Gladwell and the Bike Show

Bike Show weekend has come and gone. Highlights included helping ladies learn more about WSD, chilling with the Sweet Pete's gang, getting to visit with Kona-Matt, a great socializing event including free beer (where WERE you?!) at the new "B-Side" store which is so beautiful -- go! And then to close it all off, an unexpected dinner invitation chez Chico's urban pied-de-terre. I have a lot of great times to thank Chico Racing for, and it was awesome to add another to the list.

Anyway, I am reading Malcolm Gladwell's Blink at the moment, and came across an interesting section that might explain why actually SELLING A BIKE wasn't featured on the highlights reel.

Time and time again, I would explain the difference between hydro-forming and carbon. I would talk about how Trek has shortened up their top tubes and set the steer tube a little taller while Giant has opted for a slightly longer option. We'd go over fit and specs, and talk about why 105 is a great groupo to get started. We'd chat and laugh, she'd smile at me and eagerly bring over her friends or husband to see the two-wheeled object of her affection. And then the inevitable, abrupt, "okay-thanks-bye".

I chalked it up to it being my first time in a saleperson situation -- i must be missing the necessary skills to seal the deal. But talking to others at the show, I found out the phenomenon is actually quite common.

Gladwell might have the answer!

He talks about an experiment conducted by researcher Sheena Iyengar involving a tasting booth offering exotic jams in an upscale grocery store. Sometimes she offered six different kinds for sampling, sometimes 24.

You might think that the more choices you offer a consumer, the better chance you have of hitting their wants/needs on the head, thus sampling leads to buying. But it turns out the opposite was true. Gladwell reports, "thirty percent of those who stopped by the six-choice booth ended up buying some jam, while only 3 percent of those who stopped by the bigger booth bought anything."

In fairness, jam is a snap decision, whereas buying a bike is something you nerd out on for a fair number of hours of screen time, scouring the internet for reviews (or maybe that's just me). But I still think there's something there. It's hard to buy a bike at the bike show because there are so many choices. And it's not like jam, where you could just relax and buy every flavour without much financial recourse. Chances are you can only choose ONE bike. Gladwell goes on to say, "If you are given too many choices, if you are forced to consider much more than your unconscious is comfortable with, you get paralyzed."

So that's my academic excuse for why I was unable to seal the deal at the bike show. On the bright side, I met a lot of ladies interested in picking up cycling, and that's a good thing! Hopefully they'll remember our pretty Sweet Pete's booth and visit us when they're ready.

Sweet Pete's B-Side Spring Kick Off Party -- You're Invited!

Bicycle Repairman

Thanks to Sweet Pete's Bicycle Repairmen, for tackling my brake problems, once again. See you soon!!

Glorious Morning Ride!

Thanks to Randall for the great ride this morning. Only sorry if you have as many bug bites as me! I take full responsibility, since I was the piano tied to your ankles this morning.

I was having "one of those rides." Things were going great for our first leg -- a rocket mission across the Ridge, completed in a cool 18 minutes without even trying. Finally, I'd found the rythym I'd misplaced at the Canada Cup. Needed a ride like that. Randall even commented, "I was just thinking you could teach a clinic on flow!" Now that's what I like to hear!

But then we rolled into the Upper Don, covering such favourites as Catalyst, Rim Job and a newly cut trail called "Aerodrome" — thanks to its running behind what used to be an airplane hangar from the 1920s, or so I was told — before cutting back into the valley for new singletrack. Randall and I have agreed to rename the trail "Bent Hangar" so that it retains its aviation roots, but also carries a mountain biking connotation. Respectfully submitted.

Bent Hangar has got a lot of potential, but it was about this time that the full extent of my klutziness caught up with me and I was riding like a mess. This was poor timing since the trail is still very new, and not exactly "smoothed out" yet. I was catching body parts on protruding sticks, washing out my wheels, and once, I even did a summersault, careening into one of the ravines. No major damage but I was definitely getting frustrated. The cure for riding like crap? Have a snack. Once my gel kicked in, I was back on track (and on trail).

We finished our Upper Don Loop, exiting the way we came in and although I was feeling better, I was still feeling a little shell-shocked, so we grabbed the Fast Track back to the Trailhead.

A few nips of smoothie before heading to the office and I call that a dandy morning. Thanks again Randall for the get-out-of-bed-ridiculously-early incentive.

If you would also like to start your day off right, let Randall or I know and we'll be sure to include you on the next week's communications. We usually try to meet on either Tuesday or Wednesday mornings, 6:45am at the trailhead.

Let me tell you, it feels good to roll into work at 8:30 and already have a 2+ hour workout under your belt.

More Sweet Pete's!

The CTV Lady Likes her Band Wagon

Here's the Kona blog of another earned media extravaganza for the boys at Sweet Pete's! See Owen's appearance on Canada AM by following the link!

Nice one, Sweet Pete's!

So Sweet ... Sweet Pete's at Harry Rosen

From sweetpetes.com ...

With the help of Sweet Pete's Bike Shop, Harry Rosen in Bloor/Yorkville has a sporty new window display.

9 Bikes From Sweet Pete's including Trek's District, Gary Fisher's Simple City and Giant's Bowery are on display with Harry Rosen's latest fashion offerings.

Coming Around the Mountain When She Comes

Well ... racing is just around the corner and my my my, it's time to get my shiz together.

I'm in the middle of a pretty tough training block at the moment which will see me training through Paris to Ancaster this Sunday. In conjunction with the race, there's also the Grand Opening of the Hamilton Cycling Centre's new Training Centre. Ribbon cutting at 2pm at the Ancaster Rotary Centre. With more than 2,000 riders anticipated for the P2A, something tells me they'll be having a good turnout!

Until last night, I wasn't sure I was actually going to have a trusty steed for this thing, but thank goodness Derek and Sweet Pete's came to the rescue. Turns out the Bontrager wheel-hubs that are afixed to my Trek have a habit of self destructing. It's a common problem apparently. Which is why the part they need to fix it is on back order. Uh-oh. With no delivery in sight, I had to rely on the kindness of friends. Huge thanks to Derek for letting me use his very nice XTR rear wheel and hub. You've got me back on my mountain bike in time to get used to the position again! And thanks also for even letting me take them out on the race course. Fingers crossed that the part gets here soon.

In other news, the road bike is now at the shop too. After 5 years of abuse, my pedals and cleats are ready for retirement. So, a new set of Ultegras have been selected and are soon to be installed, along with a full tune up to keep my girl going. She's got enough kilometres on her right now to get to the moon. I'm scared this is the beginning of the end. When I ride it on the trainer, I can see the bottom bracket dancing around left to right. I don't think they even make some of the parts for it anymore, but she's still a beauty to me.

So, mechanical issues aside, things are set for a great season of XC (and some Super D ... and maybe DH?) in Ontario. My schedule is much more domestic this year because of the Olympics taking up vacation days, and to try and save some money too.

I'm looking forward to having more free weekends, that's for sure. Might actually get to go home to the beach ... or to the cottage ... or even just sleep in on a Sunday! Now that'd be nice!

Word.

Since the heroic blogging efforts of the Olympics, I feel I should apologize for falling off the posting-wagon a little bit. So here's a few words on what's been up (and down) with me.

1.) Went to my LAST sunday morning spin this past weekend. So no more 6am alarms on the weekend (except for when there is ... but certainly not as often!). I'll be sad to see spinning class go though. Definitely feeling a little bit like a couple extra power workouts would be a great help. Taking three weeks off for the Olympics have turned my racing outlook into a "no expectations" style season. And I'd make the same choice again.

2.) Put new brake$ on the minivan! Woo hoo that was $pectacular. What a nice $urpri$e! Got a tow truck and everything when I couldn't back it out of the garage. But now all i$ well, and $he'$ ready to hit the race circuit again.

3.) First race: Paris to Ancaster. The race I love to hate. It's April 18, 60km and all boring except for the sandwich at the end. I like that part very much. Every year I bitch and moan about entering, and every year I somehow end up on the start line. Sigh. Here we go again! It's good for me though -- it's a great event to practice all the racing "stuff" like getting bottles ready, not forgetting your shoes, prepping bikes, start line jitters, spending a long time at a high intensity and all that jazz. So that way I won't have to go through all that at the first Ocup the next weekend (Mansfield! woot!) Which reminds me ... I need to pick up my rig from Sweet Pete's because $he also needed a brake job, and a $et of bearing$ -- oh, and a freehub body. Secret training tool of mine -- ride around with the rear wheel seized. oh yeah. Tough.

4.) Vacation!! Only two more sleeps til I'm in Kelowna with Gerhard shredding Big White. Gerhard was good enough to win us a trip so we'll be spending Easter spring skiing. Looks like a heat wave is about to hit Toronto -- they're calling for 25 this weekend! I almost feel bad for skipping the amazing biking weather. Almost. ;)

5.) Moving day! May 1st seems like it's still far away but when you consider vacation, fundraiser weekend in Port Elgin, Paris to Ancaster, and then Mansfield, I'm out of weekends. So packing is going to be ... well ... frantic. Let me know if you'll work for food and drinkies because in that case, have I got a job for you!

So that's the big stuff! In little stuff, it's mostly the same old -- lots of training, writing, eating and sleeping. Hope everyone is excited for race season!! Coming up fast!

Sweet Pete's (and Toronto) Gets Its Own Bike!

I was in the shop last night catching up and what do I find but a brand new offering from Kona and Sweet Pete's! Here's a little write up from the site:

The Door Prize is a collaboration between Kona Bicycles and Sweet Pete's Bike Shop. Together we wanted to make a bike built specifically for the streets of Toronto. The Door Prize will accept racks, fenders, and baskets for all your commuter needs. It is Designed to be lighter, faster and nimbler, and is appropriately named for a city that seriously lacks bike lanes. The Door Prize is available in a full range of sizes and can be all yours for $579.99. So come on over and experience the good kinda of Door Prize, and remember this bike is sold exclusively at Sweet Pete's.

This is the commuter for me! The name is perfect, the styling cool, yet subdued so there's lots of room for customization. Check out the stickers! Awesome!

A special bike just for Torontonians is so cool. Have a little bit of city pride in your ride!

Annual Friends and Family Sale!

Tell them I sent you -- get extra egg nog. uUh.

Race Report: Canada Cup #2, Tremblant

Race Day: Course runs right through the village on a "cobble stone" climb

If you have already seen the results for the Canada Cup at Tremblant, you may think that perhaps I didn't have a very good day. And that's just not true. It's also not true that I "Did Not Finish" because I sure remember churning out a very challenging 5 x 6.7km laps. So that's the short of it.

The long of it is that there is a "cut off" rule in Canada Cups. Meaning if you do not make it in for your last lap by a certain time, you are listed as DNF. Of course, you never know for sure until the results are posted, so off I went to race a final lap in vain. I don't think I missed the cut off by much and I know I won't let it happen again. That bit of administrivia aside, I actually had a pretty damn good day.

Course Map: 5 x 6.7km laps

When I woke up, I thought I could hear dripping outside my window. Panicked I jumped out of bed and threw back the curtains to see if it had rained on my Quebecois parade. It hadn't. The drip was just a red herring and the sun was shining in a clear blue sky. Perfect race conditions. But, that burst of energy confirmed that my knee was a-ok, so I was stoked.

I packed up and headed down for a scrumptious breakfast at Catherine's, where I ate every morning the last time I was at Tremblant (I was 18 on a ski vacation ... been awhile!) I think crepes should be the start of every race day. Actually, they should be the start of every day, period.

After a few last minute preparations, I crawled back into bed for 40 minutes to calm my thoughts and rest my legs. Before I knew it, it was time to warm up. I put in a good hour spinning before the race to help deal with the nerves. I went to check on the feed zone, the start area and double checked the rules before doing a couple hill repeats and lining up.

Quebec racing is all about rules. And the consequences for not abiding are dire. It seems the recourse for every violation is "Off with his head!" DH-ers have it especially bad. In Ontario, you throw on your shorts, jersey, armour, helmet and giv'er. In Quebec, no skin can show. Not even peeking through the gap between your armour and your shorts. Not even fingerless gloves are allowed. If you don't folllow this rule, you are DQ'd. If you don't check in, DQ'd. If you are caught riding your bike in the village, DQ'd. The best part is, you usually don't find out until the race is over. A guy on our XC team raced an expert race in Quebec back in the day. He raced really well, came second but found out he was DQ'd because he didn't answer "here" loud enough when the commissaire called out the racers' names at the start. So you can see, it's very important to mind the rules.

Anyway, I was well within the rules and all was well. The start was a very aggressive elbows-out affair and the course pitched up immediately and stayed up for a long, long time. The climbing was mainly gradual and then spiked into some steep loose sections to keep you honest. By the time I got into the first single track, my vision was getting shaky from the exertion. But then the flow starts and you get a bit of recovery before the next climb.

Here's a video of the start from cyclingdirt.org ... see me?



The climbing was tough, it's true, but by the 3rd lap, I was treating the climbs almost as a break. My body was taking a real beating through the single track. It was very rough, with tons of rocks and roots to throw the bike around. Riding a good line was challenging but as things went on, I felt I was getting smoother and smoother. Arm pump was making it difficult to hold onto the handlebars and the rough course combined with oxygendebt-influenced-vision made it delightfully challenging. And I'm not being sarcastic here at all. The course was tough enough that it kept my focus right where it needed to be. My mind didn't have the lee-way to wander into negative territory so I just kept hunting and pushing.

Coming through the village

I admit I'm not the strongest technically, but I was pleased to see I was reeling girls back in on the flatter sections and the climbs. It was a really fun day out there and I finished feeling like I'd raced to the best of my abilities. I'd kept crashing to a minimum, and I felt like I'd emptied all the gas from the tank. As soon as I finished, I happily plunked myself down in the team tent where Carly handed me an apple and a Lara Bar and I smiled at what I felt was a great accomplishment. Just because the results don't agree is no skin off my back. Can't wait to try again.

Here's Cyclingdirt.org's race video: I'm in there somewhere. I think around 3:49. By way of explanation, this is right after the big climb at the start of the lap. Don't worry, as soon as my vision returned I passed that girl.

Tremblant, Day 1: Pre-ride!

I made a decision this season to stretch myself a little more in terms of race experience. I wanted to broaden my horizons so to speak, and take on greater challenges (not that racing so far hasn't been challenging enough ...)

I took the day off work on Friday and got a head start out east Thursday night. After a peaceful night passed on the shore of Charleston Lake, lulled to sleep by the frogs in the Bay, I set off to meet my grampa in Gananoque for breakfast before rolling out for the border. It was an early start so the light was lovely. I got some nice pics of the lake at its calmest, as well as some of the spring blooming going on. Click to enlarge!




The drive to Tremblant from Gananoque was exciting. Driving in Quebec is a much different experience than Ontario. The construction was one thing, but then there was also this nagging feeling that there just wasn't as much room to get around. I mean that in terms of the space other drivers give you and in the seemingly non-existant on merging lanes to get on and off all the different highways I tried out. But enough of that. The minivan and I made it just fine.

Once I got to Tremblant it was a whole other story. Finding the hotel proved one of the more challenging tests of the weekend. At last, I narrowed its location down to the parking garage but couldn't figure out where to check in. So I did a quick walk around the vicinity and discovered the reception. I also discovered a sign telling me the reception had been moved to another hotel and so the search resumed. All this messing around was cutting into my preride time so I was getting quite antsy. Finally, I got kitted up, and went out to see what I could see. Mostly, I saw the end of very long registration line-up.

At last, I was grinding my way up the first of many uphill kilometres. I was so happy to be out in the sun on a new course. It was my first time racing in Quebec, and my first time riding XC there so I was eagerly lapping it up (excuse the pun). The first section of singletrack was everything I hoped for and more. And each section afterwards seemed to get ever-the-more challenging so I was definitely getting the stretch I was after. That feeling of accomplishment after sessioning the tough spots and riding out successfully is what makes the sport so fulfilling.

Here are some shots from the course:




Of course, about then is when I let my elation get the better of me, stopped paying attention for a split second and slammed my front tire into a tall root. That set off a chain of events that left me choked-up trail side while I waited for the blinding pain to go away. The root jarred my progress so much that my foot came unclipped on a trajectory that landed my pre-damaged knee straight into the stem.

So much for preriding. Since I couldn't walk very well, and climbing was no longer on the menu, I went back to the Sweet Pete's/Primary-Trek tent to lick my wounds. And that's where my frown was turned upside down again!

I was lucky that Chris from Sweet Pete's was there with the Primary-Trek downhill team. The DH races were set to run on Sunday so Tremblant was full of riders of all kinds. Chris introduced me to a number of extremely helpful people over the weekend. First was Jean, a truly amazing mechanic. He was kind enough to "Make-Ready" my bike so at least it would be in racing shape come Saturday, even if I wasn't. Cables were greased, shifting fine-tuned and then we even reset the controls on my handlebars allowing me to brake one-fingered, and shift with just my thumb. This came in handy big time on the rough singletrack and descents. Arm pump crept right up into my fingernails at times so I was grateful I didn't have far to move my digits to scrub speed and change gears. Then he even polished it up for good measure.

Jean makes ready my trusty steed

The next person Chris introduced me to was his lovely wife Carly. She cooked up an amazing pre-race pasta spread complete with cheese and cracker appetizer and served with a side of ice-pack for my wounded knee. I vote Carly the weekend's MVP because as if that weren't enough, she was a willing volunteer to bake in the feed zone on my behalf for the duration of the race. So thanks to Chris and Carly for all your help this weekend!

After a great dinner, it was off to the hotel room (not an easy feat ... still averaging about 30 minutes to find my room at this point) to mix my potions and get some rest. When I got there, I discovered I'd deactivated my room key, so I had to hike around to find the other hotel, get it remagnetized and then find my way back, but even with that little hiccup, it was a lovely night in Tremblant. If I didn't have a race the next day, you'd have found me at the Cafe D'Epoque swilling beers on the patio for sure.

I slept great, and woke up ready to rip. And thanks to religious icing and copious amounts of Advil, even my knee was on board.

To close, here is the pre-race coverage from Cyclingdirt.org: