road season underway

Its been a very nice spring so far, weather has been great, and now the racing season is back underway.
Two weekends ago, we headed out for the Clarence Rockland Classic, a great new event in the Ottawa area. A cyclosportif, half paved, half not, and at 85km, it would be a day to hang on as long as possible. Winds were strong, and things were good till the first flat midway through. That left me to swap tires, and ride it out for fun. A great day, very nice event, will go next year!
Last weekend was the Calabogie classic, and I was hoping to improve on last years top 5. 15 laps of a pristine 5km race track, twisty turny fun. The first half the goal was get in or chase down breaks, if nothing works, sit in second half and sprint it out. A break or three or four would go second half, and the chase was not motivated, I was content to sit in and sprint it out for remaining spots.
With two laps to go I moved up near the front and began wheel hunting as I did not have any team mates with me this day. Coming into the final km, I tagged onto a good pair, an we'd take the final turns well lined out. I was third wheel with 200m to go, when I pulled out and gave it full gas to the line. With the headwind, and great set up, it was a perfect finish to the race. Turned out there was only one S3 in the break putting me in second place for the day. Nice way to start off the season.
This weekend the racing begins for real! Ste. Martine is the first event on the Quebec Calendar, and here's hoping for another good day.
After Ste. Martine, I'll be flying out the next morning to join team Spydertech at Tour of the Gila, as their mechanic for the week. It'll be a great week of racing, very much looking forward to it! It has also been confirmed that Mellow Johnny's will be present again this year, featuring Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer, and Jason McCartney, that'll bring out the crowds. Look for me buried in the back seat of the Spydertech car.

the as usual its been a while

well spring has come, followed by a few days of summer, cooler today, so I think its still March, judging by the view outside, it could be anything between March and May...
It was a good "winter", of course I say that as the past year has included in some form or other the usual four seasons, but not in any particular order or length that would quantify somewhat usual. March rolled in like a lamb, and has roared into day after day of fantastic warm weather. The snow is all but gone, the roads are good and clear, and the miles are adding up fast on the road bike. My 'classics' ride has been rockin' and rollin' over the rough heaved roads of spring, the fat 27mm Vittoria Pave EVO's are fantastic, but its almost time to pull out the new ride. I will be back on a Kuota this year, but a newer 2010 KOM this time, they generously (surprisingly) replaced my former KOM with a new one (warranty issue). It is a nice white one, and a BB30 bottom bracket, so a new crankset is in order as well. looking forward to testing it out.
I've added a Trek TTX 9.8 to the stable as well, so a few more TT's this year for kicks.
I do feel a big hole missing in the garage however. I am 'cross bikeless at the moment, and despite not needing a bike till September, I almost feel nervous. I'm sure it will be replaced long before the season starts up and ready to roll indeed.
So I'll try and keep on it this spring, but we all know that its much more irregular than cross season...
The Rouleurs are back in action, and next week is the early seaon pre-camp, looking forward to it! Then off to Easter, followed by the first race of the year, the RWR Rockland classic, will kick off what should be another good long season!
nice.

a quick update

Surprising weather over the weekend got me out for a ride Sunday, instead of a ski. It was extremely nice! rode for about an hour and a half, on the "new" fixie, its a nice old norco steel frame, ride is currently set up with a set of cross tubulars, for nasty weather and even more cush on the road. A bit lower gearing than the former fixed, but the 39-16 is a nice spinning gear for the spring, and will no doubt get the leg speed up as the spring progresses.
I've also been retooling the Kuota KOM for 2010, its nearly complete, a couple of small installs, and it will be all set to go, once the real spring arrives, and winter is more or less gone and the roads are cleaner.
Looking forward to getting out for some more rides, but we'll see how the rest of "winter" shapes up. If not, the skiis are as always ready to go!