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A New Season

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Spring training camps, right now you're either at one or dreaming of one. At least that is what my Jedi mind skills are saying since someone changed the clock on the stove.  I guess that also means that we all get one extra hour to ride each evening...does that mean we also get to enjoy an extra post-training beer too?

Don't miss the team's new 2013 commercial plus a review from team camp.

BIKES Episode #7: Action Photography

Gruber Images

This week's episode takes us behind the scenes at Team SmartStop Mountain Khakis' team photo shoot plus a visit from World Tour professional photographer and former pro cyclist Jered Gruber. 

The season is only just around the corner and hopefully ya'll (I'm in the Southeast!) catch this week's episode before heading off for Spring Break. Don't forget to keep working on your name tag projects! Question #2 is here!

Digitial Awesomeness: Team 2013

2013 Team Shot 1: Kit, a photo by CyclinginaToque on Flickr.

So this week is team camp and tonight is the special, web-cast, live-streamed, smoke-machined, intimate-rock concert bar located, Chad Andrews commentated, lazer light show stimulated Team Smartstop p/b Mountain Khakis Team Presentation.

What are you doing at 4.30pm PST or 7.30pm EST tonight? Check it out!

Live Stream HyperLink

Digital Awesomeness: Stanger

Stanger: 3 Levels, a photo by CyclinginaToque on Flickr.

This afternoon I finished up my last training ride before Team SmartStop p/b Mountain Khakis team camp starts tomorrow. So today marks the beginning of the end of the off-season.

One of my favourite highlights of the off-season was my trip to Walla Walla, Washington in October. This year's trip coincided with the annual cyclocross race at the Stanger farm. Charles always puts on the most unique cx race in the northwest, partnered with a legit Halloween after-party.

This year Charles took this annual "obstacle" of choice to another level, literally. What once was an over-under, now is a three level trick. Pretty awesome! Maybe I'll actually race it this year.

Digital Awesomeness: Plucker

W^2 Camp: Plucker, a photo by CyclinginaToque on Flickr.

The soft chirp of songbirds, a quiet push of an autumn breeze and a tumbling tumbleweed.

A warm November day in Walla Walla, Washington brings unusual quiet. With the wheat harvest complete and the wine grapes picked, the valley seems to be nestling up for winter.

Yet recent rains have opened up the valley's seemingly limitless maze of gravel roads, washing them clean tire-slashing rocks. Unexpected adventures are now the "soup de jour", Some of the roads serve as connections, while others serve as doorways to forgotten views. Either way, it's quiet.

BIKES: Rain Gear

BIKES 2013: Extras - Rain Clothing from CyclinginaToque on Vimeo.

Toque Insight: 2013 Styles

CyclinginaToque: Champion System Clothing Review from CyclinginaToque on Vimeo.

CyclinginaToque Vimeo Channel:  Training tips, quick insights and other awesomeness

CyclinginaToque Photos: Week 2/24

CyclinginaToque's photostream on Flickr.

A collection of photos from this week's training in Athens, GA. We had some new replies arrive from the students as well as some big gravel rides up in Dahlonega, GA. Check out the Strava widget at the bottom of the blog's right table for details or follow me for more updates. It was a heavy duty day with awesome sunshine after a week of less that ideal weather conditions. Ride on!

Divine words for a Monday

Science is Madness FB

Divine words from Science is Madness (Facebook). Rock in a bottle, sand in a bottle type of outlook. Are you holding onto an necessary burden. Have you yet to forgive or process a past experience? Take a moment, this insight may prove helpful.

"A psychologist walked around a room while teaching stress management to an audience. As she raised a glass of water, everyone expected they'd be asked the "half empty or half full" question. Instead, with a smile on her face, she inquired: "How heavy is this glass of water?"

Answers called out ranged from 8 oz. to 20 oz. She replied, "The ......

Final Preparations

Since early February I have been living in the lowlands of America's southeast, splitting my time between a short week of orientation and bike fits in Winston-Salem, North Carolina before a semi-permanent move to Athens, Georgia to train with a number of my new teammates. Welcoming me at the airport, I met my new team manager, Jamie Bennett, a fellow Canadian who has run the management team behind Team SmartStop p/b Mountain Khakis for the past seven seasons. With a great support group based out of the small town, I was able to spend a few days casually adjusting to the new time zone and my new equipment. 

With all of the contact points changing: new frame, saddle, handlebar, shifters, shoes and pedals, it was important to avoid hard training efforts during this transition phase. Fortunately our new team mechanic, Chris Kreidle, who just moved over from the TIBCO Women's Pro Team, did an amazing job simulating my setup despite my poor attempts at actually measuring my old bike properly. Thanks Chris! In case you haven't had a chance to watch this quick video, this season my teammates and I will be racing on Wilier frames (straight from Italy) with San Marco saddles, outfit with Reynolds wheels and Maxxis tires. I'll be using SRAM RED components, TRP brakes and Ritchey hardware to control my machine with Champion System clothing and Mavic shoes providing comfort and performance. Lazer helmets and Tifosi eyewear will be the fashions of the year, I hear black is the new neon. The kit design has undergone a nice upgrade with the help of Winsor Creative as well so I'm quite excited to represent our two primary sponsors, SmartStop Self Storage and Mountain Khakis outdoor clothing as I tackle the upcoming year.

February training usually calls for a step up in every department of one's preparations. I've been using the seemingly endless roads around Athens to put in some big miles, while the lack of cars makes it a great location to focus on those hard efforts. Of course this also means that rest becomes increasingly important and staying healthy a top priority. Free tip of the day...better to lose one day of training than lose two weeks to sickness. Riding the fine line between health and performance increase is important but be careful when conditions are inclement and life stress is higher than normal.

Canada Kit

Thanks for continuing to follow my cycling adventures here at the CyclinginaToque blog. I hope you are all enjoying your February days. I've been quite busy recently with training and new coaching clients so although I lost some writing rhythm earlier this month, hopefully you can continue to count on the Toque blog for interesting insights from the world of cycling and beyond. I'll be starting up a short 1 minute video series as an extension of my BIKES videos, so if you have any questions or ideas on areas of my training or experiences that you would like to hear, post a comment below or at our BIKESBC facebook page and I'll be sure to accommodate your question as soon as I can.

Tune it up,

Cheers
Ben

BIKES: Question #2 Replies!

Adams Road Elementary is crushing it! There are on the fast track to earning their name tags! I guess I should let everyone know just what the details are! The three class questions are 1) Draw, discuss, or write about (depending upon the student's age) about their favourite tree, 2) Share their favourite exercise or non-sport activity (their passion) and 3) Draw a ladder towards their dream goal. You can check out all the responses this this week at the @bikesbc facebook photo theater. If you haven't yet, give us a like!

Hope you and your loved ones have had a chance to ride a bike or spend time outdoors together recently. Have a rock solid Friday!

Ice Cream is better than yogurt

Link

There is a lot of scary stuff out in this crazy world we live in. I'm going to take a moment today to share some quotes from a recent New York Times exposé on North America's food industry. The comments that struck me the hardest were those of a General Mill's representative at a 1999 meeting where food industry leaders from all of the top selling brands refused to decide upon changes to the ingredients of their most popular products despite their own personal admissions and concerns about the real threat of obesity and ill-health among consumers. "But we are in Canada Ben, we have better regulations". Well unfortunately it doesn't work like this.

BIKES Episode #6: Camaraderie & Coffee

Off to the Musette Cafe!

This week's episode introduces the students to the word camaraderie and briefly discusses how important encouragement and team atmosphere contributes to success. We also visit with Matt of Vancouver, BC's famous Musette Cafe coffee shop, which features an interior steeped with cycling memorabilia. He shows us how he brings his passion for art to his workplace as a barista and introduces the students to the musette bag (a bag used by team personnel to pass food and drinks to riders during a race) and his favorite rider, Robbie McEwen, who is known for a strong fighting spirit.

'Antique' Space Age clothing available

In need of cycling accessories? In need of some training clothing? In need of some awesome prices on bikes and cycling equipment? I've recently posted some new items to the Cyclinginatoque Buy and Sell. You can see all the items available by following this link including Parlee frames, DMT shoes, Castelli clothing, Orbea bikes and much more.

Ride on!