Tri This . . . . . . Fleck's Blog

The Off Season & The Road Not Taken

2009-11-13T11:09:00.000-08:00

Years ago, there used to really be an off-season for those of us who practiced summer orienated sports like triathlon. These days not so much. Many of the bigger more important races are now deep into the fall and people start getting ready for races in the late winter and early spring. Then there are people like our friends from Australia, who we had spent some time with at Ironman Hawaii - they were going home after Ironman Hawaii to summer. For them there really is no off season. I am not sure how they do it.

For me, I have always enjoyed having four distinct seasons and the varying weather that comes with each of them. It gives the year, and the training a natural and organic ebb and flow. It was this time of the year, the late fall that was and still is particularly enjoyable to me - strange as it may seem. It is at this time of the year that the formal and structured training can stop for a bit - just train every day, however I want. Just do something and stay active. Also, cross-country skiing is hopefully just around the corner. We have been on-snow here in Southern Ontario as early as the last week in November.

Near our cottage in Muskoka there are networks of cottage roads and gravel and dirt roads, like the one above( Paolina in the picture above looking out our cottage road). At this time of the year, with all the leaves off the trees and before the snow comes, is the perfect time to ride these roads and trails. It's quiet. There are no bugs and the views through the forest are rather nice. To borrow from Robert Frost, it's nice to take, the road not taken at this time of year. Although, surprisingly many have already headed indoors and are riding their bikes bolted to the trainer! Boring. But to each his own. Too soon I'll be doing some of that as well.

Back in the 90's a spent an entire year traveling in the tropics. For me it was a whole year without winter. I arrived home in Vancouver at the time, in the fall of the year. I had never looked more forward to the cooler weather, the change of seasons and the coming of winter, than I did that year. I recall going for a run in an early winter blizzard of snow and loving every minute of it. Perhaps it's the Canadian in me, but I think what having four distinct seasons has done more than anything else, is keep me fresh, physically and mentally over the years. If nothing else, there is always something to look forward to in the next season.

Leafs Lost

2009-10-26T16:22:00.000-07:00

Generally speaking I like to keep the topics here on the blog related either directly or indirectly to triathlon. However, I feel that I must comment on the start of the hockey season for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Yes, I am a fan. Not a fanatical fan and perhaps not part of the "Leaf's Nation" but, nonetheless still a fan. There is a family connection that goes back several generations. My great uncle Harold, "Baldy" Cotton played for the Leafs in the late 1920's and early '30's. He played on the Maple Leaf team that won the Stanley Cup in the spring of 1932 - the first season that the leafs played in Maple Leaf Gardens. I have made a trip to the Hockey Hall of Fame to see "H. Cotton" engraved on the Stanley Cup. It's a long ago and distant connection, but it's a strong and emotional one. Few amongst the, "Leaf Nation" I am sure can claim such a connection to the team.

I am old enough to recall the last time the Leafs won the Stanley Cup in 1967. It was a big deal. I have vague memories of watching the playoffs on TV that year and the celebration that went on afterward. One of the stars of that team was Dave Keon. He lived in our area of Toronto. In fact, he banked at our bank and my Dad used to point him out for me. You see, back then Hockey players were just regular folk living amongst us - not flown-in multi-million dollar talent that you only read about in the papers.

So, with Saturday night's loss, the Leafs are off to the worst start ever, for the team - a dismal record of 0-7-1. Win-less so far this season. How is it that you can pay all of these people, from the owners of the team, down through the management and all the players so much money, and you get this abysmal level of performance. Crazy. Of course the reason they can, is that the Toronto Maple Leafs Sports franchise is one of the most valuable in all of North America. Forty plus years of futility in trying to win the Stanely Cup and the worst start ever, does nothing to deter people from still cheering on the team. What's that they say about insanity - it's when you keep doing the same things over, and over, and over and expect a different result.

This was supposed to be the start of a big rebuilding process. To make a connection back to cycling and triathlon - Lance Armstrong's Coach Chris Carmichael was brought in to, among other big changes, revamp the Leafs fitness routine and the teams fitness levels. However, it would seem they have taken a giant step backwards! Hard to go further back - the Leafs finished almost dead-last in the standings last year.

I am sure things will turn around at some point. Perhaps they should go back to the old Maple Leaf logo( at top of post). This is what the Leafs logo looked like when they last won the Stanley Cup in '67. Nothing else is working, might as well try this!

Triathletes: Your Next Bike is . . . . A Road Bike!

2009-10-25T09:18:00.000-07:00

No you are not reading the title wrong. Yes, triathletes out there who only own a tri-bike, forget more aero do-dads and upgrades to the TT rig, get a road bike and really learn how to ride. I am serious about this. And don't kinda do it, by looking for a super aero road frame and/or going half way with this. Get a real road bike, that fits you properly.

You see, the thing is, many new triathletes, and their has been massive growth in the sport in the last five years, have gone straight out and bought a TT/Tri-Bike as their first bike. Nothing wrong with this. If you are doing triathlons, and you are well fit, comfortable and aero on this bike, you have the right tool for the trade. However, many newer triathletes think this is what cycling is all about, when in fact, they are practicing a sub-discipline of cycling - time-trialing. Ironically, a sub discipline that many real cyclists, loath!

So get yourself a real road bike as a second bike - and keep the tri-bike. You can't go wrong in this regard with the R series of bikes from Cervelo( R3, R3 SL & RS). These bikes are in my view the best designed road bikes on the market.

In my job, I am lucky enough to be able to ride a number of different bikes in a year - usually loaners from friends and customers when traveling. In this regard, I get to really ride these bikes - 2 to 3 hour rides and not just a spin around the block. I can honestly say, that from having ridden a number of the very best road bikes in the world by some of the leading manufacturers, that the Cervelo R3 really does it all in, terms of what you want to get out of a road bike. It's very stable and stiff. Well balanced. However, at the same time it has this amazing ability to soak up rough stretches of pavement. This is truly an all-day bike. It's the kind of bike top road racers look for as they have to spend, many hours each day in the saddle - a touring bike, that rides like a real race bike, if you will. This is the feeling that the R3 delivers - I-beam like stiffness and stability, but with a level of comfort that has to be experienced to be believed.

The secret to the comfort are the thin seat-stays on the rear of the bike. These soak-up and absorb most of that harsh vibration and bumping from the road. The first time you ride an R3, it's not uncommon to keep looking down at the rear tire to check and make sure it's still fully inflated! These thin seat-stays are a wonder of bike engineering.

The RS model has a taller head-tube. If you prefer a more up-right position and or have a short torso and long legs, the RS model might be the better bike and fit for you. The RS's seat stays are slightly bowed/curved and deliver even more rear-end compliance than the R3 model.

The favourite bike frame in the world of the weight weenies is the R3 SL. If your goal is to build up the lightest road bike that you can, then the R3SL is a great starting point to hang all your super light weight components on. I rode a R3SL last year that weighed about 13 pounds and it was perhaps the most surrealistic feeling bike ride I ever had. It was almost like there was no bike beneath me!

Riding a real road bike, such as the Cervelo R3, to the triathlete who may have only ridden on a tri/tt bike, will be a bit of a revelation. Assuming a good fit, the steering will be more predictable. The bike more stable. Carving high speed turns, becomes old hat! You may feel more secure on descents and more powerful on ascents. You will be more comfortable on longer rides. What's not to like?

A real road bike also gives you options. More options than if you just own a tri-bike. You can go on more group rides or organized century rides. Next year, a whole new seris of century rides will be launched in North America, modeled after the Gran Fondo's in Italy. The Centurion Series is being put together by Graham Fraser, who literally put Ironman races and Ironman racing on the map here in North America. From what I can tell, the Centurion events are going to be the next big thing! You will want to do these rides on a road bike.

If you wanted to take it to the next level you could get into road racing with a real road bike. Road Racing, to the uninitiated is completely different than the bike leg of a triathlon. About the only thing the two have in common is that they are both done on two wheels. The similarities end there. Road racing can be a huge amount of fun, and often the final outcome does not matter - just being part of the scene and part of the action of the race is what matters. Unlike triathlon it tends to be a winner-takes-all sport, so finding those other victories and places to slot-in, are key. Whatever, the case, the Cervelo R3, would serve you well in any bike road race. After all, this is the bike that 2008 Tour de France winner Carlos Sastre rides most of the time, so you'll be in good company!

Picture at the top is my new R3 in gravel/dirt road mode - mud, dirt and all. This is yet another advantage of this amazing bike. It will take up to 28mm wide tires(give or take). Add some MTB pedals and you have a bike that can even handle a bit of light cyclo-cross riding on easy trails and grass and rides along gravel and dirt roads like a dream! After all, this is the same bike that has been ridden to victory in the famous and brutal Paris-Roubaix road race twice in the last few years!

A Big Climb

2009-10-20T06:51:00.001-07:00

In my previous post, I talked about driving to the summit of Mauna Kea on the big Island of Hawaii ( Photo above is of the observatories at the summit of Mauna Kea). Mauna Kea's true elevation is 13,796 ft. However, it is also commonly referred to as the tallest mountain on the planet. If measured from the sea floor, Mauna Kea's total height would be about 33,000 ft - that's 4,000 ft higher than Mt. Everest!

My friend Nigel Gray, a top long distance triathlete and coach was over at Ironman Hawaii supporting a number of his athletes who were racing there. With time on his hands, Nigel, like many older endurance athletes these days, was looking for the next challenge. He had heard that there was a road that went right to the summit of Mauna Kea. To a cyclist and triathlete, like Nigel, that's like waving a steak in front of a hungry dog. Nearly 14,000 ft of straight climbing on a bike - why not!

The link below is Nigel's accounting of his Epic climb up to the summit of Mauna Kea:

http://www.nrgpt.com/hm/inside.php?sid=8

With time on my hands myself in the days leading up to Ironman Hawaii. I had thought briefly of joining Nigel in this crazy endeavor. However, after hearing Nigel saying that he was completely overwhelmed with his lowest gear being a 39/25 and then actually seeing the condition of the 8km of gravel road that you needed to go over at over 10,000 ft, I was much the wiser for having stayed down at sea-level that day! Perhaps some other time.

Ironman Hawaii 2009 - Sideline Report &Thoughts

2009-10-15T14:47:00.000-07:00

First congratulations to the winners, Craig Alexander and Chrissie Wellington. This is a very hard race to defend and repeat at, but both of these amazing athletes did it in style and with class. Wellington's win was the more predictable of the two. But the two-time winner, continued to raise the bar by breaking Paula Newby-Fraser's long-time course record. As for Alexander, he showed that the men's race has become more strategic( more on this in a bit) and, that it's not necessarily who is absolutely the fastest in each leg, but who puts together the best swim/bike/run on race day. After all - it is a triathlon, not three separate events!

Next up for recognition are four athletes to watch out for in the future. Mirinda Carfrae showed that in her first Ironman race ever, that she may be the one who'll go after Wellington and give the World Champion a run for her money in years to come. On a day where most wilted in the heat on the run, Carfrae broke the run course record for women running a quick 2:56 split for the her marathon. In finishing an impressive fourth place, Tereza Macel completed an improbable and never before done, trinity of high-level Ironman wins and places, with wins at Ironman Lake Placid and Canada, and then a 4th place at Ironman Hawaii! Both Andreas Raelert(3rd) and Rasmus Henning(5th), seem to have torn a page out of the Craig Alexander play book - wait in the weeds, and then run to your final place. Still new to Ironman racing, both of these men with their ITU run pedigrees can run much faster with a bit more experience. Watch out for these two.

I had the opportunity to watch much of the Pro Men's race on the bike up close. Most of These guys have figured it out to a T. About half way out to Hawi a large group formed that at times had 25 of them all legally spaced out 10m apart along the road in a 250m long line. It was a sight to behold. There was from time to time, a shuffling of the deck or a move off the front or from the rear, but they all knew that they had 25 seconds to resolve all this and sort themselves out again and then settle back into the long line. Eight of the top ten men in the race spent a good portion of the bike ride in this group. It was only Chris Leito and Faris Al Sultan who did not. Clearly, the strategy now with the men is to get in this group on the bike and stay there as long as you can, because if you can, and you can run well off the bike, your chances of being in the money and on the podium are highest.

Chrissie Wellington right now is in a class of her own. However, behind her it's good to see that the competition in the woman's race is getting deep, fast. Some have criticized other Ironman races this year with having weak woman's race fields. Not so at Ironman Hawaii. My wife Paolina Allan was off the bike in 16th place last year. This year, in almost the same exact running time on the race clock she was off the bike at T2 in 35th place! That is a dramatic jump in the depth of the field in one year and it is good to see.

Something needs to be done about media on the race course during the bike leg. My understanding is that there are some restrictions on this, but on race day it was hard to tell. There were mobile media in cars and on motos all over the place. In similar sports like Pro Road Racing there is a specific protocol for where media can be on the course and how long they can be there for. The WTC should look into this in more detail. I witnessed numerous incidents of cars and motos riding alongside athletes in cross-winds for a very long time. In some cases doing interviews with athletes during the race!

Another issue that should be looked at is to figure out what do do about the women's Pro race and the timing of their start. Right now with a 15 minute head-start, about half to 1/3 of the woman's field has their own race on the bike while the other half to 2/3 of the woman's field get's gobbled up by large packs of fast cycling age-group men at some point during the bike leg. The race for these women amongst the age-group men is very different than for the women that have the open road around and ahead of them. Indeed, the top-10 results of the women's race was directly impacted this year because of this, with the disqualification of Rebbecca Keat. I realize that there is no easy solution to this, but it seems a bit un-fair to have one race with a group of people that have to race under two completely different sets of circumstances on the bike.

My apologies - more minor complaints: I realize the WTC is a bit hamstrung due to the space on the Kona Pier and the layout of the King Kam hotel grounds. However the post-finish-line area at this event is a bit disorganized and not of the standard at many other WTC events and certainly not at the level of a World Championship event. The finish line itself is historical and magnificent, but beyond that it get's a bit crazy. The flow of people into and out of the area is hard to figure out. There is no where to sit down( no chairs anywhere). I talked to many athletes who just wanted to sit down somewhere after being on the go and on their feet for 9+ hours. The ground is all there is to sit on, and with the beach right there, and the whole area covered in sand and athletes all slick with sweat, sunscreen, Gatorade, coke and who knows what else, as soon as they sit down on the ground they are, in the parlance of beach-volleyball Corn-Dogged! Also the ground back there is all uneven and hard to get around on for people with blown out and wobbly legs.

OK enough of the complaints. This years Ironman Hawaii lived up to itself. It was a deceptively hard and demanding race. Winds were moderate and I am told, it was hotter than "normal" - whatever that is. It seems, blast-furnace-hot to me on the Kona coast, all the time. To use a golf analogy - this is a race where very few people actually hit par. A handful of very select people, go under par, while the rest are way over par. Paolina's day was illustrative of that. Last year, she was 22nd. A year later, in much better shape, with experience and acclimatization on her side, hoping to move up a few places, and it still went backwards for her ending up in 31st. Still not sure what went wrong. One thing Paolina did learn this year is that you can't make the whole year or even the whole trip to Ironman Hawaii revolve around the race. That may sound odd, but it's true. For her it was the going early and training with some of the best triathletes in the world for three weeks before Ironman Hawaii that was the real value in the trip. She learned a great deal. Many thanks to fellow Pro Charlotte Paul and her husband Kristian Manietta for taking Paolina under their wing for a few weeks.

This year I was able to take my bike with me and It was a real pleasure to be able to get out on the famous Queen K and get some riding in. It's extraordinary to note that the shoulder on Hwy 19 is the biggest, widest and best paved shoulder of any road that I have been on, any where in the world. You could use track racing tires on this course! Kudos to the local government and the WTC if they had and hand in this. It's like that for nearly 50 miles all the way out to Hawi! If you like the lunar landscape scenery of the lava fields and even if you don't, it's nice to know that you have that much room to ride on. It gives you peace of mind.

The real essence of this race came for me when I headed out on the run course to the infamous Energy Lab. No one, other than athletes are allowed into the energy Lab on race day and that was fine with me - it's not a place I wanted to go as I had a bit of a melt-down in there myself a number of years ago. Instead, I stood on a barren stretch of the Queen K just along from the Energy Lab and watched a long procession of runners pass me on a relentlessly sunny and very hot day, it was completely silent except for the squish, squish, squish sounds of wet feet, in wet shoes. Everyone very quiet and alone in their thoughts and trying to do everything they can to get across that finish line at Ironman Hawaii. That's what its all about.

Paolina finished and there were some emotions. We stood and chatted with some other Pro women for a bit and then went back to the Condo. Then it was time to be tourists for 2 days! The high-light was making it to the summit of Mauna Kea by car just as the sun was setting( below)! Standing on top of the earth's tallest mountain( if measured from the sea-floor), way above the clouds looking out at that magnificent sunset seemed to be worth it. I some how think we will be back.

Are You Racing?

2009-10-08T06:52:00.000-07:00

Are you racing? I get asked this a lot. So does Peter Reid( left in picture above - likley getting asked that same question by John Duke, right, from Triathlete Magazine!!). I have not raced in well over 10 years but when I am at a race and I bump into people I know( or even don't know), it's almost the first question that comes out of people's mouths - "Are you racing?" Reid get's it to - all the time. He's been asked numerous times while here in Kona this year. I was waiting in the Honolulu Airport for my connection through to Kona and there it was from an old friend, "Steve, great to see you. Are you racing?"

When people do pop the question, they invariably follow it up with the comment that I look really fit. I guess it's because, luckily both Peter and myself are forever ectomorphs - skinny dorks that never seem to gain or loose weight. I need to be careful with who I share this information with, but when I stopped training seriously back in 1997, I lost weight. I seem to recall dropping about 5 lbs in the months after backing away from dedicated triathlon training.

In terms of my current fitness - cycling is OK, swimming is terrible and, I am guessing the 3K Underpants jog/walk today in Kona is going to take it right out of me and I'll need the rest of the day to recover! Where are those compression socks?

For a time, I tried to do one triathlon a year - not really seriously, just for fun. I have let that lapse in the last few years though.

So no, I am not racing. What I am doing though is here to cheer and encourage all of the rest of you on. That's what I love doing now more than anything else.

Getting Off The Queen K Highway

2009-10-06T11:54:00.000-07:00

The picture above is the classic view of the Ironman Hawaii bike course on the Queen K Hwy. It's straight, but unless you like looking at the same thing for five or so hours, I would not describe it as very scenic.

Yesterday, I took the road less traveled and headed straight up Palani to the upper level highway - Mamalahoa Highway. It's a 2000 ft., ear popping climb straight up from the Kona village. Note that if Ironman Hawaii ever wanted to really get rid of the drafting, this would be the route they should take - it would seperate the whole field rather dramatically right from the get go on the bike. Up at this elevation, it's a whole other world. Cooler. Often overcast with the occasional rain shower. The vegetation is lush. The traffic light along the road. The locals friendly with an eager shaka( hang loose sign) The view out to the left as you head north, is spectacular as you can see all the way down to the ocean and actually make out the Queen K highway far below.

After the initial climb the road does not flatten out but keeps going up and down and around numerous curves. It crosses a few more recent lava flows and you can ride this way all the way out to Waikoloa and then back along the Queen K if you like for a nice three hour loop at a decent pace. Your other option for a real epic ride is to carry on along the Mamalahoa Highway, to the "Saddle Road" and then begin the massive climb up to Mauna Kea, which tops out at 13,796 ft. My friend, Nigel Gray is contemplating having a go at this later in the week( He's not racing)

My apologies. I forgot the camera for this ride so no pics, but I am planning on doing the full Waikoloa loop tomorrow with a group of friends. Will remember to bring the camera.

Allen & Scott - Iron War 20 Years Later

2009-10-05T16:16:00.000-07:00

In a little less than week, the focus of almost the whole triathlon world will once again be on Kona and the Ironman World Championships. Hard to believe that 20 years ago this year, Mark Allen and Dave Scott faced off in what has become affectionately known as the Iron War. Where does the time go.

The race in 1989 was high drama from the get-go. Scott was a 6-time winner at Ironman Hawaii and Allen had been vanquished, and defeated multiple times Ironman Hawaii, but was the winner at just about every other triathlon on the planet - including earlier that year, at the first ITU World Championships in Avignon, France. Allen and Scott swam, cycled and ran almost shoulder to shoulder until deep into the run that year and then on a slight uphill with about 2 miles to go in the marathon, Allen, through in a bit of a surge, and suddenly, Scott, Mr Invincible at Ironman Hawaii could not respond, and Allen opened up a gap and ran onto victory.

As time has gone on, what's become more extraordinary about that epic battle, beyond the titanic struggle that it was for both men, was the over-the-top times that both men did on that day. Allen won in 8:09. Scott was a minute back in 8:10. Greg Welch an amazing triathlete in his own right, who would go on to win Ironman Hawaii in 1994, was a distant 20 minutes back in 3rd place! What's even more amazing about Allen and Scott's times and performances from that day is that in 20 years, they have only been bettered by a one man, Belgian Luc Van Lierde who holds the course record from his win in 1996 in 8:04.

The 1989 Ironman Hawaii race, was my first Ironman. I recall three things from the day:

1. Bobbing in Kailua Bay prior to the starting wondering if I could really go that far. I hade been doing triathlons at a high level for a number of years by that point and had trained hard for that race, but bolting it all together in one day was still something that was somewhat scary.

2. As I was making my way out to the turn-around point on the run, which in those days was a giant blow-up Bud-Light can sitting in the middle of the Queen K Highway out past the Airport, Allen and Scott were making there way back towards the town of Kona and the finish line, I was nearly forced off the road from the entourage of people on bikes and other media vehicles following Allan and Scott along.

3. The third thing that I remember occured a few days after the race. My quads were an absolute mess. I could barely walk at all. At the Maui airport, I was designated to walk over to the rental car counter and get our car. As it turns out so was Mark Allen. Mark and I walked together in that ambling post-Ironman-blown-out-quads-shuffle. I said to him, "It seems win or loose, this race just knocks the heck out of your legs". Allan, grinned at me and said, "It's at times like this that you wonder why you do this"!

It's great to be back here this year, 20 years after the great Iron War of 1989. Strange, that in all the great athletes, and all the amazing races that have been raced here on this most famous of Ironman courses, there has never been a repeat of that audacious and extraordinary battle that Allen & Scott waged on that day. Both the woman's and the men's race fields are vary deep this year - the women in particular. Here's hoping that we have some of the same drama this Saturday on the Queen K Highway.

A Day at Interbike in Booth 1055

2009-10-04T10:17:00.000-07:00

Thursday, Sept. 24

Traditionally, Wednesday and Thursday of Interbike are the busiest days of this three day trade show. By mid-day on Friday, everyone is pretty much done. This year was no different. Wednesday was a full day, but Thursday was really the BIG one for us at Nineteen. We were fully booked with meetings - typically on the hour and at the half hour as well. Dan Rishworth, the owner of Nineteen, and I split about 20 scheduled appointments for the day. But as you can tell, lots of people do just drop by on the fly.

Here's how the day unfolded:

7:30 am - Breakfast Buffet at Harrah's our hotel on the Strip. We talk strategy for the day and review who we met with yesterday and any new developments. I like to have a bigger breakfast, as their is rarely time for lunch and dinner is a long way off!

8:40 - Walk over to the Sands Exhibition Hall, vacuum the booth carpet and get things set up for the day.

9:00 - Show opens and we start in with our first meetings of the day.

9:30 - First presentation has gone well, but I am now freezing cold in the Sands Exhibition Hall( AC is always on high in here it seems). Have brought an undershirt - so I go and put it on. Better now.

10:00am - 12noon - More meetings and appointments.

12:30pm Former Top Canadian Pro Women Jill Savege drops by to say, "Hello". It was good to catch up with her quickly. She leaves wondering where her Fiance Jordan Rapp is

12:45 pm Slowtwitch Programmer, Pro Triathlete and recent Ironman Canada Champ Jordan Rapp checks in at the Nineteen booth. I give him a quick run-down on the line. But then he has to go as he is wondering where his Fiance Jill Savege is!

1:30 - Head over to the concession area to get a quick bite to eat on-the-fly between appointments and give a wave to Steve Harad in the Kestrel booth. Line-up for food too long. Swing by the Gu booth on way back and grab some Chomps. That will have to do for "Lunch".

1:45 - I have a quick chat with the folks next to us on the floor, Beljum Budder - It's a chammy cream and body lube for endurance sports. Nice people. Great product!

1:55 - It's now getting warm in the Hall. Contemplate taking under-shirt off.

2:00pm - Tri-It from Calgary, one of our best customers has their appointment. They have brought all 11 staff members and I give them a 20 minute PK session on the Nineteen line.

2:30pm - Carrying on with the meetings

3:40pm - I grab a quick tete-a-tete with Dean Jackson my counter-part from Blue-Seventy off to the side of our booth. All good. We have some friendly competition in this business but surprisingly some mutual challenges and it's good to know we are on the same page.

4:00pm More meetings and appointments, this time with some good new prospects for Nineteen. Always good news.

4:15pm - It's round about this time of the day that my lower back starts to act-up a bit. I remind myself mentally that after this presentation, I need to do a bit of a stretching routine for the back.

4:30pm - Stretch lower back out. Now much better.

4:35 Pro Triathlete and all around nice guy Jonathon Caron checks in to say, "Bonjour" and he quickly gives me the inside scoop on training with Brett Sutton and the TBB team. Now I know!

4:45- North American Sports CEO and Tri Race Managment Guru Graham Fraser stops by to give me the low-down on the Centurion Series. An interesting and exciting development for road riding and racing.

4:50pm -On a quick trip for a bathroom break and a drink of water, I run into a few of the Cervelo Sales Reps I know. Cervelo does not have a booth at the show this year, but they are throwing a Party tonight. We agree to catch up at the party.

6:00 -Show over for the day. Quickly review all appointments and make some notes.

6:15pm - Walk over to the Cervelo Party which is being held in a private room at Lavo a very nice restaurant inside the lobby of the Palazzo Hotel. I am handed a Heineken as I walk through the door!

6:30pm - 8:00pm Cervelo Party in full swing. Many key people in the road and tri business are there - to numerous to list. Try and, "work the room", as they say, as best as I can - still enjoyable though. VP of Sales Tom Fowler and Co-Founder Phil White give some speeches and introduce the Cervelo Test Team riders there.

8:15pm - Cervelo Party wraps up and it's decision time. Take the bus out to Mandalay Bay to watch the USA Crit Finals or head out for dinner? We choose dinner with a good friend and customer, Ian Fraser, from Cycle Logik In Ottawa, and a few other folks from Cervelo.

8:45pm - Sit down for Dinner at Aqua - a very nice seafood restaurant with an obvious water theme. I have the grilled Mahi Mahi which is outstanding. Talk over dinner is interesting, rambling and varied. Check my Cervelo Test Team musette schwag bag from the Cervelo party and note the goodies in there - a signed Test Team Jersey is one thing.

11:00pm Dinner is done and we walk back to Harrah's. There is talk of heading out for a night-cap as we stroll through the casino area of the Venetian, but I am done and am ready for bed.

11:30pm - In bed and fall asleep quickly ready for another day.

Aerus Bike Bag Review

2009-10-04T08:24:00.001-07:00

Flying with a bike( on a plane not off a jump!) has become and extra pain, hassle and most particularly expensive in the last year. When I traveled to Kona for Ironman Hawaii last fall, I met people who had paid more to get there bikes there than they had paid sitting in a seat on the plane - at least in the cabin, you got dry pretzels and a shooter of soda, who knows the treatment your bike got at the hands of the gorilla baggage handlers.

There's always been some sort of fee for traveling with a bike when you bring it on the plane. However, historically it was modest charge, but it was very inconsistently applied. Now some airlines are charging substantially more and good-news/bad-news - it's still inconsistently applied! This latter point can be frustrating when, at check in you get hit with an extra $200 to check your bike in. I get it that bikes, and bike cases are a little more un-weildly to handle - but $150 more dollars more work to handle per bike? Now, some triathletes and cyclists have not helped the cause by way over-packing some of these wheeled hard-shell bike cases to the point that they are attemping to check in a Hummer at the ticket counter! At Ironman Canada one year, it took three men, to lift one of these sherman-tank hard shell bike cases up onto the conveyor belt!

What to do? One solution, is to go the other way, away from the rolling armored-truck style hard cases and use the lightest, most compact bike travel bag that you can find. Enter the Aerus Biospeed Bike Bag. This is a heavy duty nylan bag that is very well thought out with a high level of protection and padding for your bike. The key things about this approach is that, when in the bag, the whole unit is compact and light - weighing in at less than 30 pounds with my 58cm Cervelo R3 road bike in the bag. Also, it's discreet. You can sling it over your shoulder. It does not scream I AM A BIKE from the outside!

I used an Aerus Biospeed bag for the first time on my flight to Kona from Toronto yesterday. I had the bike-bag slung over my shoulder and then another medium sized roller bag to check. At check in with Continental, the Agent asked me what was in the Aerus Bag. I said, "Sports equipment". She said, "Seriously. What is in the bag?". I said, "If you really want to know it's a bike". She said, "I would not have known, as it's so small and light [28 pounds on the scale]. It's only slightly bigger than a normal suitcase. I'll check it as your second bag - no charge"!! Thank you.

Picked up my Bike Bag at Kona airport and when I unpacked it at our Condo all was good. I did go the extra mile when I did pack it up and follow a number of the key points noted at the Aerus web site on packing tips - most noteably using foam copper pipe insulation on all the bikes tubes.

Hope this helps.

Quick Update

2009-09-30T05:35:00.000-07:00

A quick update:

I have been swamped with work over the past week and also preparations for my trip over to Kona for Ironman Hawaii. My wonderful Wife has been over there for two weeks now training up a storm and I am looking forward to meeting up with here this weekend.

Shortly I will be posting up the and featuring the following:

- A report from Interbike
- More editions of 20 Questions With . . .
- Blog updates from Kona during race week at Ironman Hawaii

Thanks for staying tuned in.

What Now For Triathlon?

2009-09-19T07:11:00.000-07:00

It's been an interesting year in the triathlon business to say the least. While carnage and chaos was the story elsewhere, the triathlon business kept growing. All indicators are as we start another business cycle, that 2009 was another very good year in the business - and 2010 is looking good as well. Wholesale and retail sales have been good and in some cases great. Race entry numbers have stayed steady or have grown. Many are focused on the big high profile events such as the Ironman and 70.3 triathlons, but it's the smaller entry level triathlons that are the true indicators of what's going on. Most Race Directors that I have spoken to recently have told me that their entry-level triathlon events geared for first-timers have been at capacity all year long - a good sign that new people are still coming to the sport of triathlon.

Of course, it's not been a year without challenges, because some big businesses( automotive and financial services) took huge hits, corporate sponsorship of events has taken a down-turn, I am told. Some large events went on without a corporate title sponsor, buoyed by the fact that the successful model in triathlon race management is that the user/participant fees( entry fees) should cover all the hard-costs of putting on the event. Corporate sponsorship, is usually gravy money.

On the retail side I have noticed that it's been a challenging year for more than a few smaller triathlon focused retailers, and/or retailers who came late to the triathlon party and were not that well established when the worst of the economic storm arrived. And there was regional variation as well across North America. In Canada for example, it would be hard to tell looking at the world through a triathlons lens that there was a recession going on! Whereas, in parts of the United States, there were specific areas of the country that seemed to be taking a bit more of a hit, and no surprise, it was in the areas of the U.S. that were hardest hit by the recession - California, and the auto manufacturing centers such Michigan. I note that the really good triathlon retailers have had good to great years and have solidified their place on that A-List of retailers in the business. This group has become stronger.

What now? As we enter another business year with Interbike next week and orders starting to flow in for 2010, many seem optimistic about where the sport of triathlon is at. One issue is the number of brands, that are competing in a number of categories - I know this is the case with wetsuits. People often ask me, "How many wetsuit brands do we need?" Often the trend is that there is a sector giant, such as Gatorade, in the sports beverages category, and then an ever growing roster of other sports beverage makers jumping in. Some well known, others we may have never heard of. The challenge is that retailers, always seem to have a limit as to the number of brands or choices for their customers that they will carry. This seems reasonable - good if you are on that short list, not so good if you are not!

One thing that may have saved the Tri business is the timing of the worst of the economic news and hard-ship. It came, during our "off" season of the fall/winter just past and then when the good news, and that talk of, "green shoots" and some more optimistic news started to come out, is when, our "on" season of spring/summer of this year kicked in. Tri-retailers were lucky in this regard as, so much of just about all other retailing centers around the Christmas selling season - December can make or break the year for them!

Let's hope the good news continues!

(Picture at the top is of power cables and outlets waiting to be distributed to booths at last year's Interbike Trade Show)

20 Questions with . . . . Simon Whitfield

2009-09-17T19:43:00.000-07:00

Next up on the 20 Questions . . .With, is Olympic Gold and Silver medalist Simon Whitfield. This man really needs know introduction. We used to call him the "kid" but now he really is a man and he has become the most consistent ITU triathlete on the planet over the last 10 years.

The Gold Medal win in Sydney caught everyone by surprise - even Simon himself. The Silver medal in Beijing eight years later showed, that he was the real deal with a stretch drive for the ages that came up just a bit short, but in some ways was more impressive than the win in Sydney.

I'll freely admit that, both the Olympic races were emotional affairs for me, personally. Here was a guy from my area, a friend, who had come up through the ranks and made it to the absolute top of the sport. It's the only time that I have ever openly wept watching a sports event. The next time that happens will be when the Leafs win the Stanley Cup or England wins the World Cup of Soccer. I think I may be waiting for these latter two triumphs for awhile. So thanks, Simon for winning big!

Simon has shown over the years that he is that rare athlete, who really saves the best, for the biggest races. Witness the final strides drama at the Hy-Vee race earlier this year( Picture at the top) when, Simon took it, right on the line to win the biggest prize purse in the sport.

20 Questions With . . . . Simon Whitfield

1. Your legacy will be?

SQW - Bouncy castle wrecking ball, great dad and husband.

2. If out for a ride with Lance Armstrong, you would talk about?

SQW - How he deals with being such a polarizing person. People love him or they hate him. How does he stay detached from that noise? Give me some tips......!

3. Peanut butter or Nutella?

SQW - Almond butter.

4. Your Daughter Pippa makes you?

SQW - Laugh a lot. Worry. Laugh a lot more. Be a proud parent.

5. Best thing about being a triathlete?

SQW - Training with the guys. The athletes on the ITU circuit are an amazing group of people.

6. Did you start this compression sock madness?

SQW - It works, plain and simple. Compression socks work!

7. Canada has done really well in triathlon. Why?

SQW - Coincidence.

8. Who will be the next Simon Whitfield in Canada?

SQW - No one. Some great talent coming through but they will be their own people. No need to be "the next".

9. If you could not be a triathlete, you would be?

SQW - Musician. Banjo player. Like the Great Lake Swimmers or Bon Iver.

10. For the ladies - boxers or briefs?

SQW - Boxers, always. Never briefs. Bought briefs recently. Hated them.

11. Ironman, ever?

SQW - Yes. absolutely, when I can't compete at Olympic Distance (don't read too much into that).

12. Did you practice that facial expression at the finish line at the Hy-Vee race ahead of time?

SQW - In my head, many times. The "holy-shit-that-just-happened-I-didn't-see-that-coming..... not-today-at-least.... but-I'll-take-it look".

13. Best moment ever in the sport for you was?

SQW - Winning in Sydney.

14. Is this Brownlee kid the real deal?

SQW - Absolutely.

15. Biggest changes you have seen in the sport are?

SQW - I've been a pro since 1996. So too many to list. The uniform guidelines and the ITU's push to the Olympics have taken the sport to a new level. The new Dextro series is by far the best series we've ever had, aside from the f1 series in Australia.

16. Will the ITU and the WTC ever see eye to eye?

SQW - Nope. WTC "is all about the Benjamens" (I really like the races, and the people, Welchy, Roch, etc. and the athletes are great but the "Corp"......) say what you want about the ITU, they aren't perfect but it's not about money to them, at the core of the ITU it's all about passion for our sport!

17. What happens after London 2012

SQW - 2016 for a fourth..!

18. Victoria, BC is the perfect training venue because?

SQW - The weather, especially in the summer. The lakes, the facilities, the trails, trails, trails. The people.

19. Jordan Rapp will win Ironman Hawaii when?

SQW - Yes. He really could, not because he's my closest friend outside of my family, I just really think he can.

20. Who inspires you.

SQW - My friends, close friends.

20 Questions With . . . . Tereza Macel

2009-09-09T13:53:00.000-07:00

This is the first installment of what I plan to be ongoing series of twenty question interviews with people within the world of Triathlon and endurance sports, who I come across in my travels and day-to-day . I did something like this with 3-Time Ironman World Champion Peter Reid a number of years ago they were well received. The popularity of Twitter, and the quick, and witty 140 character response, has inspired me to have another go at this and see where it goes here on my Blog.

My first subject is Ironman specialist triathlete Tereza Macel who, recently wowed us with unprecedented back-to-back wins at Ironman Lake Placid and at Ironman Canada 5 weeks apart. To my knowledge, no Pro Triathlete has ever even attempted that double before. Tereza did, and won not just with the strength of her strong swim/bike, which she had been known for in the past, but now with a strong and steady closing run leg.

We all knew Tereza could swim - two years ago, over a year and a half stretch of time she was the first woman out of the water in five Ironman races around the world. On the strength of some fast cycling, she would lead these races deep into the bike, but would then start to run into problems late in the bike and then really struggle on the run. I shift to training with Brett Sutton and the TBB Team over the past winter seems to have fixed the late-in-the-bike, fade and more importantly, given Tereza run legs, to close with confidence. It's been a year of extraordinary performances for women at the Ironman distance, but Tereza's back-to-back wins at IM Lake Placid in 9:29 and then at IM Canada in 9:11, should be up there with the top performances of the year. At the very least, she is a prime candidate for a, "Most Improved" award, whoever wants to give her that.

With what she's done this year, she certainly is one to be put on a short list to be a serious contender at the up-coming Ironman World Championships in Hawaii a month from now. Certainly with her strong swim/bike, she will be a factor early on and if the run stays steady, you may see here being in contention for a podium spot or better!

20 Questions With . . . . . . Tereza Macel

1. Tim Hortons or Starbucks?
Starbucks - but not for the coffee, for the chocolate covered caramel pretzels.

2. Why Ironmans?
Ever seen me do a fast transition! Hopeless.

3. How hard is an Ironman race?
More than twice as hard as a half Ironman race!

4. Is the Cervelo P4, that good?
If it is not, please don't tell me, because I think it's that good!

5. Who is your real source of inspiration?
My Mom.

6. What is the real difference with you this year?
Team TBB and an increased intake of chocolate.

7. Will you do the Underpants Run at Ironman Hawaii?
No. Not if I decrease my chocolate intake and somehow develop a 6-pack!

8. You raced Short course/ITU for years. Helpful?
Yup! You learn to race yourself into shape.

9. You always list your nationality as Czech, but we all know you as a Canadian, eh! I am confused.
Born in Czech. Moved to Canada. Duel citizenship. Speak both languages.

10. Clinchers or tubulars?
Ask my Bike Mechanic(Husband) I have been known to ride both.

11. If out for a ride with Lance Armstrong you would talk about, what?
Are you saying that I could keep up with him. Thank you. That's cool!

12. Do compression socks really help?
Yes, but they do look really dorky.

13. After Ironman Hawaii you will do what?
Have a big hamburger, just like after every other Ironman!

14. Best time of the day is?
Bed time.

15. When not training your favourite thing to do is?
Watch movies.

16. Husband Chris Bastie is best at?
Trick question. Right answer is everything, right?

17. Do you follow or lurk on the Slowtwitch Forum.
Yes. I must admit that I do.

18. The first words out of your mouth after getting across the finish line at Ironman Canada were?
The brain is the first thing to go in an Ironman. I haven't a clue!

19. Do we need an election in Canada this fall?
No, and we did not need one last fall either.

20. In five years you will be doing what?
Laughing that I wore those dorky compression socks!

Picture at the top of Tereza Macel high-fiving her way to a win at Ironman Lake Placid this past July.

Weather Woes

2009-08-24T21:09:00.000-07:00

It's been an odd summer in the Toronto area - unusually wet and cool. The end of August is fast approaching and, in some respects it does not feel like summer has even really arrived. I seem to recall only a handful of days since early June( when the weather starts to get really nice) that have been over 25C. I mean 20 - 25C is nice, it's just that you expect it to be much warmer. We have not had the AC on at all this summer!

I was all set to go do a wetsuit demo for Nineteen last week when the weather woes continued. I pulled into the parking lot at the Kelso Conservation Area west of Toronto in light rain. To the north - very dark clouds were forming. Just to the south - full sunshine. At the lake the rain eased off and Kelso lake was dead calm. Not a ripple on it. About 20 people were there already, and it was still 15 minutes before the start of the swim and the demo. It looked like the rough weather was going to pass us by!

Then the wind shifted and picked up dramatically. The dark clouds - now a greenish hue started to advance right towards us. In the space of a few minutes white caps had formed on the lake, and the water was actually being picked up an wiped at us standing on the shore, by huge gusts of gale force winds. Rain and lighting began to . . well . . rain down! We all scrambled for the protection of our cars. The rain then started to really fall. The wind was nuts and the lighting was insane. I have been in many storms before but I don't think I had ever experience that intensity of rain, lightening and wind all at once before. It was so bad that I could not see anything outside the car save the bursts of light from the lightening. No one attempted to leave. They could not see anything!

There was a slight easing of the intensity and people began to leave. Thank goodness we did not start early and have people out in the water. Another wave of rain came down like it was being dumped out of a bucket on my car. The car shook in the winds sitting exposed on the shore of the lake. I hunkered down to wait it out. After another 10 minutes or so, I started to drive out of the park and saw two direct hits on hydro poles by lightening within 20 meters of my car with sparks showering down all over the place.

The drive home took forever, as I was of course driving along with the storm at about the same pace as the front was advancing. Eventually, after close to 2 hours of driving I burst into sunshine and took the picture above of the ensuing rainbow.

The next day Environment Canada confirmed that tornadoes had touched down, in various places in southern Ontario - including near Milton and Kelso Conservation Area.

We have rescheduled the Nineteen Wetsuit Demo for this Thursday - Aug. 27 from 6 - 8pm at Kelso Conservation Area - more details here.

Hopefully the weather will cooperate this time!

Sonetimes It's Not Fun (Warning - Picture May Offend!)

2009-08-16T09:52:00.000-07:00

Listening to some people talking about training and you would think that it's non-stop nirvana. But truth be told, sometimes it's not fun. Either the weather, how you feel or other factors conspire to make it miserable! On the whole, I can't wait to get out there on the bike for my next ride. After one ride ends, I am always thinking about that next ride . . . when is it going to be?

The picture above is of Jenni Keil the wife of one of Nineteen's sponsored athletes - top age-group Ironman triathlete Jeff Keil. Jeff took the picture, but clearly Jenni is not amused! A reading of Jenni's Blog, revealed that this indeed was a ride from, or perhaps to Hell - pouring cold rain and multiple flats. However, the weird irony is it's exactly these sorts of rides, training sessions and races that we remember, years later. They take on this epic quality about them and we pass them along in stories( often with the usual minor embellishments!) to friends, family or whoever will listen.

Two time Ironman World Champion Scott Tinley, told me as much when he came up to do the Canadian Short Course Championships one year in Calgary, Alberta, when we all got up on race morning to see snow-flakes coming down! "It's the days like this that we remember forever and pass the stories onto our grand-kids. Not the sunny and 70[F] days", Tinley told me shivering at the finish-line.

In 25 years of running, riding and even swimming in foul weather, I would concur with Tinley, it's the epic weather days that we do remember and develop into stories and pass along. Living in Canada my whole life, and in the places that I have lived in this fair country, we get our fair share of wild weather, so you get used to it, and you just get out there and do it! However, I recall going down to California to train one year to briefly escape the frigid Canadian winter, and hooking up with a local running club to get in some good runs. On one of our first runs, I went on with the club, I said to a guy - "How's the running been?" He said to me that they had not run in a week - "it's been raining". So I guess it's all relative. For me it would have to be a blizzard and -30C to stop a run in Toronto, but in So Cal a bit of rain will do the same thing - Not trying to read too much into that! :)

I will note that these days, I am much less hard-core about the training - perhaps I have even become a bit of a fair-weather-type, as they say. My wonderful wife, Paolina, is the crazy, nut out there riding, and running in just about anything these days - after all, she's Scottish and we know what the weather is like over there! So now, it might actually be me who would be giving the finger, to Paolina, having dragged me out at some crazy hour of the morning, in the pouring rain for a wet and cold ride. Jenni, I feel for you!

Work?

2009-08-10T17:26:00.000-07:00

Is it really "work" when you have so much fun in a job that it never seems like work? I sometimes have to pinch myself and realize that what I do really is, work. I do this and I get paid for it so, it must be work, but it never really feels like work.

I had left the sporting goods business a number of years ago and went into sales work in a completely different and foreign area for me. I was told that I had outstanding communications, relationship building and sales skills. I would/should do well. It's a long story, but the short version was that, it never really worked out the way, I hoped it would. I never worked harder and longer at something with so little to show for those extraordinary efforts. A contact of mine was good enough to have coffee with me when I was at a low ebb. He said you need to get back to something that you are really passionate about - and the success will follow. Of course, I knew all this, but for several years had been blind to it. He was right. I needed to get back to selling something and working in a business that I was really passionate about. And that's why I am back in the sporting goods business - specifically the triathlon wetsuit business working as the Sales Manager for Nineteen wetsuits.

The picture above is of our rack of Demo wetsuits at the recent Ironman Lake Placid triathlon. Getting out and doing these demo sessions at big triathlon events is something that I really love to do. It never feels like work. I could stand there all day talking wetsuits and swimming with people . . and never get tired of it. It's not bad - standng out there in the sun, on the shores of a beautiful lake watching fit women and men go swimming. It's all good! As a wholsaler, a lot of what I do is focussed on our retail customers. At events like this, I get to interact with and talk directly to our end-user cusomers - the people that are actually buying our Nineteen wetsuits and using them in triathlons and for open water swimming.

The feedback and information gathering that I get at these events is amazing and I always return to the office on a high and ready to carry on and take it to the next level.

I wish that I could do more of these sorts of events. It really is one of my favourite things to do. But it never really feels like work and yes, I get paid to do it! I am lucky.

It Never Get's Old

2009-07-27T06:15:00.000-07:00

"It never get's old" - I heard Mike Reilly say that as a multi-time finisher came down the chute yesterday afternoon. And he's right. There is something about these races. Perhaps it's the audacity of the distances. I have been to many IM events over the years going back to my first in 1989, as an athlete, as a journalist, as a spectator, as an event sponsor, race announcer, TV Commentator, spousal supporter etc . . and Mike's right - it never seems to get old. Yesterday at the 11th IMLP race that was indeed the case. The race, the drama, the emotion, the challenge, . . it was all there in spades.

IM race days put you in some weird time vacumn. If you are involved at any level, you are up at an insanely early hour in the morning and you are on-the-go until midnight that night, yet the day seems to go by in a flash. There is never any time that you are thinking, that things are taking a long time. You always want each of all the many and blurred moments in the day to just keep going on and on.

Some highlights/comments:

- Huge shout-out and congratulations to Tereza Macel. No question the race of the day. First out of the water in the Pro Race and first onto the bike then duking it out with the top men deep into the bike. This was a BIG win for her and a massive jump up in her performance. I will also note that this was the first real big triathlon race win for the Cervelo P4. Let the flames begin!

- Thank you to the weather. On the whole it was pretty good. But Mother nature did decide to dish out a bit of everything on race day to make it interesting. Monsoon rains right at the start of the swim and early in the bike - had many thinking about a repeat of last year. Then clearing. Then sunny. Then humid. Then windy. Then threatening rain again, but back to sun for the rest of the day. Maybe they should change the name of IMLP to the Weatherman!! :) You get a bit of everything here!

- The WTC continues to produce the best, big event triathlons in the sport. It's been a year of significant changes behind the scenes, but again, the massive logistics and all the details were taken care of, and well in hand with RD Jeff Edwards, his team and the WTC.

- I continue to be amazed at the growth, the enthusiasm and the passion of the people in this sport. Supposedly, we are suffering from the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression, but if you live in the triathlon bubble, you would have no idea of what's going on in the outside world. Maybe this is a good thing. Perhaps it's not. Who knows? Thank you to all of those passionate and amazing triathletes.

- Onto the dark side for a bit. Never underestimate, the challenge of the Ironman distance - this race has humbled and torn to shreds some of the fittest and best endurance athletes on the planet. It's not something to take lightly. Again, we saw a lot of that yesterday. Many falling far behind their expectations and plans. However, no matter what happens, no matter the time on the clock or the place in the results sheet, if you swam, cycled and ran that far in a day, you have really done something special. In more Reilly-speak - " You are an Ironman"!!

- Finally, for the first time ever, and I have seen a lot of these things over the years, I got really, and I mean really, caught up in the drama and the emotion of the final finisher(s) and the drive and the guts that it takes to get to the finish line of an Ironman. I won't go into Matthew Long's whole story. Words are hard to come by to describe what he's been through. The WTC gave Matt, my wife, Paolina Allan's original race number( #43) at the last minute and moved her to #45. MissP was just smashed, after her race(after finishing a well-earned 5th place in the woman's race and getting a spot for Ironman Hawaii), but we were sitting on the side of the road, about 2 miles out from the finish watching the last finishers after 11:00pm and along comes Matt. Paolina goes out on the road and starts walking along with Matt( Picture above). Tells him the story of the switched numbers. They embrace. Paolina tells Matt, that when she was at her worst during her race, she thought of Matt. That and the number change gave her strength and spirit. We both fell in with many others and started walking/running along with Matt to the finish line. It was the least we could do. We all supported and cheered him every step of the way over that last little bit right to the line just under the time cut-off. Both MissP and I stood there at the finish line with tears running down our face. Emotional stuff, to be sure.

Indeed - It never gets old!

Thanks IMLP. Thanks WTC and thanks to the Town of Lake Placid.

And So It Begins - 2009 Tour de France

2009-07-03T07:10:00.000-07:00

The Tour de France is set to start off tomorrow in Monaco with a technical 15K Time Trial. The length of this starting stage, much longer than the traditional Tour start Prologue of 5 - 6K, should see most of the race favorites and the obvious Time Trial specialists up at the top of the standings from the get-go.

This year's Tour de France, is shaping up to be perhaps the most dramatic and exciting in years. The unusual start, will make it even more so. Normally after the Prologue, there are a string of reasonably flat to rolling "Sprinters" stages in the first week. The real action not coming for a number of days - often with some unknown rider, a Time Trial specialist or a sprinter in the Yellow jersey. This year should, and with the stages that are coming up this week and into next weekend, the main protagonists for the Yellow Jersey will be right down to business.

Naturally much of the talk has surrounded the return of 7-time Tour de France Winner Lance Armstrong, and in particular what is going to happen on his Astana team with so many former Tour de France Podium placers and the best Grand Tour ride in the World and the 2007 Tour de France champion, Alberto Contador - all on the same team. There has never been a team coming into the Tour de France with so much General Classification( GC) fire-power as Astana has. But Armstrong proved repeatedly in his 7-Tour wins that GC- fire-power was not essential to winning the Grande Boucle. What's key, is having a team totally focus and in many cases sacrifice themselves, for one supreme team leader. That is the model that has the most success at the Tour de France. So, much of the drama will be seeing how things un-fold for Astana - who will be the leader, who will help and what will happen.

Back to defend, his win from last year will be Spaniard, Carlos Sastre. Once again Sastre will be aboard a Cervelo bicycle.( See picture above). This year Canadian and Toronto based Cervelo is the sponsor of a team in the Pro Tour - the Cervelo Test Team - another first for Cervelo, a company that just keeps going from great to greater. More than a few had written the team off, but the Cervelo team as acquitted itself well this season with some significant wins, and podium finishes at many of the key bikes races of the year as well as, great support for Sastre's 4th place finish at the Giro d'Italia - which was really a training junket. Cervelo co-founder Gerard Vroomen was interviewed on CBC radio this morning about what he though both Sastre and the teams chances were. Vroomen comments seem surprising given the cut-throat nature of sport at this level. Listen to the interview with the CBC's Matt Galloway here. Sastre will have his hands full over the three weeks of the Tour, but as he proved in the Giro, big stage racing can often come down to one, key stage and one key move - that's what did it for Sastre last year at the Tour de France and as well as at the recent Giro. The rest of the time it's about staying in the game or limiting your losses where you are not as strong.

Following the Tour de France has never been easier. In most parts of the world there will be same day live coverage of each stage. As well, there are many web sites to track and follow whats going on. A selection I have listed below:

OLN.com - TV Coverage in Canada

Versus.com - TV coverage in the U.S.

Cyclingnews.com - the bible of pro cycling news coverage

Grahamwatson.com - Outstanding stage by stage pictures

Cervelo.com

Cervelo Test Team

Cervelo Test Team Twitter

Lance Armstrong Twitter

Rough Ride

2009-07-01T13:11:00.000-07:00

Just came back in from a very pleasant 60K ride. Some of it was on gravel and dirt roads. In fact, to access some of the really nice roads on this ride, I needed to ride along the un-paved roads.

I find that many triathletes and cyclists tend to panic, when the pavement ends or the pavement gets a bit rough. I was on a large group ride a few years ago and the entire group voted to back-track about 30K to avoid riding about one kilometer on what I knew was a good gravel road!Then at Ironman Hawaii last year, there was about a 200m section of the bike course on the Queen K highway that had been roughened as they do prior to putting on the final layer of asphalt. Unfortunately they were not going to be able to get this finished in time before the race. I was surprised that this caused quite a bit of consternation and questions at both the Pro meeting and the Age- Group meeting. Some Age-Groupers, seem terrified about this stretch of slightly rougher pavement, saying they might have to dismount and walk it!!

There really is no need to panic. Riding on rougher pavement or even gravel or dirt roads should be a skill that triathletes and cyclists should master. You never know when you'll encounter rough pavement when racing and in training, and as I pointed out, sometimes the gravel and dirt roads can open up whole new places to ride.

Some things to keep in mind when hitting the rough stuff:

1. Don't panic - being relaxed is the most important thing.

2. Shift to a bigger gear. This may seem counter intuitive, but by shifting to a bigger gear more weight/pressure is shifted to your legs and they are far better shock absorbers than your butt is! Pedal RPM's may drop but that is OK.

3. Keep the weight rear-wards on the bike by riding as far back on the saddle as you can. This will improve traction in the rear and better balance the weight on the bike for rough riding.

4. Don't have a death-grip on the handle bars. Again counter-intuitive, a lighter grip is better. Let the front end of the bike do it's own thing and steer with a light touch and with very subtle movements.

5. For the really big bumps and hits, get out of the saddle slightly and let the legs fully absorb the shock.

6. On gravel and dirt roads, there is often a smooth groove - either where the car tires have been running the most, or at the fringe in the loose, fine gravel and dirt. It's often a substantially smoother in these areas.

7. If standing to climb on gravel or dirt, try and keep the weight back over the rear wheel, other wise you will spin it out and risk going down.

8. When descending a hill on gravel or dirt - keep weight back and, using the brakes sparingly and subtly - heavy braking will cause either front or back wheel to lock-up and slide, and that's never a good thing.

9. I know that lots of triathletes like to carry lots of stuff on their bikes. If you know you'll be hitting rough pavement or gravel or dirt roads try and minimize this - if it get really rough there is a good chance it's going to come flying off.

10. Don't panic!

Hope this helps.

Picture at the top is of part of the Paris- Roubaix road race course in France/Belgium. Now that is a rough ride!

One And Done

2009-06-29T11:30:00.000-07:00

I used to do more of this running - when I ran more. Traveling for work or pleasure and popping out for typically, early morning run, wherever I happen to be. In fact, I did a whole year of this in '95 when I spent the year traveling around the world running in such far flung places as India, Tanzania and New Zealand. However, it would and could also happen in more mundane places to like, Buffalo, NY!

The really great thing about running is that you could do it anywhere, at any time in any conditions. And believe me in the many years that I did this, I had seen it all from literally, breath-taking vistas at 13,000 ft elevation in Nepal, to quite unsightly slums on the outskirts of Nairobi Kenya, to boring business parks in Salt Lake City, UT. And, I had done these runs in all manner of conditions from the darkness of the down-town of a big city at night to the beauty of a sun rise at the Grand Canyon, and from frigid -30C conditions in Ottawa, ON to, blazing +45C heat of Udaipur, India.

I don't run much these days - cycling is the thing now. However, cycling is less flexible and easy to do when on the move. The bike can be a pain to travel with. You need more gear for cycling. For the most part cycling is best done, and more enjoyable on quiet country roads. So if staying in a large strange and foreign city - forget it. However, when it all comes together it's magic! The ride that I went on in Jackson, MI, last week was a great example of a great One and done ride. I had no real reason to be in Jackson, other than it was my stopping off point for the night on my drive back from Madison, WI to Aurora, ON. I drove until 7:00pm and then pulled into a nice hotel on the outskirts of Jackson, just off I-94. I checked Google Maps and it seemed on the north side of I-94 it was all country roads. I had a look at the satellite shots close up on Google Maps and they appeared to be paved.

The next morning I was up early and it was time to hit the roads. The weather was cooperating - it was sunny and about 16C. I double-checked the Google Map selection of roads. Loops are always more adventurous but, out-and-backs much safer - less chance of getting lost. There did not appear to be a clear, and easy to follow loop, so I chose one road, Rives Junction Road and decided I would do an out-and-back on it - out for 45 min and then back.

It's at times like this that Robert Frost's Poem, "The Road Not Taken", literally and figuratively comes to life. The full text of the Frost poem is here - it's worth a read. Why? Well, the road I chose was a great one, and it was less traveled, which is what you want when you are out for a bike ride, but you do always wonder about the other roads and choices that you passed by!

Rives Junction Road turned out to be perfect. Lightly traveled by car. Great pavement. For much of it it was lined with these majestic mature Maple and Oak trees who's branches arched right over the center of the road giving the sensation of cycling inside a giant and almost endless Gothic cathedral. Occasionally, I would pop out of the trees and it was wide open farmers fields. I reached my turning point just past the town of Rives Junction, itself. It would appear that the town may have been more of something in the past, as the abandoned rail station and siding would attest to.

Back I went to my hotel in Jackson. Of course, I get some odd looks from the desk staff when I trundle in and out of the lobby of the hotel with my bike and all the cycling kit on. I am sure they think me crazy. They can think what they like. I can honestly say that these are some of the most enjoyable rides that I go on these days, and I may never ride on those roads again. One and done!

Picture above taken on another One and done, ride in Southern California last year. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera with me on the recent ride in Jackson, MI

Another Dramatic Whitfield Win

2009-06-28T09:47:00.000-07:00

There is no triathlete in the history of this, still reasonably young sport, who has created more finish-line drama, than Canada's Simon Whitfield. He certainly has a flair for the dramatic - and winning moves at or near the finish line.

There are those who have pooh-pooed the ITU triathlon race format, but it's rare to find this sort of action near the finish line in most other Triathlons. Yes, there was the drama of Craig Alexander, tracking down Chris Leito in a 70.3 race a few weeks ago in the final 100m. However, that type of finish is an extreme rarity at the elite level in non-ITU type of races.

Back to Whitfield: It takes a special athlete who can really gear up for the really big races or games in a sport. Whitfield is that sort of athlete. He has that magic, and that drive that is somehow elevated to an extraordinarily high level when the stakes are at there highest - such as yesterday when gunning for the win and getting it, at the triathlon with the highest set prize purse in the sport - the Hy-Vee Triathlon in Des Moines, Iowa (picture above). Or in the two out of three Olympic Games Triathlons where it was Whitfield, who supplied all the action and the drama in 2000, in Sydney and again last year in 2008, in Beijing. Will he be able to do it again in 2012? Going from the look of grit and pure elation on his face in the picture above - don't count Whitfield out in London in three years!

Stange Twists and Turns of Time

2009-06-02T11:51:00.000-07:00

I was cruising through some photos from last weekends Rock & Roll Marathon in San Diego on the LetsRun.com site, when I came across the above photo of Dan Browne. For a number of years, Dan has been one of the top distance runners in the U.S. However, I had first heard of him when I was working at Sugoi back in the late '90's and we did a some custom running singlets and shorts for the U.S. Army World Class Athlete program - of which Dan was part of, after he graduated from The U.S. Military Academy at West Point. I had helped put the whole program together. It was the the first time that Sugoi had ever done custom running kits like this and they created a bit of a splash at the time. To my knowledge no one was doing full, four colour sublimation on running singlets and shorts. We all thought the camo pattern was pretty cool! Sugoi was new to the running market at that time, and many people thought the stuff looked great!

I had completely forgot about this flashy matching running kit and I had not seen it in nearly ten years until today. I thought that Dan was sponsored by Nike, but maybe that had lapsed and he had to reach to the very bottom of is drawer of running gear and come up with this classic vintage Sugoi kit. The dead give-away is that the Sugoi logo has completely changed. I still like the old Sugoi logo myself like the one running across Dan's chest!

New Shoe Review

2009-06-01T19:30:00.000-07:00

The contact points with the bike have always been important to me - pedals, shoes, handlebars, even the handle bar tape. Not that I am fanatic about these things - they just need to be comfortable and they need to work. I would rather shell out more for a really comfortable set of handlebars, that I really find comfortable and work for me, than a really fancy frame - ditto for cycling shoes. I last changed my cycling shoes up three years ago. They were the top end model for a very well known cycling shoe maker. They really worked well for me. However, I had read a review last year about the new BG S-Works road shoes by Specialized that intrigued me and I will admit that I thought the Boa closure mech seemed rather functional and cool.

Cool and functional are one thing, but cycling shoes have to fit, and fit well to really work. I knew this, so it was off to my nearest Specialized dealer to try a pair on. Sure enough, the try-on-test at the local dealer was enough for me to give the shoes a go. Ian Dewar from Specialized was kind enough to help me out and early this spring I had them in my hands.

Four three years now I have been using Cleat Wedges on the bottom of my shoes between the shoe bottom and the cleat to give me a bit of varus canting - see more on this at the Bike Fit Systems site. Specialized believes so much in this, that all of their high-end shoes have a slight cant built right into the shoe's sole. I normally use three wedges on each foot, and I now only needed two. These thin plastic wedges that cost only a few dollars, can have a dramatic positive impact on comfort, increased power transfer and reduced incidence of knee injuries from cycling. Perhaps the most bang for your bike in cycling!

The first thing that I noticed about the S-Works shoes was the weight - or in this case the lack of weight. Specalized calls the S-Works shoe the lightest production shoe on the market wth a mechanical closure - at 250 grams. My old shoes, a very good shoe as I have noted, felt like bricks by comparison.

The Boa closure was easy to figure out and went on and came off with ease and was easily adjustable on the fly. While I only road ride now, and I know that Specialized has a great Triathlon shoe called the Tri-Vent, the S-Works shoe is also a great shoe for triathlon. I noticed that several top triathletes, who are sponsored by Specialized, are racing in the S-Works shoe and not the Tri-Vent - most notably former Ironman World Champion and main, Specialized triathlon man, Chris McCormack, as well as top Ironman and 70.3 racer, Jordan Rapp. It was Jordan's comments on these shoes that sealed the deal for me. He's meticulous when it comes to this sort of thing. If Jordan says it's good, it has to be good!

The first"Ride" as is normal for me with any kind of new stuff like this is always on the trainer. This way I can fiddle and fine tune things just right before taking something out for a real, real ride outdoors. Cleat positioning and adjustment was very easy and smooth - as I said I reduced by one the wedges that I used between the shoes and my cleats.

The fit is a a bit different than my old shoes - with the S-Works its more glove like and the shoe seems to me overall more anatomically shaped to my foot. Once riding I could seriously note the lower weight of the S-Works shoes. I note this is rotating weight and that's always key weight to try and reduce on a bike. After riding for a bit I felt like the attachment of my foot to the pedal was more positive - which is exactly the feeling that you should get. You want to make sure that all that energy and power the you are putting out with your legs, is being delivered, directly to the bike through the foot and the pedals. When you think about it this way, it's a pretty important contact point with the bicycle.

I have yet to be for a really long ride, but based on what I have seen and felt to date I think that I have found a new favourite, in cycling foot wear - the Specialized BG S-Works Road Shoes!

I am Specialized . . . . . . .well at least my feet are!

For more information go to:

www.specialized.com

Ironman Canada Bike Course Potenially Flooded?

2009-05-30T07:20:00.000-07:00

It's still a few years away, but a new Dam on the Similkameen River in Washington State, just south of the Canada/British Columbia border, may potentially flood certain parts of the Similkameen Valley in B.C. This is one of the most stunningly beautiful parts of Canada. It's also part of the famed Ironman Canada triathlon bike course as the 180km bike leg makes it's way north up Hwy 3 from the foot of Richters Pass to the town of Keremeos:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/flood-of-anger/article1161201/

I will never forget the day that I first raced Ironman Canada back in 1990. I rode north through the Similkameen Valley on Hwy 3 that day, having never been on that road before! The scenery was amazing. Despite racing for a top spot in the race, I kept being distracted by the Lost Shangri-la feel of the place. It had this surrealistic look - almost too beautiful and perfect. The vineyards. The fruit trees. The meandering Similkameen River. The soaring mountains on all sides of the valley with sheer wall-like cliffs near their tops. It felt like you were in a giant room with the clear blue ski as the roof!

I would be very surprised if this ever comes to pass. However, it does cause some concern. Some say that water - something that people seem to value very little today - will become a very valuable commodity in the future. Canada, I understand has possibly, 1/4 of the worlds supply of fresh water and the U.S. has much less.

I did Ironman Canada five more times after that first year, and every year I marvelled at the beauty of the Similkameen as I rode and raced through it, heading up towards the real challenge of that bike course - the climb to Yellow Lake. I often thought that when I retire, this would be the kind of place that I would want to retire to, to live out my days in a place where almost every view from every angle is amazing!