Tomorrow morning, (read: in 7 hours I'll be hitting the road enroute to Vancouver about 4500clicks away). I'll be out there for a month and working Giant's Canadian dealer event. The drive is long, scenic and long. My co-pilot this time around is my buddy Alex whom I went to university with as well as raced with.
As per every aspect of my life, there will be lots of cycling. Hopefully lots of quality fast and hard cycling. I'd like to come out of this trip, fitter and healthier than I am going in. I'm sure some hard shredding on the hills in BC will ensure that the legs are primed.
On top of many hotel stays and dealer stops, we have plans to get some camping in on the pristine northern shore of Superior. I'm not a die hard outdoors person by any means, but I figure getting a couple camping nights in per year will make me appreciate warm showers, duvets and AC a little more. Also, no city light pollution and starry night skies are ok.. I guess.
My biggest concern right now is coffee. As soon as you veer north of Barrie, the list of good coffee options grows thin. I'll be starting tomorrow off with a venti Pike Place. Let's hope I can survive until Calgary where the next Starbucks is probably located.
The last few weeks have been preoccupied with work. On top of demo's I also provide team support for Giant's sponsored rider, Sandra Walter. It's a fun gig, and not too difficult, as Sandra is one of the most professional and 'has it together' athletes I've ever worked with. Her track record is no slouch either.
Last weekend was the Canadian MTB Championships at Hardwood hills. The course was hands down the greatest XC race course I've ever ridden. Extremely spectator friendly, plenty of climbing, and some really cool man made features that required 100% concentration. It's definitely worthy of its Pan-Am games designation for 2015. I managed to get in four laps during the pre-ride and set some personal bests in my technical handling. The boneshaker (see below video) was long considered the 'technical feature' on the course for the past decade. Not anymore. With all the additions, the boneshaker is laughable.
As always, I attend these races and it makes me want to jump back into the training and racing life.
Anyways that's all for now, I'll have plenty of pics and interesting anecdotes a week from now after going cross country.
