Double Cross Action!

Just a brief note until I have time later to provide more words about today's ride. Thanks to everyone who came out! The turnout was great, around 23, and the weather was outstanding. A few flats were had, confusion abounded about certain people's whereabouts, but nevertheless, everyone seemed to have a swell time. A group of us had coffee, beer and food at Raw Sugar apres, which was fantastic. As I write this I am sprawled out on my couch feeling rather well used. A great day in the saddle indeed.

If you have photos you'd like to share, send em over to me: tallreerides@gmail.com

Check back soon for more.

Double Cross: The Path the Salvation

Well, salvation might be a little too strong, but I like the ring of it, so I'm running with it. I stated earlier that we would not provide cue sheets for Sunday. The reasons for this are twofold: I don't want to waste time and paper unecessarily (as we don't have confirmation of numbers), and I believe riders are fully capable of creating cue sheets on their own. Preparing a cue sheet shows a degree of commitment to the ride that differs from the typical race-oriented event. One of the reasons we like doing events like this is that they provide the context in which riders can access terrain they would not otherwise encounter. Or perhaps combinations they would not encounter. Its about expanding the possible right here, in our own - big - backyard. So taking the time to look at the map is a way riders can enhance their familiarity with the region. For those who have not mapped out rides like this before, its an opportunity to try your hand at making a cue sheet and testing it out with the confidence that you won't likely get screwed if its off. We posted the route map last week to afford everyone the time to look it over.

Despite all this, I am a little concerned some riders will show up without having looked at the map, and also have little familiarity with the area. The buddy system will mitigate this potential issue, but nevertheless, I have decided to compose a rudimentary map to bring along, just in case I have to give some out. Bringing along a map of the park that shows the summer trails will be completely sufficient. The GPS map we've posted can be transposed manually onto your Park map. This would be the simplest way. A cue sheet would be easier to handle if you already have a familiarity with the area. Again, the route is not complicated, but their are decisions to make along the way, once we get onto the trails. There will be riders who could simply be told the trail numbers who would be good to go. To others, the numbers will be meaningless.


View 2009 Double Cross (Bikely) in a larger map


In en effort to make the route very clear, we took photos of each intersection last week. Jamie created the geo map above. CLick the riders for photos. In very simple terms, we'll be accessing the trails from the Mill in Wakefield, heading North then West to Lac Phillipe, bearing around the lake and back South-East toward Pine Road, then pretty much South to O'Brien. That's pretty straightforward for those who ride the trails. From O'Brien we take Meech Rd. to the North loop of the Parkway, then continue toward the Gamelin gate to finish (this differs from the last leg of the Parkway Rodd mapped). In other words:

52 to 53 to 51 to road around lake to 50 to 36 to O'Brien to North Loop of Parkway continuing to Gamelin gate. The end.

As I have stated earlier, we will ride as a group or small groups to Wakefield, stop at Pipolinka for a snack, then continue as a group to the trail. Thus, there is no reason to discuss the route to Wakefield beyond saying we'll take the parkway to the cut over to Mine road, take that to Old Chelsea, then Scott to the 105 and Cross loop, then River road.

2009 Ontario Cyclocross Provincials - Mooney's Bay

Will took a tonne of great photos. See them here.

It was a hard race today. Lots of opportunity to really put the hurt on. I think at least a few spent some time in the hurt locker. Make no mistake, today's course at Mooney's Bay was far more brutalizing than yesterday's Anvil.

Greg Rein, one of the builders of the Anvil course. He really knows how to ride cross. I'd like to follow him sometime...if I can hold on AND see (Photo: Steve).

With over 200 riders competing today, the stage was set for some great racing. Jamie and I showed up just after the start of race #2, and had a few opportunities to cheer Anna and Mike on. I don't know what spots they wound up in just yet.

Anna O'Brien, perhaps wishing she had a team-mate to work with (Photo: Will).

Mike Abraham, definitely leaving it all on the course (Photo: Will).

Once the race was wrapped up we got on course for our preride and confirmed our suspicion: lots of wide open straights and lots of climbing. The approach into the straight line ascending the toboggan hill was modified with a chicane, in tended to force riders to run. But that didn't stop some of the Elite men from riding straight up anyhow. Nuts. I suppose I could have ridden it with a 36 rather than a 42...maybe not. I had to run, not a strength for me. Rodd would have taken out many on that climb had he been able attend.

Rob was remounting and riding the last pitch. Brute. Brad lends a hand. All these black and whites are by Steve, aka, Colonel. Nicely done (Photo: Steve).

Beyond the hill, the other feature of note was the sand. Out toward the water and 180 degrees around the lifeguard station back. Out was fine, but getting around the turn clean was beyond my ability today. I heard some of the guys were pulling it off; this is extremely impressive. Perhaps we should always use the sand there so us hacks can learn how to ride it well?

Rob and Dave were on course before long, and of course Neil as well. Before long we were standing alongside out cheering contingent - Will, Angela, Kent, Kim, Brad and his munchkins, my wife and daughter, Jamie's parents, and my dad. Noisemakers in hand, they readied themselves for the job at hand.

Kent. Superfan (Photo: Steve).

Thankfully, we didn't have to start with the Seniors. It was much simpler to know who we were racing. Neil was already off, which left the other four of us to mix it up with the Masters A group. Go! Pretty fast start, but not blazing. I managed to get up in the top five or so and relax a bit before hitting the hill. My 'run' was more of a low shuffle, but I didn't seem to lose ground. I slid out on one of the switchbacks, but was encouraged to find I did not lose a spot. Racing. The first lap was, as usual, pretty intense, but riders strung out pretty quickly. I rode in the first group for a while, then it broke up. Mistakes were made, but nothing horrible. I managed to stay focused on the job and aggressive. The cheering helped immensly, as it always does. My gals were superfans, up the hilld, down across, up.... My daughter apparently indicated she felt like puking from the intensity of running all over the hill. No matter, she wanted to stick to the plan. That's my girl! They couldn't tell whether I could see or hear them as I was too focused to spare a glance, but I assured them I saw them everywhere. Kent was also particularly vocal - he is also a superfan - and he urged me on really hard: "G0 gettem, downhill style!" I took his cue and caught my guys on a descent. I love doing that, it doesn't cost anything.

Neil, always fast (Photo: Steve).

Me, sometimes fast (Photo: Steve).

David Stachon. Back at it after a leg injury. Nice riding Dave! (Photo: Will)

Rob Parniak, Tall Tree's all round hammer. He even crushes it on the TT bike! Nice teamwork with Jamie Rob!

Jamie, getting into this whole racing up, down and across thing (Photo: Steve).

Jamie, wicked suffering face at the top of the hill (Photo: Will)

Is Jamie running? Fo shizzle! (Photo: Steve)

Rob, possibly in the hurt closet (Photo: Will)

Our posse consisted of numerous Superfans. Check Angela's style: MORE COWBELL! (Photo: Will)

You can be certain all the fans screaming encouragement helped Neil brutalize himself all the way up this every lap. Powa! (Photo: Will)

This is what I look like when I am trying to run. On the first pitch I did the old man shuffle: keep the feet low, one, two, one, two.... (Photo: Steve)

Nice light on this one. Jamie is working hard, nice suffering face. (photo:Will)

What, you didn't know cross is all about aerodynamics? Oh yeah, it totally is. Why do you think so many riders use the deep dish rims? Aero. I embrace this truth here, and really tuck in at 12kph. I might try an aero helmet to attain further gains next year. Rob can lend me his. PRO. (Photo: Will)

I was rolling well behind a Cyclery Senior for a while, but failed to notice him slowing down. I was in 3rd or 4th at this point. Once I realized we'd slowed way down I took off, but the damage was done. A chase group of three - two masters and one senior - had narrowed the gap to striking distance. I wound up riding with an out of towner ZYM...? for at least a lap, then a team mate of his got into the mix somewhere. The latter was riding strong on the last lap and I knew I would have trouble with him at the finish. I tailed him, then passed over the barriers and led up the back of the hill, down, and around. On the final turn he went wide, I went low, and we uncorked the sprint. He went hard, and I put everything into it, but my gears skipped around a bit and I had to navigate around a Senior, so it did not work out. He took me by at least a bike length. I'd been having issues with my shifting since sliding out, which I might have resolved if I'd taken more time with them twiddling my in-line barrel. Mistake. I also should have been more aware of the traffic ahead. Mistake. I also should have let him lead me in to the sprint instead of vice versa. Mistake. All mistakes to learn from. That's cross for ya.

So I wound up 7th, 5th Ontarian. Neil was 6th, I think 5th Ontarian, Jamie 18th or so, and Rob right around there too. I think Dave was back a bit. Tough course, but a great effort by all the Tall Tree riders today. I think we are all looking forward to next weeks mellow Double Cross ride next weekend! Then we'll be back to Mooney's for one more beat down. After that, if we're lucky, we might be able to put in a few backroads rides before winter blankets us with snow. Only time will tell.

Here are some photos I found from today. More to follow.

http://picasaweb.google.com/GrahamPJPage/ProvCXChampsNov15?feat=directlink#5404466977936387250

http://picasaweb.google.com/GrahamPJPage/ProvCXChampsNov15?feat=directlink#5404466847428706066

http://picasaweb.google.com/GrahamPJPage/ProvCXChampsNov15?feat=directlink#5404462252418476722

And here are a bunch from Almonte by Aaron Fillion and Jen:

http://picasaweb.google.ca/af0002/AlmonteCyclocross#5402613808075442002

http://picasaweb.google.ca/af0002/AlmonteCyclocross#5402615047915838018

http://picasaweb.google.ca/af0002/AlmonteCyclocross#5402617097139411858

http://picasaweb.google.ca/af0002/AlmonteCyclocross#5402618223070150450

http://picasaweb.google.ca/af0002/AlmonteCyclocross#5402619307326820610

http://picasaweb.google.ca/af0002/AlmonteCyclocross#5402620083401740898

http://picasaweb.google.ca/af0002/AlmonteCyclocross#5402620748622854594

http://picasaweb.google.ca/af0002/AlmonteCyclocross#5402621089061687138

http://picasaweb.google.ca/af0002/AlmonteCyclocross#5402621134314819538http://picasaweb.google.ca/af0002/AlmonteCyclocross#5402621134314819538

Dropping the Hammer: Anvil Cross!

Quick note on today's Anvil Cross, put on by the Ride With Rendall crew at the Nepean Equestrian Centre today. The RWR ladies and gents, and OCA staff and volunteers put on one heck of a great race. In a word, the course was awesome. Despite minimal elevation change to work with, the course snaked across the grounds like a plate of spaghetti; perfect. This was the first course I've raced that felt like I'd expect a Euro course to ride. The grass was for the most part smooth, there was sand, mud, and excellent off cambers. I suspected Glen and Greg would throw down a fantastic course, and they delivered. Thanks guys, its much appreciated!

Tall Tree riders made a strong showing today with Anna taking 6th in the women's race, Neil in 4th (in the money!), me back in 9th, and Jamie in 19th, all Senior men (couldn't race masters). Rob and Dave put in their first races of the season and rode really well to 4th and 5th respectively. Well done guys!

I think I managed to spend the most time on the ground today, twice crashing on the same off camber turn. On both occasions I turned my bars, twisted one or both hoods and dropped my chain. One of those times I took out Warren MacDonald, as I slid from the inside into him. I apologized, it was dumb. My third sweet maneuver was a pedal slip out of the same turn, which landed me with both feet on the ground, followed by a Flintstone maneuver up the rest of the hill. Tricia tried to tell my chain was off, again, but I wouldn't hear it. Doh. I certainly provided plenty of entertainment for the throng of carnage seekers on that turn. Apparently I wasn't the only one spazzing out, which is a minor consolation. I kept on telling myself, "wish I had a Challenge Fango on here." I should have just focused on riding better.

With the cold rain coming down the course became very slick in many turns, which was pretty hairy. It was a lot of fun. I hope RWR does this more.

Mike Bennett took a tone of photos. Check them out here.

Sunday should be the biggest race to grace Ottawa in the cross department for some time. I am personally quite excited. Many friends are coming to support us, as are my wife and daughter, cowbells in hand. More than anything, I hope everybody has a great time and cross gets a boost from the event. The more the merrier. I hope to race smart, keep the rubber down, and stay positive and aggressive the whole time. Tune in tomorrow night for a report.

Double Cross - November 22nd

Its still on. Our first inaugural Double Cross will go down on Sunday, November 22nd. It'll be a less formal (read leass organized) affair than the Quintuple. It'll be just as much fun though...at least in potentiality. Today Rodd, Jamie and I had the good fortune of being able to reconnoiter the route. Better late than never!

In case you'd rather skip the tale I weave below, here are the vital bits of info on the event:

When: SUNDAY NOVEMBER 22nd, probably 9:30am

Where: Starting and finishing from the Gate, Gamelin.

How far: 75k gate to gate.

Route: 45k road, 35k offroad. Read below for details. We created a GPS trace today, which is at the bottom. We will not provide cue sheets. Print the map out, or make a cue sheet if you prefer. Its pretty simple, so don't sweat it.

Format: Not a race. Teams of two, like a buddy system. Help each other, appreciate each other, compliment each other's choice of tire pressure and bar tape colour coordination. Share tubes and pumps.

Food and water: Bring some snacks. We'll stop at Pipolinka in Wakefield (35k from gate). Water can be acquired there or from the spring up the road.

Gear: Cross bikes. If you don't have one, an mtb will do. But the spirit is cross. If you bring an mtb over your cross bike so you'll have an 'edge' on the trails, you are missing the point. Run the biggest cross tires you can. Bring two tubes and patches, pump, etc. Fenders are dangerous offroad.

Price: Free, though we will accept donations toward trail building materials for Camp Fortune (a la the movie night Phat Moose is organizing for next Monday)

Apres: Its not really BBQ season anymore. We are trying to figure out a good place to converge after for hot drinks, cold drinks and food. Stay tuned.

Cold Rain Plan: If its cold and raining, i.e., miserable, we'll likely still ride. If this is the case, we'll meet at the same place, but modify the ride to get us offroad almost right away. This will be shorter, slower, and in theory, warmer. Why not do this in the first place? Because that'd pretty much be an mtb ride. Again, not the point. If the weather looks like it'll be heinous, check the blog for an update. If its absolutely abysmal, we might opt to go race cross for one hour rather than ride for longer. I'll likely post on the Friday if this looks like a possibility.

Questions? Ask here or email me at talltreerides@gmail.com. RSVPs would be nice too.

Sure, its me, but look at the composition; fantastic Rodd! Enticing, right?

Jamie navigates the chute, aka, ear ripper, Lac Phillipe. We don't ride down this anymore, even on all mountain mtbs. Pascal wound up in the lake one year. That's a sign.

Ok, lets continue with today's tale.

After a fortuitous melding of Tall Tree riders and Wheelers on the parkway on Tuesday night - what a treat to ride with so many wheelmen in the dark - Jamie and I were 'primed' for today's excursion. By primed I naturally mean somewhat worked over. No problem, I hear doubling up on hard efforts is good for us. With +5 and sunny weather, we could not go wrong. Got rolling from the cemetery on Gamelin at 9:45.

The plan: ride up to Wakefield on the road and assess our offroad options there. En route we opted to take Cross Loop, a perfect section for the outbound leg. Cross loop is always terrifically scenic (photos below). From there we descended upon fresh pavement down the River rd. Nice


Once in town, we had a fine lunch at...Pipolinka of course. Today I had a sun dried tomato and olive ciabatta bread with pear & sweet potato soup. Oh. My. God. I believe "ridiculously good" was how I described it as I eradicated my food. Outstanding. And it was Wednesday afternoon!

We'd already resolved en route where we'd go from Wakefield. I had a bit more ambitious route in mind, but we agreed we could use it in better weather and keep this ride at this time of year a little more conservative. So, onto the trail we went, over by the Mill, and headed north. In short, we looped around Lac Phillipe, and returned south to O'Brien. Most of the route was excellent for the cross bikes, with only a few short downhills that are littered with rocks. These are on the leg between Pine rd and O'Brien. Many will be familiar with the technical climbs along Meech Lake. They are a good challenge. We covered the trail section rather efficiently.


From O'Brien we headed back toward Old Chelsea, but failed to take the North Loop for the Parkway. We'll have that on the official route. Then up the Parkway we went/will go, finishing back at the gate. (Why wouldn't we? The Parkway is closed to cars! ) The climbs there will probably not feel great for anyone. But they will keep us warm! Seriously, I can count numerous times when I've wished for a climb so I could warm up.

A serene moment at Lac Phillipe

So that was a wrap. A splendid ride yielded a great route for the DC. Jamie, who has ridden trails very little on a cross bike, really liked it, which bodes well. We'd like to encourage everyone to run the largest tires they can on the cross bike, to reduce punctures. Running small tires to gain speed on the road won't be worth it. Put the biggest meats on you can. Nobody is going to be happy to change a flat in the cold. Or wait for their buddy with 30s on fixing one. Granted, if your bike does not fit big meats, c'est la vie. I'm kinda in that boat myself, with a 32 max on the back. 34s or 35s would be good.

All the photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hurricaneheino/sets/72157622665620799/

The Map

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Double-Cross-2009

Double Cross 2009

http://www.bikely.com/

Spotted! In the Wild!

The last few weekends I've been trying to get in some late season mountain bike rides. Last weekend Neil, Trish and I hit up Kanata Lakes following the 'cross race. Lots of bumpy fun. This weekend Trish and I decided to take a little spin around the Camp Fortune area. On Saturday the park was surprisingly covered with snow! Things were in full melting mode by Saturday evening but classic ski tracks were evident in the grass beside the Parkway. Crazy.

The melting made for sloppy conditions on the trails. We were freezing and decided to stick to the wide gravel trails and headed up Ridge Road toward Champlain lookout. We were getting really wet and muddy and our motivation was falling fast. Then we came over a rise on Ridge Road near the turnoff for Trail Four and rode right into the path of a gigantic moose!


Please excuse the cell-phone picture, but this is a pretty rare occurrence and we were glad when another muddy rider pulled up with a BlackBerry. I've never seen a moose in the park. Deer, bears, coyotes, foxes, beavers, turtles and all sorts of birds are pretty common but moose? Not so much. She was absolutely enormous and looked in fine form with a shiny black coat. When we first came upon her she was standing on the trail about 10 metres in front of us and then walked into the woods and stood eating leaves about 20 metres from us. She didn't seem scared at all and did not run away. We eventually left and continued our ride. When we passed by about 20 minutes later she was still standing there munching away. Awesome -- in the strictest sense of the word.

Kanata 'Cross Report

Start of race two. Photo knicked from Disco Stu

Sunday held a lot of promise for me for a few reasons:

1. New tubular rear wheel on my bike - first time on tubular
2. New bar tape!
3. Good legs

After Almonte's ill fortune - where I rolled my clincher rear tire off on my last lap - I mentioned wanting to run tubulars next year to Kent while at the Moose. An hour and a half (or two) later, I'd built up a wheel with a Kinlin rim, nondescript cartridge hub and double butted Wheelsmith spokes. Kent was keen to glue it on, which he did the following day after applying 3M Fast-tack.

Very Halloweeny. This is Lizard Skin tape, and I like it already. Its grippy and tough. Also easy to clean. It comes in many colours. We'll see how it is with sweaty gloveless hands in the summer, but with gloves its excellent. I've got a Challenge Grifo in 30 mounted here. It was much more comfortable than my regular Vittoria clincher.

Martin, getting psyched.

Brad, caffeinating, also getting psyched.

Martin ripping on lap one.

Brad took the switchbacks gracefully.

Kent showed a bit of DH flavour on the turns.

Brad and Kent had solid races. Brad pounded his singlespeed around the course in his usual diesel style, and finished 3rd in the novice group. Kent came 1st in the Masters A group, also in the first race. Nice! Martin had a great start, out in the front of the novice group, but succumbed to lower back pain. I think he'll try some stretching and embro for next race.

Jamie rolled up halfway through the first race on his new Salsa scandium race bike. Its a beauty, no question. Once the race wrapped up we got on the course for some warmup. As expected, it featured numerous long windy straights. It wold be important to keep out of the wind on them. The hill climb would not be bad though...fortunately. There was very little mud anywhere.

The start seemed a little faster than usual, with DSJ in the field along with many other honches. I started alongside Shawn Marshall, new Quebec Masters A provincial champion, and quickest local Masters racer I know. Despite getting caught behind a pedal fumbler off the start, I managed to get on Shawn's wheel on the first lap. When Natasha Elliot came up I found myself comfortable on her wheel, following her lines and learning a thing or two. She is very aggressive, so its great to pick up on where she attacks and eases off. This was going very well for a while, until misfortune struck. My tubular rolled off on a tight turn at the bottom of the switchbacks. Doh. But I was prepared, my spare wheel was 15 feet away, and I made the change and got going again. This is an opportunity for me to impart a nugget of wisdom that has served me well:

If you have a feeling you should do something, like say, put on your helmet to go to the store, but you try to rationalize why you don't need to, what side of your self should you listen to? Here is a good way to check: Ask yourself whether you will regret your decision if things go wrong. Back to the helmet example, would you regret not putting it on if you crashed and hit your head? I think most will answer yes. On the other hand, would you regret not wearing shin pads to ride your bike to the store if you spazzed out and cut your shin enroute? No, not likely.

So back to the wheel. Here I was in the parking lot with my spare wheel ready to go, without a skewer in it. I was flipping back and forth between: get a skewer and bring it over, to, leave it in the car. How did I decide? I asked myself if I'd regret leaving it in the car if I had a tire issue. Well, yeah, for sure. So I borrowed Martin's skewer and brought it over. Good thing.

So back to the plot. After switching the wheel I tried to chase down the 8 or so who passed me. That was really tough. It seemed like I had not been going faster than most of them; I just had a gap I was maintaining. I did my best, and worked my way up little by little. Eventually I settled in with a Cyclery rider who was going just fast enough I could follow his wheel, but I could not go faster than him. I followed as close as I could, keeping out of the wind. On the second last lap I overtook him on the run up and he asked whether I'd pull or sit in. "I'll try," and try I did. However, he passed me back after 30seconds. Back on the wheel. Going into the last lap Kent screamed such encouragement to catch Imad a few spots up that I got a boost of energy and pulled up to my wind man. I passed and encouraged him to follow to catch Imad. Alas, he was too cooked from all the pulling that he could not get on, and I tried alone to bridge. No dice, I could not close the 5 second or so gap. However, with the help of the guys screaming encouragement, I finsished strong in fourth (Masters), 23rd overall. That's not a great result overall, but its an improvement in my category. I'll try to stay with Shawn as long as possible in the future, and learn from him as I go. It helps a lot to have someone to chase. Stu was in attendance with his family, and massive camera in hand. He got some great photos. All we need now is some mud to get the spray action going. I've still yet to do a race that would actually count as muddy. Mud slows everyone down; its a bit of a leveler. I can't wait to struggle to stay on my bike...I hope it happens this season.

Anna, 4th Elite. Photo: Stu

Jamie, 17th Masters A. Photo: Stu

Neil, 8th Elite. Photo: Stu

Great moody shot by Stu.