Category Archives: Bike

Garden pictures

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Triathletes like to eat…. so I’m posting these awesome pictures from my garden.

I can tell you that food from the garden tastes especially good after riding a bike up Mt. Baker.

I had to get a VISA to enter the US. Cost me $6… The VISA form had a question, “Are you a terrorist?” Yes / No. After paying my $6, getting fingerprinted, and answering all “No’s” to the questionnaire, they let me in.

A great ride with a small crew to Mt Baker. Beautiful scenery, huge trees, lots of climbing, very cold descent, good people, and an excellent wheel home. A recipe for a good ride.

ride stats
3h40 to the top of the hill, 5h49:02 home, 143.7km
24.7kph avg (tons of uphill), 60.1kph max (wet downhill descent so had to take it easy)
141 HR Avg, 164 Max, 3061kcal
81 avg Cad, 107 Max

Team Impact Training Camp

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Last Thursday I headed up to Penticton for this “Performance” training camp. It was a very good experience, well run, and quality workouts with great people.

On Friday, I did my own workout in the Penticton pool. OMG, it’s hot in that pool. I guess the old fogies won’t get in if they don’t keep it practically tropical.

Saturday the camp started with a time trial of the Oliver bike course. I drove down with “exactly on time” Calvin so we arrived just in time for my 9:24 start time and his 9:28 start time (riders were sent off every two minutes to simulate race situations). My goal was to ride hard – as close as possible to race effort. Before starting each rider had to weigh in. I have to admit it was a bit tense at the start (simulated race feel worked) so I’m glad that we didn’t spend much time hanging about.

On the course, I rode hard trying to keep the effort up to >155HR. I drank 3 full bottles of gatorade and ate 4 gels. My time Continue reading →

Bests and Worsts at the Delta Triathlon

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The best thing about the Delta triathlon was volunteering for the kids race.  I took the kids on the pre-race bike tours of the race course on Friday night.  I also got up at 5:30am on race day to be a bike course marshall.  My favorite thing was chatting with my new friend Jason.  He’s in Grade 4.  We became friends on Friday night.  On Saturday morning, I cheered for him on the bike course and he took his hands off the handbars so that he could turn around with his biggest smile and wave crazily at his new friend/fan.  On his second time past me, he was a super serious bike racer going as fast as he could.  I was proud of him – and had a little chuckle as he recovered from this serious racing with a “Whoah” and a little swerve.  My second favorite thing was talking to my new friend Wendell (also in Grade 4) who was telling me that he was going to be really good because he can change from his pyjamas to his clothes really fast.  [Big Smiles!]  The kids race was awesome.  If you haven’t volunteered at a kids race before, you should.  It’s a hoot!

The worst thing about the Delta triathlon was putting in a personal best race effort that should have placed me 5th place overall – and then getting DQ’d because an error. (A volunteer pulled me out of the swim 4 laps too early. I said “Are you sure?” and they said “Yes, Go!”) I had two ambitious goals for Delta, 1) beating the 1:10 mark and, 2) placing well in the overall standings.  Given the opportunity, I would have met my time goal.  So, I’m going to call it a PB.  As for standings, I will just have to wait to Oliver to prove that I can make an impact in the overall placings of these races.  I’m better at longer distances anyways, so watch out in Oliver everyone! I plan to, “Bring it on!”

swim 7:04 (475m)*
bike 36:08
run 21:33
overall 1:04:44 + ~5min* = 1:09:44
*extrapolated to 700m = 10:25 + 1.5 min to exit = ~12min

Here’s what I’ve learned from this gaff. I was confused, but I followed the instructions. That was the wrong choice in the end. But it’s hard to think fast on your feet when you are trying to put it all out there during a race. You’re on auto-pilot with not even enough time to put a shirt on or do up your laces. How are you supposed to have the presence of mind to stop and have a conversation with some random volunteer who is telling you to do the wrong thing? I’m not sure how you do it, but that’s what you’ve got to do. I guess this is just what you learn as you become a more experienced racer. I’m reminded of the pro-racers at Oliver who went off course on the run course a couple years back because the volunteers hadn’t put down the cone at the turn around point yet. Maybe it’s just that these things happen, and you can’t ever really be ready for them. I wonder what the pros would say? Me, I say we should all practice our clothes to pyjamas transitions more often. [chuckle]

Buccaneer 200

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Long distance bike rides make coffee + treats taste really really good. At about the 135km mark, I took a 20min break in Fort Langley and enjoyed a delicious butter tart at my favorite coffee shop. It was awesome – the coffee break, I mean. coffee-break-200km-rideYes, the ride was good too – not as good as the coffee though [chuckle]. Here’s the route. My favorite part of the ride was climbing up zero ave to enjoy the views across the valley and then seeing all my SAA friends and waving hellos. I also really enjoyed the “GO Joanne GO” cheers that I got coming out of Tswassen from my Delta Tri Club friends. At 5h30, I did look at my bike computer and think to myself, “What were you thinking?” but the coffee in Fort Langley was worth it.

ride stats
8h10:06, 205.8km
avg HR 133, Avg Sp 25.2km/hr (Max 57.1kkm/hr), Avg Cad 87
3899 kcal (no wonder I’m still hungry)

PS. I did pay for the coffee break a bit – dropping my nice comfortable spot at the end of the pace line in favor of the butter tart. It meant that I had to ride the last 70km all by myself. Ah, well, I still enjoyed it.

Popular Riding Week

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Looking back, the first week of April was a good strong week of riding that included a mid-week ride to Horseshoe Bay and the 100km Pacific Populaire.first-week-of-april

joanne-populaire-startWe had absolutely gorgeous weather for the Populaire. In fact, the ride started 30min late because the sign up line went down a block and around the corner. Nobody minded, we just spent the time socializing in the sunshine (picture is of me hanging out in the crowds at the start line). It’s not a race, but Jody, Andrew and I rode really strong. We finished in 3h20 (3h13 for 94.6km on my bike computer). The coffee and snacks after the ride tasted really good. I enjoy these good hard efforts riding with buddies. I’m looking forward to tackling the 200km in a couple of weekends.

Bike 151.9 km 05:56
Run 01:05
Stretch 00:15
Swim 6000.0 m 03:00
kayak 02:00
Total Duration: 12:16

The running is coming along – only managed one long run this week (an easy 10:1s). My left knee is still a little sore, so I’ll continue to rest and/or run easy until it feels totally better. Physio says I’m good to go, but it’s still feeling a bit sore.

Tweeting the Horseshoe Bay Ride

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Horseshoe Bay route
@trifunster ride to horseshoe bay good, proper gear essential, ate yummy cookie under the bridge (only dry spot), traffic bad, views awesome
@erin337 dropped off the “team” car at 70th/Granville, rode to H-Bay from there, excellent ride, now going kayaking
@FinishLineCoach enjoyed ride, dry clothes + proper gear, ate yummy cookie under the bridge (only dry spot), traffic bad, views awesome

I’ve recently re-discovered twitter and am currently enjoying the distraction that it offers. On April 1st, Mother Nature tried to play a joke on me and sent snow down in the morning. It was all cleared up by 3pm when I started my ride to the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal. The weather, however, was not what you would call the best riding weather. Wet and cold. So wet, that I stopped under the First Narrows bridge as it was the only dry spot on the route. I’ve got good riding gear, had dry clothes in the car, and warmed up with a hot chocolate on the ferry so it was all good. The ride to Horseshoe Bay is very scenic, even when it’s a downpour outside. I had a couple of encounters with the evening rush traffic – three to be exact. One idiot, one ass, and one dummy. I did give “the ass” an earful after he intentionally cut me off to park. Dude, you’re driving like an ass – to park. Think about it. Drivers just don’t get cyclists. I wish I knew how to fix it – but I don’t. You’ve just got to be heads-up all the time.

route = 35.3km, 1h40 ride on commuter bike, ~21kph

Spring is Finally Here

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Sunshine and good company made for a great ride today. I started out early with the Steveston crew. Enjoyed chatting with Erin and Rob as we zipped out to UBC. After a quick climb up Spanish Banks, I just caught up to Stan and Bronwyn for a couple loops through Stanley Park. The sun, the views, the good friends, it was one of those days that makes you appreciate how lucky we are. I had such a good time that I lost track of time a bit and just kept going. Paid for that a bit on the run. Ah well. After a bit of a nap, I spent the afternoon in the sunshine cleaning up the garden and tuning my bike. The garden’s looking good with the garlic shoots and spring bulbs doing well. Last year, the peas went in mid-April. So, I’ll be planting before you know it. We had a surprise visit from our friends, one week early for Torbin’s birthday. It was good fun. Now, I’m spending the evening watching Tennis on TV. A perfect end to the day.

The ride stats:
3:38:06, 85.2km, Avg 23.4kph, Max 51.9kph
Cad 87, Max 123
123 Avg, 187 Max (I don’t think this HR band works anymore)

Busted!

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See, I can prove it, I did run the UBC Duathlon!

This race report is turning into a little bit of a story….

I decided to race the UBC duathlon race, a little last minute. Like the day/night before, over a glass of coffee/wine with my friends. It’s a story that makes me smile. It basically goes like this, “If you want to do something, just get out there and do it!” So one week after the eventi marathon, I found myself smiling at the start line of the UBC Duathlon and thinking, “I’d really like to win this race.” So, that’s what I did. And they seem to have lost my results. I can’t believe that the first time that I ever win a race, they lose my results. Torbin says I came in zero-th, that’s better than 1st! [laugh] Fortunately, the race photographer will help me prove that I was there. And, yet there’s more to the story.

Unfortunately, I didn’t really get around to telling everyone (including my new coach) about these last minute plans. Worse then that, I emailed Coach Calvin with a question about my Sunday training plan. Then, I happily scrapped the plan to head out to the races. At the finish line, I was standing there chit chatting when Calvin came up. It was pretty funny. We had a good shout out of, “Whoops!” and “You are so BUSTED!” I tried to turn my number around to the back, and say, “I don’t know how I got here.” It was some good laughter.

I had a really good time this weekend. I enjoyed participating, seeing everyone, chatting in transition, reserving the LETC rack, racing, laughing at “BUSTED”, and all of it. I do hope they find my results, though. They were good.