Rundle's Revenge MTB XC Marathon Race 2016 @ Canmore Nordic Centre

Saturday June 25th, I finished 14th place out of 21 in Solo Open Men Results, Overall I was 28th out of 48 for solo open and master open men category. It took me 3hrs & 55mins, (Lap1= 57mins) (Lap2= 56mins) (Lap3= 1hr) (Lap4= 1hr & 1min) It was a total of 50 Kms. Total elevation gain 4,324 Feet. My average heart rate was 169 bpm and max was 187 bpm. Check out my garmin data Here.

I took Friday the 24th off work so I could get in a pre lap and it was pouring rain when I had arrived. It rained hard until 6:00am two hours before our start. It was a mass start and there was over 270 racers. The first three laps the course was wet and the roots & rocks were very slippery so you definitely had to be careful. I am so happy with how well I road on lap one and fore sure my second lap because it was my fastest. My last two laps I just road consistent. I am also so happy how I handled my riding on the wet conditions.

The temperature was 7 deg C for the 8:00am start and when I finished it was 15 deg C. A huge thanks to Transrockies for putting on the race and all the volunteers for all their effort to help make this a great event to participate in.


Mass start of all categories & over 270 racers. I'm by second pylon on the right. Pic by Raven Eye Photo

I'm Charging hard up the mountain on lap #1 and leading this pack. Pic by Raven Eye Photo

The course was pretty slick and wet. Pic by Raven Eye Photo

Pic by Raven Eye Photo

This was taken thirty minutes before I finished. Sun came out. Pic by Raven Eye Photo
 

Deadgoat Giver6er MTB XC Marathon Race 2016 @ Canmore Nordic Centre (Alberta Cup XCM) #2

Sunday June 5th, I finished 25th place out of 26 in Solo Open Men Results. It took me 5 hours & 16 minutes and I completed four laps. I went a total of 48 Kms. Total elevation gain was 5,154 Feet. My average heart rate was 154 bpm and max was 183 bpm. Check out my garmin data here.

The format of this race is easy complete as many laps as you can in six hours. I paced myself really good on the first lap. I was about to head out for lap two when I felt something loose in my front wheel. I stopped at the Juventus tent where Tracy S put my bike on the stand and tightened the front brakes. Everything was tight and he was thinking it was a bushing in the fork. It took about twelve minutes and that was a really nice thing he did for me and he said I could keep racing. I had a good second lap. It was strange because I felt my front fork rattle a bit. Then things went downhill because my stomach started to hurt. I didn't feel like I was going to get sick. My legs felt o.k. On lap four was a really big struggle as lots of times I just wanted to quit because my stomach hurt going over every bump and I even had to get off the bike a couple times. I managed to push through in the heat and a sore stomach and I am very proud I did not quit.

The temperature was 30 deg C. A huge thanks to Deadgoat Racing for putting on the race and the BBQ chicken sausage hotdogs were fantastic and all the volunteers for all their effort.

Mountain Maiden MTB XC Race 2016 @ Canmore Nordic Centre (Alberta Cup) #1

Saturday June 4th, I finished 25th out of 28 in Sport Results. It took me 1 hour & 16 minutes. It was three laps and a total of 18 km's long. The total Elevation gain was 1,348 feet. My average heart rate was 174 bpm and max was 190 bpm. Check out my Garmin data Here.

I had a good start for the first five minutes. From there on this was one of my worst races to date. I didn't have good legs and my lungs were feeling it today. The results showed all three lap times were 25 minutes and I felt like I was faster on lap two and three. I did not want to quit and instead just wanted to press on and finish because that is the most important thing to me. I really enjoyed the course because it had a great long climb in it and there was a fast and flowing decent that was not overly technical as they cut out some features that normally are in the race.

The temperature was 27 deg C and perfect. I would like to thank all the volunteers and Spin Sisters for putting on the race.

June 2016 Training

Sun 26th, MTB ride @ Canmore Nordic Centre for 1hr 20mins, Elevation gain 1,204 feet. Kms 16

Wed 22nd, MTB group ride to Mackinnon Ravine for 1hr 45mins, Average heart rate =151 Max =191, Elevation gain 1,119 feet. Km's 25

Sun 19th, Road ride in Millwoods for 1hr 30mins (Zone's 1/2) Average heart rate =108 Max =172, Elevation gain 407 feet. Km's 31

Sat 18th, MTB ride Terwillegar Park to Patricia Ravine for 3hrs (Zone's 1-4) Average heart rate =148 Max =190, Elevation gain 1,798 feet. Km's 32

Thu 16th, Road group ride to Legislature Grounds for 1hr 40mins (X13 Hills), Average heart rate =155 Max =193, Elevation gain 1,821 feet. Km's 35

Wed 15th, MTB group ride to Emily Murphy Park for 1hr 22mins, Average heart rate =149 Max =189, Elevation gain 755 feet. Km's 15

Wed 1st, MTB group ride to Whitemud Park for 1hr 40mins, Average heart rate =125 Max =178, Elevation gain 725 feet. Km's 20

Royal River Valley Rumble 5 MTB XC Marathon Race 2016 @ Sunridge Ski Hill (Alberta Cup XCM) #1

Sunday May 29th, I finished 34th place out of 39 in the Solo Men category Results, It took me 4 hours & 48 minutes to complete five laps and I went a total of 47 Kms. Total elevation gain was 4,183 Feet. My average heart rate was 168 bpm and max was 193 bpm. Check out my garmin data here.

This was a great way for me to kick off my seventh season of racing. I love this format because its simple complete as many laps as you can in five hours. I do not do well at this venue as it is pretty technical trails and short steep punchy climbs and on this day I did well as I enjoyed the course because there was some longer climbs mixed in and one cool new trail (squeeze my lemon) was built with awesome switch backs to decent on. On the first lap it had rained hard the night before so the course was very slick and lots of the climbs we had to run up them. My second lap was my fastest one as the course started to dry up nicely. On lap four my quadriceps and hamstrings in both legs started to cramp up pretty bad and then I lost momentum over the rock garden down low by the river and my leg could not move to un clip from my pedal and I crashed down into a big gorge and landed on my shoulder and thankfully only had some bruises and my bike was still attached to me so it was ok. By lap five I was in pure grind mode as I could barley even walk up two of the steep climbs no one could ride up. My goal was to complete four laps and I beat that by one lap. The temperature was 20 deg C. Thank you to my parents for coming to cheer me on at the finish line. After the race I sat with my parents and United Cycle Race Team members Cory D, Trevor C and Mike K.

The day before the race I organised Race the Ridge along side with Cory D, my mom doing the lap counting and all our great volunteers. It was a big week to get some details done for the race and on race day it was an 11 hour day to get there to get the course set up, volunteers ready to go and prepare the race as to the regulations set out by Alberta Bicycle Association. I did not even ride my bike for ten days before the race. This race used about five Km's of the course we used for our race and Kurt M of Hardcore helped us out to set it up so I knew the course well.

Thank you Kurt M, Geoff  I, Steve M, Karen M, Mark R, Peter K, Gord B, Bob W, Keegan B, and Hardcore Bikes for putting on the race & all the volunteers for their efforts.






 Pic by Leanne E

 

 



Pic by fellow racer & Photographer Nick C. Check out his website http://www.redlinephotography.ca/ 

 

 

 

My salute. I'm almost at the finish line. Pic by my parents.
 

Fat Tire MTB XC Race 2016 #1 @ Sunridge Ski Hill

Tuesday May 17th, I finished third last place in the four laps group. It was 8 kms long and it took me 47 minutes. My average heart rate was 169 bpm and Max 196 bpm. Total elevation gain was 1,342 feet. Check out my Garmin data Here. With my warm up I went a total of 10 kms and road for 1 hour. The course had the really hard switch back climbs and steep descents. After the first couple climbs my stomach felt a bit un settled so I had to back off my effort a bit. Then my dropper seat post locked up on me so it took me a bit to get it to the full height position. After the race I spoke with Kurt M and Geoff I of Hardcore about our races as they are organizing the MTB XC marathon race on May 29th and myself and Cory D are organizing the MTB XC race on May 28th. I spread the word as well tonight. It was 26 deg C and a perfect evening outdoors. Thanks to the crew @ Hardcore for putting on the race.

May 2016 Training

Wed 18th, MTB group ride to Whitemud Park for 1hr 50mins, Average heart rate =133 Max =182, Elevation gain 886 feet. Km's 18

Sun 15th, MTB ride @ Terwillegar Park for 2hrs (Zone's 1-4) Average heart rate =145 Max =189, Elevation gain 1,457 feet. Km's 22

Sat 14th, Road ride to Beaumont for 2hrs 30mins (Zone's 1-3) Average heart rate =136 Max =173, Elevation gain 797 feet. Km's 65

Thu 12th, Road ride @ Ellerslie Road for 1hr 20mins (2 X 15min threshold) Average heart rate =122 Max =180, Elevation gain 463 feet. Km's 35

Wed 11th, MTB group ride to Gold Bar Park for 2hrs 10mins, Average heart rate =145 Max =185, Elevation gain 1,329 feet. Km's 22

Sun 8th, MTB ride Terwillegar Park to Patricia Ravine for 2hrs (Zone's 1-3) Average heart rate =129 Max =174, Elevation gain 1,398 feet. Km's 24

Sat 7th, Road ride Colchester Hall to Antler Lake with parents for 3hrs (Zone 1/2) Average heart rate =123 Max =182, Elevation gain 856 feet. Km's 70

Wed 4th, MTB group ride to Quesnell Bridge for 2hrs, Average heart rate =153 Max =194, Elevation gain 1,194 feet. Km's 22

Mon 2nd, MTB ride @ Sunridge Ski Hill for 1hr 15mins (Zone's 1-3) Average heart rate =142 Max =187, Elevation gain 1,066 feet. Km's 12

Sun 1st, MTB ride Mill Creek Ravine to Gold Bar Park for 3hrs (Zone's 1-4) Average heart rate =145 Max =183, Elevation gain 2,290 feet. Km's 33





7th Mothers day ride to Antler Lake. Pic by parents

2015/2016 Capital City Rec Hockey League Season Recap

This was my eighth consecutive season of organized hockey, third with the Rangers. We were in Division 13/15. I played in 24/30 Games and had 10 Goals & 14 Assists for 24 points. I played in 5/5 play off games and had 3 goals. I included the two pre season games in the stats and games played because it was used to seed our team into a proper division. We won our first round best of three Play off series and fell short by one goal in game three of our round two series.

April 2016 Training

Sat 30th, Road group ride @ Wye School for 3hrs, Average heart rate =150 Max =195, Elevation gain 994 feet. Km's 75

Thu 28th, Road ride @ Ellerslie Road for 1hr 30mins (2 X 15min threshold) Average heart rate =122 Max =177, Elevation gain 440 feet. Km's 40

Wed 27th, MTB group ride to Mill Creek Ravine for 1hr 50mins, Average heart rate =149 Max =189, Elevation gain 1,027 feet. Km's 18

Wed 20th, MTB group ride to Riverside Golf for 1hr 46mins, Average heart rate =155 Max =186, Elevation gain 1,135 feet. Km's 20

Sun 17th, MTB ride Mill Creek Ravine to Riverside Golf for 2hrs (Zone's 1-4) Average heart rate =146 Max =181, Elevation gain 1,401 feet. Km's 23

Sat 16th, Road ride @ Ellerslie Road with Mom for 2hrs (Zone 1/2) Average heart rate =97 Max =143, Elevation gain 436 feet. Km's 37

Wed 13th, MTB group ride to Mill Creek Ravine for 1hr 34mins, Average heart rate =132 Max =175, Elevation gain 787 feet. Km's 15

Sun 10th, MTB ride @ Mill Creek Ravine for 2hrs (Zone's 1-3) Average heart rate =130 Max =173, Elevation gain 1,250 feet. Km's 21. First ride on my new Trek Fuel EX 9.8 carbon fibre full suspension trail bike I bought from United Cycle  It handles & climbs great and is a fantastic ride.

Sun 3rd, Road ride @ Colchester Hall to Northern Bear for 3hrs (2 X 10min threshold) Average heart rate =133 Max =173, Elevation gain 892 feet. Km's 76

April 2015/2016 Capital City Rec Hockey League (Playoffs)

Thu 14th, (Game #5)
@ 9:45pm, Knights of Columbus arena Rangers vs. Bipolar Bears (L 2-1) I emptied the tank tonight and played through lots of bumps and bruises. I can look in the mirror and say I tried my best. We scored twenty seven seconds into the game. But They out played us in the first period. We battled so hard as a team and blocked shots and skated really hard. We have a really good team and just came up short. We lost the second round best of three series and are eliminated as they go on to the finals. They out shot us 23 to 18. James S 1G.

Mon 11th, (Game #4)
@ 9:00pm, Terwillegar arena Rangers vs. Bipolar Bears (L 4-3) I won lots of face offs tonight and I had a couple nice back checks where I stole the puck away. I missed my chance in the shoot out and I lost the puck and didn't even get a shot on net, I was disappointed. I would say that tonight as a whole they did out play us. They went up 2-1 in the third period. With the game tied we scored with only a couple minutes left. Then they scored on a six on four power play with their goalie pulled and a few seconds left in the game. They won in a shoot out. The difference was they scored three power play goals. The best of three series is now tied. They out shot us 26 to 20. James S 1G & 1A. Ryan S 1G & 1A. Daniel D 1G. Howard C 1A. Jeff M 1A.

Sat 9th, (Game #3)
@ 10:00pm, Callingwood arena Rangers vs. Bipolar Bears (W 5-4) I had missed a couple days of work this week for a medical condition but I felt good when the game started. That is until in the second period I blocked a slap shot off the foot and then later on I fell feet first hard into the boards jamming my leg up a bit. We came out and had a really strong first period. Then the second period came where I think we only had two shots on goal and got out played and our goalie Ryan L held us in there. The third period was fairly even and the difference was Ryan S goal on a break away short handed getting hauled down drawing a penalty and still scoring the game winner late. They out shot us 30 to 12. Ryan S 3G & 2A. Chris K 2G. Ryan DV 1A. Bruce C 1A. Jeff M 2A.   

Sat 2nd, (Game #2) 1 Goal
@ 8:15pm, Clareview arena Rangers vs. Toothwork Titans (W 4-1) On my goal our line did a good job turning the puck over in their zone where Robin M cycled it down low to Bruce C who then passed it to me right out in front and I made a nice move and went five hole. I had some really good back checking. We were missing four players tonight so we knew we had to play really hard to over come that. We had more of the play in their zone as I felt that we out played them. This was a full team effort. We out shot them 35 to 23. We took the first round best of three series 2-0 so now we get to keep playing in round two. Daniel D 2G & 1A. Chris K 1G & 1A. Robin M 2A. Jeff M 2A.  

Fri 1st, (Game #1) 2 Goals
@ 8:30pm, Edmonton Garrison arena Rangers vs. Toothwork Titans (W 5-4) On my first goal Chris K passed it to me as I was right beside the crease and I showed patience to pull the puck back and across to deke the goalie out. My second goal was the game winner as we were in overtime four on four where Robin M passed it to me and I was at the side of the net and one timed it in bar down. The game went back and fourth as both teams had really good scoring chances. Both goalies were really solid and Ryan L made a great glove save with the score 3-2 for us at the time. They showed a lot of battle as we were up 4-3 with 17 seconds left and a face off in their zone and they came and scored with six seconds left to force overtime. We got out shot 41 to 38. James S 1G. Daniel D 1G. Chris K 1G & 1A. Howard C 2A. Robin M 2A. Andy R 1A. Javan M 1A. Jeff M 1A.