Training Log Archive: phatty

Test of Metal (Squamish) - This race is a west coast classic that's in it's 21st and final year, attracting 1,200 riders this year. The weather was looking ominous right from the get go and so everyone was pretty much ready to get rained on for the whole race. My MTB broke recently so I had to go for a rental - a Norco Sight, which turned out to be a decent ride for this race, albeit a little on the heavy side.

I played it a touch on the aggressive side off of the start as I figured getting a good pack to ride with in the single-track to Alice Lake would be important. En route, so many locals were out and lining the streets to cheer on the riders. Bells, outdoor speakers with loud music, signs, and words of encouragement made for a cool atmosphere.

As it turned out, I rode much of the first 30km already during the week so there weren't too many surprises...including having better descenders breathing down my neck on the hydrocut flowy downhill section. Once it turned non-technical again, I managed to accelerate away from them.

Soon enough, it was time to climb...for about an hour. The years of road biking in France have paid off a little and jumped a bunch of places as I pushed onward. However, this meant that I was in the company of better riders. Better riders means better descenders, too. Shortly later, my challenges with highly technical descents came to the fore and I had to walk or run quite a few parts. These riders here are ^^&*'ing crazy talented at sections that look unridable to me half of the time. I lost a lot of my climbing gains but settled in shortly thereafter.

And then I got lost. WTF? Most of the riders know the course cold from years of doing it again and again. I didn't and completely missed seeing a lefthand turn. In my defence, it was a rain soaked piece of paper in a low lying bush and really not evident at high speed. It cost me 10 minutes to get found again and a decent amount of effort as the part that I was mucking about in was an unridable climb of loose rock.

I was hoping for around 3h30m for the whole course but even with my 10 minutes back, I fell short. Under dryer conditions, I think I could do it.

Great day out and good to hammer to see how my condition is at the moment, leading into Spain. Now, I MUST get a new bike!

C • The land of biking 5

C • Found one for ya 4

Work MTB ride on some of this weekend's Test of Metal course. The pace was pretty tame but it was good to scout out this weekend's racecourse. We'll see how it goes.

C • Classic! 2

Another crusher of a ride. We left from Quest U and rode to the dead end of Paradise Valley. The road is in good condition and there really aren't many cars. However, it's not as though I could look at much of the alpine scenery around me as I was &/$;)'ing my a$$ off trying to keep pace in our 40+ kph pace line. I cracked eventually and went solo, riding along at ~30 kph instead. So much more civilized, non?

...and so that's what it's like to ride with proper roadies. Holy sh!t, it was high intensity riding from HQ to Quest University this morning. If there was a section that 30kph was my normal speed, we were pushing 40. I hung on for dear life and made it. Goal achieved. Sea to Sky highway in the rain isn't the most confidence-inspiring route but no jerks on the road, thankfully

Good "discovery" run atop the Seymour peaks. There is still quite a bit of snow at ~1,300m but it was good fun to run and slide amongst it. The cloud rolled in, making for difficult visibility, but I really got a sense of the terrain up there. I'll be back. N

C • Ummm... The term is... 4