The wrap up from Canada, Exciting!

Funny how the London GPS data showed up I just noticed that now that’s eerie!  Just crossed over the Great Lakes on my return trip from Defi Sportif UCI-IPC cycling race. This trip was interesting in many ways some good some bad.

First off we had lost all our VA grant funding for travel so I had to plan this out if pocket, however I knew I could win here in the TT and do well in the RR. The plan proved to be 50% correct and I easily won the TT in C4. The preceding issue over Classification was neatly handled by UCI and the allowed me to re-class and I did keeping the same classification as last year. This second classification also opened the way to get put on the master classification list with a status of permanent which has to be handled at a higher level than my wishes but would be an excellent plus for me in my quest for a birth on The USA Cycling Team.

With the invite to training camp in June, if it manifests it self truly opens the door for that to happen. The room ended up being funded by Team Semper Fi and while it was a challenge on day one it worked its way out in no small part due to the efforts of HP director Paul F. so we could focus on racing!

I like coming to Canada it’s as good a place as any, I understand some of the language and the people always are nice and welcoming. Of note was on the way here I ran into Eric Stall and his family as they were leaving for vacation in Canada. Those were some cool moments as two guys chatted on family and such it was better that way. I stayed at the Hotel Delta in the financial district of Montreal and they are a first rate act from the initial greeting to the endless hospitality they are second to none and they handle a huge group!

The event it self was honchoed by Myriam and Marri they did excellent considering over 4000 athletes showing up. The weather for its part sucked and for the TT we had 32deg 20 mph winds and snow flurries. That event was good for me though and I won my class convincingly beating Sebastion Bouchard which was my competitive goal, however due to the conditions time goals were out of the question. Sebastion would return the favor on the RR after I DNFed due to a mec problem caused during one of the sketchy moments of the first 5 laps, some tool tried to move around the right and outside of the lead group and hit the barriers catapulting him into the center of the lead pack causing havoc lucky no one went down however I was run into the rumble strips on the inside of the turn and the impact caused my breaks to lock, it was tough luck but no injury so Ill take that!

The spirit of the majority of the athletes was highly friendly all around there were some snobs of course but over all the spirit was great. Steve Clendenning came up on the trip with me and he held his own and made a good roommate. Placed 5th in the TT and 4th in the RR good work for him! We made some new friends meeting MC Capt Chris A. Tim C. and his wife Josh Joe and many others its a great community with some of the folks and that makes it worth it.

On winning, its always a good thing! Those that know how I tend to function know that winning something like this or reaching a big goal is anti climatic for me. The juice the jazz all the excitement to me is in the journey the striving, everything that came before from the first training session to handling the stress of travel and International competition, that’s where the growth is that’s where your spirit is tested and you grow or wither from the challenge way before you are asked to perform. Don’t get me wrong bike racing is some tough stuff, if Hockey players will tell you bike racing is some tough stuff then figure the sport is not for the timid and weak. But if done right training prior to any big event should pale in intensity to the race itself, its just the way I roll.  Dan Shelby put together the training that has gotten me to this point this year.  Dan has done an excelent job associated with Jim Cunningham together their coaching is top rate!

No one gets to the finish line without the support of many people and sponsors.  First up I am grateful to God for giving me such a neat talent and allowing me to hone it to such a high level.  My wife and family for putting up with my single mindedness and dedication.  My personal Life Coach, Talane Miedaner who nursed me through the final phases of mental prep.  Talane is a world renowned Life Coach and the owner of LifeCoach.com  she has taken on the role of sponsor coach and I am grateful as her guidance brings steadiness and direction to my endless drive!

 

I use a hydration product formulated by the folks at Innovative Health Solutions and their products H2O Overdrive and Hydrate.  These hydration and recovery products are formulated with the athlete in mind and meet the requirements of recovery after grueling hours of training.  There support and dedication to the drive to the Paralympics has been exceptional!

One of the products I have used more that any other is a product called Calci Blend by Heart Burn Help LLC.  This is something I picked up by track racers and marathon runners.  Most will suck down a hand full of anti acid tablets before an event in the hope that it will lower the blood Ph and help with muscle tissue acidosis, however due to some of the active ingredients in the antacids I never used them.  However through some research I found the products offered by this fantastic sponsor and I can tell you they make me go any faster and there are no athletic claims attached to the product, however when I take the product I can tell you that it does extend my ability to keep a top end pace.  Also as an added benefit the powdered form can turn a bitter cup of coffee or cheap wine into an pleasurable beverage!

So yea some more highlights were Sasha the Russian massage guy that spent the better portion of 30 min literally beating the shit out of me, I am still sore! Then at one point there were 3 therapists working on me each saying in heavily accented Russian/English "relax" yea it never happened as my body was slammed all over the massage table, no wonder Russian Athletes are so tough!

The food of course was excellent, however I think I have broken the code on why sometimes the meat just sucks and realistically its in the translation. So here in America you order prime rib that is a nice cut of meat however somewhere else it may be some meat attached to some prime ribs!

I like the Canadians cuz well I was raised by some! While there are allot of various peoples in Montreal you still get this straight talk no PC bs and they love there country. They just don't mix words but do so in a polite way and God forbid you are a politician they roast them up there well done ya know but not in a hateful way like the way we do here.

While I was there they had some massive protests going down over tuition rate hikes. The scope of the protests were impressive with thousands of students taking to the streets nightly like clock work, choppers in the air at 845, riot police at 9, foot police and EMS at 910, live coverage from both sides streaming over the net no later than 915 with twitter active through out. It was a total interactive experience as one could watch out the hotel window, get the bigger picture on the TV, get one way slanted news through various on line feeds and follow the microcosm on twitter amazing. However it strikes me silly when one looks at eastern and western "spring" protests. In the east they had huge success in an attempt at freedom not western branded freedom for sure but a release from the current tyrants in hopes that the next one was a little less so, they were not so much protests as they were uprisings and civil war. Here in the west it seems that the majority of the underlying ideology is driven by people that already are given huge handouts wanting the other hand filled also on the backs of those that are willing to produce in order to have it stolen and redistributed by politicians seeking votes. But hey that’s another rant.

Air Canada is a shit hot airline keeping the customer first, reasonable fees and they back up their service up with great people. Customs, TSA, and all that acted professional processing thousands of people and I didn’t see any crying grannies or naked hippies.

So a great weekend of racing and ad I wrap this up one of my protégés just scored a Gold at the US Warrior games what a week!

Shared with Memoires for Android http://market.android.com/details?id=net.nakvic.dromoris http://sites.google.com/site/drodiary/