Friday 24 May 2013

4 Lungs and a Liver. Team ride.


Our GearUp4CF team is called "4 Lungs and a Liver".  I have had a liver transplant and both Paul and George have had double lung transplant.  Paul lives on Vancouver Island so we don't get a chance to see him and ride with him very often.  This past week was an exception as Paul was on the mainland for a check-up at the transplant clinic.
In the afternoon George, Paul and I rode over to the north shore to climb Mount Seymour.  It is a 921m climb over 12.2km with an average grade of 7.6%.  Paul wanted to do a serious climb in order to gauge his readiness for the mountain passes that we will ride on the GearUp4CF.  
We all felt good during the climb and are feeling confident in our ability to complete the 9 day Marathon challenge to Banff.  
We now have less than a month before the start of GearUp4CF.  I think that we are all prepared for the 1200km that lay ahead of us and I am looking forward to getting to know my teammates better and meet others that share a passion for cycling.


Monday 13 May 2013

Sportif Series Race #2


    On top of riding as much as I can in preparation for the GearUp4CF I have also been racing in local amateur races.  On May 11th there was a race in Langley.  I'm happy to report that I had my best result to date (2nd in my class).  There were roughly 50 riders in the field and after roughly two hours of racing and 78km it came down to a bunch sprint to the finish line.  I was trying to be patient and wait for others to make their move first.  When the rider who ultimately won went for it, I responded by riding as hard as I could.  It wasn't enough to catch him but I was able to pass approximately 5 riders in my sprint to the finish.
    My next race is in Victoria from May 31st to June 2nd.  It will be my first stage race which includes an individual time trial, a road race, and a criterium.  I will be spending the weekend on the island with my wife Maralyn and daughter Heidi.  This will be our first weekend trip as a family, so I'm very excited.



Wednesday 1 May 2013

New Wheels etc.

I bought my Giant TCR in April of 2012, it is the bike I will be riding in the GearUp4CF.  Since then I have put nearly 8000km on it and it was starting to show.  The chain was stretched, cogs and chain rings were worn.  My wheels had worn thin due to braking in the rain.  It was time for a refit.  
Today I installed new carbon fibre wheels, along with a new chain, cassette and chain rings.  Drive train replacement is not an exciting thing, but necessary to avoid future break downs.  The wheels, on the other hand, have me excited. 
 They are a full carbon fibre rim, which translates into a wheel that is lightweight and stiff.  As it stands they are 300 grams lighter than my previous wheels.  They weighed in at 1471 grams out of the box.  
I will put a few hundred kilometres on them over the next week and will write an entry about them later on.