Victoria

A friend of mine got married on the weekend prompting a wonderful weekend in Victoria. I started the weekend off by leaving work a little early on Friday and packing my bike and flying out at 9pm. The flight was amazing and I got a few amazing views of the sunset. I just wish I wouldn't have forgotten my good camera so Iphone pictures will have to do for this update.

I stayed with an old roommate and his cousin. It was nice to hang out with him again. Reminded me of years ago of late nights and video games. 

            

The weekend was fantastic. Her ceremony was by Warren Island in Beacon hill park. A few of our friends are amazing singers, one of which is an up and coming opera singer. He composed the works for the ceremony and it was truly an amazing experience to hear an ensemble of people with that much talent singing in the sunshine out side in a park.

At the reception my table was mostly friends from high school so we all caught up and laughed about our child hood days. Once the food was done and the cake ready I proceeded to do what I do best which is the requirement of trying at least 1 piece of every type of cake. That meant 3 pieces in total.

After the reception I biked back to my friends place and dropped off a bag of peaches (Nicole "the bride", dad brought them from the interior) and they were amazing. After that I headed downtown to what appeared to be a Russian polka concert only it was like being part of a Tim Burton film. People singing and laughing along. Jesters and clowns all dressed up and having a great time. On stage our friend rocked out on her Tuba and made sure to give the music alot of well used bass.

More to come tomorrow as I am barely awake after waking up to early and working all day but alas I will tell you about that tomorrow.

Reservoir Riding

One of my long time friends is soon leaving off to Winnipeg to follow her boyfriend to law school. So as one of the last times we have to hang out we decided to get up early meet at her place and go for a ride. Calgary does have one thing going for it besides it proximity to the mountains (Yes I know you are closer Keith) and that is its fairly nice bike paths. Sure they aren't the place to go if you want to train as they do have speed limits which the pedestrians like cyclists to some what abide by but they are great for a nice summer day ride. The temperature was nice and hot for a change and the res was crystal smooth and quite beautiful. I am sure the people trying to sail on it were a little bored but the day was nice and to be on the water I am sure was a lot of fun even without any wind.

No set of photos is ever complete without one with a sexy bike

Once we got back to her place it was off to an all you can eat Indian Buffet at Surya downtown Calgary. So Billy (her BF) Alex and I all headed over by our leg power, which apparently is a lot slower then riding a bike, who would of thought. The food was amazing and the meal only cost each of us 13.00 plus tax and tip pretty cheap for how good the food was. Once we gorged ourselves to the point of pain we started the long and very bright walk back as I forgot my sunglasses at their place.

Once back we quickly got our stuff together for the bike ride back up the hill to my place being as if we stayed sitting at her place for more then a few minutes I am sure we all would of ended up taking a nap. The ride was nice and hot and quite pleasant as Calgary hasn't really had a real summer yet this year.

We decided to make Tangerine marinated Tofu and chicken. She is a vegetarian so we thought we would humor her. Once that was ready to go I started up my smoker and got it nice and hot and ready for the main dish. I used a Cherry wood chip for the smoke. We also made a big bowl of fruit salad, some sliced veggies and heated up the left over filling from my perogie creations yesterday. Last thing to be cooked was the corn. Living close to the prairies in August has the huge advantage of some amazing corn. The meal turned out wonderful and to top it off we convinced our mutual school friend Jamie to venture from the deep SE to the NW for supper as a final dinner as we spent many Sundays eating brunches at my place together studying for various tests and exams.

After supper Jamie Alex and I headed off to top the night off with a bouldering session at the U of C bouldering wall. It was a lot of fun and a great way to end the evening.

Perogies

So this afternoon while at work I decided that I would try my hand at cooking perogies from scratch. I mean not just buying some perogies and altering what you have with them but making the dough, the insides and cooking them up. So first I went and found a recipe online. Not hard to do with this amazing series of tubes that make the interweb that allow us to find everything we need. So I made the dough exactly to the recipe. I figured I wouldn't want to adjust everything instantly. Now the fun part the filling. First I made mashed potatoes. I then cut up Jalepeno peppers from my garden and fried them up in some olive oil with onion and mushrooms. Next I mashed this with the potatoes added a bit of salt and pepper and some crushed peppers. I then decided that spicy goes well with some feta cheese. So I then added a bunch of feta to taste. Sure I know this isn't exactly what my Polish roots would call for maybe a bit more like what a Greek would make but let me tell you the final result was amazing. Next time you want an amazing meal try some home made perogies 100% worth the added preparation time.

The boil is full of the delicious filling, to the right the dough

A few perogies ready to go in the boiling pot

The final product, add a bit of salsa and sour cream and wala!

I must say that it was a nice change to a normal dinner. Also the filling I will be using tomorrow. It is amazing how potatoes with some onion and it just tastes like a perogie should.

Staying Active

Now that my knee is behaving itself again after the Transrockies I have started enjoying my daily commute to and from work. It is so much fun to be fully rested and strong again. Being able to max out my single speed and not be in my red zone has been a lot of fun.

For a change last night I hit up the local univeristy for some Monday night bouldering. It was a lot of fun to get back into the short super focused activity of climbing. The hands are raw today but it was totally worth it. Hopefully I can keep climbing a couple times a week to keep the upper body and core nice and strong to help ward off injury on the bikes.I also find that the act of visualizing the route helps me to improve on my focus for cycling and the ability to shut out the pain and do what needs to be done. To the push the limit of ones body and mind. It is after all the reason I train and ride now. The fun of learning new things about ones self. I find the moment of most pain and hardship I learn something new about myself mentally in the ways my thoughts jump around. Below is a sweet 4 point dyno by my friend Craig:

After reading a friends blog I do have the sudden urge to go find a nice tall climb and run or ride it as fast as I can just to get that amazing endorphin rush. It is a feeling I have missed this past week. After doing TR with that feeling multiple times a day I find it lacking in my life.

Till the next climb and ride I say adeiu.

Bike Rebuild

The Monday after Transrockies I started the dreaded bike rebuild. I was expecting the worst and the bike stood up amazingly well. The drive train was all in tact with the exeption of a chain. A few other parts needed replacing and a bit of love to make feel nice again but I won't bore my few readers with the details. The best part of the entire process was the fun of learning how to do a few more things on my bike. Sure I can strip a road bike and rebuild it but a full suspension has a lot more moving parts on it. It still amazes me how many small parts need to be checked.

The bike minus the rear end. Tomorrow it will have new bearings and be like new.

The cranks and my clean bucket and wax. Trying to make it look pretty again.

The 3 peices I can carry to work to put new bearings in since without a vehicle the bike is a bit hard to transport and not fun to commute on in the city.

Haze

The forest fires in BC have turned Calgary into a haze. All day it appears that the city is covered in smog or if you want to think of cleaner images fog. The ride to and from work cause a slight sore throat. It is really making me look forward to tomorrow when the smoke is supposed to clear out.

My knee is still acting up. I am just grateful it decided to mess up after the race was over. It really has given me a small look into what my partner had to go through and I don't think I would have been able to do anything different then what he did. I have physio booked for Wednesday and hopefully that will fix it so I can start riding my bikes again and start riding with a bit more effort and suffering.

For those who have never had the joy of night time commuting I strongly recommend it. Put some mellow music on you enjoy and just start pedaling. It is one of the best ways to enjoy a bike. It amazes me how different my thoughts and the things I contemplate while riding at night vs. during the day are.

Till we ride again

Tim

The Pursuit of Pain

After reading a friends recount of her Transrockies experience I was forced to ask myself the question of why I ride the way I ride. It is weird for an individual not only to ride a bike for fun but to pursue the feeling of leg pain and lung suffering. I tell myself it is just a left over feeling from my competitive speed skating days where pain meant improvement and without it we become stale. I have been two years out of skating and yet I still feel the same need to hurt. It is also one of the reasons I want to race the Transrockies and not simply ride it. The accomplishment of suffering is what truly gives me satisfaction in an achievement. I look forward into the future and wonder if my perception of riding has been skewed and if I will be able to learn to enjoy long easy rides or continue to look forward to the feeling of going fast, hurting and conquering the next hill as fast as possible while inflicting as much pain on myself and anyone riding along beside, behind or in front of me.

A few days later

Went for a nice easy road ride yesterday. Felt fine. It still amazes me how 1.5 hours on a road bike can now feel short and actually by the time I got home I was just starting to feel warmed up and ready to go.

Today my knee is a bit sore. I guess that is the cost of 7 days of hard riding, mountain hiking, and mud slogging. The event was totally worth it though. I will try and make a physio to double check that everything is as it should be and so that once training time comes I am ready to go.

Talked to Keith about training and I think I will take a spin class from one of members of the top mixed teams. I think it will really help to force me to put in the hard training time during the cold months of the winter where just getting on a bike become difficult.

The views of TR

I thought that I would post a few pictures of my most favorite views that I actually stopped long enough to take photos of. It is because of these places and the fact that most people will most likely not be able to ever see these things that make TR the ride of a life.

This was at the top of Porky Blue in Fernie just before the descent. Worth the climb and the down is epic!

This was at the top of the continental divide at 2350m. Lots of pushing the bike required but an amazing view.

The line of walkers. Tough hills make for pushing the bike. Plus so many people walking even if you wanted to ride it was easier just to push.

Grass Pass. Beautiful...enough said

Yay, this is where we got to ride!

Night before the hardest, wettest day of my life, and yet looking back it was fun.

The guys who kept all our bikes running by staying up till 3am and only ever getting 3 hours of sleep. The real reason we all finished TR!

The views of TR

I thought that I would post a few pictures of my most favorite views that I actually stopped long enough to take photos of. It is because of these places and the fact that most people will most likely not be able to ever see these things that make TR the ride of a life.

This was at the top of Porky Blue in Fernie just before the descent. Worth the climb and the down is epic!

This was at the top of the continental divide at 2350m. Lots of pushing the bike required but an amazing view.

The line of walkers. Tough hills make for pushing the bike. Plus so many people walking even if you wanted to ride it was easier just to push.

Grass Pass. Beautiful...enough said

Yay, this is where we got to ride!

Night before the hardest, wettest day of my life, and yet looking back it was fun.

The guys who kept all our bikes running by staying up till 3am and only ever getting 3 hours of sleep. The real reason we all finished TR!

Nine Days less then a Year

On Saturday I finished my first Transrockies experience. Simply put it was the most fun I have had on a  bicycle in a long time. This year I decided to ride it for fun and it allowed me a chance to take pictures. For those not familiar with the Transrockies ride it is a ride that this year started at Fernie BC, and ended in Canmore Ab, after crossing the Continental divide on day 3. If you are thinking this doesn't sound so hard. Day 4 and 5 invovled wading knee deep in places through mud. That same mud flowed downhill and a semi solid nasty mess. The beauty of the race however is the fact that regardless of how hard the day was at the end when you crossed the finish line, had some good food and a hot shower the day always seemed not so bad. This fact remained true even on day 6 where it rained on us the entire day and the temperature felt like it was close to freezing. This feeling was most defiantly aided by the fact we were soaking wet.

Even after considering all this I am making plans to race it next year and should be a lot of fun and give me an excuse to ride my bikes as much as possible.

Well since I have never really done anything like this before that is all today and maybe in the future I will write more.

TG