CLEAT PLACEMENT

Proper cleat placement is essential in preventing injuries up the whole kinetic lower leg chain; especially the knee.

There are a couple of different movements of the cleats to be set properly.

First of all the correct position fore and aft:
If they are set in the right spot you should be pushing through the ball of the foot for most people. So find the bump on the side of your big toe ( the ball of the foot ) and mark a dot on your shoes. Then line up the middle of the cleat with the dot. Some shoes do not allow you to move forwards far enough to line up with the ball of the foot. But that's OK; as long as you are not ahead of the ball of the foot. Reasons not to be in line with the ball of the foot include hot spots under the ball of the foot or an achilles problem.

Next the rotation needs to be set properly. 95% of the time how you stand and walk off the bike tells you how to set your cleats. For example if you stand toed out like a duck; then chances are you will want a toed out position on your bike.

Cycling is a fairly linear motion. But because the hip and knee joints are not mechanical hinge joints; but are ball and socket joints; there is a certain amount of conjunct rotation that occurs as you go around the pedal stroke. So if the cleats are set up properly your legs should be going where they want to go. Not in an uncomfortable unnatural direction for your body.


Here is a simple way to test your cleat rotation position. This is best done on a trainer.
It would be ideal if when you stopped pedaling you were in the middle of the float. This means that you can toe in and toe out equally. There is an equal amount of play on either side.

So to find out what your legs want to do on your bike:
Pedal X 5 - 8 or so pedal strokes. Stop at the bottom and try one direction ie: toe in/heel out to see how much movement/play there is.
Then repeat and test the other direction; ie: toe out/heel in to see how much play there is.
If for example you find that you have lots of toe in movement/play but little or no toe out; then that is where your legs are trying to go and you cleats aren't letting you go any further in that direction.

So you should adjust your cleats to give you more toe out.
To get more toe out you will need to aim the cleats in more. The opposite direction for more toe in. If the cleats are set up properly your legs should feel like they are going where they want to go. You shouldn't feel like you are fighting them.

With proper cleat set up your legs should be pedaling comfortably and injury free.

Mary Paterson
Bike2Body

Chico Racings Summer Solstice 09 "Snowman Mud" Fest

June 20/21 was this years anual Chico Racing Summer Solstice 24hr mountain bike event.
I chose to solo again this year, well for various reasons actually, but not the least of which is that last year was such a great solo experience that i was eager to duplicate that success. My results over the yrs have progressively improved due to training, organization and few other tricks which i'll save for my book which i may call "How to be a Great Solo 24hr Mtb Champion Like Me" (pic of me smiling and dirty and stuff)

This year I havnen't been on the mtb much, i got in only 85km of trail riding for this race which i believe i matched km for km in 6 laps, only 5 of which counted towards my standing. But i did have about 1600km of road riding so I wasn't worried about my legs. That 80km commute is awesome for getting in the klicks.

Preparation and organization of gear and campsite are important to me so after packing and driving and setup of the campsite which took until 10pm Fri night down in the "Fishin Hole" it was time for a beer and some shut eye.
I was having a great sleep Fri night until the heavy rain started, glad i picked up that Kenda KOT "King Of Tread", (this tire is scary looking, think tractor wheel but sharp), at the Moose as a last minute purchase on my way out the door.

I was hesitant to install these big tires on my race bike at first because of the rolling resistance so i at the last minute (theme here, never enough preparation) asked fellow Big Ringer Peter to switch them up for me as i headed off to the start line with the current Kenda Small Block Eights which were on my race bike already.
This proved to be stupid, or should i say StOoooopid! It was raining hard enough to wake me up 8 or 9hrs before the race! And it was still raining....I had asked Matt what he was running and he said he was running his dry tires so i figured good enough for Matt good enough for me. Think for yourself folks. Whatever Matt was riding was good enough for him anyway since he smoked that first lap like there wasn't any mud, i'd have been happy with that time on a dry day.

Lap 1

So after slipping and sliding around the first half of the course, the second half was much better as the ground back there drained away the surface water much better, I was glad I had asked for help with the mud tires as i was planning to use them right away. I came in switched my Giant race bike for my old Specialized which is my backup bike now with big knobbies, time to earn your keep old freind. I haven't ridden that bike in years for any length of time.

Lap 2

I immediately felt the benefits of these tires, on the rear was the mother of all mud tires the King of Tread and on the front was a Maxxis hanging around the tire pile in the garage thats been around for years, last minute decision to throw it in the truck once again. I was screaming thru the course without reservation for conditions whatsoever, it was great, i thought this is going to be awesome, i was giggly and happy cruising thru the muck like there wasn't any so i decided to have another lap on the Specialized before changing the wheels onto the Giant.

Lap 3 and 4

This is where things got weird with the mud. Lap 2 mud was soupy, messy, splashy stuff. Then the rain let up a little which caused the mud to stiffen and become thicker and stickier for lap 3. As i hit the muddy bog just outside the timing tent, i saw mud that reminded of a livestock stall on a farm, pigsty and such where the mud retains its shape after its been impacted. Riding through this quickly became no fun and as a solo its always a good idea to avoid pushing so hard through stuff that gains little time but kills the legs.
Anyway this turned out to be the theme for the first half of laps 3 and 4. As you pushed you bike thru the muck it would stick to itself and build up, hence the name "SnowManMud", on the tires to a point where the wheels would no longer roll. I at times put the seat into my right shoulder with the right across on the top tube, left hand on the left hand grip and pushed, sliding the bike to a place where i could remove the mud congealed - all over the bike - the old specialized was weighing 70ish pounds now and it wouldn't roll. There were some sections where something resembling riding was possible and once again the second half of the course was better and rideable, so it gave you some encouragement to go right on and do another lap, which i did.

Now i should mention that some riders had shown up well prepared and were actually riding past us in the bad stuff. I saw very skinny knobby mud tires that cut throught the muck easier and held less mud,I heard spray your entire bike with vegetable oil and the mud won't stick, be a really strong rider, whatever these guys were doing it worked for them and they were the envy of the race course.

Lap 5

Same old, same old, except that once in the second half of the course which was ridable before we found that it was now deteriorating to a point resembling the first part the course which had been shut down after my lap 4 for a shortened course.
During lap 5 i realized that this course was going south , particularly for solos. It was my feeling that on a team it would be more tolerable since its only one lap and then a long rest, so i figured the teams would continue until the course was shut down altogether, which fellow BigRingers did and gained first place in their category, as did Tanya, who by the way was also solo.
I was pretty much committed to hanging up my helmet for this one but Jenn, my fiance and support crew was doing her job making sure i went back out for my 6th lap. I didn't argue with her and did my job. I had borrowed Tobins light for this race and was excited about riding at Albion hills with over 1200 lumens combined head and bar mount, but decided not to subject my buddies lamp to this kind of abuse for no apparent reason so headed out with just a helmet mount.

I now pushed the bike -for the entire lap- until i got to the back section where i could duck under a ribbon and cut out 2 sections of bike pushing to save a good 45minutes getting back to camp. I felt i could maybe grunt through and steal some spots off of guys who dropped out but decided if they were ahead of me they deserved it and good for them, i trained to ride a bike for 24hrs, my best comes out in the second 12 so let'em have it and congrats! Time for a beer! When i got back the news was that the course was officially shut down. No surprise.

Big thanks,
To BigRingers Peter and Mark for the tech support in pit, like i said those tires in lap 2 were the high point of the race.
To Jenn her mom Doris and aunt Ruth for the as always awesome pit support.
And to the all the BigRing sponsors, especially Kenda and Prolink who's products worked so well in the crazy conditions.

See you at Hot August Nights, Solo!

Rick,
aka, Golonghardman

Riverkeeper Duathlon/Triathlon

Last Saturday a couple of Big Ring Racing mountain bikers put on different hats and competed in the Ottawa Riverkeeper Duathlon and Triathlon. Kari is a seasoned veteran of triathlons and this was a piece of cake for her compared to her Ironman, but this was my first "real" attempt at something like this. I took up running last year just for something to do at lunch at work. I've been running with a friend, never getting out of zone 1, and did the Ottawa Race Weekend half-marathon recently alongside her. I figured this was my chance to try something new.

Upon arrival, I immediately ran into Kari and set my bike up next to hers in the transition area. Kari felt that this would be a good time to clean her bike and lube her chain for what appeared to be the first time in 3 years, but was in a hurry as she needed to hit the potties before the rapidly approaching race starting time. I took over bike cleaning on her behalf. I also adjusted her gears a bit which seemed off and tightened her brakes. The announcer casually mentioned something about the race starting. No sign of Kari. I waited around as long as I could then sprinted to my start line. The duathlon started with a 5k run and I watched the swimmers leaping into the water, sans Kari who was still at the potty. Seasoned veteran that woman.

My cunning strategy was not to go out too fast on the first run, blow everyone away on the 45km bike, then hold people off on the final 10k run. Didn't happen.

Here's Kari looking like a true tri-geek with her decked out bike and serious look:



Meanwhile, I finished the run as planned in amongst a bunch of people who clearly had eaten a bit too much over the past 40 years. Hit the bike with confidence. But I didn't seem to be catching anyone. Sure, I passed two or three people, but two people passed me. I was not pleased. I was truly surprised to see some of these folks riding so fast. They did appear to be pushing pretty hard I had to admit, but I was chunking along only about 3 beats under threshold myself, a pace I held (without dropping in velocity) the full distance. I finished the 45 km in 1:20 which I was pleased with. I tried to tell myself I'd have done better had there been any hills to speak of instead of such a flat course.

Part of my problem appears to be that I have terrible roadie posture. First of all I seem to be smiling, secondly I'm sitting up like a goof, and finally what's with all that flabby ass business going on? I know, I know, the camera adds ten pounds, but just how many cameras could possibly have been trained on my butt? Three?



We ended with a 10k run. As I said, I'm not a runner and all I really knew was that I did a 10k run Terry Fox run in 45 minutes 5 years ago and it almost killed me.

Well, I felt just fine. In fact, the 1:20 on the bike seemed to have allowed me to recover and I had an easy time doing a 45:30 10k, passing everyone who'd gone by me on the bike and catching a few people who'd been ahead of me all along. I now felt better about my biking. I may not be fast, but I can go at a decent clip for some time without it affecting me.



I was in at the finish a full 15 minutes faster than my "best" estimate had been pre-race so overall I was very happy with the day. I got to watch Kari cruise home like it had been a typical day for her:



In the end, both Kari and I finished 9th overall. Thanks to being old however, I was first (of 6) in my age group, while Kari was 3rd in hers. Two podium finishes for Big Ring Racing! Maybe our new motto should be "We excel when there is very little competition."

It was a fun day.

SMH, finally!!

I finally got out to SMH on Saturday, where Lenny took me and my neighbour, Yves, for a tour of the highlands. I had not ridden SMH since the summer of 2007. It seemed that every time I wanted to go last year it was raining and I did not want to cause any damage to the Mamasita. Lenny took us on Outer thigh, Pete's Wicket, Outback and Ridge to name a few.

Lenny and Yves, all smiles as we start the ride

Lenny showing his hucking skills!


Powering up a rock face...

Guess who we ran into on the top of Rib Cage? T-Bone! She was schooling some young punks on the finer points of technical riding. Speaking of Rib Gage, Yves rode up it (yes, up!) on in first try - like buttah! Dude got some power! The only other person I ever heard of who made it up Rib Gage on the first try is this guy. (forgive me if your eyes hurt, I could have picked a worst pic)

T-Bone hamming it up!

After concurring Rib Cage, Yves showed us how to endo and still

keep the rubber to the ground, and that was not his last demo!

Lenny got a flat as we were hauling ass back to the car for post ride refreshments...

...and the post-ride refreshments were tasty and refreshing!!!

Great ride boys! Thanks Lenny for showing us around and bringing the wobbly pop!

Send your bike to Africa

Please donate your old bike(s) to Bicycles For Humanity this weekend. If you don't have one to donate, cash donations are very welcome (to help pay for the shipping container carrying all the bikes collected).

I am also looking for a few volunteers to help prep bikes on Monday, June 1, 2009 at 6pm - please e-mail me for more info.

Cheers.

1st & 4th

The Vegan Vagabond takes first place this past weekend at the Opus Spring Epic 8 Hr race at Mansfield in the women's solo division with 11 laps, beating her closest competitor in the last five minutes.

The original big ring takes 4th in the single speed division, narrowly missing third place.

Kingdom Long Weekend

A group of us headed to Kingdom, Vermont for a long weekend of mountain biking. Despite some last minute cancellations, ten of us, plus two kids, made the trip. Now for those of you who read this blog regularly, you will know that there has been at least half a dozen or so posts on trips to Kingdom. And you also know that Kingdom has probably the finest mtb trail network in the North East. Therefore, I tell you about some new developments this year:

The Good

The riding is still fantastic with some great well-maintained single-track! Kudos to the Trail association for their amazing work.

Sidewinder - everyone's favourite trail has a couple of new lines. If you find yourself behind a slower rider, you a have passing options.

Beer and pizza at the Trout River Brewery!!

The Bad

Pines and Widow Maker are both closed because of some logging operations. The will be reopened at some point, likely with some changes!

The Ugly

Old Webbs - one of my favourite trails, a fast, flowing single track between tall pines - has been totally ruined by the same logging operation mentioned above. About 50 per cent of the trees, if not more, have been cut down and there is a wide logging track going through it.

The Final Word

Despite those little annoyances, Kingdom is still a fantastic place to ride and we had a blast! Here are some pics:

Pierre and Susie

The BC Bike Race twins - Kari & Bill

Smiley Andrea ripping down Rim

K & B auditioning for the Cirque du Soleil

Saturday night at the Trout... noone made a scene...

Me, Joel & Pierre - as you can tell, it was cold...

Even colder on Monday! 40 F, that's about 4 celcius!

Awesome weekend with a great group of people! Can't wait to go again, I got my season's pass!!

Marathon Photos

Vegan Vagabond takes first in her division - yes, there were more women.
Tanya scored a Giro helmet and some loot to boot.

Big Ring takes first in his division of freaks and misfits (single speed) - there was one other ss'er who started the marathon race, but I don't think he finished.
I scored a Sigma cycling computer (which I am going to put on Chrissie's new bike) and a kiss from Bigfoot.

Race Day Success!

Copied from my blog...


Good morning, its godawful early for a holiday but I couldn't sleep any longer because I was starving. So I thought I'd tell ya about my race.

Saturday at noon we headed to Craig's inlaws. The house was full of family and I just sat back, relaxed and took it all in. It was really nice to see how happy Craig and Christine are as new parents. And it was freakin adorable watching Elsa sneeze. Babies sneezing = cutest thing ever?

After dinner we made our way to Matt's. I made myself comfortable on the couch, pretty happy as I was double-fisted with Molly his hilarious dog cuddled on my left and Oakley the cat on my right. I also had the pleasure of Molly's company in my bed for the night.

Next morning we headed to the race. It was so cold. +5 and there was an arctic wind that would gust every now and then, chilling us all to the bone. Unfortunately the race started about half an hour late making our warm-ups completely useless.

One of the most embarrassing things ever happened to me on the start line. I can't bring myself to recount it on the blog but just know that it had Craig and I doubled over laughing and every now and then I'd chuckle when I thought about it during the race. I don't know how these type of things always happen to me but they do.

Finally the race starts and we're off into the single track right away. I had planted myself near the front of the start line so I had no trouble with traffic in there. I was the first girl in. After the single track we made our way onto some double track and that's when Sara passed me. She was definitely one of the girls I was keeping an eye on because her and I were very close at Crank the Shield last fall. I tried to keep her in sight but to no avail.

Another notable part about this section is I passed poor Big Ring spinning out on his single speed. Gear selection was very difficult for single speeders because there was lots of dead flat sections but later there was tons of steep climbs.

Soon after that I met up with Tom from Shorthills Cycling Club in St. Catherine's. He passed me and I grabbed his wheel. I decided to ask if he minded and he said no problem. For the next ten minutes or so he kept looking back to see if I was still on and waited when I fell off a bit. So nice!! Thanks Tom. I wish I could have returned the favour but he eventually had to pull away when I couldn't hold the pace.

Then we hit more single track and I eventually caught up to both Tom and Sara again. Unfortunately Tom was having shifting issues. This was one of my most favourite sections. Think Kingdom trails meet Chelsea. So fun. There was a kind of a natural half pipe section where we swooped back and forth through the bowl. I think because I was so excited about that part and finally warmed up, I passed Sara on the double track climb coming out of that section. I was feeling strong.

The middle part of the race was awesome. Lots of singletrack and lots of climbs. Most of the climbs were switch backs or steep single track so this was good for me. That's my kind of climbing. This went on for a couple of hours. Big Ring passed me at some point in here. I kept the gas pedal floored during this whole section as I was sure Sara was going to catch me at any moment. I was breathing heavily the entire time. Hard work.

I took a few risks during the race with my fuel. I ended up getting lucky and it worked out but I was very close to cramping for the second half of the race because I didn't fill up at all the feed stations. At what I thought was the last feed, I filled my bottle and heard there was 12km left. I thought it was a flat, double track section so I figured it would be short. However, this was the longest 12km ever for me. It was a mixed bag of single and double track and climbing and flats. I was on the edge of cramping and because it re-traced the start loop, every thing was familiar and I kept thinking it had to be the finish line. Very hard on my head.

Anyway at 3km left I came upon another feed station (wtf?). As bizarre as that was, I forced myself stop and fill up because my leg was actually cramping at that point. That saved me and I finished strong to the end, ~55km and ~4 hours after I began.

I was pretty shattered after the race but happy to hear I came first overall for the women! Turns out Sara had a flat and was bonking so she ended up rolling in about 10 minutes(?)after me.

Craig ended up the 1st single speeder and Matt came 3rd. Great job guys!!

We stayed for the awards and I was amazed that I won money (basically my entry fee!) and a really nice helmet. Unfortunately its a size small and will never fit my big melon. Anyone want to buy a yellow Giro helmet? ;)

Craig and I drove home, both of us completely wiped out. I must have ate about 3 meals worth of food on the way home. Speaking of that, its been at least half an hour since I've eaten...

Moab Day 3

Well, I was feeling pretty out of it but the violent stomach illness has been over for 24 hours so I'm riding.

I figure I drank 500ml of water in the last 24 hours living in the desert, what could go wrong.

The boys were tired from yesterday so we started pretty small and rode a trail called Sovereign.
Fun desert riding, some of it fairly technical, especially if you are moving quickly.

Crazy rock jumbles

Calvin just before we got hit by a mini-dust devil, good fun.

You can see forever in the dessert.

Our condo this year was gorgeous, a lot nicer than any of our houses. It was right in town so we could walk to the services and the views were great:

Poison Spider Mesa on one
side of the condo.

Slickrock area straight out the front door.

And to top it all off, the town sanctioned dirt jumps were 100 feet from our front door. Just in case you had any energy left at the end of the day you could hit a few jumps or race the BMX track. Best location ever.

Moab Day 2

Well actually it was more like night # 1. Started out watching UFC at Bub's, the worst sports bar I have ever been in. I spent the rest of the night keeping my roommate awake as I vomited and dry heaved. Good times.

Safe to say I didn't ride on day #2, though by all accounts it was a good ride at Tabagauche Trails.

To end the day we packed up and did the 1.5 hour drive to Moab.

Maob Day 1

Well it actually wasn't, Maob, we flew into Denver and drove to Fruita Colorado on our way to Maob. We were very nearly snowed in Denver! Can you believe it, 20 degrees in Ottawa and the highway is closed in Denver

Can you believe this shit?

ET is not happy.....

Thankfully Beezer found the solution

The real solution!

After a bit of a rough drive (it got faster when I took over) we finally made our way to Fruita Colorado. Home of the Fat Tire Festival. With a festival like that, how can you go wrong? Fruita/Garnd Junction has a number of area to ride so we choose Kokopelli Trails. We did Moore Fun and Mary's Trail, a nice combination with technical single track and great views!

Yup, its a terrible place to visit

Nasty, tricky corner, one of many you wouldn't want to miss, turns out to be a bit of a theme on this trip


Just a random shot of what the single track looks like, it's a little dry.

Day one started out looking pretty bad but perseverance and some cautious driving paid off in spades. A great start but I had no idea what was coming during night number 1 (foreshadowing?).

Lakes and Locks

We were up in Kingston on the weekend visiting some friends. I didn't want to miss the good weather on Saturday, so I took the Isaac along.

After having some family time in the morning and lunching on ribs, wings and nachos, I was ready to head for a ride. Our friends live just off Perth Rd, which in on the Rideau Lakes Tour (RLT) route, some of you may be familiar with the road. I got myself organized and headed out on the road with my Ipod for company. Yes, I ride with music when I am alone... Here is a trick for you kids out there, if you can hear your wheels turning with your Ipod on, the volume is Ok, if you can't, its probably too loud.

I headed North on Perth rd towards Westport, there was a nice tail wind blowing, riding over 35kmh was effortless, in fact there were sections where I could hold over 40kmh for more than 2kms at a time. I knew I would have to pay for that freebie on the way back. The traffic was very light and the pavement very smooth for the most part (nothing like the Cantley/Wakefield loop full of holes). For those of you who have done the RLT, you know the Perth rd section is very picturesque, lots of beautiful scenery but some strange sights too. Like the "hillbilly" trailer home which looks like a wrecking yard, I would have taken a picture but they were out on in the front yard BBQ possum, I think. There is also another house with five 1980 something Camaros on the front lawn and other unique sights, like this house...

Looks even more strange in real life... what's with the watch-tower?

And, as I said, there are some beautiful views of the Rideau Lakes, too many of them to name.

One of the many lakes you come across

I made it to my pit stop point in Newboro in just over an hour and stopped for a snack. Not bad, 40kms in 1hr7mins - thanks to a great tail wind!

Crossing the Rideau Canal at Newboro

My mid-ride snack...

Cinnamon bun with delicious cream cheese icing, mmm.....

If you were paying attention, I had veered East. My plan was to go south west instead of having to face the headwind dead-on. I headed towards hwy 15, headed south for 4kms then went south-west through Chaffey's locks (as you know the Rideau Canal goes from Ottawa to Kingston, there are a lot of locks along the way) .

From Chaffey's locks, I connected to Opinicon road which would eventually spit me back out onto Perth Rd. Opinicon Rd is a secondary road; it is paved but not with very smooth asphalt (think of Perth rd as hockey ice and Opinicon, curling ice - you got to be Canadian to understand this!) but the Isaac's carbon frame absorbs the bumps very nicely. Nevertheless, there were no serious ruts nor potholes on Opinicon. It is a very twisty turny road, with lots of short climbs and downhills. I had some stiff cross winds to contend with which slowed things down quite a bit but that section was actually a lot of fun! I would sometimes sprint up the hills just to mix things up a bit. I'd love to ride that road again on a calm day. I met this dude in the middle of the road on a downhill...

Mr. Porcupine made me hit the brakes hard on a downhill...

I love tractors, so I had to stop and take this pic - vintage Ford and a Massey
(Can you tell which is which without enlarging the photo?)

It was nice to ride something different from the usual routes we tend to do and the roads in the Kingston and Rideau Lakes area are so much nices than what we have here.

My total distance was 84 kms according to my computer, google maps says 80kms, close enough I guess. The second half of the trip took me almost twice as long as the first although I did lolgygag a bit chasing animals and tractors. But the biggest factor was the wind. Total ride time was 3 hours. Here is a map of my ride route.

Tired Oily Socks

Thank you Sock Guy for the lovely socks.

Thanks Van and the fine folks at Pro Gold for all the lube. Lube for a lifetime.

And big thanks to Kenda for sending some tires and such our way.

The Lenny Show

Friday turned out to indeed be a perfect day to ride. On the way out to Kanata Lakes we figured out that Lenny was the same age as Charlotte's father, a fact that brought out the paternal instinct in Lenny so he put on a riding clinic for his young protege. Fifteen minutes in he demonstrated some trail-building know-how, showing the proper method to pack down protruding rocks by using the "elbow slam" technique:



After that incident he put on a show of some of the more traditional skills of technical riding, which Charlotte soaked up like a sponge:



We were out for a little more than two hours and were better people for it. Charlotte's going to do some racing in this her second season of mountain biking but some pesky Bar Exams in June might eat into her ride time a bit.



The trails are in very good shape. Hope to see you all out there soon.

An overdue welcome to the 2009 Mountain Biking Season

Time to ditch work.

Friday 24 April 2009. The plan is for me and Lenny and the HFT to hit the trails for the first time this season. I am totally stoked.

Anyone feeling confident about their bike handling skills? Apparently there are still levels to aspire to. There may be people out there better than you.

Sunday Sun Day!!

As the title says Sunday was a bright sunny day which means everything else gets put on hold because it's business time. You know what I mean... Bike Riding Business Time!!!

Here we are at the beginning of the ride just waiting for Gilles to arrive. Big Ring is saying "Lenny, don't I look schexy? Did I mention I was on the podium earlier this season? Check out my pecs... Oh I do look fabulous! No..!?? You're right Lenny, I look better than fabulous!! No wonder I like riding with you... I could stand here all day and wave at the cars as they go by. They're all honking at me, I'm so schexy! Hey, is that Gilles?"

And here is Gilles as we were about to head out for a spin dans La Belle Provence de QUÉBEC. He's looking great in that Big Ring jersey!


It was a great day to be out on the bike. We rode from Champlain Bridge up through Chelsea to Wakefield, Cantley and then back to the bridge on our way home. We hit some snow in the park but it's almost gone. It felt really weird to be back up there and not on skis. I've never felt like that before. I guess that's because I skied a lot more this year then I did last year and last year was my first year of xc skiing. Here is some of that snow that we had to walk through...


And here is a shot of Gilles going around the snow. Notice how the gear whore is wearing his knee warmer. He told me later it's a KNEE warmer Lenny, not a 'knee and thigh' warmer. I still have so much to learn!


I thought they were supposed to be worn like this! ( Notice that I was at least wearing the same socks as Gilles was). They're the Abominable Snowman version from our great sponsor Sock Guy; an appropriate choice given the snow hike!


All in all it was a great day for a ride. The sun felt amazing and it was a day that was full of the promise of a great riding season to come - YAY! Thanks to Craig, Zamboni and Gilles for the tour. I ended up with about 105 km but felt like I could have kept going. I'm glad I didn't though as I was starving when I got home and what better way to end a ride then a great big plate of food.? Well I got home and had to cook for myself, can you imagine!?! Here's an image of my wife just lounging around while I was out working on the bike! Crazy... Oh well, I got her in the kitchen shortly after this. ;-)