Toguri Training

Congrats to Toguri Training riders who managed to scrap their way onto the podium at the GP Vaudreuil Soulanges–St Lazare on August 8, 2010. Oh, wait…there was no podium but medals will do just fine!

Michelle Paiement (3rd, Women’s Cat 1)

Michelle Paiement (Stevens) upping the tempo to create the gap which started the winning break with Veronique Fortin (Rocky Mtn) and Lex Albrecht (Cascades). ©2010 Robert Wilson

"First, I make them notice my pink nail polish...and then I kick their a&&!" ©2010 Robert Wilson

L-R: Veronique Fortin (Rocky Mtn); Lex Albrecht (Cascades); Michelle Paiement (Stevens) ©2010 Nick Van Haeften

Judith Hayes (3rd, Maitre F)

L-R: Judith Hayes (3rd, Ind); Gaetane Perreault (1st, Max Power); Carol Deavy (2nd, Les Rouleurs de l'Outaouais) ©2010 Nick Van Haeften

William Blackburn (5th, Men’s Cat1)

"It's cold. It's wet. Belgian, Bel-gian, Belles jambes!" ©2010 Robert Wilson

Congrats also to Max Joly Smith for coming 10th in the Cat 1 race.

"I feel good!" ©2010 Robert Wilson

"I don't feel good... not for the reason you think. I mean, yes the pace was high but I'm really just pissed at being caught drafting off Goodfellow (Bike Reg) on film...again!!" ©2010 Robert Wilson

And finally, congrats to JF Houpert for stretching the Maitre A peloton like peanut butter on toast:

"Hey, this attack is creating a solid gap! I'm smiling...on the inside." ©2010 Robert Wilson

"It's just work. It's just work. It's just work." ©2010 Antoine Becotte

Now about that finish JF….?!

Taking It To the Next Stage

Recap: William Blackburn was selected to represent Quebec at the Tour de Beauce. His goal was to gain experience and finish the UCI 2.2 stage race with more fitness than which he began.

Stage 1 (Lac-Etchemin 165 km): With 15km to go, Rafael Serrano Fernandez (Heraklio-Murcia) responded to the pressure of the bunch closing in and attacked his two breakaway companions, Will Routely (Team Canada) and Jay Thomson (Fly V Australia). He managed to fend off the fast-charging bunch by 8 seconds after being off the front for 120km of the race. Sergiy Grechyn (Amore & Vita) flashed home for second in front of Quebec’s own Charles Dionne (Fly V Australia). William was dropped on one of the final rollers as the peloton was hammering to catch the break. I was happy with William’s performance. If you’ve ever raced in the Beauce, you know the cumulative fatigue that repeated, long rollers stuff into your legs. UCI stage races also expose you to, not so much faster racing, but much longer durations at speed than many local racers are accustomed. This is especially true of the first race in a stage race where early attacks can be relentless, as the teams of the main contenders try to be vigilant while all the guys trying to establish themselves as contenders or going for stage wins light up the road.

For a variety of reasons, I trained William differently than my other young racers. I restricted the hours and intensity of his training during the spring. In effect, he was not trained to participate in a stage race like the Beauce, and it was not in his calendar though we knew it was a possibility. Ironically, his ability to surpass his racing goals and to constantly get into the right breaks led him onto the Quebec Team and into the race. This is a great accomplishment, but the demands of racing the Beauce can also play havoc with your fitness, exhausting you for the rest of the summer in extreme cases. After Stage 1 I was pleased because being exposed to the long efforts of a pro peloton accelerating over rollers to reel in a break was some of the best training he has done all year. And you can’t underestimate the gains in experience. But the fatigue in his legs was obviously a reason for worry.

Stage 2 (Thetford Mines, 160km): An early break established itself within the first 20km and contained Javier Megias (Team Type 1), Jamie Sparling (Team Canada), Darren Rolfe (Fly V Australia), John Murphy (BMC Racing), Walker Savidge (Holowesko Partners), Francois Parisien (SpiderTech p/b Planet Energy), Jean-Sebastien Perron (Garneau Club Chausseres) and Flavio Pasquino (Restore Cycling Team Holland). Designed as an out-and-back road race, the stage ended with 3 laps on a finishing circuit where it began–Thetford Mines. The break held on until 2 laps to go, with David Tanner (Fly V Australia) winning the bunch sprint over Yuriy Metlushenko (Amore e Vita) and Andrew Pinfold (UnitedHealthcare p/b Maxxis). William’s legs felt much more lively than in Stage 1. He made it over all the considerably longer rollers that characterize the stage (2-4km climbs averaging 3% but with little steep pitches everywhere) but he flatted twice in the last 30 km and was effectively forced to perform a 30km TT at the end. This made me very nervous about his overall fatigue with 4 hard stages to go.

Stage 3 (Saint-Georges – Mont Megantic, 154 km): The race finishing on the 9km ascent up Mont Megantic is the Queen Stage of the Tour de Beauce. An early break containing Valeriy Kobzarenko (Team Type 1), Jeff Louder (BMC Racing), Sergiy Grechyn (Amore e Vita), Darren Rolfe (Fly V Australia), Bjorne Papstein (SC Wledenbruck 2000) and Derrick St John (Garneau Club Chaussures) spread out on Megantic but survived to the finish… almost. Dutch rider, Marc de Maar (UnitedHealthcare p/b Maxxis), leap-frogged through the tired members of the break and caught St John with under 200 metres to go for the win.

It is great to see riders such as St John, who also races locally, able to step up their game when necessary at the Beauce. The quality of racing in this province is very high right now with many Quebec riders on teams such as Spidertech, Fly V and Garneau consistently performing well at all levels. Special kudos as well to Quebec Team members, Raphael Gagné, Arnaud Papillon, Vincent Quirion and André Tremblay, who all finished within less than 5 min of the winner at Megantic.

I asked William to try and get in an early break, with the goal of moving away from a survivor mentality to trying to race the race. Chasing and attacking in races changes the way you ride in a peloton. It makes you more active and more involved. It is often a good way to survive in races because you psychologically come out of your shell, even if your legs feel dead. William asserted his presence early but then the toll of Stage 2′s flats left him with little in his legs. He fell off on the rollers before Megantic and then paced himself up the climb.

Up until this point in the race he had been suffering from mild stomach cramps in the evening. They became more acute after Stage 3. Gastrointestinal cramps are not uncommon in cycling, and are of course very familiar to runners. Usually there are many factors causing GI cramps. The two most obvious causes are the physical/mechanical banging around of your stomach and the sometimes dramatic change in blood flow to your digestive system as it is redirected to your muscles while hammering. It is important to remember that your stomach moves around as you navigate the bumps and potholes of Quebec roads. It also gets shifts as you change riding position. Importantly, it also gets slapped around by your diaphragm when you’re breathing under stress. Proper breathing is about more than just oxygen delivery!! Also, if you are frequently suffering from stomach cramps after hard, sustained efforts, you should have your eating and hydrating habits–if not your entire nutrition regime–evaluated. It is easy, for example, to be more dehydrated than you think. If you experience a >3.5% weight loss during a long, hot ride/race, you are much more likely to suffer stomach problems than if you are hydrating well. How many of us have been concentrating so hard in a race that we barely drink? Well, now imagine you’re bouncing through the rollers of the Beauce, hammering for extended periods above 70% of your lactate threshold, including repeated efforts above threshold… Your digestive system goes out of whack, and then you add the stress of the race, hydrating too late, not eating well… Cramps, or worse–the “d” word–are therefore very common, especially amongst inexperienced riders who do not, for example, have the same level of fitness as others in the peloton, and who don’t know the race courses well, or have a predisposition to expressing stress through their stomachs. They can disrupt sleep and therefore recovery, as the body starts to work in overdrive. These first signs of overtraining are also the first signs of a rider potentially losing, instead of gaining, fitness during a stage race. The goal was for William to get through the next day’s TT and see where he was at…

Stage 4 (Saint René, 20kmTT): Australians went 1-2-3, with Benjamin Day (Fly V Australia) taking top honors from former Beauce winner Nathan O’Neil (Bahati Foundation) and teammate Darren Rolfe (Fly V Australia). Day’s trouncing of the competition by over a minute helped him move into first in the GC, followed by Rolfe, with Kobzarenko’s (Team Type 1) climb up Megantic still holding him on the third step. William “walked” the TT, as he was unable to eat beforehand except for a serving of yogurt. Later, he was able to finally sleep after taking some advils. Sounds rough, but overall he was hanging in and getting valuable experience for next year. Also, the battle wasn’t lost. His goal of increased fitness was still very much in the cards. With proper recovery he could come out of the Beauce flying, and ready for one-day races.

Stage 5 (Quebec City, 127.6km): Stage 5 was a technical circuit race, up and down the historic escarpment shielding Quebec City plus the challenges of winding through the avenues of the old, fortified part of town. Chris Jones (Team Type 1) and Hector Gonzalez (Heraklio-Murcia) mashed their way out of an early break and hovered up the road until Danny Summerhill (Holowesko Partners) joined the slogging task of holding off race leader Benjamin Day’s Fly V Australia-led peloton. On the sixth lap, Lucas Euser (SpiderTech p/b Planet Energy), who had been in the original break, and Chad Beyer (BMC Racing) bridged. Two laps later the always active Jamie Sparling (Team Canada) joined the front runners in giving it a shot. Fly V, however, did their job and closed things down with a lap to go, opening the gates for those with the legs to be opportunistic. Marc De Maar (Unitedhealthcare p/b Maxxis) struck from 800m out, taking his second stage win, while Javier Megias (Team Type 1) and teammate Morgan Schmitt (Unitedhealthcare p/b Maxxis) led the snaking peloton over the line for the shorter steps on the podium. For those with nothing left in their legs, the escarpment hit hard and hit early as riders kicked their way up looking for sprint points and long-shot breaks. William ended up in a chase group, and after he was dropped with a couple laps to go he withdrew from the race.

Now the real test begins. Can we figure out a good recovery strategy so William achieves his goal of gaining fitness? He has already succeeded in gaining the confidence of having worn a Quebec Team jersey. He has already succeeded in gaining crucial experience, including the physiological and emotional experience of racing at the next level. You have to ride with fast guys to get fast. Doing so allows you to take the knowledge of the speed, power, strength and endurance required to succeed and put it into the way you train. You get a better sense of what it means to work on a bike. It all has to do with your frames of reference. You are constantly moving in and out of these frames while riding. They are the frames by which you picture yourself. And you ride through them to get to the next stage of your development, with all the excitement and anxiety of having to reestablish a new framework and thus a new picture of yourself on a bike. The next month should give us a working framework, and a more clear picture of where William’s fitness is at. There are plenty of reasons to be patient because there are so many signs that he is on a fast track.

Here’s an early report from the race: Max Joly Smith (Rocky Mtn) attacked with about 2km to go and crossed the line solo for his first win!!! Atta boy Max!!

Robert Ralph (Rio Tinto/Martin Swiss) switched from the Cat 3 peloton to the Cat 1/Master A peloton and came 6th!! Apparently they originally awarded him 5th until Czeslaw pointed out he was left out of the money and had come 3rd. This took the torn envelope from Robert’s clenched hands and gave it to someone else! That’s cruel but at least Robert did well and has something to build on.

Finally, Robert says that he was in a break with a lap and a half to go and Jean-François Houpert (Synergy) chased him down!!! Good work JF!! The youngster has to learn to live with the fact that the old boys are chasing him like zombies and ripping envelopes from his hands. All you have to do is check out Max. He’s got that envelope squirreled away before I can make a move to shake his hand!! That’s a Cat 1 sprint and stash!

More later once the details come in.

TT DOMINATES THE PODIUM AT PONT ROUGE!!
1st Place, Master E: Judith Hayes
1st Place, Senior 3: Robert Ralph
1st Place, Master B: Scott Toguri McFarlane
2nd Place, Cat 1: Max Joly Smith
2nd Place, Master A: Patrick Russell

Shaun McCarthy (Garneau) grabs the sky while Max Joly Smith (right, Rocky Mtn) edges out Jean-Michel Lachance (Navito) for the second step on the podium. Joly Smith: “I’m sooo fast you can barely see me; but my eyes travel with me at the same speed–so I can stare at myself all day while sprinting!” ©2010 Antoine Bécotte

The Cat 1 chubby podium: 1. Shaun McCarthy (Garneau); 2. Max "on the wrong step" Joly Smith (Rocky Mtn); 3. Jean-Michel Lachance (Navito); 4: Pierre-Etienne Boivin (Team Spirit); 5. Pierre Boilard (Team Spirit). "I came SECOND, not third. I'm not going to hold your hand until they check the photo!" ©2010 Antoine Bécotte

Senior 3 Podium (L-R): 3. Maxime Le Pluart (Québec Métro); 1. Robert Ralph (Rio Tinto/Martin Swiss); 2. Carol Migneault (Gaspésien). "In your Facebook!" ©2010 Antoine Bécotte

Maitre A Podium: 1. François Michel Deschamps (Quilicot); 2. Patrick Russell (Synergy); 3. Michel Henri (Iris); 4. Richard Martin (Ind); 5. Dom Picard (Cabosse D'Or). "Ok, François Michel's legs are huge, but you're staring at my tattoos." ©2010 Antoine Bécotte

Maitre B Podium: 1. Scott Toguri McFarlane (Rio Tinto/Martin Swiss); 2. François Nuckle (Espoirs de Laval); 3. Michel Turcotte (Espoirs de Laval); 4. Jose Jorge (Rio Tinto/Martin Swiss); 5. Eric Genest (Québec Métro). "Sometimes, the guy with the most hair wins!" ©2010 Antoine Bécotte

Maitre D Podium: 1. John Phillipson; 2. Herb Nebbs; 3. Jean-Claude Leclerc. "Woohoo! Herb and I know how to celebrate on the podium!! We're already drunk, and we're going to take all our winnings and go to a garage sale to buy more stuff just so we can hear our loved ones complain!!" ©2010 Antoine Bécotte

Ok, I had to throw in the photo of the VCOM boys. They’ve been laughing while winning races since their rims were made out of wood. Congratulations John and Herb!!
MORE PHOTOS WHEN AVAILABLE

Yes, the Défi Gaston Langlois was canceled at the last minute, but Toguri Training picked-up some of the slack and stage a non-sanctioned…Toguri Training Toonie Time Trial (TTTT) on the Seaway!

Michelle Paiement and I invited clients and a few other interested parties down to the Seaway to test their metal on the world famous Beaconsfield Cycling Club 15km TT course. I’m posting these results as fast as possible because I don’t want Steve Hoather to have a nervous breakdown–even though everyone was already told how they did. Steve is a numbers guy, and he needs to see all the numbers in front of him before he calms…nah, he never calms down (!). But alot of  TT specialists are like that. They live inside of spreadsheets and micro details. Others are like Michel Brazeau. Once they finely dial in their position, they don’t use a computer or HR monitor or hidden engine. They just duck and go!

Thanks to Michelle for her flawless Swiss Precision Timing, which only Brandon Sant questioned. He thought he was 3 seconds slower. I agreed but Michelle stuck to her guns. Thanks also to Robert Ralph for hanging out with an orange cone and waving a yellow umbrella so that only one of you (ahem) got confused at the turn-around. And a special thanks to Gene Piccoli, who should wear a cape when he does his action photography. I think he lunged, dove into position and paced around for a total of 15 km today–and his moving time was just over 19 mins!!

Ok Steve. Here are the results: (note: all photos ©2010 Gene Piccoli)

Metal Men:

1. James Piccoli 20:15

2. Steve "Saliva" Hoather, 20:45

3. Pierre Lacoste, 20:46

4. Brian Jones, 20:55

5. Patrick Russell, 20:59

6. Jean-François Houpert, 21:16

7. Brandon Sant, 21:20

8. François Beauchemin, 21:52

9. Nick Van Haeften, 22:41

10. Gordon Stovel, 23:18

11. David Cox, 24:15

12. Jarrid Adler, 26:11

Metal Women:

1. Fred Fenneteau, 23:45

2. Debra Brown, 23:53

3. Judith Hayes, 24:23

4. Vanessa Cheong, 24:39

5. Amélie Jeanneau, 25:44

6. France Bordeleau, 26:11

Here are some other shots that Gene took while things were starting/finishing…

"I look exactly the same from either side"

Before the start: crying, praying, and random guy with sunglasses

"Yeah, so I found them just sitting here. Said they were writers, living off the land."

"Cones make me laugh! They are soo funny!"

"Bring it on, Mr YoungStar!"

People with shiny heads tend to be VERY joyful! Always hungry, but very joyful!

Thanks to all of you who dragged your aerodynamic butts out to the seaway under threat of rain. It was a lot of fun and something we might do again in a variety of formats.

The inaugural GP Cycliste Vaudreuil Soulanges took place on a sunburning Sunday on the sometimes sketchy roads of Hudson. Racers rolled around an 18.1 km circuit, which included the short climb up Cameron, a tester familiar to many local cyclists, especially those of the Beaconsfield Cycling Club. In an interesting move, the organizers made the race longer than normal for this time of year, with the Cat 1 peloton traveling 144 km to the finish.

As a coach, devising race plans was more tricky for this race than usual. I felt that the Cameron climb would challenge some riders, but would not be a decisive feature of the race, in and of itself. For most, it was going to be the duration of the race that would start to make the climb up Cameron–and a second climb a few kms later–have an impact. Splits could then start happening anywhere. For most of my racers, therefore, I suggested they approach the GP as a race of attrition. The goal was to make the key selections through positioning, and the breaks through smart racing–especially early on and during the last 2-3 laps.

In the Cat 1 race, Max Joly Smith (Rocky Mountain) and William Blackburn (Rio Tinto/Martin Swiss) were able to make the first selection, a group of 15-20 riders that rode off the front early in the race leaving many big names behind–including all members of the SPIDERTECH squad.

William Blackburn driving the first selection ©2010 May Studios

Cooperation is usually difficult to establish in such large groups, and as the laps ticked by splits started to happen–often initiated by members of the Garneau squad.

"Coline! This hurts!" ©2010 May's Studio

As the chasers softened in the gaps, the Garneau team laid down a heavy-handed spanking. In the end, Derrick St-John and Shaun McCarthy would cross the line 1-2, with teammates Hugo Houle and Jean-Sebastien Perron coasting in a minute later. Reigning National Champ, Aaron Fillion, finished after Perron in 5th, while the debris of the shattered break would be rejoined by other groups, forming a larger peloton of 40 tired riders. Blackburn finished 18th, and Joly Smith came 21st.

Max Joly Smith (Rocky Mountain) coasting across the line ©2010 May's Studio

I thought they raced well because they put themselves in the right position to take the next step. They’re getting close.

In the Senior 3 race, two riders rode away on the final lap, with Scott Loong (McGill) powering away from Jean-Roch Marion in the sprint. Toguri Training’s Robert Ralph (Rio Tinto/Martin Swiss) attacked with 8-9 km to go, and came in solo for 3rd.

Ralph crossing the line. "Look: I can try to look cool while taking care of a cramp at the same time!" ©2010 May's Studio

Here’s Robert collecting the hardware and moola:

"Everything is red and white because it is good to be tidy on the podium" ©2010 May's Studio

And just to add to the Robert Ralph show… Here’s a video of Robert on the podium shot by Monika Kin Gagnon… He’s the guy on the right WITHOUT his belly button showing. What’s with these Senior 3 guys?!

In the Women’s Maitre E race, Vanessa Cheong (Rio Tinto/Martin Swiss) hung in there to the bitter end, and finished 4th.

On the far right: Vanessa Cheong (Rio Tinto/Martin Swiss) ©2010 Antoine Bécotte

In the Maitre A race, Patrick Russell (Synergy) was the only survivor of a team exodus partway through the race, and finished a respectable 14th.

Far right: Patrick Russell (Synergy) ©2010 Antoine Bécotte

And finally, in the Maitre B race, David Albert (PowerWatts) attacked halfway into the race, and was later joined by Eric Provost (Trek-Curaprox). Eric is rapidly racing into shape and seemed to do whatever he wanted on the Cameron climb and, well, anywhere else on the course. Albert thanked Provost for the tow by offering an uncontested sprint.

Albert says thanks to Provost ©2010 Antoine Bécotte

A tired and timid bunch let Daniel Grenier (CIBC) walk away with about 10 km to go for third, and after much “encouragement” from teammate Jose Jorge, and a long pull by another loudmouth teammate, David Landry, I did what Jose told me to do and attacked with 2 km to go. I held off the pack for fourth and Jose finished 6th.

"Now I'm going to have to listen to Jose and David take all the credit for this!" ©2010 May's Studio

The GP Cycliste Vaudreuil Soulanges was a well-organized event. It seemed strongly supported by Hudson, and you felt as if you were racing within a community. Finally,  I thought the longer distances made it worthy of being part of the super prestige series in the future.

“Master A Tough” in St-Raymond

When you drive to a race in the rain, you can feel the added nervousness in the car. As you approach the race site and turn the radio down, people speak in shorter sentences. They laugh a bit too hard at any jokes, as their eyes scout any visible portions of the course. Then there’s a standard set of complaints, or negative comments, as they step out of the car and into puddles: “This is going to suck!” etc.

Getting caught in the rain is usually ok, but starting in the pouring rain… The worst case is getting soaked at the start line of a crit while listening to instructions as you notice all the traces of gasoline and oil glimmering on the first corner. I’ve done a few crits like that. You just try to stay on the front while listening to the crashes behind you.

Some guys, however, LOVE the rain. They love it when it’s cold and wet, and they love getting all Paris Roubaix.

The gritty, soft-spoken Sean Kelly making everyone's legs scream at Paris Roubaix

Here’s Toguri Training’s Rod Matheson (Synergy) and JF Houpert (Synergy) soaking up the fun at St Raymond:

Rod: "Sigh, my booties are holding 2lbs of water." JF: "Doh! I forgot my booties, but it's ok. My feet are numb." ©2010 Antoine Bécotte

Ok, they’re not as gritty as Sean Kelly, and they’re not riding over cobbles, but they are racing in the rain with droopy arm warmers. That’s “Master A Tough”!

Eventually, the storm cleared and slick François Doyon (Quilicot-Rackultra) won a comfortable sprint from Dominic Chalifoux (Trek-Curaprox) and several others who had creeped 30 sec up the road from the field.

"Your kung fu is good... " ©2010 Antoine Bécotte

"but not good enough!" ©2010 Antoine Bécotte

Matheson performed a stylish, soaking seated sprint for 16th place, though he could no longer remember where he parked the car.

Matheson, second from the right. ©2010 Antoine Bécotte

Luckily Houpert rolled in a few riders back and had a photo of the vehicle in his back pocket. Towel off; change to dry clothes; hop in the car; radio on; drive home.

"I swear we were going to wear our sponsor's kit but it got soaked in the rain!" Senior 3 Podium: L-R...Maxime Labrie (4th); Robert Ralph (2nd, Rio Tinto/Martin Swiss); James Piccoli (1st, Rio Tinto/Martin Swiss); Vincent Lessard (3rd, Brunet); Nicholas Geoffrion (5th). ©2010 Gene Piccoli

The time trial, it is often said, is “the race of truth.” OK, but the truth of what?

L-R: France Bordeleau (Rio Tinto/Martin Swiss); Judith Hayes (Independent); Manon Gobeil (Lapraicycle) ©2010 Nick Van Haeften

The commonplace understanding of “the race of truth” is that time trialing represents your “real” strength, without the aid of drafting and group racing skills. It’s just you against the elements. This approach to time trialing can be extremely stressful, and racers who haven’t done a lot of TTs often become afraid to do them in case they reveal their “real” abilities. The mythology that constructs time trialing as “a revelation” constructs the victor as capable of immense suffering as they ride the threshold of a maximal effort and collapse. This association of TTs with pure suffering further intimidates cyclists from trying them out.

Instead of cowering under the fiery trinity of truth, revelation and pure suffering, I prefer to approach time trialing from an earthly, material perspective. In fact I have a real aversion to coaching regimes organized around the mythologization of PAIN. It is a mistake to narrow all the incredible experiences one can gain from cycling into a single word or slogan. Clients all too easily believe that they must suffer to train properly. Worse, those being trained under banners of pain are then repeated chastised for exceeding their watts or heart rate ranges during endurance rides–even though the whole approach to cycling celebrates pain! So the client gets blamed for overtraining!! Understanding time trialing as a particular kind of cycling scenario helps avoid this narrow, unproductive, and ultimately intimidating approach to the sport.

The importance of your equipment makes it obvious that materiality is an essential aspect of time trialing. TT bikes are faster than beach cruisers. To do well, you must be able to adapt your body to your time trialing machine or materials. Yes, TTs are about managing the materiality of your body to push its limits, but this is true of many scenes in cycling. What makes TTs different is that you race against the clock, as opposed to other riders. In this sense, time trials are symbolic of life. You cannot beat the clock, but you can excel beyond what your body would seemingly offer you on the day. In this sense, exceeding the body’s limits brings for the experience of excellence, which is not limited to suffering or pain. Your body can carve through space during time trials, and often your fastest rides are produced when you are so in the zone you barely feel the pain.

Time trialing is not the race of truth, nor is it a measure of you as a “cyclist”. Time trialing provides the opportunity to experience a specific feeling of excellence, one obtained when you excel beyond what your body would seem to offer at the time of the race. It is a feeling of excellence associated with the body’s race against the clock, and the fantasy that somehow you can get something more out of every day.

Noteworthy performances by Toguri Training Clients at Granby:

Judith Hayes (independent), 1st place, Maitre F. Not bad for her first race! Judith is coached by Michelle Paiement.

Robert Ralph (Rio Tinto/Martin Swiss), 2nd place, Senior 3. Robert is affectionately called “Jr” but after this performance…nah, we’ll still call him “Jr”

Michelle Paiement (Stevens), 6th, Senior 1 women. Good work coach!

Vanessa Cheong (Rio Tinto/Martin Swiss), 9th, Maitre E. Before the race I sent a list of 12 tips/reminders to clients. Point 9: Don’t miss your start!! I guess Vanessa skipped that point, and was penalized about 6 min. She would have been 4th or 5th!! You have to take what the day offered… still…

If the first race of the Quebec racing season is a jittery twitch-session on the windy farm roads of Ste-Martine, the second race is a short, relatively safe criterium just outside of Montreal, in Brossard. Racers do clockwise laps around a five-corner, 1.8 km course that is shaped like an upside down sock with the toe cut off. The start/finish is on the bottom of the sock, near the heal.

If this imagery is confusing, here’s a map

The crit is a relatively cozy affair, except for the third turn. It is off-camber, which means as riders turn right, the slope of the road banks from right to left, forcing their bikes to drift wide. To complicate things further, you drift from a wider road into a more narrow road while turning. For the most part this if fine, but I’ve seen riders “space out”–literally lose their sense of position in space–while drifting. They become sock zombies capable of thick, living-dead violence:

Or they over-correct their steering as the road narrows and create a sock of horrors:

One year, the time trialing PHENOM, Michel Brazeau, attacked into the third corner.

Awesome Time Trialist Michel Brazeau frolicking in Cuba ©2010 Michel Brazeau

Fabio frolicking because he is always frolicking in a composed way. He could TT if he wanted to, but he does not want to TT. He wants to frolick–with you.

Fabio the Miniature Horse frolicking. Also potentially good at shorter TTs

Brazeau attacked into the third corner, but he crashed. Amazingly, he jumped up so fast that he was able to stand in the middle of the road as the peloton whipped around both sides of him and through the corner. I don’t know how he did it, but there was magic at work. Out of my periphery,  he looked like this:

Lucky compression socks with TT shoe covers save the day!

So Brossard is mostly safe, but a little bit dicey. This year the forecast for rain scared many riders away. As it turned out however, the rains stayed away.

One of the most impressive races of the day took place in the women’s field. Two juniors, including the incredible Adriane Provost (Saputo), jumped into the break with four Senior racers led by Audrey Lemieux (Specialized-Mazda).

Audrey Lemieux powering the break. ©2010 Antoine Bécotte

The break maintained a 50-sec gap for most of the race until Lex Albrecht (Cascades) and Veronique Labonté (Nanoblur) started what seemed like a doomed effort to bridge.

"This bridge is taking FOREVER!!" ©2010 Antoine Becotte

Each lap they crawled a second or two closer to the break, but seemed to lack the decisive power to get the job done as the timed race was running down. Attacks in the break, however, slowed the pace during the final laps, and the bridging duo not only closed the gap but won the sprint, with the fast-finishing Albrecht edging Labonté for the top step on the podium. Sarah Coney (Stevens) finished third.

©2010 Antoine Bécotte

As the break slashed across the line, Toguri Training’s Michelle Paiement (Stevens) attacked the field and finished solo, 3 seconds in front of the bunch.

Michelle Paiement launching a last lap attack to finish ahead of the bunch in 7th place. ©2010 Antoine Bécotte

Other notable performances by Toguri Training athletes included that by Frederique Fenneteau (Rio Tinto/Martin Swiss), who completed her first ever crit. After doing WAY to much work in and out of corners, Fred finished with the bunch and claimed 3rd overall amongst the Masters.

"Closing all these small gaps is killing my legs" ©2010 Antoine Bécotte

Max Joly Smith (Rocky Mountain) provided the most impressive ride of the day amongst my clients. An early break of 9 or 10 riders escaped the Cat 1 field. It was comprised of all the usual suspects: Hugo Houle and Jean-Sébastien Perron (Garneau); Kevin Lacombe and Guillaume Boivin (SPIDERTECH); Jean-François Laroche (Régis); Arnaud Papillon (Nativo), etc. Over 2 laps, Max bridged up with William Goodfellow (Bikereg.com) and another rider in tow. In the end, repeated attacks saw Houle and Lacombe slip off the front to finish first and second.

Lacombe, Houle, Goodfellow and Joly Smith. Lacombe: "There are four of us in this photo, but only one person is listening closely to how I want this race to end!" ©2010 Antoine Bécotte

Perron would elude the rest for third, while Laroche outsprinted those left behind for fourth.

Perron listening to his watch/video/phone: "Ok ok, Monsieur Bécotte!! I promise I'll attack after the start/finish!" ©2010 Antoine Bécotte

Max finished just behind Laroche for fifth, or for what we call… a place on the “chubby podium”–that excess area just to the sides of the steps for medal winners:

From L to R: Laroche, Lacombe, Houle, Perron, Joly Smith ©2010 Antoine Bécotte

Good work Max. After a fast day of racing, it was time to leave Brossard and put on some compression socks.

Congratulations to all Toguri Training racers for surviving the spills and thrills of Ste Martine! And yes, we had both spills and thrills. In other words, the season has begun! There were, however, a few special rides that should be mentioned…

Congratulations to Fred Fenneteau for winning the first bike race she ever did! On a hot sunny day, Fred rode at the front of the women’s peloton for most of the race and crossed the line first in the Maitre E category. She raced well and she finished well. Not bad for a rider who loves her duck confit and wine!! Now about that yellow helmet…

"Fudge!" ©2010 Antoine Bécotte

"If they gave me champagne, I wouldn't share a drop!" ©2010 Antoine Bécotte

Robert Ralph jammed across the line in 6th place (Cat 3), but I have to admit I was more happy that he was constantly in the right spot to get shelter from the wind and to jump into the action.

Robert making Rio Tinto/Martin Swiss proud. ©2010 Rod Matheson

And finally, William Blackburn popped into the break in the Cat 1 race and was away for about 100km. He hung in there until the final set of attacks into the brutal headwind, but still managed to finish ninth.

William leading the break. "I feel like a Belgian champion!" ©2010 Antoine Bécotte

William coasting home with busted legs for 9th. "I admit it. I feel like a soggy Belgian waffle" ©2010 Rod Matheson