This weekend, my girlfriend with the hair clipper in her hands, reminded me that it has been more than one month since the Provincial time trial. I can only put that off for so long.
 
In Huntingdon on August 22, were held the Quebec time trial championships for 2009. The week before with a few teammates I went to pre ride the course. Bad start, as I again forget to look at the map pre rode a very flat course, but it was the wrong course. The real course, 23.2 kilometers had a few nice rollers, but all big ring material.
 
I had one thing in mind. Ride as hard as ever had, to save the furniture, this time, for this season. My cycling, duathlon/triathlon (yes I wanted to get back doing a few tri's) season has been compromised from a crash in the very first road race of the season. From a fracture rib, leading to an ankle injury, then injuring again the rib cleaning gutters on the house, I've been walking on eggs from April to September, always never sure if my body is back in order. Of course I should have known better, and taken a proper break from the beginning, but the thought losing fitness from long of a break, kept me racing with annoying aches and pains.
 
At least training and racing on the bike, wasn't so terrible for the rib and ankle. I got back into shape first by taking a one week fully loaded cycling touring vacation in Vermont. Those gaps seem so long when you're hauling a 70 pound loaded bike at 5km/hour. Highly recommended destination. Then the bike leg for a couple half Ironman's, helped me get back into shape for the provincial time-trial.
 
I missed National's this year, because I didn't see the point driving 8 hours, at a time where I had my worse fitness level of the season. But this year's winner in the Masters 30-39, Stephane Lebeau, was also starting at the provincials. I knew I'd have to leave my lungs on the course to have a shot at a fourth title.
 
So indeed, I did go as hard as I can, even if my training had been on and off all season. After all, it was the provincial time-trial, and a chance to close the season on a high note. I had a couple things in mind during the course. My usual power words to stay focused, "Position-Power". That means always focusing on maintaining my narrow aero position, and at the same time, focusing on constantly applying as much force as I could on the pedals at my anaerobic threshold. Being a rolling course, I also made the effort to slightly increase the effort up the small rollers to maintain speed across the "bumps".
 
I had a great race, nothing left at the end, to finish in 30:57 for a 45km/hour average. That was good to finish first, with the best masters time of the day. But Stephane, the brand manager for Opus Bikes scheduled to start last, never made it to the start line, being caught in a meeting preparing for the Opus 2010 collection. I'm sure it would have been close, but it didn't matter, I know I couldn't have gone any faster. I was more tired after the 23km TT, than I was after 123km road race on the next day.
 
My girlfriend took a small home made video of my finish. So she took a practice video on a rider coming in before me. Then she took the video of my finish, but told me I was going a bit too fast. Had I known, I would have slowed down for the video - I had a few seconds to spare.
 
Ah, yes, back to the hair clipper. If you're wondering, I still have my pony tail. I made a friendly "deal", with my girlfriend, that if I'd win, I would shave her head, and give her long hair to a charity organization, le Défi têtes rasées 2009 de Leucan. They make wigs for children undergoing cancer treatment. A double whammy, supporting a good cause and my girlfriend's smile is even more lovely with a shaved head.
 
Now, I'm seriously taking a break. Looking forward to healing those aches and pains, getting back into yoga, hiking, swimming, running, skating, and skiing. Enjoy the start of the off season. Cheers!