Ventura 1.5

We are 11 days into our camp here in Ventura and time is flying by.

The riding is incredible tons of climbs, awesome twisty descents and generally excellent weather. Of all the places I have been for training this is the most well rounded for weather, and riding terrain. We haven't really had a chance to go to the beach, although Aidan and I did find a good mexican place during our easy spin of the beach.

The first couple days shocked my system hard, lying in a dark room or on the couch for 2 months really didn't help. As the days have gone on I have been able to get my heart rate up high without symptoms, I am very happy about this and can now just focus on riding. Its difficult to second guess how hard to go, or will this effort put me back. The scene where Michael Clark Duncan in Green Mile pleads to Tom Hanks not to be put back in the dark sums up what I was thinking about being back in my room for any more time. We also discovered we have a cat in the house, not so much we as Aidan did when he got up one morning. The tiger in the bathroom scene from the Hangover mimics his reaction while being sleepy in the morning. This is the clip I am talking about here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqxJ-MvrDRg

At the end of the first week the team headed to Goleta for the Island View Classic Criterium. We decided it was best for me to sit this one out with the risk of hitting my head again being the biggest reason. I shot some video and watched the race unfold, the whole time wishing I could have been out racing. The others rode really well crushing the race by taking 7 of 9 primes, Adam De Vos soloed for the win and Aidan finished 4th.

( Here is Adam Soloing in for the win)

This week we have logged more miles, and took a trip to the LA velodrome. I have always wanted to ride LA and finally got my chance. Walking into the facility is crazy when comparing it to any other tracks I have been to; the layout, tons of seating, weights on either end and fully netted volleyball area in the center. Its well organized minus having bathrooms upstairs from the rider area. We rented some of their bikes, non of us knew we would be riding the track so we didn't bring our bikes. Their entire fleet is made up of Felt tk2s, a solid bike for sure. The track itself is super smooth and very tall compared to my home track of Burnaby. We did a usual warm up then a points race drill after that I jumped in on the workout that was going on already and finished with some flying 1.5k efforts.

I couldn't think of a better way to get back into shape for racing than this, thank you to all the sponsors, Jeff Ain, Richard Wooles, and Cycling BC.

Thanks,

Mike