Canmore Training

I got an email from the Canmore organizers recently:

I just returned form a venue trip a week ago. The Canmore Nordic Centre continues its refurbishment project, with the main lodge under construction. We will again be staging the event in the biathlon area. The Food & Beverage and Washrooms, plus showers from the main lodge will be lost for this year. The good news it that the new lodge is much bigger and will add to events in the future. Good news... the Food & Beverage folks will be setting up down in the biathlon area. Additional washrooms are being brought in to off set the loss of the main lodge.

I am definitely glad I bailed. No showers at all, temporary food setup, porta-johns for the whole weekend? I've also heard of potential floods in the area, meaning the trails are probably pretty saturated right now.

That just doesn't sounds like an awesome time to me.

Another thing I should mention is that last weekend I decided to not do that Canmore 24 Hours of Adrenaline. There are lots of factors involved in that decision. I haven't really felt like doing the race for the past few months, so getting myself out to ride always involved guilting myself. That isn't fun.

A couple of my teammates also had to bail (for other reasons), and they were part of the reason I signed up in the first place. Without them I would have been racing with a bunch of relative strangers, and that is not why I signed up.

I have other vacation plans around the race timeframe, so by not going I can free up more time for camping.

Lastly, by not going I will save probably close to $500 for travel, camping, and racing expenses.

I feel crappy for bailing, but in my heart I know I wasn't committed to doing the race. I did get out for rides recently though, and that is a good thing.

I took the Bullit for a spin at the dump today, and it was awesome.

I wore my new leg armour that I ordered after Christmas and that just arrived recently. I got some Troy Lee Designs Combat Guards, and they are so much better than my older TLD leg armour.

It was a bit of a quick burn on the trails, yet it was still a blast. I still have my technical edge, and my fitness is pretty good, so I had quite a bit of confidence on the ride. I did a couple rock faces, and a few small jumps along the way. The sun on my back felt great too.

Riding to and from work is pretty easy, and really isn't all that far. Still, to be on the safe side I always carry a small toolkit and a spare tube. That came in handy for yesterdays ride. About a 1/3 of the way to work I got a flat and pulled over to change it.

I whipped out the tools and set to changing the tube. While doing this I was passed by at least six cyclists, none of whom asked if I was OK or had everything. Most roadies and mountain bikers I know do this for one another. It is called karma. I have helped people patch tubes, wrench on their bike, and have given up tubes to others in need. Road rides I have done I have ensured other cyclists were taken care of. Here I was though, and nobody said a thing. Weird.

As I was about to put the new tube back in the tire I suddenly had an inkling that I should check the tire for debris. Sure enough I found a 1/3 inch long shard of glass poking though the tire. With that removed I got the tire remounted and inflated with my CO₂ filler. It wasn't a fast replacement, but it was effective.

Last night the wind kicked up before I could ride home so Sox picked me up, and today I rode home instead. No major ride here, but at least I know I can ride 7 km at a brisk pace with no problems.

Color me disappointed.

My intentions this morning were pretty grand. Today was my morning to sleep in, and after getting up I had some oatmeal, a cup of coffee, then I was going to head out for a ride. I was thinking 1.5 hours.

I got all geared up, grabbed some food, filled the water bottles, then searched for my shoes. I could not find them. Then it dawned on me. I had left my shoes at work.

I was very disappointed. I was really looking forward to the ride. Instead I was able to do some errands that I had been wanting to do for a bit. I was wondering how I would get those things done today too.

No ride today, but there is a plan for me to squeeze one in tomorrow.