cant sleep in

So day was my day off, a day to sleep in and get stuff done. Well Kona(my parents dog that I am sitting) saw to the sleeping in. At about 7am she started with the barking and nocking things over. Then we went out for breakfast, got some plants, me and ange planted them. Now ange is sleeping.

Yesterday I got out for about 170km...that was a long day.

C-Cup #3

So It was cold as hell. I lost feeling in my hands on the warm up(not really much of a warm up). On the plus side my knees were frozen. I dropped my chain off the top of the crankset on coffee run riding on saturday, and smashed my knee into the bolts on my shifter/brake clamps. It was really sore to ride. So that was a bonus.

I think I went out a little hard, I felt like I burned too many matches in the first half lap, but I was in the lead pack. I think I was last in the pack and there was like 6 of us. I just didnt think that I would survive at that pace, so I let off a bit. I came through the first lap, didnt get a bottle cus it was then that i noticed I almost hadnt drank at all. That mistake bit me in the ass later on. I was back and forth on the second lap with some guys from Two Wheel express(including Zoltan Pop who I raced against in road last year, and is a funny name so I always reconise him in results). Comming through for my last feed I effed up and dropped my bottle, I just kept going as I didnt want to loose too much. that hurt having nothin to drink. 3rd lap I was feeling effing great for the first half. Though not having that bottle sucked. I was making up alot of time, and had pulled the two wheel guys back. Then we ran into the Master Sport Women(just for Erins sake, it wasnt all of them, just the slow ones). Nothin against them, just annoying having your flow interupted by them. I just rode as strong as I could, turned out that Zoltan had faded a bit, and had I pushed harder on the last bit, I might have caught him. Ohwell.

I also found out that not only do I have enough points to get up to expert, but so does Erin and Ange. I dont think they want to go up to expert, but I hope they do. I also think that Lee has enough points to get to Elite now. Good on him for killin the Senior Ex feild. I was check lap times too, I figure that if you add about 3 minutes to the average lap time for having to do bone shaker, I was right around the same average lap time as spak. I am considering upgrading for Boler, though i might wait until mountain view.

Pictures are up

Her is one of my favorites from the weekend in tremblant. Check my gallery for the rest http://picasaweb.google.com/parkerbrandon2

CCUP #2

Got home lastnight from the Canada Cup in Mt Tremblant.....Shitty shitty experience. Well I shouldnt say that, I got a solid pre ride in on friday. I was super excited at how technical the decending was, and the climbing was all double track....dammed near a perfect course for me. I lost track of time on race day, and didnt have much time to warm up. The beggining was probably about 1km or so of double track climbing, but not a really steep grade. So i figured, no big deal, just take that easy, and use it to warm up, then I can work my way up during the later stages of the race. Well the start was so slow, that my warm up pace had me going from 9th in the begginging of the climb, to 3rd going into the first single track(I made alot of positions on this super super loose gravel road section we rode for about 150m right before you hit the single track, there was a hard pack section about 2ft wide that was super fast that I was the only one that rode it). Any who, so I was in 3rd, I was just chillin in the single track, and then right away the guy in second fell, so I got by him, sweet, I was in second. Then I got stalled on a rock garden(i think the whole course was just one big rock). I got passed by 3 guys. I noticed there was a big gap to the next guys behind them, so I got back on, and caught the 3 that just passed me. There was some single track and big wide ski runs to cross, so I just sat in and stuck with them. I knew where I was waiting for. It was a 500m steep double track climb. All the guys infront of me went to small chain ring for the climb. I stuck in middle and just went. By the top I was about 100ft behind first place and had put about a minute on the guys behind me as they were putting very little effort into the climb. I decided to use the single track section to recover, especially cus there was almost no more climbing from this point, as its all decending into the village, then climbing all the way up. So the guy in first was so slow on the technical stuff, I caught him right away. There was this short little punchy climb that whent up a big rock about 15ft of vertical. I used this to pass the guy in first, but in doing so I somehow managed to sheer my Derailer hanger in half. So that was it for my race. I probably would have won the race as my buddy that finished in 4th, said that the pace never got faster, only slower, and I was feeling fanatastic. So I walked the like 4km back to the village as my hanger brock above the mount point for the rear wheel, so I couldnt even do something like coast down or anything. Sucky. So I hung out with my Buddy that is one of the Pros from the Norco team who is on the injured list himself. Then drank a whole bunch that night, then drove that same friend to the hospital in Ottawa, as it seems the foreign nation of quebec didnt feel they needed to treat him even though his right quad had swelled to twice the size of his left(doctor that he saw said that based on looking at it anti inflamitories would do the trick). Though it was swollen for over a week....

So after 7.5hrs got home lasnight, uploaded some pictures I got of the race, and the Red Bull Monte Decende relay race at night, and went to sleep. I will try to remember to upload those pictures tonight when I get home from work.

Also, I have to give a huge huge shout out to the NORCO mechanics. I brought them my broken hanger, they found a matching one, and just gave me a new one. Pretty solid dudes.

Ottawa

On our way to Mont-Tremblant for Canada Cup #2. Stayed at the wonderful Thomas's apartment lastnight. It was a fairly uneventful drive. The plan was to take erins car, but that plan was over when we found out that her hitch ball is seized onto the mount. So we loaded our stuff into anges car, and we were off. We finally pulled into here at about 1130. Talked for a bit, sleeping by 1230. I fortunatly have an incredible internal alarm clock that decided that 6 am was a wonderfull time to get up...thanks.

Today we are going to be driving the last 2 hours to tremblant, get a preride in, talk to the usuals, tease stu cus he is all broken, then get into the hotel. I have my camera, so I hopefully can get some good pictures on race day. I race at 10, but I have no idea how long of a race it will be as the whole website for the race is in french. I am geusing it will be around 1h30, so that will give me lots of time to get changed and ready for the 2pm start that Lee and Thomas are in. Off to kill more time surfin the net for random stuff while I wait for everyone else to wake up.

Thursday racing

So last night I race unlimited. Jacob showed up, and the rest of the normals. I went out i suppose a little hard. I was out front until the first climb. I lost traction on a steep part, and got passed. Kept going, got passed by the reset on the second climb, same problem. Ohwell. Still need to learn how to ride glassfords, I need to just take it easy one day, and try it low speed to find the line. No idea how I finished, I was so far off the back the second lap turned into fun. Which to me equals big ring for the whole lap(minus the 2 climbs)....it was interesting.

At work for another hour or so. Go home and build up all my Campy Record onto my old trek frame. Hopefully I can get out for a few hours today on it. Then tommorow the group ride. Then who knows....apparently we are doing alot of work this weekend sais ange. So that will be fun.

lazy lazy

I think I am getting a little lazy. Lastnight was the second time this week I havnt ridden, and tuesday wasnt much of a ride because I forgot the spacer in my cassette and shifting was all messed up. Tonight is the MtView race, so that should be fun. I think I am going to try and get out a bit early to do a lap or two. Tommorow get into the shop to get my crankset transfered off my Guru, onto the old trek frame, then I can build up the old frame with my good components until i get the warrenty done on my good race frame.

This weekend is looking like its going to be sketch weather. Good thing I will have tommorow afternoon off. I think I will go poach at Mt View and ride for a few hours there.

Albion

Well OCUP#2 is over. I thought I did well, but the whole time I felt like I had more to give. Like riding with your brakes on. I found out why. I had a snapped rear axle. My rear wheel was giving me alot of resistance. Might have ment a couple places as I was within 1 minute of 10th place(I was 16th). Ohwell, turns out its $80 to replace because of 3 letters.....XTR. Ohwell, the price of fancy wheels.

Almost an epic ride

Well it sure turned into something lastnight. I went to Copeland to ride with the MCC crew, and it was a hard ride, i was out with Peter Lister, Tom Giout, Lee, Mark M, and Dale. They are fast. So it was about an hour and a half of hard riding. Then Lee convinced me to ride to the night ride. Well it was about another 40 minutes of a solid hard pace to get there. Still was late, about 2 minutes after the guys left. So me and lee rode around toms forest looking for them until it was getting dark. Then we headed back. About an hour laterish we were on our way home....legs a little sore.

Just gettin ready to leave work, got another few hours to ride tonight at Mt View. Going to do the race course a few times. I still just cant dial in the climb up to the top. I have only ever made it up those little switchbacks once. I will probably work on it a bit tonight.

Ride #2 in midhurst

So lastnight I decided to go back to Midhurst and ride it again. So i brought the dog and the girlfriend. Good riding. Tired the heck out of Kona for about 20 minutes, then she wanted to play again.

So the ride went pretty well. Stuck to riding like the night before, no changing gears. Hopefully if I do a ride or two a week like that it will help improve my strength(aka, climbing, which sucks right now). Sitting at work right now makes me wish I had called in sick. I was going to get out on the road bike(actually my dads while I wait for my frame to be warrentied) over lunch today, but I slept in and coulndt get my stuff all together intime to be to work not late. So I think that me and Ange are going to get an interval workout in tonight, we need to get her back on the podium. 1.5 weeks till albion. Hopefully it is nice and dry, and I can try and put some hurt on the Sport feild, if I can hold onto a top 5 at albion I will be alot happier then stupid 18th.

Monday night ride

So I noticed on facebook last week that Jeremy from the Barrie Trek store had made an event about a monday night ride. I asked about it, and I was told that I was for sure ok to come out. It was a night ride behind the Simcoe County Building. Sounds good. I headed up early to get on some of the trails in light, both so I could see the trails before I rode them in the dark, and to get a longer ride in. I got a solid hour of interval riding in, then what was supposed to be a nice easy ride back to the cars to meet the guys. Well I hit a little root and did this.


That was a stick that thankfully didnt puncture my ass, but it did give me some solid cuts, and tore the shit out of my shorts. You can see the blood on the shorts still.

So i got back, asked if anyone had any duct tape, found out no one did, so I was relegated to the back of the ride so I wasnt mooning someone the whole time. Got set up with matts old light system, and off we went. It was a pretty decent pace for me, as these riders are mostly alot faster then me. About half way through the ride, i was convinced to not change gears anymore. So off we went, no changing gears. Somehow, by the end of the ride I managed to get into my 14 sprocket....which would explain why it was so hard at the end....that or I am week.

OCup-#1

So the race didnt go as well as I would have hoped. I had a good start. Stayed with the lead group through lap one, despite have terrible tires for this course. I thought I was sitting around 10th or so comming through the feed zone, turns out I was 4th. Though I just couldnt hold it. The tire problems plagged me really bad on lap 2, as I couldnt climb most of the big climbs, and a few fast corners I just shot right through the corner, and had to wait till a pack went by, then I was killing myself to try and get back up to them. I was pretty beat by lap 3. Riding the Hard Tail was rough on my back. If I keep riding it i will have to get used to it again. Though i am going to be taking in my FS to get the linkage bearings/bushings fixed. So I might be back on it soon. So I finished the race in 18th. So i will have to live with that. Though apparently I was one of the fastest people on the crazy downhill section near the end of the lap, so I am happy with that. Though now its time to train and get ready for Albion.

New sponsorship

Wicked. Sponsored now by SPY Optics.

Finally got the camera back out

I have been so busy with riding, and fixing my bikes getting ready for the trip to South carolina that I havnt been shooting too much. Here is a picture It is originally a HDR picture with a filter overtop. I think I am going to re-work it tonight though.

cant post pics?

So I couldnt put any more pictures in the last post, here are the ones I wanted in there.

I have no will power

Well I kind of do. That is the only reason I don't own like 90 bikes....Though I did finally break down to buy this sweet mother....


I have also been playing with my bikes. Here is a picture of the new old SS. Also one of the new grips from my mountain bike.

New old bike

So this weekend while I was building up my old trek frame with my campy record stuff(good race frame broke), I got sick of all the work and it was a wicked nice day out. I just ran into town grabbed a chain tensioner, and made the old steed into a single speed. I really love it. After about 2 hours of riding it I think I got it all dialed in. Man, some of those hills get hurtfull though. It should help with training getting my strength up, to off set my fat ass. I should be able to get pictures tonight, should be up by tommorow.

Riding not shootin

So I have been doing way more riding then in a while. I still have a broken road frame, so slicks on the ol' mountain bike. Speaking of, i should get my P3 back from the keenes, I could be riding it. Maby tommorow. I am doing my BFT tommorow, or Battle Fitness Test. Its a 13km ruck march with a minimum of 35lbs in a back pack. They say really fast is under 2 hours....I dont think it will take me that long if they let me do it at MY pace.

In other news I am now a sponsored cyclist for Rudy Project. Thats exciting.

I am alive

I made it back safely from the northern reaches of ontario. I was about 1300km north of here with the army doing some indoc training for artic warfare. Here are a couple pictures I got.Though my camera doesnt much like temperatures below -30 ish.

Weekend update

After a late late show on friday(since when do movies that are longer then 2 hours, start at 1030?), I got to sleep in on saturday. The plan was to get out for a 5km ish run, but that of course turned into playing halo 3 all afternoon with my friend. Saturday night, had the boys and girls over, so meg, matt, erin, and lee for dinner, drinks, and some exilarating rounds of asshole(card game, honest).

Sunday went over to matts after I gave an interview as a triathlon expert for a friend that is making a documentary for her graduate video program on triathlon training. Got in about 1h45 on the trainer until my road bike that was already pretty cracked, got even worse. So i just got off, did a little strech, and then started drinking some beer. I think I am just going to take all my Campy Record components off it, and put it on my crappy, trek 2000 frame. That should keep me going for this year, unless I can get the frame warrentied(fingers crossed).

Looking forward, sorta to this weekend. I am heading to Kitchenuh-Maykoosib on saturday. Its one of the most northern most native areas in ontario. The army feels that this will be good winter training. Should be good times. Supposed to have an ice fishing stand, and lots of learning from the natives.

I will get back on the 9th, just intime to go the bike show, and start getting ready for south carolina. Cant wait for it!

Old Photos

I was just looking through some. I really like this picture of Mike Gerrigan. He must have been flying to pull this off. Also some other ones from provincials.

New lay out and junk.

So I have decided to use this blog to show off my newest hobby. Photography. To a lesser extent, photoshop stuff. Which now seems to go hand in hand with digital photography. Here are some of my favorite photos I have.