Cycle the Sunshine Coast, BC

It was a bit of a letdown packing up and leaving Healdsburg.  We just finished 375km in 3 1/2 days including the King Ridge Granfondo 160km and we were tired.  On the first ride, it was 34 plus deg and it seemed like a dry sauna to me (before you throw the water on).  Within no time, my head felt on fire, I went through 2 water bottles of Gatorade and my buddy dumped some of his water on me which felt like a hot shower.  We stopped at a Shell and I dumped a litre of cold bottle water on my head and back that did enough to cool me down.  We stayed in the valley (dubbed Dry Creek Valley) which was shaded and few degrees cooler and rode for another 3 hours.  We visited Sonoma Lake, rode along the Russian River and rode through Healdsburg.  I had a blast!  and whew, that ride was hot! The next day was an "easy" ride before the big race and we rode on the Mill Creek Road.  This road is along a creek and amongst huge redwood trees.    The more rememberable moments is a 29% hill t

So with the King Ridge Granfondo a month away, I went to camp for 10 days and didn't ride. Prior to being away I was getting pretty strong. But with little more than indulging on buffets and too much beer, my first rides after camp was like I was riding in a sumo wrestler suit. I gained 6lb and it took more than few rides to shed the pounds and gain some form back. Fast forward to today. My dad brought a couple of deep dish carbon wheelsets back from China and I finally put wheels together today. Man, these wheels are the steroid-like injection I needed to improve my game. They are so noticeably faster that I set personal bests on 4 out of 5 hills on my training route! These wheels are the single best upgrade to my cycling that I can think of. ----WAB1234---- - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

It's just little over 2 weeks before the 160km King Ridge Granfondo and I'm alittle under-trained not riding from a couple of weeks.  But in the 10 days off from riding, I wanted to share with you a place that I visited while working.  Highway 37 from Kitwanga to Bell 2.  I saw many cyclists completing this part of the journey where they flew to Alaska and spent months riding back to Vancouver.  Hwy 37 is one of the most underutilized highway in BC.  Hwy 37 is definitely on my bucket list!

Okay I get it.  Being over 40 means that any exercise is not easy.  Let start with when it was easy.  When I was in grade 8 I ran a low 5 min mile. Running was easy.  When I was grade 11, I played for the Under 17 Vancouver Rugby team.  Rugby was easy.  I proved that in high school not many people where faster than me.  In my 20's, I think like many men that follow a career path, family, house and such; fitness took a back seat and the bricks of butter piled on me like someone stuffing them in a backpack while I was wearing it. Enter the 1/4 life crisis - I picked up mountain bike racing - I was 28 and in the Senior Sport class - It took me forever to eek out 10 points to advance from beginner because the young guys would show up and blow by me like I was standing still.  These guys made it look easy - and what I figured - they had no career yet, or a job at least so they could ride all day long and perfect their fitness to top me.  Thats what I believed anyway cause it wasn'

Woke up at some un-godly hour to complete a ride into Vancouver.  I usually complete a nice loop from Horseshoe Bay Ferry Terminal along Marine Drive to UBC.  I added a nice little loop to Iona Beach which considering my motivation level lately, made all the difference for me to enjoy the trip.  100km in the bag. On the way back on the ferry, I bump into a rider that I passed along the way a couple of times enroute along Marine Drive (I stopped for coffee) and she was on a older mountain bike with normal clothes on.  I probably looked so foreign to her with all my biking specific clothes (called a kit in our circles).  She complained that her seat made her butt sore, but she was really looking forward to seeing Gibsons (somehow the pain would be worth it when she got to her designation).  She said that she's  never been to the coast and decided to take her bike from the west end to the ferry and to Gibsons- good for her! She wasn't too keen about all the hills and I gave he

Okay, a couple of weeks ago I hit a nice peak and I wanted to ride all the time.  I put 900km in the month of July and my avg km/hour basically bumped up a couple of k's.  So, today I forced myself to wake up early, decided to drive to Sechelt and join a group ride to get me motivated.  So I waited at the meeting spot and no one showed (or bothered).  I started with the motivational talk with myself - do a long ride and you'll be better for it. Trust me you'll be glad you did...F-it was my body's response.  So, do a short ride. At least you can justify driving for 1/2 hour to get here.  F-it was the response again.    Why don't you turn around, go to a lung association fundraiser breakfast and talk about cycling.  Ah! that is an awesome idea! - So I turned around and got a 8min ride in. So this is the lows of cycling - two to three weeks ago I had awesome energy and power.  This week - well I need someone like Tony Robbins to keep my interested in riding and compl

Its July 19th and for the last week I've been feeling awesome when I ride. Awesome means hills are molehills, power and recovery is always available and you feel that you have tons of energy. It wasn't more than a month ago that I was complaining about just the opposite effects - no energy, burning legs walking up stairs and not motivated. In June I wrote in my diary "feeling crappy - need to rest" and the last June entry "I'm getting slower FML!" on a training loop that use to measure my performance. I was thinking what the helI do i need to do to get faster???? It was like i was slamming the course but when i reviewed the data , i was slower. Urggggg! The solution was that i rested fofor about two weeks by reducing my mileage and effort, putting on easy miles. Then on July 1, I slammed 190km; the next weekend, 120km and now the granfondo at 115km. I rode the the course where I was slower in June, to a new personal best and I thought that I wasn't

Its Monday and just finished the Kelowna Granfondo weekend.  Thinking about the ride puts a great big grin on my face.  There were 5 Cat 5 climbs and 1 Cat 2 climb - almost 1200m of elevation gain.  At the end, my time was 4:01:40 - 69/260 in my 40-49 age group and 192/880 overall. The ride started out slowly as expected, but the first hill came quickly and started to peak my heart rate.  That was Cat 5 climb and 14km of uphill climbing for 500m elevation.  Finally, descending on the OK lake side was beautiful and fast and then setting us up for the Cat 2 climb to Predator Ridge.  Riders were falling like flies and I felt fairly strong knowing that I had a long way to go. The descend from Predator Ridge into Vernon was an exhilarating 20km of a net 400m drop where we reached speeds of 73km!  The ride along Hwy 97 was fairly non-eventful except that the organizers set aside a whole lane for us to use.  That in itself was the reason that I LOVE Granfondos! My goal was to be under 4

Every year I try to put together a day that tests my endurance.  Last year was the Circle tour of Sunshine Coast and Vancouver Island - 240 km in 2 days.  This year takes me south from Nanaimo to Mill Bay, over to Brentwood and Swartz Bay, then Tsawwassen to Horseshoe Bay. This 188km tour I completed in 7 hours and 17 minutes with 5hours waiting or riding ferries.  The Nanaimo to Mill Bay was definitely the highlight of the trip where I rode through the back-roads of Cedar, Chemainus Bay, Maple Bay, Mill Bay, Brentwood Bay, and Sidney with relatively light traffic and calm flats roads.  My buddy knew the best routes and we rode on roads that I wouldn't have ever figured out.  Click this link to download or view the route in detail. Getting through the George Massey tunnel proved easier than I thought, but I needed to jump on a bus at the Ladner Exchange and ask every bus if the route went to Richmond.  Hint - Look for a bus that goes to the Bridgeport station.  Find a bike rou

The Kelowna Granfondo is only a couple of weeks away and I've just started to ride some big rides.  Not that I haven't been riding but only putting in smaller, faster rides.  The Tuesday nights rides tend to be a wicked workout and some of the riders are having a problem keeping up (mostly me).  Today, I rode to Madeira Park (Pender Harbour) and ended up bonking about 110km.  When I bonk its a feeling that almost makes me cry or at least whimper.  Its mind over matter and it takes every personality trait to keep me from stopping and hitchhiking home. I gotta learn to eat more and more often.... Next week is my 200km ride and I better learn quickly!!!!!! ----WAB1234---

Couldn't have asked for nicer day to spend with my steed. Easter marks the first of many long days this year that I'll be riding 100km or more. One day out of this year's long weekends is my time to enjoy. This saturday it was the ride from Horseshoe Bay ferry to UBC then cross town, over second narrows, to Deep Cove and back to the Ferry. Whew! 100km plus. It took me a little over 4 hours and I met some really cool people along the way. One such person was a triathlete that was telling me about her ironman competitions. She was also telling me how Vancouver was busting out with road riding and I believed her as I saw at least 1000 riders enjoying the sport that I loved. On the Sunshine Coast, road cycling is starting to pickup but may have only 15-20 people that ride regularly. The coast is mostly known for its stunning mountain biking riding. Still we are widening the hwy lanes and adding lanes on our rural routes; also don't forget the rides suggested on this b

So I have a new grouppo on my bike - SRAM Red and its SWEET!!!!.  Compare to my Ultegra, its lighter and noticeably louder when shifting gear.  "Clack, Clack" would best describe the sounds whereas the Shimano grouppo was a barely audible click.  The black crankarms and shifters really make the bike look great!  The bike weighs in now at 15.5 lbs with pedals and cages. ----WAB1234----

I didn't really think that I would have run as good as I did.  I trained the days before...hard and counted on a slow and laboured (to his standards) pace with my son that I thought "hey just go out and have fun" run with him.  I found out the day before that my son bailed and then I started thinking that my legs feel all lactic acidy like when I was climbing up stairs. I've never ran the Sun Run before and was really surprised with all the people.  All 49,000+ runners out there!  The gun went and a stream of people were zipping off to win.  The race starts in waves and it seems that the really slow people somehow put themselves into the 45-50 minute 10km pace category to be able to get ahead of the crowds!!!  As I started the run, I ran a slower than race pace just to see how the crowds was going to slow me. Then I hit the walkers (yes 45min 10km my ass!!!) and it was like a pylon slalom course.  The crowds hit a rhythm and I found myself running fast.  So I switch

It's obvious that I'm in a funk right now. I think it's this long winter of constant rain and lack of sun. It's the first winter that my moods have been affected by the long winter season. After being sick for 3 weeks its like all my training prior to the flu was thrown in the garbage. I tried to train during it to maintain my current level of fitness but I definitely have seen a decline in mental fitness. Feelings of being discourage, disappointment and being overwhelmed of all the training required to get caught up. But goals are goals and for me it's important to stick to them only if it's just to reach it. Completing them always help me analyze the journey on how to improve. Its the Sun Run tomorrow and its a fun goal so that's what I'll do! ---WAB1234---- - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone Location: Deer Walk,Bowen Island,Canada

My virtual tour started Jan 1, 2011.  But I was running in the snow and rain, and even riding on a trainer.  I often wondered about going along this route for real.  The pictures speak a thousand words of Olympic Pennisula's beauty. La Push looks like a really nice place to visit the ocean. View Larger Map

So its mid march and over the last three months I started running and added a couple of goals to my 2011 bucket list.  The April Fools half marathon, the Sun Run and the Bare Bones Duo.  When I first started running in December after my first run, I couldn't walk for two days without wincing up the stairs.  I ran in the Resolution Run 10km and completed a 55min 10km.  I've hit the track once a week and run 4 days per week and cycle 2 days per week.  Anyway, I came down with this wicked flu/cold that sidelined me for 3 weeks and really affected my Duathlon at UBC, however I did pretty good with a 22nd place finished with a 22min/24min 5km split times.  My progress on running has come to fruition and I'm really enjoying it.  To date since January, I've run 229km and cycled 391km - 620km completed and time to start my virtual tour down into the states! ---WAB1234---

Its January 3rd, 2011 and its time to figure out the last year riding season, pick goals and assign some metrics.  First the mileage:  3401km and 142 hours!  I probably spent more time on my bike than any other activity, next to family time, working and sleeping.  I don't now where I'll find the time this year to ride without sacrificing the other 3 things on my list.  To get the 2011 key metrics is to analyse the peaks of the weeks of 2010.  I started riding around March.  And peaked for the year around mid July.  That's 4 months of riding and after May I started to put on big mileage with the Circle Ride (160km - Day 1 and 120 km - Day 2).  There was a lesser peak during the week of Granfondo.  During the x-mas break, I've established 3 key goals to establish me a key athlete.  Duathlon - March 7th - 5km run - 20 km ride - 5 km run.  Kelowna Granfondo - July 12th - 120km Levi Granfondo - Oct 1st - 160km Key metrics for me to follow: - increase leg speed through