games with yourself: how many laps you can do, when and how long you should rest, 'maybe i should lie down for a little while...,' i'm not hungry so i won't bother to eat; stuff like that which takes laps out of you. i finally succumbed to the tired demon at 5:30 and lay down for a short nap complaining to no one in particular that i lost my soul somewhere along the way.

in the morning wondering if i still had it in me to go out for another lap


dallas - the king of this stuff - knows how to do these type of events. here is with a cup of joe that mrs. dr. kindly picked up for us when she came back to the race site in the morning.

cam and i finally fought off the demons and managed to get our gear back on go out for one more lap. i am glad that i did because i would have been disappointed if i had not managed to do at least 13 laps this year. i completed 13 laps last year, but apparently the course was 2 miles longer this year (?) which means i covered more distance - a goal that was important to me

it really hurt to get back on the bike

many, many, many thanks to mrs. dr. and colin for their help during the race. support is important to doing these races. without them it is so hard to keep going because there is so much more to do and think of other than riding your bike.

the crew

more to come...

weekends not working on my house

hoping this is not a wisconsin death trip ....

dallas, cam, luc, colin, mrs. dr, and i are off to wisconsin today for the 24 hours of 9 mile (there is still time to join us). if you are under house arrest or quarantined because of suspected avian influenza and you have some time to kill you can follow the progress of the race here (apparently there are live updates with their new timing system).

have a good weekend - we sure will

mudfest

race at pinawa this weeked was a wee bit of a mudfest, but that turned out to be a good thing. the mud brought some fun and extra challenges to flat and fast course. the rocks were also a challenge, causing a few flats along the way - that and a two seat post issues (snapped bolt for dr. h. and a snapped seat post for nathan weslake). one of the highlights for me was the last ditch stretch before the finish line when i heard some kid cheering me on from the road, turns out it was teagan algeo cheering me on as he rode his bike alongside me on the road - that was cool. way to go to leanne, for gathered up her first win of the season (i think), and just after moving up to comp.

thanks go to tom and luc for getting me wheels to race on as i am currently without because of hub changing project (hmmmm, maybe it would be a good idea to do something like that after a race and not the night before).

the rider was muddier than the bike

a wednesday night spazz attack.

another wednesday night race has come and gone. only 5 expert races showed up and i finished third, right in the middle. seems like this year is the resurrection of crash - my moniker before i took on the name of alberto; just as i was coming into the finish i took a look at my watch to check my time (like i wouldn't be getting that information any ways?!?) only to look up to find myself heading towards a lonely scrub oak. a quick bail to the right saved my ass. the last time i did something that bone headed was in my first year of racing at birch when i looked over my shoulder to see who was passing me causing me to veer off the path and crash into the bush.

on another note, our friend gianni has garnered some well deserved attention from this cool blog site.