Ready for World Solos in Australia

With 24 Hours of Adrenalin Canadian Nationals behind us we are now ready to move on to Australia. Congratulations to Cory Wallace and Carena Dean for well executed races and their 24 Hours of Adrenalin Canadian Championships. For me, Canmore was a great opportunity to log more training miles and get one last test of pit strategy before concentrating on the upcoming World Solo Championships.

Things went very well with my pit crew doing another fantastic job of feeding me, maintaining my bikes, and pushing me back out to do another lap. Thanks to my wife Colette for being the best pit boss I could ever ask for and to Craig, Stephanie, Tyler, and Dylan for helping out with all the little things that allow me to keep riding. Both of my Giant Anthems performed flawlessly all weekend thanks to the staff at Cyclepath Calgary. This race allowed me to try out our new Exposure lighting systems for the first time in race conditions and they were fantastic, no wires is a wonderful thing. The GU gels and chomps were a welcome addition to my race weekend diet as well.

Overall the event was a terrific weekend with all of the staff, volunteers, spectators, and other riders making it a wonderful experience. Everything from the setup of pit row and registration to the organization of all the volunteers and the finish was very well done. The new single track on the course was challenging and enjoyable, it will be nice to have a permanent course with such great trails. As usual, Crazy Larry kept everyone on their toes in the transition area and making it such a great feeling every time around. It is always nice to ride a 24 hour solo in Canmore thanks to great team riders, all night long the words of encouragement kept coming from everyone I met on the course.

Saturday morning we managed to get the five Team Canada in attendance together for a quick photo shoot with our new kits. It is a great group of guys to be heading over to Australia with and I am hearing that we may soon be joined by a couple of ladies as well. Let’s all go show the Aussies that even though the event isn’t in North America this year we can still give them a run for their money.

2010 Canadian 24hr Solo Championships

Looks like another 24 hr race has come and gone. This past weekend was the 2010 Exposure Lights 24 hour Canadian Solo Championships in Canmore Alberta. Firstly, it was another well organized event put on by Stuart and the Crew of 24 hrs of Adrenaline. Thanks to all the Crew. Canmore is such a fabulous venue and a highly recommended event to take part in. I think I may even do it again next year. From the stadium area, to the Rocky Mountains surrounding the venue, to the bears on the course, to some of the best singletrack trails in western Canada, what more could a person want?

This list of Canmore attributes seems obvious 2 days after I've dismounted my bike, but I have to say, they didn't cross my mind from noon on Saturday to noon on Sunday. This year's course was a tough one. A ton of technical singletrack, whether you were heading up (which seemed often) or rippin' it down. It was fairly unrelenting right from the start, as was the pace. There were at least ten guys out there with the hammer down including a couple of fellow Team Canada mates, Leighton and Shaun. They all had one thing on the mind I think- The jersey with the maple leaf on it. With less than 12 weeks to the World Solos, I think I gave this one a good go. I ended up a couple of places beyond were I was targeting, but at the end of the day, I came away with no injuries, no lasting aches and pains, some miles in the legs, but most importantly, some new friends- thanks Dennis, Steve, Leighton and Shaun.

It's hard writting about a 24 hr race, because what really happened? Well, I rode my bike, sometimes it was fast, sometimes it was slow, sometimes it was not at all. In the end though, 24 hour racing seems to answer the age old question about the nature of time and whether our perception of it is linear. You start, you pedal, time passes and you finish- sounds like a straight line to me. I think I'm glad about that as I sit on the couch with the PC on my lap. If it weren't true, I'd still be pedalling- ouch!

Members of Team Canada @ Canadian Solo Championships

We got out last night to pre-ride the course for this weekend's 24 Hours of Adrenalin in Canmore and found it to be fantastic. Magi Scallion and the Nordic Centre have created miles of new singletrack and the course is going to awesome. Great work.

We are all packed up and ready to head out to Canmore to setup and looking forward to another challenging event. I encourage everyone to come out to the Nordic Centre in Canmore to watch the event and cheer on your friends this weekend.

Cheers,
Solo Steve

Summer Sale on Exposure Lights - all the details on Facebook!!!

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Don't wait, catch this deal and get out and rip it up!

Kelly

24 Solo on the horizon

Three posts down, Kelly listed out the stats for the BCBR and as he said it was excellent racing. That's my second year doing the event and it really does showcase some of the best singletrack in the world. Kelly is lucky to live in Squamish because the trails there really are awesome!

Stats don't tell the whole story of course, a placing isn't reflective of an experience and no matter where you placed in a category (as long as you were pushing yourself hard) at BCBR you were guaranteed to improve you handling skills, technical lines and redlined pain absorption. Kelly was ripping it up out there and I'm looking forward to watching him represent down under.

Two posts down, Scott talks about the mental aspect of 24 Solo racing, I like to think one of my strongest attributes for Solo events is my mental game, my wife calls it stubbornness. As long as I designate a mission profile for an 'A' race I'll execute accordingly at my highest level, the trick for me is placing the correct priority on any event. If it's an 'A' race I'll march through 300 Spartans swinging a battle-axe and continue forward until I reach my target destination, leaving Spartans scattered behind me. If it's a 'B' race I tend to be less intense and can sometimes relax a bit too much, I'll rely more on experience to take me through the event rather than the 'take no prisoners' attitude of an 'A' race. Mental prep work prior and mindset on race day generally decide my results. No doubt, Worlds is an 'A' race and I plan on taking a pretty big battle-axe. Battle-axe's don't make the race any less fun, racing is always fun (in a perverse way) swinging an 'A' race battle-axe just makes racing a whole lot more intense.

As for Canmore in two weeks, I had a bit of a setback at BCBR when I took a massive wipe-out halfway through the event, smashing my leg up quite badly. Pain meds, ice and anti-inflams were my friends for the remainder of the event. My racing partner said I should pull the plug but it's hard to pass on those kinds of trails and testing yourself against quality racers. I'm glad I raced the remainder of the event but it cost me in recovery time. I had to take a full week off the bike while I hobbled around the house complaining about my injury, even if nobody would listen. Finally getting out on the bike yesterday for 3hrs made me realize the leg is still hurting but not so bad that I can't lineup, it will let me race at Canmore just not at a level I would like. As the hours unfold in the race I'll see what the injury has to say for itself and then I'll either slow down... or ignore what it's trying to tell me... my wife calls it stubborn but I call it racing. ;-)

Jungle Night Rides

With all the heat out here in Squamish I've been nightriding more...a great way to get used to doing it again and also to test out the team's new Exposure Lights.With the worlds best singletrack network on my doorstep a nightride here is un-like any other...there are over 200 trails in our trail system in Squamish and I can put together any type of ride I want to challenge my nocturnal riding skills.A perfect training ground for me for the big race down under this fall.I ride for fun and don't have a training plan, I just ride my bike for as little or as long as I feel like everyday on awesome singletrack - who needs to train when the terrain here is so demanding yet inspiring?Spending time with my group of riding buddies, hanging out at the local cafes and ripping some sick trails is what I like to call "training".Make no mistake though, I'm heading down to Australia to compete and push myself - the holiday comes after the race!

Thanks to Exposure Lights I'm back out on my local trails after dark having fun.All of the people who check out my lights can't believe how rad they are..."What, no wires?"...."Hey, that things so bright, do you mind putting it on low when you follow me - I can't concentrate!"..."These suckers are so LIGHT!"...I am blown away by how slick these lights are, so beautiful to look at and yet packed with so much performance - how could anyone go back to using lights with wires again...not me that's for sure.

Here is a short video I took with my GoPro helmet cam on a ride a couple of nights ago with a friend of mine here in Squamish.Went out for about 2 hours of fun in the jungle...big trees, huge ferns,silence,fresh air and singletrack...my buddy Mike was in full tuck mode trying to drop me on this little trail that goes back towards his place...he got a bit of a gap on me but my lights had him lit up all the way down.Kept the vid short, working on my production style and having fun documenting some of the trails and rides I do here.

Stay tuned for more fun coming out of Squamish as I prepare for the World's!

Dude out.

14 days to the Canadian 24hr Solo Championships

As I sit watching some early morning coverage of the Tour de France, it's a little over 14 days to the start of the Canadian 24hr Solo Championships in Canmore, Alberta. It's funny how perspective on race duration can change so quickly depending on what you're doing at the moment. Last weekend, I was in the middle of a XC race and suffering the high intensity pain that occurs from start to finish of XC races and was thinking to myself "in a few weeks this won't even make a dent in the duration of a 24 hr race." While today, watching stage 8 of the TDF, I am so happy that I'll only be riding 24 hours. What this tells me about 24hr racing, that I'm sure every 24 hour racer knows, is that success in the race is at least 70% mental, while only 30% physical. This also makes me feel a little better with only 2 weeks to race day, as it's the time in the race preparation when you start to analyze (and maybe doubt a little) what you've done to date to prepare physically. Questions like, "did I build a big enough base in the early season?", "have I worked on my climbing enough?", "have I raced enough to feel comfortable at high speeds?" start cropping up all the time. With the doubts nagging, I think I'm happy about the 70/30 rule. It calms me knowing that I've likely done all I can on the training front and it's time to start preparing mentally. I think that's what today's training ride will now be about. Don't get me wrong, I'll still complete my climbing intervals in the 35 degree heat, but instead of thinking about how I'd rather be on a lounge chair in the shade, I'm going to focusing on the mental space I'll need to be in during the 24hr Nationals. I think I'll even do some visualization- seeing myself cruising the climbs, flowing relaxed in the single track, running through the timing tent to the noise of the cow bells, completing the pit transitions smooth and efficient and most importantly, having a great time riding one of the best 24 hour courses on the planet.

Some good training for Worlds

A couple Team Canada members participated in the recent BC Bike Race 7 day stage race this past week. Racing hard for an entire week was really great training and will set the riders up well for getting ready for the World's which is under 3 months away!Way to go boys!

Solo Master Men

Steve Swenson - 62nd place

Teams of 2 Veteran 80+

Shaun Taylor - 5th place

Teams of 2 Open Men

Kelly Servinski - 4th place