Bacon Buffet/Trans Stony

Got up Saturday morning early to head out to Stony Plain. My son, who usually sleeps in, was also awake. I was hoping to escape before he got up. Packed up all my stuff and reassured David that I'd be back soon (he was pounding on the window demanding to come with me).

The drive was longer than I expected, the race was kind of in the middle of nowhere. The GPS didn't even recognize the roads within 20km of the place. checked in for the race and then got my gear ready. My first ever Sport Class race, I wasn't sure what kind of pace to expect. Lined up at the back of the pack and away we went. Right from the start, I struggled to keep any sort of spin going. Legs felt heavy, my energy level just sucked. I wasn't long until the novice guys were passing me as well. It was going to be a long day.

The course was a great setup, nice twisty singletrack with some roots and logs thrown in for good measure. And the Houffalize climb at the end was killer. I did manage to ride it my first lap, not so much after that.

I just kept going, telling myself that quitting was not an option. My bike wasn't helping things as it was shifting poorly the entire time. I was experiencing the lonliness only the guy at the back of the pack can feel. Dead last. Well, two guys DNFed. But for everyone who finished, I was at the bottom. Sigh. Very disappointed.

The Trans Stony is a 6 hour race held on the same course. Well, almost the same course. This time, we did it in reverse. The weather forecast wasn't great, we hoped the rain would stay away for at least most of it. I chowed down a huge breakfast with the other Deadgoats. I was worried it would be too much.

Got to the venue and checked in. This time, we got to go down the Houfallize, which was awesome! Today, I felt about a million times better than the day before. A decent pace, I felt energized, the bike was shifting well. Lots of friendly encouragement from my teammates the whole way. Craig, Devon, Erik, Pat and Geoff passed me many times. Saw Tori a number of times as well as Dustin.

All in all, a much better result. The last few laps were a little sloppy. The official results posted had me at 8 laps, but I know I did 9 (Tori was shortchanged as well). So with that, I placed about 25th out of 35. Not too bad for an old fat guy. I still have some work to do.

Back in Blog

I've been a little lax at posting (yeah, six months is a long time). What can I say? I've been busy. Our 3 year old boy is ripping around with no shortage of energy and our little girl is 6 months old.

It's finally getting nice outside. Which means I have no excuses to stay off the bike. I've been cranking out the commuter miles in the past few weeks and my legs are feeling better everyday. I got a racing license this year so I need to be out there as much as possible. I should have sucked it up and rode Lethbridge on the weekend but I wussed out. I signed up for the Bacon Buffet and the marathon race the next day. Can't wait. I'll keep you posted as to whether I survive or not. Winter was not good to me. I'm at a not-so-svelte 182 lbs presently. Shit.

It's a Girl!!

The weather hadn't been very co-operative, so I was stuck taking the bus. Somehow, I managed an amazing connection and got home at 5:45pm. Kelly and David were out, picking up our cat who had teeth pulled that day. I put some dinner together and my family soon joined me. Tuesday the cat looked hilarious in her little T-Shirt (to keep her from going after her tiny drug patch). She was dubbed "Teen Wolf" by my sister. Perfect.

Kelly mentioned she was feeling some discomfort. I laughed and told her she was in labour most likely. I got the watch out and the contractions were about 13 and a half minutes apart. No worries. We continued on, getting David ready for a bath. Kelly kept me up to date on the contraction situation (still 13 minutes apart).

In the middle of the bath, with little warning, she was suddenly down to 6 minutes apart. I wasn't aware that they could change this quickly, I figured it was more gradual. We had to kick it up a notch. I got David out of the tub and ready for a road trip. We gathered up all of his Hot Wheels cars, made sure we had our own provisions and loaded up the Nissan.

In the car, Kelly was in obvious discomfort. And the contractions were now 3 minutes apart. Shit! I was really worried we'd have the baby in the car. Got to Grandma and Granpa's house and unloaded David and his gear. Kelly foolishly came to the door, barely able to walk. David cried and didn't want Mom to go. We sped off to the Peter Lougheed. It was around 8:35pm.

I really hate the check in system when you're giving birth. How stupid is it that Dad (me) has to go down 2 floors to check in two different times? Don't we need to be by the side of our better half? Anyway....

It didn't take long for them to figure out we were not going to be leaving without a child. Kelly was now in the delivery room. Our nurse was a champ. Thank you for all of your help Ingrid!! Kelly's contractions were really intense, lots more pain than with David. She hollered for some drugs for pain. Little did we know there just wasn't going to be time.

Ingrid was the only one in the room with us, no doctors were there yet. Kelly's contractions were very close together now and very painful. Ingrid told us the baby would be here very soon (I thought she was kidding, just being a good coach). She got on the intercom and asked for a doctor ASAP.

At 9:39pm on Nov 5, I became a father for the second time. Julia Ann weighed in at a healthy 7 lbs, 4 3/4 oz and was just over 20 inches long. Mom was amazing!!! We both shed tears of joy as I cut the cord and baby Julia was set down on Mom's chest. 3 and a half hours between supper and birth. holy cow, Kel, you don't waste time do you??

What an amazing few years it has been. So many ups and downs, stressful times. 2007 was a tough year, dealing with the pitfalls of parenthood and a failed pregnancy. We got through, baby. I'm more proud of you, Kelly, than you can possibly imagine.

:-)

The passing of a legend

the word "legend" is a little overused. But I think it's fitting for this man. He's entertained us for over 50 years. And has given some $200 million to charities. Paul Newman had died of Cancer. I think I'm going to have a personal film festival in the next week or so. From The Hustler to Cool Hand Luke, The Sting, Slap Shot, the Color of Money...right to his last picture, Cars. You were the best in the business, we'll miss you.

169

This is an important number for me. I've been chasing it for the last few years. About a decade ago, I did a career change from a moving around all day job to a sit in front of the computer monitor one. It did not do wonders for my weight. All the beer and cigarettes probably didn't help either. I went from about 160lbs to my top out of 208. That doesn't sound huge, but when you're 5'7", it's a damn scary sight. I stepped on the scale this morning to 169. I haven't been below 170 in 10 years at least. that makes me a smilin' dude today.

Transrockies Day 7

Day 7: Crowsnest Pass to Fernie 78.8km 2101m of climbing

This is it. The end. The big finale. One last ride. Amazingly, no trains come by after 10pm last night. I figured for sure we'd be woken up 2 or 3 times. I still don't feel great, but at least I slept. I can barely sit, and the day is gonna be hotter than yesterday even.

We get the National Anthem sung before the start today. A nice touch I thought. We get to climb another ski hill today, thankfully it is small. And it gets most of the climb out of the way early. There is the prerequisite long, shitty hike a bike. The mood was good today. We all knew how close we were. But we still want to beat the shit out of the people who whined that the last stage wasn't tough enough in previous years (they pretty much doubled the length this year).

We sweat buckets right off the start, it's damn hot. And it's barely 9am. I am not riding well today. Niall helps me along as best he can. I can't say enough about his patience. Control station one doesn't have the usual variety of food, being the last day and all. I can't eat another Clif bar. Watermelon does nothing for me. I still love bananas, surprisingly. My peanut butter and honey sandwiches in my bag will have to do.

I get a flat, first one since day 2. On a fireroad no less. Again. It's just that kind of day. I get another almost exactly an hour later. Oh well. We get rolling, some tough, hot climbs and we are finally rewarded with sweet Fernie singletrack. Great way to finish. I crash once for good measure. We hit the streets of Fernie to the sounds of cheering. I hear my family but don't see them. A final high five to Niall and we've done it! Someone shakes my hand and puts a medal around my neck. We set our bikes against a bench and I look for my wife and son who I haven't seen in 8 days. I hear David yell "Daddy!" and I collapse into a dirty, sweaty crying mess. Group family hug on the sidewalk in the middle of a huge crowd of people. I don't care. I am so happy to see them.

I see Mom next and then Dad. It would have been impossible to have completed this without him. He cooked, cleaned, gave pep talks. thanks for believing, Dad! Not to mention letting us use the most stylish lodgings of the entire race.

Thanks to a ton of people I talked to afterward. Deadgoats Gerry, Tim, Tracey, Pat, Trish and Geoff all told me what a great thing I had just accomplished. Dallas Morris had kind words. These things mean a ton coming from racers like yourselves. I'll never forget James and Simon in their impossibly warm looking Tiger costumes. The brave couple on the tandem Ellsworth. Jim Seethram and his wonderful family. Dan the bike mechanic. The Belgian contingent I always seemed to run across going uphill. Met so many people.

The fine lady who sponsored us asked me if I was ready for next year. I didn't say no...

Transrockies Day 6

Day 6 Elkford to Crowsnest Pass 102.4km 2998m of climbing

Another shitty sleep. Sigh. We just don't seem to get a break with quiet spots to camp. Arguing at 1:45am in some site nearby. Assholes.

It's a cool morning, I overfilled my Camelback bladder and I am now soaked. Left Elkford via the highway and straight up a 5km paved climb. Steep grade. Exited to some neat singletrack, queue the logjam of riders as it's a little technical again. Cranked down what would be the first of a few very dusty fireroads (haven't said much about the weather, we've been lucky. Cool the first two days but little rain/snow. Warm and sunny for stages 4, 5 and 6). Fueled up and a renewed Niall towed me in his wake down the fireroad. Then we climbed. And climbed. And climbed some more. That was the story of the day, really.

After the second control station was a steep, dusty hike a bike that seemed to last forever. I was hot and tired from then on. did I mention the 33C heat? We cranked over the continental divide back into Alberta and flew down Race Horse pass. Fun downhill section. Saw some poor person crash hard in the video footage later that night.

The course overview the night before mentioned 3 "up and down" sections near the finish. These were silent death marches. The fun chatter of the peloton disappeared as dirty, sweaty faces concentrated on trying to finish the stage. I run out of water, but we're on the downhill section into Blairmore. I am so relieved at the end. I collapse and Dad grabs me a burger and we rest in the shade a moment.

They have us camped out right beside the railroad tracks. I mean so close the motorhome shakes when the train goes by. I'm in Hell. One more day....