Monthly Archive for June, 2010

Well…

Published on June 28, 2010 in Biking. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

Sometimes you put it all on the line and it works and sometimes it doesn’t…

Yesterday was the National Championships Road Race in my hometown of Edmonton.

I didn’t really have aspirations of winning the race and I knew that the 182km was going to wear on me, so I was definitely conserving as much as I could for the first 100km or so. The first few laps were hard as the break was establishing itself and then it settled down nicely. Now it was just sit and wait for the big attacks. Those accelerations started coming at about 110km, but there were still lots of big guys in the pack.

There wasn’t really a chase and the gap to the break wasn’t really coming down, so I wasn’t sure what was going to happen. The last few laps got pretty hard and I missed a split with a big group of strong guys getting off the front.

The group I was in all but sat up and we rolled through with 3 laps to go. I didn’t really want to sprint for 40th, so I jumped on the first climb of that lap. There were a few solo riders in no-man’s land and we came together for a bit. On the last lap I was rolling strong and about to catch back up to that second big group on the road when the group behind caught me and I just couldn’t get back on. I had nothing left and just made it to the line.

In hindsight, those 2 big groups came back together and I could have conserved and maybe sprinted for 33rd, but even then… I put in the dig (Scott and Bunnin were able to ride in solo for 31st and 32nd) and I tried.

Big congrats to Will, who rode a great race to take the jersey. I read a great quote from him on podiuminsight.com:

“The race started pretty aggressive right off the bat. Guys were trying a lot of attacks,” said Routley after the race. “It means a lot to win the Red and White jersey. I have been working at this since my mountain bike days as a junior. I have been on the podium in mountain bike and road, but I’ve been chasing this for ten years. It’s hard to believe.”

And some good post-race interviews over at bikealberta.com.

Thanks to everyone who was involved with the organization, the volunteers, and everyone who came out to watch and cheer! We wouldn’t be here without you!

::SAdamson

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National Time Trial Championships

Published on June 25, 2010 in Biking. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

Today was a big day in Edmonton (by Edmonton, I mean Devon) as the National Time Trial Championships hit the town. It was a nice, sunny, windy, and warm day for the race.

I felt good through my warmup and everything was running well and smoothly. I started at what I thought was a good pace and continued to feel pretty good. But it all started to go downhill from there. I just could not keep my power up. But I think, given the headwind on the way out, that didn’t turn out so bad.

I don’t know if something was off with my SRM or if I just had a bad day, but given my time and placing I am certainly not upset. Looking at the results, it seems like it was just a hard day out there. Some riders suffered punctures and lots of guys underestimated the hill. It was definitely a lot hotter than I was really prepared for. I could have used water forsure.

It’s done. It was good times.

Make sure you come out and watch the road race on Sunday! We start at 1:00 and race 14 laps around Hawrelak, Emily Murphy, Victoria Park, Groat Road.

::SAdamson

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That elusive dub

Published on June 21, 2010 in Biking. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Yesterday was the Preston St. Crit, a mainstay in Ottawa racing running for the 38th year. A simple 4 corner course with just under 80 guys taking the line.

Our race was delayed with a major crash in the women’s race and they shortened it from 75′+5 laps to 60′+5 laps.

From the gun the pace was fast and I was finding it really difficult to stay near the front. Every time I got up there I came back just as fast. I did put in some efforts and covered some moves, but nothing that really got away.

With 6 or 8 minutes left I went to the front and right away jumped off the front with 3 other guys. I didn’t know who any of them were, but we just kept rolling. One other guy bridged up, but our gap seemed to be keeping steady.

I got a little anxious in the last couple laps and found myself a little too close to the front and came out of the last corner in 2nd wheel. I jumped around the guy in front of me and thought I could hang on,

but one guy came around me at the finish. I found out after that it was Maxime Vives, so I didn’t feel quite so bad.

Certainly a cause for celebration, but 2nd place really is the first loser. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I am super pleased with my results and how all the Scott Boys are really riding well, but I want that win!

I guess that just means that I’m still hungry. I keep taking in everything I can, learning from every possible opportunity and coming to the next race smarter, stronger, better. One day I’ll get another dub…

::SAdamson

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Work

Published on June 20, 2010 in Biking and Life. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Yup. Can you believe it?!?

Big thanks to Vince at The Cyclery for helping me out. Or needing my help… one of the two anyway. Not only has he been a very supportive team owner, but he also now has 3 Scott Boys working for him!

I’ll preface by saying that I am not complaining, but I definitely forgot what it is like to stand up all day long! Especially 2 days in a row!! But it is good. The staff is good. The customers are good. The work is good. Stop by and check it out.

In other news… I was looking at pictures from last weekend’s Chrono Gatineau ITT and I was looking at people’s head positions (aka. mine relative to everyone else’s).

While sitting in the living room with Marc and Vicki the other day, I just came out and said, “Man, my head is huge!” Vicki laughed and said, “Are you still looking at pictures of yourself?!?” But, of course! It got me thinking… although this is no time to be making drastic changes (ie. less than a week before nationals!).

And after Thursday’s ITT, and comparing times and power outputs, Paul figures that the wheels and helmet, minus the skinsuit, only saves about 20″, maybe 30″… But, if you think about it, that’s a lot of time over only 20′, think about 40-50′ race. That’s a minute’s savings!

Preston St. Today!

::SAdamson

ps. I’ll be home in less than 48 hours now!

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Better weeks

Published on June 18, 2010 in Biking. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

I guess you could say that this household has seen better weeks… I earned a new nickname by going the wrong way on the time trial course last Saturday, Marc has some good road rash after crashing on Sunday, and Vicki has a badly sprained wrist after crashing on her cross bike… Oh boy!

But we all raced the crit on Tuesday. And boy was it a fast night. Over 44km/h for a little over an hour; nothing was getting away despite many solid attempts. And the Scott Boys could have set up the sprint a little better; I guess we’ll be a little more organized next time.

Yesterday I was agonizing, going back and forth on whether I should do the time trial or just rest up for Preston St. on Sunday. As I decided I should go, I went outside to find that all the tools were with Marc at work.

Ok, I guess I won’t race.

But I want to.

Ok, do it by hand.

Now I don’t want to race.

But it was done, I was racing. When I got on my bike, things didn’t look good, but as I kept riding I felt better and better.

I almost just turned back home after my first warmup effort, but again the second one felt much better.

I actually rode a pretty good race considering that I didn’t have my helmet or wheels. Good thing I didn’t change my mind…

::SAdamson

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Shaun "wrongway" Adamson

Published on June 15, 2010 in Biking. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , .

We all need a good nickname don’t we?

And so what if mine comes from a dumb move I made in the Chrono Gatineau on Saturday?!?

But big thanks to John Large and all the organizers and volunteers. Oh, and the riders. It was a great weekend with some great racing!

We started out with a team presentation on Friday afternoon. That is the kind of thing that I can easily dismiss and skip and not really care to attend, but also the kind of thing that when I do attend I appreciate and enjoy and actually have fun. While not a huge deal, it’s just cool. It’s always those little things that make the difference, right?

Chrono Gatineau

The Saturday time trial was looking like it was going to be good, fun, and fast. And I won’t go into details, but my performance was good, although I made tactical(?) error leading to a poorer outcome than it should have been.

Marc said it was unprepared, I said it was stupid, Adam said it was a fatal mistake… but we all agreed that I will NEVER make that mistake again and we don’t need to dwell on it. I shed a few tears, got over it, moved on, and got ready for the crit the next day…

The crit was going to be interesting with 2 straightaways and roundabout on either end. The field was lacking in volume and maybe in depth, but certainly not in strength. There was Spidertech, the Scott Boys, and a few other key players. I wasn’t too sure what to expect, but we knew that if Spidertech was in the break, we wanted to be there.

Patrolling the front

It wasn’t super aggressive at first with a pretty strong headwind on the back straight. I really don’t remember many details of the race, but I made it into a move with Osmond, Eric Boily, and Charly Vives. Turns out it was a good one. But Os and I were struggling to ride with the two Spidertechs and found ourselves chasing one or the other for much of the race. I could see that the field had all but sat up, so I wasn’t too worried about actually getting caught.

In the end, Eric was off the front and I just couldn’t match Charly’s final acceleration and rolled in for 3rd.

Scott Racing makes the podium

::SAdamson

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More borrowed concepts

Published on June 8, 2010 in Biking and Thoughts. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

I just found this interview with Gerard Vroomen of Cervelo and Cervelo Test Team on cyclingnews.com. I think it relates nicely to the post I put up earlier from Richard Sachs. I will mention that I’m not a big fan of all the doping talk, so feel free to ignore those parts…

Vroomen has set about instilling a philosophy within his riders that goes beyond the demand of winning at all costs. Instead the team place race success alongside product development and fan access as their top goals.

Obviously the biggest goal within sport is to win. The question is what are you willing to do in order to achieve that? I don’t want to change cycling for riders to aim at finishing last and if it’s a choice between wining and coming second, you’ll try and win. However, winning at all costs is a particularly strange concept in cycling. What I mean is within cycling, winning from a financial point of view is not nearly as important as it is in other sports.

For the rider, winning is important and if he doesn’t have the drive to win he’ll never make it to the top level. For us as a sponsor, winning is not that important because on the one hand we also focus on product development and fan access. But also, winning is not that big a factor in how much exposure you get. So even for companies just looking for exposure, winning is not that important as say winning in soccer.

the return on investment in cycling is so great. The investment is so good even if you did finish seventh in a major race. Cycling is essentially unsophisticated in how it’s marketed. So you have these companies getting 60 million in exposure and they pay a tenth of that so even if you have a bad year your exposure is still a great deal.

I think Mr. Vroomen may be a little optimistic in some of his thoughts here, but they still make a good point. Over the last few years I have realized that it’s not always the guy who wins that is the best person to sponsor. As I have searched for sponsors, I have found that it is best to be personable, to provide brand recognition wherever possible, to be a positive influence, to make yourself known, visible, and have a good image. Being fast and having results can make those things easier. But talking to people, showing off your sponsor’s stuff, and just being in the action can almost make up for results.

Lots of good things coming now. Stay tuned…

::SAdamson

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Now that's a mentality!

Published on June 8, 2010 in Thoughts. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

I borrowed this from a release about the Richard Sachs 2010 Cyclocross Team:

This team has always stressed the experience of racing over the actual racing itself, and our ways are well documented. The term I use is “making memories”. It’s fitting because, though we are all ‘cross zealots and bleed for our supporters, ‘cross is not really life. For us to have the 25 or so weekends together is our gift to ourselves and each other. We race hard, win often, and leave for home each Sunday night wishing these days could last forever.

Yeah, that sounds pretty good to me…

::SAdamson

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Who are you?

Published on June 6, 2010 in Life and Thoughts. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Well… What do you do? Where are you going?

Sure… Where do you see yourself in 5 years? What are you doing there? Who are you with?

These can certainly be big questions! But I think at some point they need to be considered; if not answered, even inconclusively.

There are many motivations driving the answers behind these questions. What do I want to do? What makes me happy? What do my parents want me to do? What will make me the most money? Bring me the most fame?

What does God want me to do?

From the Art of Manliness‘ post pondering What is a Vocation?

“The deepest vocational question is not “What ought I to do with my life?” It is the more elemental and demanding ‘Who am I? What is my nature?’” -Parker J. Palmer

The etymology of vocation versus career is most revealing. The word vocation comes from the Latin word “vocare” or “to call.” It denotes a voice summoning a person to a unique purpose. The word career derives from the Latin word for cart and the Middle French word for race track. It denotes quickly moving in a circle, never going anywhere.

Man was made to embrace his unique destiny, not soldier on as a hamster in a wheel.

As I ponder this myself, I think about what I feel like I am good at, what I enjoy, how I can serve, how I can bring joy to others.

I know that

  • I love cooking and want to be able to invite others into my home to enjoy meals.
  • I would like to have a wife and kids.
  • I would like to find joy and contentment in the small things and show others how to do the same.
  • I would like to help others who find themselves in difficult situations.
  • I would like to give everyone the opportunities and the means to follow their dreams and passions. For this one I look to my parents, without whom I wouldn’t have half the experiences I have had, nor would I be where I am today doing what I’m doing, doing what I love.
  • I want to teach or show others how to be.

This post hasn’t gone at all in the direction that I had originally planned… I was going to pose the question, “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?” And then try to answer it myself. But maybe I have no idea how to answer it or what my answer would be…

Maybe in 5 years I want to be doing all the things in my list…

I certainly don’t know where I will be. I don’t know who I will be there with. I don’t know what exactly I will be doing. But I know that I want to be doing those things. Of course, that’s all assuming that those are also things that God wants me to be doing… Boy, I sure hope so…

Ask yourself… where do you see yourself in 5 years?

::SAdamson

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Expertise

Published on June 5, 2010 in Thoughts. 1 Comment Tags: .

I’ve had some form of this blog post floating around in my head for a while. The idea of how much expertise is in the world came to me again when I visited mymacdealer in Edmonton. The guys there were super helpful and got my computer running better than ever.

But what really got me was the fact that they did things so easily that I might not even been able to do at all. And they acted as though it was no big deal and anybody could have done it is just as quickly and easily.

The truth is that that isn’t the truth.

There are many people who have many gifts and much knowledge that not everybody else has. This can be easy to forget.

That also doesn’t mean that just because you are smart or are very knowledgeable that you know everything!

Next came the realization that I may have been doing the same thing. The reason that I do what I do is that not everybody knows everything. I have things to teach people. I know things that can help. I certainly don’t know everything. And I certainly can’t solve all the world’s problems.

Well, there you go.

There are many experts in many fields. Be an expert in what you do.

::SAdamson

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