Bert & Ernie's Bottle Cap Race

Click here or on the cx race link in the menu above to make sense of the video below, and start your cyclocross training now...

Suddenly - I feel the need for speed!

Slick - Very Slick! Check out what the helmet-cam roadie says near the end of his video.

MCA Mountain Bike Race Schedule - Updated with WNR Series

The MCA Mountain Bike Committee recently updated this year's MCA MTB Race Schedule including the Wednesday Night Race Series on their blog (which is now on our Blog List). It's almost final and our A Rocha Pembina Valley MTB Race has been slotted for 17 July 2010 as planned.

CX World Championships come to North America on 2013

Interesting - just stumbled across this bit of news that was released from the Czech Republic as the UCI prepares for the cx world championships this weekend: In 2013 the cx world championships will be held in North America for the first time. The bad news (for us in Winnipeg)?...it will be in Louisville Kentucky, which is more or less as far as you can get from Winnipeg while remaining in North America (if not as the crow flies at least in terms of easy flights). None the less it might mean more coverage in media on this side of the ocean.

I've actually been to Louisville once and quite liked the small bit I saw when I wasn't working. I drove past some sort of Kentucky Fried Chicken museum on the way to the airport, and I can't help but wonder if the traditional bottles of beer consumed alongside the course on race day will be complimented by buckets of KFC.

I'm sure there will be more detail soon on sites like VeleNews.com.

2010 Habitat for Humanity "Cycle of Hope"

Well, I've done it. On Saturday, January 16, I paid my dues and signed two weeks of my life over to the "Cycle of Hope". This is an annual ride supporting the build for one Habitat for Humanity home.

This year's ride will start in Waterton Lakes National Park, located in the southwest corner of Alberta and will drop into the USA moving through Montana and North Dakota then returning into Manitoba. It's a great route; easy navigation, favorable winds(?), down hill(?), and friendly communities(!). The ride allows up to 50 riders plus support people covering 120-160kms/day for 12-13 days.

So my training this year has a goal of minimizing the pain and maximizing the pleasure of riding my bike 1600kms in two weeks.

I'm excited to have two friends sign up for the ride as well.

I will keep you posted in regards to some of my training plans and invite any Coop members interested in joining me on a few of the longer rides.

More details to follow.

Wrath Cross - Race Video Report

It was an anger inducing slogfest race in the snow ... perfect!
Here's proof that the "Devil" made us do it ;-)

Wrath Cross? - Anger Management on Bikes or "The Devil Made Us Do It" !

So I was joking on my last post about my "Crazy???" biking in fresh snow, but that ride on Saturday was child's play compared to the slogfest that Brad "The Impaler" from Red River Racing had in store for us last night at Nordic Cross Race #2 ... aka the WRATH CROSS!

The "Devil " Made Us Do It:
I quote Chris H. from his FGBC Wrath Cross Report: "That was either the best Nordic Cross race ever or by far the worst ... The Impaler had us out there for a long, hard slog. Which made clear what some of us have suspected all along. Brad the Impaler is a crafty little devil."

Now, after last night's slog I was truly angry with Brad (ie. I loved it!), but did not make the "Devil" connection until I reviewed my race pics and well ... see for yourself:

Jonny G preparing to bow down before the Impaler and his RED RR-ing jersey!
Oh my God! ... help me forget about bowing down to "The Impaler's - err Devil's?" RRR jersey last night!
Come to think of it ... why did "Brad" chose to run the Wrath Cross anyways? ... think about it!!

* I refer you to Chris H's well-crafted report of the evening's proceeds, with these added tidbits.

Getting Started:

Kudos to Chris, Juan & Jonny G for riding all the way to Brad's Casa in the NE from points SW, with Jonny G's added chain mechanical to deal with. Fortunately Graham's skills as a "carpenter" translate into chain repairs and voila ... a happy Jonny ready for "Anger Management" training ... which he passes with flying colors (by finishing "early" - who knew?!).

The Slogfest:

Yes, it was a slogfest more in keeping with "Operación MUERTO", which was a plus for me, being an enduro biking fan and rather short on fast-twitch muscles! I must say that my Surly Karate Monkey 29-er was the right weapon for last night's snowbound battle ... I almost felt guilty when I lapped Jonny G (cause that will never happen again!) - He He He!

Post Race Anger Management:
When we all made it back to "Casa Sénior KK Sr", the Impaler informed us of his "Devilish" impromtu rule that reversed the finish order, thereby incurring the wrath of those of us who actually finished all six laps of his "trust me it's all rideable" race course!

Devilish Power To Relegate:

There was much ta-do though, when "Juan Eppstein" noted that the Impaler had not even mentioned him in the race results (or prizes) ... which seemed to give the Impaler great satisfaction. It was almost like the Impaler could relegate Juan into obscurity with his "Devilish" powers. Again, I didn't think too much of it then, but check out the non-edited pics on my camera, that I remember as showing Juan as well as the Impaler? ... kinda scary! ... I hope I can sleep tonight!

Captured On Video:
While I do have some excellent helmet cam video of the race, it will take a bit of time to edit it all down into a short salute to the best nordic cross ever (IMHO), course I haven't been out to a lot of them, so don't let it go to your head Brad ... ahh I mean Impaler ... ahh err oh I mean Devilishly Powerful One!?

Until then, check out this little post race video clip:

*Btw, don't ask me why Chris is missing his pants and has a Frisbee (his race prize) positioned strategically. !?
Just a guess though ... I think the "Devil" made him do it!

65 knot winds and 30 foot ocean swells

I thought that Winnipeg weather conditions were a little on the extreme side this morning until I read Jessica Watson's blog. She's just made it thru a pretty rough storm on her quest to sail around the world. 65 knot winds were recorded before her wind instruments were knocked out, swells were 30 feet high (yikes!) and she experienced 4 knockdowns (where her mast was actually below horizontal - i.e. under water. One knockdown threw her completely upside down. Hardcore. The whole account is on her blog.

Note: The pic above was taken before the storm really hit, but it already looks pretty extreme to me.

For the record, another 16 year old girl set sail this past weekend to try to beat the record that Jessica hasn't even yet set, to be the youngest ever to sail solo around the world. What a hotly contested record. This new challenger, Abby Sunderland, is actually trying to reclaim the record that her brother held just a couple of years ago until it was beaten by someone else and now may be beaten again by Jessica. Sheesh.

Fresh Snow Biking - Crazy???

We just had a big dump of wet snow and I was going to get on my bike trainer, but decided to suit up and go out for a "little" slog to Assiniboine Park ... Crazy???
Nope ... it was a great winter bike ride that I extended into a long ride with a dry-off break at the heated park warming shelter. Good workout, no wipeouts, nice scenery and a great idea ... in fact, it would have been CRAZY not to be out there enjoying the "mild" winter temps!!!
Besides, I needed to get ready for the FGBC "Wrath" Nordic Cross on tonight.

Planet Earth Hippipolla - Inspiration to SUSTAIN our Earth

Speaking of the "Value of Nothing", conservation and sustainable living, as an ex-Park Ranger and closest tree-hugger, I found this a beautiful video.

The song is by Sigur Ros and their video for their song "Hippipolla" is awesome!
But, since you can't embed it ... check it out here ... you're never to old to still be a kid at heart!!

Is the LANCE of "old" back?

This time of the year, I seek fitness motivation from riding the river trails, watching cool POV biking videos while on the trainer and ... dreaming of watching the road cycling elite duke it out for those brightly colored leaders jerseys ... especially the Maillot Jaune at the TDF. But it's no fun without there being a real close battle for supremacy in the peleton! Will this year's TDF be a battle royale or a continued coronation for Alberto?


Whether you're a fan or not of Lance, it's going to be a more interesting season for the racing elite and better motivation for some of us with him back on a form to really compete for the top step on the podium! If Chris Carmichael is right Armstrong may have some peleton battles left to win!?

Unicycle Flip

Stumbled across this earlier today. Pretty impressive.

Belgian Beer Crisis

I'm not a big beer drinker but if I'm offered a selection of beer I'll always go for the European brands first (my apologies to every dyed in the wool hoser), and of course at last once a year everyone in the local cyclocross community is reminded of the country we can most thank for such a beautiful sport: Belgium. Sometimes it's tough to tell what Belgian's like about the sport more - the racing or the beer consumed while spectating.

Maybe that's why the following headline caught my eye this morning, and why I thought others might be interested:

Running Dry: Belgium's Looming Beer Crisis.

Head to the Hills

As far as I'm aware this is the first official race poster of 2010 to be posted, so I thought it was worth reposting here. For the record I think I'll be racing again this year (if you call what I do racing) after spectating for all of last year, and this looks like a great race to start the season with. In fairness there are a couple other races on the calendar before this so check them out too.

More info on the Head to the Hills race here.

Shout out to Leann Friesen

Oh ya, almost forgot (and who knows what reminded me now):

A big shout out to Leann Friesen. On my way home from dropping Deanna off at work yesterday I was driving down Wolseley and watched as Leann hammered passed another cyclist on the morning commute like he was standing still. Leann, you probably crushed the poor guy's spirit as he started the work week, but you made me smile.

MCA Race Organizers Meeting - Tentative MCA MTB Race Schedule

I was at the well-attended MCA Racer Organizers Meeting for MTB and joint MTB/Road Race scheduling on this past Saturday and a tentative schedule was discussed, with Hal Loewen leading the meeting. The initial going in race dates were posted here on the MCA Mountain Bike Committee Blog. No update has been posted on their blog yet, but here is what I got as the latest "tentative" MTB Race schedule for 2010:

Apr ?? (Loc ? - Spring Classic MTB Race - Red River Racing)
May 2 (Grand Beach - Olympia - Cup #1)
May 16 (Brandon Hills - BBC - Cup #2)
June 6 (Morden Back 40 - Tinker - Enduro #1)
June 13 (Falcon - B&B/Woodcock - Downhill/Cup #3)
June 26 (BAF/Birch - JYD - Cup #4)
July 4 (Reach the Beach - Olympia - Enduro #2) - Or possible RedAss?
July 11 (Swan River - TTT - Cup #5)
July 17 (A Rocha Pembina Valley MTB Race/Enduro - Training Coop)
July 24/25 (Falcon - FGBC/Birch/RRR - 24hr Enduro #3)
Aug 15 (Birch - Alter Ego - Enduro #4)
Aug 29 (Falcon - MCA MTB - Provincials)
Sep ?? (Loc ? - Body Driven)
Sep 26? (Birch Fall Classic - BAF/JYD?)
*Note: Wed Night Series race dates to be determined shortly. Likely on Wednesdays after a MTB weekend race.

As far as over lap with Cross, the CX races for Sep are tentatively:
Sep 12 (CMU - FGBC - Cross #1)
Sep 19 (Wildwood - Woodcock - Cross #2)
Sep 26 (St Malo - Olympia - Cross #3)
Then - Oct 2 (Bourkevale/Bruce - Training Coop - Cross #4)

Plenty of other stuff discussed:
From Ron Brown:
- New MCA Office location open soon - 145 Pacific, behind the Concert Hall
- Access to MCA equipment - new location access TBD
--equipment includes industrial weed wacker, chainsaw, blower, radios, pylons, signs, etc.
Hal lead discussion of:
- Race organizing and promotion - doing it better and clubs helping each other.
- Race Emergency Response Plan - an official plan must be submitted to MCA.
- Posting of Race Results - immediately after race to MCA for posting and press releases.
- Race/Event Insurance - complicated issues here, but discussion focused on possible need for clubs to consider "Directors & Officers" insurance in addition to the current race/event insurance, which Ron Brown is going to investigate possible connection of clubs with MCA Committee members insurance (maybe cost sharing/reducing?). Also, Ron confirmed that Citizen Racer program will continue for 2010.
- Commissaire training - we need more commissaires and training is being planned for the spring
- First Aid training - planned for the spring

Should be an even better race season this year ... and I hope to be a bigger part of it - for sure!

Tentative Road and CX Schedule

After last night`s MCA road and cross meeting a tentative 2010 schedule has been posted here. Please note that this is tentative. The mtn bike schedule should be hammered out this coming Saturday and might affect the road and cross schedule slightly (more likely road than cross).

Deanna in San Diego

For those who didn't catch it in Deanna's twitter feed, yesterday she posted a pic taken while she was going for a run on the beach in San Diego. Looks a bit different than Winnipeg this time of year. She swears there was an afternoon break in her seminars which allowed her to get out to the beach in the middle of the day.

Wow, I wish I was out there with my surf ski - look at those nice frothy waves.

The Value of Nothing

While this doesn`t directly apply to the training-related posts we usually make here it does tie in with some of our other related activities. I heard an author speak about his new book entitled ``The Value of Nothing`` this morning on a cable news program and I`d like to find the book.

It sounds like the book in part helps assess what we as a society value vs. what we should value. I know that I`m occasionally embarrassed to think about the dollar value of all the `stuff` Deanna and I have and where that money may have been better spent. Don`t get me wrong, I`m not trying to pretend we`re rich by North American standards, but I`m reminded when I look out my kitchen window that we have 3 summer vehicles, and I don`t even want to add up the cost of the bikes and boats we have in our house.

That`s in part why we`ve committed to donating half of the store credit I earn thru Olympia to charity - it`s slightly flawed logic but even if we have far more than we need at least we`re moderating the value we place on accumulating more stuff by giving some of it away, hopefully to others who need it more than us.

Here`s a great video that the author put together to describe his book:

Jessica Watson reaches Cape Horn

I`ve been following Jessica Watson`s attempt to become the youngest person ever to sail around the world solo (and trying to reconcile the fact that I feel uneasy if I`m more than a mile from shore on a calm lake on my kayak) and thought I`d note here that she has made it to Cape Horn, which is a very significant nautical landmark (in sometimes treacherous ocean wind and waves). Pretty cool. Check out the most recent post on her blog here.

Leadville 100 movie coming to Winnipeg

Deanna and I went to see Hurt Locker last night (great movie btw) and as I was vegetating in my seat before the movie began I almost missed a very brief trailer that seemed to say a movie chronicling the 2009 Leadville 100 mtn bike race was coming to Cineplex later this month. After we got home we hopped online and sure enough this Jan 27th and again on Feb 7th "Race Across the Sky" is being shown at the Polo Park Silver City Cinema! Tickets are on sale starting yesterday.

I found a longer trailer online, embedded below. The movie looks great. One word of warning: On at least one message board I found a comment indicating that Bob Roll is one of the films commentators. I pretty much despise Bob Roll's TdF commentating and I have no hope that his announcing in this movie will be any better, especially considering that Lance Armstrong, with whom Roll has the biggest man-crush ever, is competing, but that aside I'm really looking forward to the film. FYI, we plan to go on Jan 27th.

Free TRX Class / Bikram Hot Yoga

For anyone who's interested, Sustainable Fitness has teamed up with Bikram Yoga to offer a free TRX fitness class and a free hot yoga class to first time participants. I have a limited number of the brochures above, which are required to be presented to either class prior to participation.

For contact info go to the Sustainable Fitness website or the Bikram Yoga Winnipeg 360 listing.

FYI, I do not teach the TRX fitness class though I am currently teaching an early morning TRX
bootcamp at the same facility. The Bikram yoga class is similar to the one I took personally a few weeks ago and wrote about on this message board.

Feel free to give me a shout if you'd like a pass (while quantities last).

New Coop Member: Brian Dyck

Well it's a new year and that's always a good time for change, especially when it bring about growth.
Now is such a time of growth for our little Training Coop, as we welcome a new member ... Brian Dyck.


This picture of Brian is his own submission for his member picture!

This is a self-pic Brian took after 2 hrs of hard mtn biking on the Snowshoe Trail at Waterton Lakes National Park this past summer. He's ridden his bike hard, is sweaty and doesn't care! It's tells you a lot about the Brian that I know as a friend and good riding partner of these past 12 years.


Brian and I have been road and mtn bike partners for lots of short and long rides in all conditions.


We have also been on two biking trips to Moab, Utah. One trip was with a group of guys back in 2002 and most recently we went to Moab in 2008 for some adventures in slickrock MTBing and roadie hill climbs.


Brian enjoys riding his mountain bike(s), but really shines when there's a good road biking challenge ahead.


I've been there first hand to see Brian persevere over epic distances and steep grades to complete long rides in good humour.

Brian is very diligent with his fitness, mostly with road and mtbing, but also weight training regularly in the off season. He has ridden over 6000 kms this year and last (including trainer rides) and keeps track of his fitness activities using Map My Ride. In fact, Brian and I were challenging each other with our workouts and trainer 'time trials' this past winter ... good motivation for us both!

Brian has ridden in a number of Habitat For Humanity 'Cycle Of Hope' rides over the last 7 plus years and is planning to take part in this year's Winnipeg Cycle Of Hope ride from Fernie BC to Wpg in early July. He trains hard and also raises plenty of money for a good cause.

Brian is super keen about his bikes, bike parts and accessories! Which makes him a great customer for Olympia and well known there. He is also a genuinely nice, humble and honest guy. Not someone to brag about his accomplishments or the latest cool Kris King headset he may have just put on his road bike !

I am pleased that Brian is ready to join the Training Coop, because he is a keen fitness and biking friend, who has encouraged and kept me accountable with my fitness and adventure interests.
All members of the Coop welcome him to our little gang!