As a kid, I always thought pro athletes made millions of dollars and everything was free.  These people had natural gifts that made them who they are.  Yes I was nieve child.

So as I’m riding my bike today, I start to think, how much would it cost to live/race like a pro.  Although I’m not even close, here are my exspenses:

House: 525/month. Modest place, probably could live for less but I don’t live in Denver or San Diego where I’m sure it’s more.

Gym: 700/year.  This is the going rate for a gym around Ottawa.

Swim: 700/year.  Again, going rate.  You could go much less but having a coach there makes a world of difference.

Track/Run Group: 350/0.5 year.  Haven’t joined yet but will start inthe spring.

Bike: Free.  It’s the only thing that I don’t have a membership for. 

Food: 250/year.  Gels, drinks, bars and powders.

Races: $900 + Flights.  I did two IMs 70.3s and some local stuff.  Flights are hugely exspensive.

Misc: $300/year.  New sneaks, tires, tubes…

Grand Total: $9500/year

Alright so the house probably doesn’t as much since it is 2/3 of the bill.  I also didn’t purchases any big items this year like a new bike.  Also, my races are far less than most of the pros.  Traveling to Kona would have been equal to my entire race budget.

What does this mean?  I probably should have played baseball…  or be a bike rider.

I’m off for another round of crossin’ tomorrow in Kingston.  I’ll try to stay on my bike this time!

Happy (Go Away Winter) Trainin!

Cliff

This week and next are my final "hard" weeks before I start to taper.  In these weeks I’m really focusing on getting as much quality mileage as I can.  Cycling is the only part of my game I’m worried about because of the day light savings.  Most of my rides I have to save for the weekend where I have all day to play.

I’ve joined my fourth swim group since moving to Ottawa and we are in full flight or submersion.  Amanda and I go 3 times a week getting instruction from a former Olympian (2004 Atlanta).  The group has a wide variety of skill levels.  There was a guy who can swim fly @ 1:15 pace for 100ms, pretty fast.

Today I went in my second cyclocross event located in Almonte which is West of Ottawa.  A quaint little town taken over by about 150 cyclists.  There only park will have tire scars for the next little while!

My goal today was to ride from the rear and see how far I could go through the field.  The course was much different than my last attempt, the skill level of the course was turned up a few notches!  There were many more sharp turns combined with obstacles and loads of climbing! 

The weather was perfect though, a balmy 20 degrees as I raced in shorts with a normal jersey.  In cross though, you can’t have water bottle cages on your bike so I did get thirsty from the sun!  More about that later!

So yes, the plan.  Gun went off and our pack did 2 loops of a track before crashing through the woods.  I realize why you don’t want to be at the back as there are a lot of slow ups, riders falling down, too many going into a turn and all round jamming up.  The stresses of being in last!

For the first lap I rode pretty hard, moving up quite a few spots.  Each lap took about 12 minutes to complete @ ~20km/h so….  something like 2K?  This wasn’t as spectator friendly as the other race as we were hidden by forest.  There was one great open spot next to a large hill which we had to go down and then right back up, over an obstacle and then back down again!  Gotta love cross.

Second lap I felt great.  I had settled into a good rythem and was picking off people in singles (instead of groups) as everyone was really spread out. Third lap the wheels fell off, literally.

I had just passed a guy and was powering through a tough section turning hard right on that down hill in front of all the spectators went I biffed.  No worries, I remounted kept pedaling and got a good standing ovation from the rowdy observers.  I lost my place however and now had to chase this guy down.  It took me another 5mins to work my way into a passing lane.  As we were coming up a hill into an obstacle when I dismounted causing my chain came to off.  No biggie but it took more time to get it on as I was getting tired.

I told myself to smarten up and race better.  You see my goal for these races is to 1) Not get hurt 2) Have fun 3) Kick ass and chew bubble gum (and I’m all out gum).  So for the next 2 laps no wipe outs!

Last lap though was the doozy.  I was basically in no mans land until all of sudden, I had a few people within striking distance.  Since it was the last lap I punched it around a corner and got ahead of one and had a slight lead.  We went through a series of bends into a wooded section when my tires slipped and I went down hard on my left side (see pics below).  I knew it was going to be nice as I had a small hole in my shorts.

I recovered but gave up my spot.  It took me till the final sprint to recapture the position.  Small victory!

Afterwards was another run, a 16K tempo run through the hills.  The race had really made me dehydrated so taking fluids in was crucial.  I made it through and when I returned to the parking low, Rickey was the only one left!  Take that crossers!

Anywho, I’m going to try and help Amanda to cook a turkey.  I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving with your f!amily  I think it’s going to be just us and the cats dining! 

Happy (Turkey Day) Tranin!

Cliff

 PS - Amanda ran a PB in the 1/2 Marathon today taking 6 minutes off her time!  And she gets to clean my cut for her victory!  Yeah!

If you can’t watch it click here.

Day 1 of the Cross series was today in Ottawa.  Under overcast skiies the weather was almost perfect for cross.  The only ingredient missing was snow and rain!  Something I didn’t  miss.

After yesterdays hard workout, 40K worth of time trials + 12K tempo run, the legs felt stiff but ok.  I woke up to give Amanda her Birthday present then we both rolled over to the race site with our bikes.

About 35-50 souls showed up ready to roll in Brittania Park located in the West end of Ottawa.  The race course looked like it had some wear as our group (Elites + Master As) went after the others.  It occured to me that I haven’t raced in cycling in over two years.  I wonder if my triathlon background could  help me?

From the gun it was pedal to the medal.  My only goal was to not get hurt (something hard for me to do!).  I had an ok start and was mid pack as we went around the first bend. 

For those that don’t know how a cyclocross race works I’ll try to explain it.  Races usually consist of 1 hour with the person doing the most amount of laps in that time the winner.  A cyclocross course is typically short, only 1-2K in length.  The terrain is a mixture of grass, woods, pavement and even a swimming pool as we had to drive on today!  In the course there are obstacles put in the way so the riders have to jump over them.  This means getting off  your bike, jumping or running depending on how long the obstacles are and then remounting.  This is by far the hardest step!

Cross is a lot of fun but it’s like a 10K race that lasts for 60 minutes (no offence to the people that run 10K in 60minutes!).  People who typically time trial well are good crossers.  Big gear and just push.

Back to the race.  So our course was a little over 2K with lots of switchbacks and couple steap parts.  There were 5 obstacles, 3 singles the hardest coming at the bottom of hill so you had to run up it and 1 double where you had to jump over two barriers. 

For the first 2 laps I was conservative, content on not hurting myself (by crashing!).  Then I started to move up catch packs of riders.  At one point I had gained 10 positions until I biked into or over a deep hole hearing a huge "crack".  I pulled over to see if I had broken my steer tube and checked my tires.  As I did this my hard work evapourated as I lost ground.  No harm done so I got back to buisness.

From then on I had a couple minni wipe outs and my chain popped off.  All things which I contribute to my lack of mountain bike/cross skills.  I finished and showed Amanda a war wound on my knee, which I’m icing this as I type! 

There aren’t any awards after the race, just at the end of the series.  Each week till the end of November there will be a 60 minute race on Sunday.  The whole package was $50!  It’s a great deal if you like to cross.  Most of the races are around the city of Ottawa with one just outside and one more in Kingston.  All the proceeds go to the local Bike Organization here.

Anywho I’m off to watch the season primere of Simpsons and Family Guy!

Happy (Healing!) Trainin!

Cliff