Screaming for Vengeance

I hit one of my favorite loops today.  Woodstock/Beachville/Sweaburg.   I wanted a slightly hilly ride but nothing too challenging as I was mostly spinning in the small ring, with a few bursts upwards.  I don't know why there aren't more cyclists out there, possibly because there just aren't any cyclists in the area.  Or just insufficient for me to ever come across one.  If I lived out there again, I would have a serious relationship with those roads.  There's almost no cars, and the ones that did pass didn't even try to run me into the ditch.

a nice climb heading north into the wind

pretty much this is what it looks like everywhere.....

next time I'm going to see where that roads goes

50 easy kilometers .  Just enough to keep the legs fresh for tomorrows  100km battle royale in Terra Cotta.  

Here's what I weighed this morning.  POW!!!!

I haven't been in the featherweight club for a few years, feels good to be back

Maim to please/Terra Cotta reconnaissance

Today I went out to the Terra Cotta course.  I wanted to check the hill out.  After last years bomb I wanted to make sure it was just bad riding and not just a huge hill.  I'm leaning towards the fact that I just sucked last year, because  I think I raped that hill 5 times today.

The wind was whistling through the trees today.  The river rafters were out in full force, with their giant inner tubes, coolers of beer and 22 yr old girlfriends in bikinis.   Maybe the best part of the ride.  I imagine it's going to be another windy race on Monday.   I'm racing the Blue Flame again . The  Pinarello Prince.  Dura Ace drivetrain  and all.  It goes up like a rocket.  Hopefully the engine is full of rocket fuel.

Smashing the sound barrier
break open suns at will
gaining on you faster
leaves jet planes standing still

Art of War/The Baroudeurs Cookbook (part II)

3) Baroudeurs make themselves unbeatable by constant practice. Knowing they can never become totally invincible, their efforts enable them to see the vulnerabilities of their intended opponents.  They are also acutely aware of their own limitations.  They knew the only way to make the enemy vulnerable was by their own practice.

4) To properly defend, the attitude must be that of a thorough attack.  To depend strictly upon defense means that there is not enough strength in your heart .

Tonight I have to look after my little guy. His mother has has gone away for the weekend.  I am forced to train downstairs on the trainer when he is asleep.  I have the Road to Roubaix DVD, and my newish 48" TV.  So it's not all bad.  A sweaty hard ride downstairs should make me appreciate the windy heat outside.

http://www.sportszonephotography.ca/Cycling-2011/Provincial-Championship-RR/110-PM-Races/18214294_kL2wxT#1401131584_zrNL5ZF

Just a pic of me sitting in......

Tour of Terra Cotta

Did some hill intervals today.  Then rode for nearly 3 hrs at tempo.  Most of it in the rain.  July has been so dry, it felt great to get wet like that.  I didn't even care that my bike was covered in crap.  I ate a bowl of pasta and fantastic sauce afterwards with my favorite Belgian style bread, available only at Metro Grocery Stores.  It's like Italian bread but with a much thicker crust.  Really tasty.  I weighed myself today.  I was 150.4 lbs.  I can safely say I am below 150 as I had that entire meal in me, and also had on underwear and shorts.

This Monday is the Tour of Terra Cotta.  Last year I got caught behind a pack of slower guys and got separated from the main pack and fell off with a bunch of other dummies.  There's no way that is going to happen this time. I currently have the best fitness I have ever had and a Samurai's determination to boot.

Shark Week starts this Sunday on discovery Chanel at 9:00pm eastern standard time.   Sharks rule.

Art of War/The Baroudeurs Cookbook (part 1)

I have been reading an interpretation (1 of many) of Sun Tsu's famous handbook on battle.  I can be interpreted for war,  martial arts, hand to hand combat, streetfighting, business, many sports, and cycling etc, etc....  For all intents and purposes we can assume the title 'baroudeur' for the words 'warlord' or 'fighter'.  I think there is a shitload* of translations/interpretations but the version I have lends itself nicely to the tactics and ideals of road and crit racing.

1) Racers who have mastered defense, attack from hidden places and  assure their own success. They know when, where and how to make an attack while defending their positions at the same time.

2) Men of worth see victory in creating difficulty for their enemy.  They foresee victory when the enemy cannot overcome his own inadequacy.

Provincial Championship Master B race. Photo stolen from Heather Shearer!

*my favorite unit of measure

Mid Week Spitting festival

Tonight we won the Mid Week Crit.  Andy took the win with a solo breakaway on the second last lap, dropping a Jet Fuel rider.  I imagine everyone on the team took a top 20 or very near. In fact, I think it's safe to say that we controlled most of the race tonight.  One of the gentlemen from Jet Fuel  noticed and confirmed for me all the strong work I was putting in at the front, and later at the end of the race he came and told most of our team that our performance was fantatic and animated the entire race.  Basically we are really coming along nicely as a team.  Tonight almost everyone was there for the fast race.  Martin, Joe Acardi, Vito, Marc, Andy, Stan, Marco, Shaw, and me.    No crashes either, except for Erik Davis in the early race.   But who was this dick who was spitting on people?

Uh oh, pee pee

Marco in a glorious breakaway

Stan, Boots, me (black and white team kits)

Marc and me moving up the sides

slow day

Well today is another leg shave day.  I began shaving my legs on the advise of a friend back in 88 or 89, I got my first carbon bike from him back then.  It was a Specialized Allez Epic.  It weighed exactly too much.  Easily 20lbs.  It had Shimano 600 Ultegra,  I loved it.  Just didn't have the discipline to put in the kms......and eventually sold the bike.   However, I did keep shaving the legs for most of the next 20+yrs.  Broads dig it.  I normally shave them every other day, but today was after a 3 day stretch.  They somehow get smoother if you wait longer between shaves.

Last night I did a short recovery ride after putting in the 103 kms on Sunday.  I chose the crit course again for it's smooth road, no traffic, and fairly well lit corners.

Last week Vic and I rode there and saw a deer.  The week before the whole team rode a few blocks away and was basically joined by 2 huge deer.  Last nights wildlife sighting was not surprising save for the fact if was a huge skunk.  I am always amazed at how many animals you see when riding , especially in the city.  I have seen mice, snakes, a mole, possums, deer, skunks, racoons, falcons, all at close proximity.  Even an Armadillo in Florida.

Once , while mountain biking I just about hit the biggest deer I have ever seen.  That truly would have sucked.

I just love this picture, it has nothing to do  with anything......

Back in the Saddle

I'm riding, I'm loading up my pistol
I'm riding, I really got a fistful
I'm riding, I'm shining up my saddle
I'm riding, this snake is gonna rattle..................

The Provincial Championships were today just outside Waterloo on what the locals call The Bamberg Loop. We did 7 laps which was just over 100kms.  It contained no climbs but some very nice rollers that seem to appear in pretty rapid succession.  The temperature was a heavy and humid 30-31 degrees and there was a wind coming out of the north.  The race started off relatively slow.  Everyone was doing a little looking around and trying to secure a decent position in the pack.  The organizers were unquestionably clear about the yellow line rule, and that anyone who crossed it would be disqualified.  I heard them warn several people,  including a buddy of mine.  They needed to take into consideration that the tar filling the cracks in the road near the yellow line was nearly  soft as crap and to avoid going down you needed to roll out of the line or risk crashing.


I stayed in the front from the start and tried either keep with the pace or maintain a good pace myself.  I did chase down 1 small attack and try to get into a quickly failed breakaway.  Just before  the start of the 4th lap I found a good line and took Marc up to the front and continued pulling at the very front.  Shortly thereafter I got the word to go back into the pack and take a rest.  Here was my mistake.  I should have moved back 15 places but instead I drifted near to the very back. Back with a pile of guys I didn't want to be near.  There was less than 3 laps left and the speeds were picking up fast, but also the openings and opportunities to move back up to the front were diminishing even faster.  I tried to pick a few wheels to pull me back up front, but they were duds.  I found a lot of guys were content to just sit in and do nothing.  Which in an unimportant crit race that's fine but at the Provincials????  C'mon.  No fun.  From the moment I drifted back into no man's land I was urgently trying to get back up  .  It was just so damn tough as no one was trying to change their position and no openings were appearing.  When the last lap bell rang I resigned to the fact I wasn't going to be able contest the sprint as I had secretly planned, but I was still making up spaces in the pack.  Last corner we all take off .  The only sound is of derailleurs slamming into faster gears.  An unfortunate crash at the very front took out a couple of top contenders and changed the outcome for the would-be top 10ers.  I still had a lot left in my tank and made the best of it.  I approached the line through a maze of riders, many struggling to find their way.  I just kept zigzagging in and around of others until I found the line .   For the team it was a decent day.  Me, a great day.  After 2.5 months of terrible results  and races that I couldn't even finish I pulled off a near top 20.  I was, am, really happy.  I fully intend to continue my progression through the rest of the season by bettering each race result.  


Team Kurzawinski
Sport Category
Martin:16th


Master B
Marc: 12th
Andy:13th
Phil:16th
Trev:23'd
Marco:41nd
Stan:59th (crash)
out of about 85 riders


Master C
Dave:24th

Coach,  with that stupid farmer hat!!!

Andy and Wes

Special thanks to Extreme Road for setting up such a well organized race, and for sharing the Bamberg loop with everyone.  Great job!!!


Racing photos to follow

YYZ

Tonight we did about 80 kms.  It was pretty hot out out.  When it's this hot you don't really feel it on the bike but what makes you notice, is that you are banging through 2-3 water bottles and hour.  We rode from the Brampton Fairgrounds up to the town of Hockley.  Very hilly , and we set a good pace up, and rocketed on the way back.  No motorpacing back to the parking lot.  It was all us.  Nearly killed me tonight.  I worked a fairly tough day in the heat, so I was pretty wiped when we got on our bikes.

Deadliest Warrior

If anyone watches that show on SPIKE called deadliest Warrior , and at the same time was cool enough to also watch Star Trek TNG they will suspect that the narrators voice is the same guy who played Gowron the Klingon.  Since the wickedest show on TV stopped like 15 yrs ago or more I may be wrong , and it may have been Duras and not Gowron.  But it was for sure the Klingon who handed Worf the blade and said " I give his life......to you".  Then Worf said "I choose to spare his life".  Worf was a pretty nice guy.

Worf,  I've been watching you....and i know you've been watching me.....

I just googled that shit, and it was Gowron.  Boom!

Anyways, I am watching that show now.   Sometimes it's cool, but sometimes the results seem fixed.  Like a Samurai loses to a dorky Viking?  Vikings can't can't screw with a Samurai. Vikings are just pissed off longhairs....Samurai's will kill themselves if they screw up.  They never lose.

Last night at the mid was I was instructed to attack not once, not twice but thrice.  Then contest the sprint.  I took  all 4 instructions like one of Lance's domestique's who will later rat him out . Anyways........I had my best race to date.  They said I got 5th,  but in truth I really got 9th or 10th.  They gave Marc 8th and I was behind him.....so maybe he got 5th and I got 8th.  Care noty.

there was a big crash in the warm up lap.  This is all I got....

A bunch of the team

Phil and me trying to get away

big group tonight

Martin on Boots's wheel

Stan and Eric

Yuri, Eric, me

Me and Andy shredding that corner

I'll have more to post tomorrow or the next day................

Hotter than Hell II

Damn I wish I hadn't used Hotter than Hell as my album reference last week as it was WAAAAAAY hotter today.

Todays race was in Cobourg. An awesome little town that my Grandfather used to live in.  Biggest beach around. I used to come here as a youngin'.  The Tom Jehlicka memorial race is not an Ontario Cup race, but still a good one to test the legs. The organizers believed that  limited fields would participate so they had an open category and mixed a lot of different  age groups and  skill levels .  We started at just after noon.  the race included all S3, S1, S2 and any masters racers that were willing.  The race started off with a parade lap with the Mayor of Cobourg .  He is about 75 yrs old and was riding a $200 mountain bike.  But the slower lap was a great way to get warmed back up after the 10 minute speech at the line.

The race was hotter than shit and windier even.  The 1/2 km stretch down the start/finish line was really fast.   My 50/11 was having a hard time staying in the pack on a couple of laps, but the rest of the course I found it ok and not too much trouble.

This isn't a race report and I won't profess to know what transpired at the front of the group while I was sitting in the middle of the pack, but I will say that anyone who finished deserved a pat on the back because it was really hot.  Like Mexico hot..... Shopping along that main street in the Mayan Riviera where the buildings block all the wind and the sun just cooks you to death.  That's how hot it was today.  Except we didn't have guys trying to sell us Mexican wrestling masks, and there were a lot fewer aggressive local coke dealers offering us deals.  I did really well compared to the last 2 months since my crash in London and the sickness and bad vibes that followed.

This is what my truck registered the heat as.

What's so funny cool whip?  you get a lot of satisfaction from those $15 dollar hookers?
"I am never satisfied!"

I wish we had a team cool down event at the beach after this race .  You can walk as far out into the lake as you like and it never goes deeper than your chest.

Although this pic doesn't illustrate it, my arms are red, but it does show off that kick ass shirt!

 

                                                         
Best beach ever.  Maybe tied with Sauble Beach............

*all or most pics by Bree, however action limited they may be.  thanks for coming Bree!!!!!!!!!!!

just check this.....

seriously....who doesn't want this poster?

Springbok country

Tonight we rode the Matheson loop, basically whipping by Invita Sport bikes.  We were motorpacing behind Krystophs car most of the time, then we did a variety of sprint drills.  Krystoph had one of those new little actions video cameras attached to the back of the car so he could watch us later.  He may be compiling footage for a video later on.  Being that we are probably the team that trains most together of any Masters team around here it should be an awesome video when its done.

Best part about tonight was after we did our sprints and did our final lap we came around the last sweeping bend and there were two deer galloping alongside the road.  Keeping in mind we were 70' from the 401 highway , which is arguably the busiest highway in north America, and we were maybe 250' away from the Toronto airport.  To see two deer jogging by was pretty cool.  I took off after them and in a turn of insane acceleration on my part I sort of caught one of them.  I wouldn't have believed it but I did gain on it nicely.  Then it turned and crossed the road in front of me.   Krys got a lot of it recorded on his Hero Camera , or whatever it's called.

Tonight I'm rewarding my efforts with a strangely delicious new Belgian treat.  Lindemans Brouwerij Cuvee Rene.  A wild lemony-fruity beer that tastes almost like champagne.  Very carbonated but seemingly with smaller more intense bubbles.  A sour brew.  I only bought one bottle, but I will correct that error tomorrow.

Cobourg race on Sunday.   Fuck=YEAH!!!!

God be with you

Last nights race was fantastic.  All the favorites were there.  More spectators every week.  Special thanks to Sam , Candy and  Max for coming to cheer.  

I warmed up with early race.  I normally need to do that.  Most people need to get warmed up before going all out, I am the poster child for warming up.  I am useless without at least 30 minutes of decent effort before a race.  Last week I did the early race, yet it proved insufficient to get me though the later/faster race.  Last night I was luckier.  I brought the faster of my 2 racing bikes, the Guerciotti (pronounced Gore-cho-tee)  over the Prince.  I was feeling fine all night.  I sat in a lot for the first half and tried to just stay with my marked man.  By the halfway point I was usually in a better spot than he was.  I was even able to take part in 2 attacks, and chase down some of Sound Solutions breakaways.  One time Andy was chasing down an attack and I got on his wheel.  It's true what they say ........when Andy is in the drops and pushing it , its tough to stay on his wheel as not only is he flying but he offers no respite from the wind.

Anyways, I was able to stay near the front and and hang in there, where I couldn't last week.  So I felt good about that.     Can't wait till the Mid Week 99 lap race.  

Tonight I grabbed a bottle I have been saving for a few hours.  I found it in the LCBO in the import section, although its Canadian, which seemed kind of weird.  It has a pretty cool name.  Dominus Vobiscum.  I looked it up, it's latin for God be with you.  That's fine.  At a glance the label looks like a Death Metal album cover, but upon closer inspection it's just a cool font and a nice picture of a weird sunset.  Its apparently brewed in Quebec. I have never been a good reviewer or critiquer other than to say something is shitty or something is awesome.  I have to say this bier is the latter.  If you enjoy Hoegarden ,  for sure you'll like this.  

When  I cracked open the pretty cool looking bottle, which looks like a tall stubby.  It's aroma reminded me instantly of the smell of the Brick Brewery in KitchenerWaterloo.  They used to be the only place to buy beer on holiday weekends, when the liquor and beer stores were closed the mighty Brick brewery was open.

Dominus whatever-its-called  has a slight fruity taste and had slight citrus after taste that left me feeling somewhat like I had just drank a juice.  Its very carbonated, but doesn't have too lively a head.  The opposite of my favorite beer Duvel.    Anyways, the shit tastes good.  

God speed little doodle!