1. The classic lose weight I am at 170 now need to drop 10lbs.
2. Do more Epic mountain bike riding. Last year was good this year is the other level.
3. Finish the Test of Metal in sub 3:30. I think this is pretty doable my bike is much better and the course is faster and I am much better on the bike 30 minutes off will not come easy.
4. Climb 5.13… before Stoltz.
5. Climb the Grand Wall in Squamish (scary but if Stotlz can do it??)
6. Run a marathon or 50k trail race.
7. Do the West Coast trail now or never.

Weeks training included 11:50 of riding.
1:20 of running and 4 hours of climbing. The bulk of the riding came from bike commuting with one solid XC ride Sunday on Mount Seymour with Joel did the same more or less the same route we did a few weeks prior with the addition of Ned’s which was fun and definitely sharpened up the skills.

Can’t wait for the long weekend looks like nice weather.

The last weekend of September ended with a hardcore ride up in Squamish with Joel. We decided to follow the Gear Jammer route with quite a few detours (always bring a map!). Turned out to be one of my best riding days ever the weather was amazing warm, sunny, and dry riding conditions. The course was awesome as well. I was somewhat familiar with quite a few of the trails but more used to riding them in the opposite direction (Rock n Roll, Bob McIntosh, Dead End Loop all much more enjoyable going down), I also experienced many trails I have never been on including Mikes Loop, Tracks from Hell, Ed’s By Pass, Skookum, Powersmart and Pseudo Tsunga. The highlights were Powersmart and Pseudo Tsunga which are great down hill single track rides.

My fitness and riding skills seemed to have grown by leaps and bounds in the last month something I guess to be expected from these big rides we have been doing (and the bike helps also ).

Lowdown from the ride:
Total Time: 5:30:41
Ave HR: 129
Distance: 56.54 km

The Course:

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For anyone into a true challenge on the mountain bike this is one hell of a race and truly deserves the “King of the Classics” designation, will definitely be doing it again next year with hopes of improving my time.

Ave Hr 146 for 1:21:05

This my training loop from Burnaby Mountain great loop for XC mountain bikers or trail runners.

Elevation chart (it is a steep climb)

The loop:

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KML file

To make things interesting I am doing the Cheakamus Challenge not really strong enough of a rider or fit enough to set the world on fire in the race but it will be fun in a sick sort of way.

Here is an example of a training ride for the event, an early morning rip with Joel (my first ride on Mount Seymour in over 3 years) great fun challenging, interesting, fun not like “training”.

North Shore XC mountain bike training loop:

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Ave 134bpm/3:01:26 good endurance base training.

Welcome to the Cult By Robert Mackey and

Glory through Suffering

I think it is hardwired into us to feel pain and suffering. When we were on the plains chasing down a dear, woolly mammoth I am pretty sure we would have felt the burn. Today we have no real outlet for this unless we participate in hard sports more specifically endurance and endurance racing. We have not evolved, we are using the same hardware as ten thousand years ago just attempting to operate 21st century software.

Quote from LA:

“Cycling is so hard, the suffering is so intense, that it’s absolutely cleansing,” he wrote in his autobiography. “The pain is so deep and strong that a curtain descends over your brain. . . . Once, someone asked me what pleasure I took in riding for so long. ‘Pleasure?’ I said. ‘I don’t understand the question.’ I didn’t do it for pleasure. I did it for pain.” Armstrong mentioned suffering (favorably) in each of my conversations with him.

I think what I need right now is some suffering. Maybe I will TT the grind Saturday.

Our ride was pretty casual, just over 5 hours of riding time (not including breaks to fuel, regroup, fix a flat etc) all and all a good day of riding. I think Steve will for sure have a PB. I am pretty sure if I did the race I could destroy my 4:00:09 (the course is faster now and I don’t think I would crash like last time) which does make me want to try again… maybe next year.

*Anyone who hasn’t been on the course this year should really check out the new Rock and Roll section which you can now ride up to! It is quite amazing a lot of work has been put in to it.

View the course on Google Maps or download the GPX and KML files:
(GPX) | (KML)

I am still improving but not enough to hit my 5.11d goal but April, could be close though.

The Rock Junky?

Flickr Set

For those who find this interesting I highly recommend reading Why We Run by by Bernd Heinrich he discusses other tribes who practiced this method.

This was scooped from Scott Dunlap’s blog.