Monday 16 April 2012

Paris to Ancaster 2012 - 35km St. George to Ancaster - Tandem

10 am Sunday morning I stopped in my race preparations to look out the front window.  It was pouring rain and I felt so bad for all the racers lined up 5 minutes away waiting to start the 19th annual Paris to Ancaster.  Lucky for us the worst of the rain had passed by the time we lined up an hour and a half later in St. George for the start of the 35km race.


Here we are waiting at the start line in St. George.  Yet again it was boys vs. girls.  Don't the kids look pumped, lol.


We put sweaters on at the last minute because when we got to St. George it was still raining pretty hard and I didn't want anyone to get cold.  It ended up not raining after the start and not being cold at all and I really wish I'd left the sweater in the car.

Right from the start we were all doing great.  Adam and Ryan shot off and we never saw them again until the end!  Lily and I felt really good in the beginning the kms were just flying by.  We were passed by two adult teams on tandems on the first stretch coming out of St. George, but we managed to pass them on a couple of the first uphills.  We never saw them again.  This year we managed to avoid the bottleneck on the atv trail that we usually get stuck in.

At one point Lily screamed out, "My tooth!  My tooth fell out!"  Apparently when she'd taken a bite of her sticky energy bar her tooth came out!  She passed it up to me and I put it into a deep pocket for safe keeping.

As the race continued we were passing and then getting passed back and forth by two other Dad/daughter, Dad/son teams for the middle half of the race.  We really thought we had a chance to podium this year we were ahead of the other tandems and then we hit the mud sections...

Unfortunately our tandem doesn't have any much clearance between the front wheel and the head tube/fork  and the rear wheel and the seat tube/chain stays.  They clog up after 10 seconds of that thick sticky mud.  Push, scrape, push, scrape, repeat.



We had to walk the steepest part of the Martin Road climb and then hopped on to finish strong.  Adam, Ryan and my mother in law Marg were there at end to cheer us on, thanks guys!  Crossing the finish line felt awesome, Lily and I ended up taking 5th place.


I had a ton of sand in my eyeballs and it hurt a lot.


Family photo.


Our family cheer.
Frederiksens!


Adam and Ryan took 1st place.  Way to go boys!


He's so serious.


2 tandem teams = a ton of bike clean up


I think I should have stopped a minute to clean the bike off, I didn't realize it was that clogged.  It was so heavy with mud I had a hard time lifting it off the rack when we got home!


Sweet.


Note to self:  Knobby cycle cross tires next year.  These ones were great on the road but no where else.

Saturday 14 April 2012

Paris to Ancaster 2012 - Weather Update

Better and worse.  Less rain but possibly lightning.

Spring races are so unpredictable!


Sunday
Apr 16

Conditions 
6am - 6pm
Thunder- showers




Thunder- showers
P.O.P.80%


High20°C



Low11°C



WindSW 35 km/h
24-Hr Rain2-4 mm

Thursday 12 April 2012

Paris to Ancaster 2012

The race is on Sunday April 15th and the weather could not look worse!  Actually that's not true 18C is a decent temperature, it could be raining AND cold.


Friday
Apr 13
Saturday
Apr 14
Sunday
Apr 15
Monday
Apr 16
Tuesday
Apr 17


Conditions 
6am - 6pm
SunnyIsolated showersCloudy with showersRainLight rain
SunnyIsolated showersCloudy with showersRainLight rain
P.O.P.0%70%80%80%80%
High15°C15°C18°C10°C11°C
Low1°C5°C11°C7°C6°C
WindNW 15 km/hSW 40 km/hW 45 km/hE 35 km/hE 20 km/h
24-Hr Rain-5-10 mm15-20 mm15-20 mm5-10 mm

Sunday 8 April 2012

Easter Ride

Went out today with Adam and three friends on the local trails.  We broke one friend at 7km and the rest of us got in 37km of singletrack.  Not a bad ride for some folks training for a trip to Fruita and Moab next month.  We are so excited for the trip.

Note to self:  Try harder to remember to take along my camera on rides.

Friday 6 April 2012

2012 Races

Kearney Fatbike Race - 1st place Adam
The Frostbike -  5th place Adam
Homage to Ice - 5th place Adam - 50km Singlespeed, open
             9th place April - 50km Women, open
Paris to Ancaster - 1st place Adam and Ryan - 35km tandem
             5th place April and Lily - 35km tandem
Substance Projects Marathon Challenge 1 - 5th place Adam - Single Speed
Epic Spring 8 hour - 4th place Adam and April - Mixed Tag Team
24 Hours of Summer Solstice - 6th place - 5 Person Mixed Team
Victoria's 100 - 


2011 Races

The Frostbike – 9th place Adam
Homage to Ice – 7th place Adam
Paris to Ancaster – 5th place Adam & Ryan – 60km Tandem
2nd place April & Lily - 35km Tandem
Victoria’s 100 Miler – 160km - 4th place Adam,
20km - 1st place April
Tour de Grand – Adam & Ryan, April & Lily – 50km Tandem
24 Hours of Summer Solstice – 19th place Adam & April (& team) - 6-10 Club/Company
24 Hours Hot August Nights – 3rd place Adam & April - Mixed Tag Team
Hardwood Singletrack Challenge – 50km – 3rd place Adam & April - Mixed Tag Team 60+

2010 Races

Paris to Ancaster – 2nd place Adam & Ryan – 35km
5th place April & Lily - 35km
Epic Spring 8 Hour – 4th place April - 4 person Mixed
20th place Adam – Tag Team Male 70+
24 Hours of Summer Solstice – 3rd place Adam & April - 5 Person Mixed 150+
Lost in the Rocks and Trees 110km – 3rd place Adam
24 Hours of Hot August Nights – 7th place Adam – Solo Men Under 40
Dukes Epic Fall 8 Hour – 15th place Adam & April – 3-4 Person – Open – combined age 120-159
Dairy Capital Stampede 6 Hour – 8th place Adam – Solo Men

Thursday 5 April 2012

Homage to Ice - April 1st, 2012

I have to admit I was a little worried in the weeks leading up to the Homage to Ice 2012, a 25km or 50km race at Mansfield Outdoor Center, Mansfield Ontario, organized by Dan Marshall.  I have been working out all winter but not really doing a lot of riding and I had decided to challenge myself and go for the 50km ride.  I have never ridden that many continuous kilometers of singletrack in a race before.  I've done 50km tours and 50km rail trail rides with the family but not singletrack in a race and I was a little nervous.

The weather forecast was also a cause for concern.  The day after I signed up the Weather Network.com said we were going to get 10-15mm of rain at 7C.  That sounded down right torturous!  When Adam and I were dating we went camping for a week at Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado in January, we had a fantastic time but ever since that trip 14 years ago (wow, 14 years ago!) my toes have been sensitive to the cold.  I think I must have gotten frost nip on that trip.  So I wasn't looking forward to racing in the cold wet weather.  Fortunately the weather forecast just got better and better as race day drew near and conditions were close to perfect on race day.



Dan did a great job designing the course, it was fantastic.  You gotta love Mansfield because the sandy soil makes mud puddles pretty much non existent.  There was so much singletrack I had a hard time trying to find a minute to drink the honey water shot that I take along for engery!

My goal for the race was to finish with no cramping or bonking and to not injure myself.  And I did it in 3:23:55!  I actually felt great at the end.  In retrospect I could have gone faster...  maybe next time.  Right now I'm just happy I finished it!


Adam rode the 50k and was exhausted at the end.  He finished an amazing 5th in the single speed category with a time of 2:43:13.