Tag Archive for 'racing'

The 24 year old JIT

Published on September 6, 2010 in Biking. 0 Comments

Yeah, that’s pretty much what I felt like yesterday…

In hindsight, I don’t think it was so bad, but not at all where I think I should be. At least I didn’t hit any potholes! However, I did manage to ride straight into the ditch…

I had come off the group just over the top of Middlebury Gap (which was quite steep and hard) and I was chasing back on the descent; there was a sweeping left hand corner that I came into really hot and tried to check my speed. It was a little too late for that and my wheels didn’t want to turn, so I straightened it out, jammed on the brakes, and headed for the ditch, where I went over the bars. No damage, get back up, pin it. Or not. I was not comfortable and my front wheel and braking were not helping…

All the while, my SRM had begun to fail and I almost wanted to stop and fix the sensor. I figured the battery was dying… but just unfortunate, especially on a day like that! Suffice to say, Sunday night was spent scouring the interweb for how to change the battery yourself…

App gap was not as hard as I had anticipated. But I guess I wasn’t trying to follow any wheels…

Matteo was working it in the break, so at least the whole house wasn’t a disaster!

One more crit today and then it’s cyclocross tomorrow!!! Can’t wait to build my bikes!!!

::SAdamson

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I guess that was bound to happen…

Published on September 4, 2010 in Biking. 0 Comments

Today was the second day of the Green Mountain Stage Race. I wasn’t too sure what to expect, but I didn’t have any plans of grandeur anyway.

The race started alright. The descent after the KOM was FAST!! The rest of course was fairly rolling. After the first KOM a big group got away and it was just PINNED for most of that lap.

The second lap was more tolerable and I found myself sitting on a bit of a split with a few strong guys over the KOM. I didn’t do anything, but figured if the gap grew, it was going to be a good place to be.

The last time up the KOM was pretty hard with some of the strong guys going off the front. I guess they bridged up to the break. Then the pace eased up quite a bit. I think I hit 4 potholes on that last lap. I hit a few in succession and I flatted my rear wheel. The change was relatively fast, but I had trouble getting back on. I got pretty close over one roller, but the gap just got bigger from there. So I just rolled it in. Dang!

I guess tomorrow is still another day.

::SAdamson

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GMSR

Published on September 3, 2010 in Biking. 0 Comments

HUGE thanks to Peter for picking me up yesterday and driving all the way down to Warren. We even had room to spare in the rear-seat-less Golf. And thanks to Doug for having a great floor space for me to sleep on. I’m looking forward to the rest of the weekend of the weekend, hanging out with a good group of people!

But getting back to the race…

Yup, definitely started too hard. Does anyone ever really learn how to pace a time trial perfectly?!?

I was finding it hard to ride steady, but it really was that first 1:30 that was the end of me. I felt ok over the top of the climb and knew I could back off just a bit on the slight downhill. I thought I was killing it when I went through 1k to go and could see 500m, but that last “little” push is LONG!!!

I don’t think I’m unhappy, but I’m certainly not ecstatic either… however, tomorrow is another day!

::SAdamson

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Less than a week

Published on August 27, 2010 in Biking and Life. 0 Comments

Wow!!

Time flies when you’re having fun…

I can’t believe that it is now less than one week before I leave Ottawa. I really do remember my first day here; Vicki picked me up at the airport, I saw my wicked Scott Addict R3 in the garage, went to the NRC crit, picked up Marc, and settled into my new room. I remember the first week I had here; training, meeting so many new people, seeing all kinds of new stuff, it was great!

I really am going to miss all the great people that I’ve met, even the people that I’ve only seen a handful of times. I’m going to miss all the Scott Boys and all the support that is there. Thanks Vince for everything. I’m going to miss riding with The Cyclery team to the NRC crits, talking to everyone there. I’m certainly going to miss Marc and Vicki, who have opened up their home to me and have helped me grow so much as a person and as a cyclist. And of course I’m going to miss all those little things that I don’t realize I will right now. I might even miss Murphy…

I have learned a lot in these last 4 months. I always knew it, but now I know it; if you really want to a bike racer and really learn how to race your bike, you have to get out of the small pond and push your limits! I have had great mentors while I’ve been here, especially Marc, who has made me think and question and wonder and has just pushed me to be better! Thanks!

All that being said, I am really looking forward to the next phase; to living with Adam, to racing cyclocross in New England, to racing with the best in Canada, and to racing in the heartland of the veldijden!!! Who knows what adventures I will have, what I will learn, and where I will end up, but I know it’s going to be great!!!

Of course, none of this would be possible without any of my amazing sponsors: My mom and dad, Vince at The Cyclery, Scott bikes, Rudy Project, and the S.Club supporters. And to all my cyclocross sponsors: Cycle-Smart, Van Dessel, Challenge, and Easton. I can’t wait to ride everything!!!

::SAdamson

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Coming along

Published on August 23, 2010 in Biking. 0 Comments

Yup, the plans are coming along.

Check out my updated calendar… Things are pretty much set while I’m in Boston. But I was digging through all the Belgian calendars and found all kinds of B races as well as the A races. That makes for up to 4 races to choose from on any given day; I don’t think I’ll decide until I get there and figure things out. But I am very excited!

Now I just have to figure out the logistics for the Green Mountain Stage Race and how to get more cross stuff from Edmonton and how to get some stuff from here back home.

In the interest of ease and my growing Visa bill, I’m trying to sell my TT bike now…


Trek Equinox TTX 55cm Medium frameset, Zipp disc, Zipp 808 front wheel, 3T Mistral aerobar, Dura-ace shifters, Ultegra derailleurs, Cane Creek brakes. Used 10-15 times this year, good condition. $3500 or $2000 without wheels.

::SAdamson

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Ottawa Adventures

Published on August 19, 2010 in Biking and Life. 1 Comment

I realized this summer that I was going to need a new passport, so I got the form, filled it out, printed it off, and headed downtown to the passport office. Now it’s a pretty simple trip, just walking to Fallowfield Station, getting on the 95 and getting off on Bank St. The only hitch was that I needed to get my passport photos done along the way. I was a little concerned, but I guess there are lots of places that do passport photos right by the passport office… somebody is a thinker…

I go up to the desk and she flips through my passport, “this is damaged.” I told her I washed it and it had worked before, so I figured it was still all good… but, “you’ll need to fill out a new form and get a whole new passport.” Lovely.

I had to get my parents to mail me my birth certificate, so I waited for that and when it came late on Monday, I was out the door on Tuesday to catch the 95 again. At least this I knew exactly where I was going and didn’t have to make a pit-stop for my photos. But when I got to the counter this time, he said I needed to fill out a damaged passport form. Thanks for telling me that the last time!

But I did have a really nice agent who told me where I needed to go to get this new form signed and he processed my application and told me just to drop off the form later. So, one thing done.

Things always seem farther away when you don’t actually know where you’re going. I managed to find my way to the address he directed me, and realized I made my way to city hall. Well, that’s kind of cool. But it cost $37 to get this guy to sign this piece of paper… oh boy!

I then dropped off the form and got back on the 95 and headed home… yes, adventures in Ottawa…

But let’s get to what you really want to know… “Why do you need a new passport, Shaun?”

This is why!

Yup, I’m going to Belgium for real! And I am also very, very poor now! Livin’ the dream!!!

::SAdamson

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A little while

Published on August 16, 2010 in Biking. 0 Comments

So I guess it has been a little while since I posted something… I’ve had good intentions, I promise.

I was going to write something about the cookies I made with my leftover cream cheese from the burgers, and then I was going to write about the pizza I cooked for the De Veers, and then I was going to write (jokingly) about how I almost forgot to pin my numbers on last week in Vaudreilles because it had been so long since I raced. But I didn’t have the energy nor did I actually feel like I had much interesting to say. I don’t particularly like writing and just telling you about what I did each day, I want to write when there is actually something interesting, something that I might actually want to read myself if I were you.

But this weekend was the Classique Montreal-Quebec. I was a little anxious with the distance and the stories. But I knew I could handle it. There were a lot of logistics to figure out (Thanks Marc!) and a lot of support needed (Thanks Vince, Nick, Shane, and Amy! You guys are all awesome!).

I was pretty anxious and excited at the start (what else is new?!?), but once we got rolling I felt a lot better.

The beginning wasn’t too bad. It was especially good when Marc got in the break at about 30km. It started ramping up at about km 70 or so and we were trying to sit on any Garneau or bikereg guys who went. Nothing stuck.

We went through the neutralized section, across the dam, and I HURT on the climb right after. I got gapped, but was with a bunch of other guys. We were rolling, but then I saw Derrick and some other Garneaus not really pulling, so I wasn’t trying so hard. Then they were trying to attack. Eventually we got onto a big open highway with a headwind and 3 of them were pull HARD. I sat on and let them pull through. I also had all my teammates in the group ahead, so I didn’t have to work. They eventually brought the group back.

Marc’s break got brought back and then we had Mike in a big move, so we were just watching again. I was marking the big guys trying to go at that point. Mike’s break got brought back at about 200km (it went from 3:00 to 0:45 really, really fast, and that’s when things started to get hard). I covered as much as I could from Donnacona (the beginning of the finale) and I was HURTING, but making it through. I maybe tried to do a little too much. I put in one hard dig at about 10km to go, but I couldn’t hold a gap, then on the final climb (which was harder than I was expecting) I got gapped pretty good. I rolled through with a small group and finished with them behind the 2 main groups.

I’m pretty happy. It was hard. I learned some things. It wasn’t the best result, but it certainly wasn’t for lack of trying. I told myself I was either going to get in a move in that finale or I was going to die trying. I really wanted the former, but I guess I’ll take latter…

Until next time…

::SAdamson

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Not that bad

Published on July 17, 2010 in Biking. 0 Comments

I certainly can’t say that I was looking forward to waking up for the 7:45am start of the OBC Grand Prix today. Especially given how terrible I felt riding home from work last night…

I was kind of worried, but I felt ok this morning and when I got on my bike, I was good.

But that first lap was hard! I pulled out the climb on each lap in my file and I thought the last lap was the hardest, but nope, it wasn’t even close. It was mostly a race of attrition. I covered lots of accelerations and tried to make all the splits. I felt really good on laps 2 through 5, but I just could not hang on the last time up the climb. I suffered as much as I could and was rolling through in the chase, but we just couldn’t close it.

After a wheel-finding adventure, we were all hurtin’ a little bit and made a pit-stop at Kettleman’s Bagel Co. for some food. My first time there for lunch, and it hit just the right spot. Aaaanndd, while we were eating the wind picked up and the skies started just dumping all kinds of rain, making me quite glad that we actually started at a ridiculous hour of 7:45 in the morning.

I had heard stories about the OBC Grand Prix and when we walked in the house Marc said, “So, Shaun, you did your first OBC Grand Prix…” and I joked, “Yup, now I’m good, I can die tomorrow and be fulfilled.”

Thanks to Peter and all the volunteers and commissaires for a great race. It was good, hard, fun. That is all I can ask! Thanks!

::SAdamson

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Can’t shake it

Published on July 14, 2010 in Biking and Thoughts. 0 Comments

I was listening to Shane Hipps speak on the Mars Hill podcast while I was riding earlier this week. He was speaking on Jonah. It was the second sermon in the series and he summed up the story in less than a minute at the beginning…

God called Jonah to Ninevah. He didn’t want to go and tried to run away to Tarshish. That didn’t work and he gave in, heading to Ninevah. However, he thought he could just do a half-hearted job and gave what was basically the worst prophecy ever, thinking that would just get him out of the job. But no, everyone in Ninevah repented immediately and fully.

You can try and run from God’s calling on your life, but you won’t get very far.

That really hit home with me in the last little while as I continue to search for what God wants me to be doing with my life. I am continuing the search for support in my cyclocross campaign this year. *If you are interested or able, here is my sponsorship package* As I have done this for the past few years with little success, I have had to wonder if this is truly what God wants me to do.

On the flipside, if you look at how well and easily everything fell into place to bring me to Ottawa, to Scott Racing, to live with Marc and Vicki, how could it not be where I am supposed to be this summer. There was much deliberation last fall as the opportunity presented itself and I presented my case. I did have a few decisions to make and when I committed myself and my abilities, it was out of my hands. One of my great mentors sat with me and said that if I get the call it’s meant to be, and if I don’t get the call it’s probably not. Then I got the call.

Smooth Ride is slowly growing and opportunities continue to present themselves, so I continue to wonder what it all means.

At this point, all I can do is trust that this is where I am supposed to be and that God will continue to show me what is coming next and to prepare me for it. I certainly thank you for all your support in this as well!

::SAdamson

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Canada Dry reflects

Published on July 8, 2010 in Biking. 0 Comments

I started writing this post on Monday night at Dave’s house…

Then I opened it up again at the Boston airport…

And it’s been in an open tab ever since I got back to Ottawa…

I felt pretty good going into Monday’s crit at Fitchburg. I was able to race conservatively for the first half and use as little energy as possible. As the race progressed, I stayed nearer the front. A good-looking break went at 14 laps to go, so when I felt the chase slow, I jumped hard and almost caught them in half a lap, but then I eased coming down the hill and struggled to close the gap. That break came back within a few more laps, so it really wasn’t that big of a deal.

I tried to put myself in a position to throw down in the last few laps, but couldn’t quite make it happen. So I settled in for the sprint and just finished in the group, while Jim finished 2nd on the day!

I ended up losing 11th to the guy who got 3rd on the day and was tied with me on GC.

All in all, I can be happy with my race in Fitchburg this last weekend. I learned some things. I know what I should have and could have done. I have come away a better bike racer and I will take all those things with me into my next races.

And a huge thanks goes out to everyone who took care of me this weekend. Dave for hosting me and driving me around, Landen for driving, his parents for support and feeding, and all the NEBC team. And thanks to Vince and Scott Racing for letting me off the hook for a few days… Oh, and of course my parents and all those who have emotionally supported me!

Now my thoughts turn to the second half of the road season and Cyclocross!!! If you want to help me out or know somebody who might, check out my sponsorship package or the S.Club. Anything and everything is always greatly appreciated!

::SAdamson

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