Rolf Devinci

Compliments of Purcell`s Cove. I ended up riding with Stephane and Peter who both had good form tonight. I struggled to hold their wheels on the climbs, got dropped then turned myself inside out to get caught back on. They accomodated me well....pushing hard enough to make me work to regain their wheels rather than entirely sitting up. That`s the training I need and spent most of the ride "on the rivet". I`m feeling better on the climbs but still lack that "jump" natural climbers possess. I just need to find my groove and ascend the hills knowing I need to keep something in reserve to hammer back to the group. Depending on how the training goes over the next three weeks I`ll consider riding the Brooklyn race. Once home I transitioned from the bike to the run and managed to get in a 3 km trail run for some additional training. It hurt and I suffered but I feel pretty nice right now.....legs are feeling stiff but it`s a good stiffness. Yup.......happy Birthday to me...

Had a nice spirited club ride today in hot temperatures. Essentially rode with a smaller 5 man paceline for most of the jaunt out to Laurie Park and back to Bedford. The pace was fast and the legs were feeling prime. I ended up with a 30.3kph average over the distance(about 60km) but did sit up the last 7km to ride with a team mate who got dropped by the tempo. Once home I hydrated then opted to add some training and go for a run. The smaller loop around my street is .6 of a kilometer so I ended up doing 4.5 loops and, after a drink break, added the larger 1 km loop for a total run distance of about 4km. The good news is my back gave me NO ISSUES. I got some advice that running on pavement is actually better than running on concrete sidewalks so I stuck to the streets and the body felt much better. Thanks Shawna. Overall it was a good Saturday. Whenever possible I am gonna try and add a run element to my cycling for added training benefits. Oh yeah.......I am not a slave to the numb...

Wednesday night was sunny and hot so I decided I would earn my sweat by going for a run. My short lived running experience to date has been on a treadmill at Nubody`s so I was anxious to put foot to pavement to see how the body responds to the effort. Been years since I ran outside primarily due to a weak set of lower back muscles that would often stress to spasm from the impact of running on my lower body. Years of weight management and a focus upon lower back/core strength this past winter has paid dividends. Almost immediately into the run I felt discomfort in my back but it was more a nuissance than a concern. I`m hoping it`s just a conditioning or positioning thing I can work out as my milage increases as I had no post run issues with my lower back. That said I felt like a bus ran me over this morning. I estimate it was only a slow paced 4km run but I was feeling the love today. My quads are toasted! Feels good in a "I know I did something" sense.I`ve run longer and f...

Rain! More rain! Lots of rain! Oh well I did get some sun the first half of the week.No ride today but I did manage to participate in a spirited 60 minute spin class before I watched the TdF ITT. What a day at the Tour! Overall it was a good week. I managed to train every day, whether it was at the gym(spin class/treadmill/core strength),road cycling or mountain biking. Add to it 3 days of swimming while at Maskwa with the kids and I`m happy that I got the opportunity to keep active yet hang with the family and watch the Tour coverage. It`s been a good week topped off with some wine/beer and good food.(wink) Back to work Monday but they say the sun will return tommorrow so hopefully I will be able to get a training ride in the books. The plan is to head to the gym in the AM, watch the mountain stage of the TDF and go for a ride later in the day. Sunday Update - The weather improved around Noon so after watching an awesome TdeF stage I headed out for a ride. There were some guys leaving...

It was a good weekend! Attended the Garfield Gilson Memorial club ride on Saturday and I was glad to see the weather cooperated and we had a nice turnout on a ride to remember our buddy who passed away during a club ride in 2005. I rode with the executive(and long time friends of Garfield) on a slow pace out to Laurie Park but them jumped in a faster ride back to Bedford. Saturday night I had a few drinks with friends......I am on vacation. Sunday morning brought a spirited fast ride out ro Enfield with the "fast boys" and then a slower, albeit steady paced, return to Bedford with Troy,Kevin and Rene. The tempo dropped but we were facing a headwind all the way back to the shop. With just 4 riders the paceline worked well heading home and my legs "felt the love" later that day. Sunday night we got out for a family meal which was nice. Just back from the gym on a Monday morning. Slept in till 8AM then off to attend Cynthia`s 45 minute spin class which was an awes...

This morning I was up early and off to the gym for a quick workout/treadmill run so I could be home to catch the Tour De France. I managed a 20 minutes run(2[ish] miles)with periodic increases in speed and incline to push the envelope and see how the body responds. So far so good. Back feels fine as does the knees and feet. During the Tour coverage I did some surfing on the internet after doing the "wet foot" test to reconfirm my arch. It turns out I(still) have a normal(medium)arch with mild overpronation and would require a stability shoe with moderate arch support and medial stability. Being a heavy runner I would also require a shoe with good stiffness and durability. Armed with a shortlist of potential shoes that fit my criteria and budget I headed off to Cleve`s for some reconnaisance only to discover they had a sale in effect. As a result I ended up opting for the New Balance 767 shoe over the Nike Air Structure Triax 9. I still have $100 left in my Wellness account...

Yup.....for the sheer value of a decent Canadian white wine you can`t go wrong. Hanging on the deck with Chelsea while enjoying some unexpected sunshine. Does it get any better on a summer Friday night? Geo

Nah....no worries. Cycling remains the focus but I have decided to start running again. There are a couple reasons behind this decision; the improvement of my lower back issues and a way to increase my overall fitness. Over the last couple years my focus on core strength has really helped my lower back issues that stem from a group of weak lower back muscles. In the past they were always under degrees of stress and impact sports, including running, would eventually cause them to spasm. It was primarily the reason why I also switched to ballhockey goaltending as the combination of my wonky back and hard gym floors did not auger well. I have also noticed a trend within the club to travel outside of the municipality to do longer training rides,specifically to enjoy the lack of traffic on quiet country roads. The popular spot is the Annapolis Valley which adds at least 2 hours of travel time on any projected ride. My family obligations preclude me from joining these jaunts for the most p...

It was a perfect day for the 2007 event.......sunny and warm with little wind. Jim came out of the water with approximately the same time as last year so I didn`t leave transition until several minutes after a couple strong teams. Fellow bike club members Norm and Jeanne both left before me so I knew I had some work to do. I ended up placing 3rd in the bike and, unfortunately, don`t have a team placing as Paul`s timing chip didn`t register his run time as he passed over the mat. When I left he and Jim were sorting out the details with the race officials. Fortunately he finished shoulder to shoulder with another runner so we are hoping he will be granted the same time. Overall it was a great day and we did not repeat as Champs but the quality of the team event is growing as is the whole competition. It was my understanding there were 250 registered participants. Nice! Update to follow.Well done all! Update - Jim sent me the results and we were given 4th place after Paul`s run time was f...