Hugh Trenchard

“I was a cyclist like you,” said the woman to the gypsy cyclist, the palms of her weathered hands raised upward, as if to hold a great bowl. “But rather a different kind. I cycled between austerity and promiscuity; between joy and loneliness; between passivity and exuberance. In my youth, I even prided myself that I could oscillate, like the wheels on your bicycle, between all the shades of passion and silence, propelling me to some mysterious location.

“So look where I am!” The woman laughed. She waved her hands around to a thatched hut and some garments strung on a line. “What do I know now, but that I have two dogs named Gilgamesh and Enkidu? That I wait under the blue sky and the heat of the day for strangers like you to ask them what they see? Look at what I have. There are no mirrors here. The last stranger I spoke to came here a very long time ago. You, on your bicycle, what do you see?”

The gypsy cyclist regarded the woman, feeling that it was perhaps impolite to inspect the entirety of her body. But what will she care that I look her up and down like I might a woman of physical beauty? She has invited me so.

“Ah,” she said, surprising him. “You needn’t look at my sagging breasts! That much I can see or cup them in my hands if need be. Except for the tip of my nose, it is my face I cannot see.” As she spoke, two thin but spritely, brown, short-haired dogs trundled to her side. “Come Gilgy and Enkidu! Come!” she said. “You see, I have nearly come to believe I am a dog, for these are the only faces I see. I think Gilgy sometimes thinks he is human, and that only Enky thinks that she is a dog. Alright, cyclist man, I will let you go when you tell me what you see!”

The gypsy cyclist looked again. Momentarily she seemed to fade and reappear. “I am not sure,” he replied. “These last few days of riding I have encountered others, but they all have looked like me. My dear woman, you are right. The wheels of my bicycle take me to mysterious places. Believe me that if you wish to know what I see, take close account of my face. Then you will know what I see.”

The woman’s eyes widened, and she began to laugh. “Go then on your way, cyclist man! Keep your wheels turning until one day you will stop, like me, and who you are will scatter like particles within everything you see. Then you will be home, wherever you are; you are half way there. Fare well, cyclist man. You will find it soon enough.”

The gypsy cyclist looked once more into the woman’s eyes and, turning his handlebars slightly to the left, pushed his pedal down.

Although the chances are good I will run at least one more running race this year, the plan for now is for the Comox Half Marathon this past Sunday to be my last of the season. Now I can shift the bulk of my training onto the bike in hopes of competing in a few more bike races this year than I did last year, with a focus on peaking in June and July. So, after four rather more mediocre races in the Island series (but none of which I was really unhappy about), it was nice to end off my running season on a strong note, with a 1:14.13.

I had rested earlier in the week, taking Mon-Wed off from any training at all, including no gym workouts or rides, and only easy runs Thurs-Sat with a couple of 2 min tempo efforts on Friday to open up the system a bit. The 5km the weekend before was done after a hard ride the day before on top of some accumulated fatigue over the couple of weeks before that, so I knew the only way to run reasonably well in the Half yesterday was to rest maximally during the week. It worked in the end, but I almost feared disaster when my legs felt crappy on Saturday.

However, on the morning of the race, my legs were surprisingly spritely, leaving me with a hint of optimism. That good feeling, however, reversed itself when we arrived in Comox to temperatures of about five degrees and overcast skies – although not too windy, fortunately. While considerably colder than I would have liked, I preferred not to wear tights for the race, as I had the week before for the 5k race in Bazan Bay. So, instead I slathered Tiger Balm onto my bare legs, which seemed to kept in just enough heat to prevent my legs from developing the heavy, dead feeling I experience so often in the cold.

At the start, Jerry Ziak, Ryan Day, and Jason Louttit, all very strong runners at the national level, quickly opened a gap over the next small group that included Brad Cunningham, Mark Cryderman, Hicham, Nick Best and me. Ian Druce from Vancouver lingered in between us and the front three. I knew I was feeling quite good when we were through 5km at 17.06 and it felt relatively easy, and only a few seconds slower than my pace at the Bazan Bay 5km the week before. At about 7km, Mark and Brad surged, catching Ian and passing him. I thought it unwise to match their surge and hung back with Nick, while Hicham had dropped off the pace at about 3km.

By halfway the groups had all divided into an evenly split line of single runners, and the positions were largely determined by then. Granted, just ahead of me Brad and Mark were duelling for the fourth place, that position not being decided I think until the last km or so. I nearly caught Ian Druce at about 18km, but he surged ahead in the last couple of km. In any event, I was quite happy to finish in 1:14 and a bit, with Royd Burkhardt coming in about 35 seconds back, followed by Nick Best and Hicham.

Now with the Victoria Cycling League cycling series beginning this Sunday, I will avoid the first two or three races in order to get some longer rides in for a couple of weeks, at least, before I begin to race. It’s so easy to get caught up in all the shorter, early season races and not get the proper mileage base in – a mistake I do not want to make. The plan is for my first race to be a 70km Masters race in Cowichan Lake in April, and then to start thinking about mid-week League races, and B.C. Cups starting in May. I may like to get down for a six-stage race in Oregon in late May, which will be the basis for good fitness in June and July. Basically the plan is be full on racing through June and July, and then basically to back off and enjoy the remainder of the summer with the odd Tuesday night TT or a mid-week, but more or less to pack it in by then.

Ultimately my season will be satisfactory if I can pull off one or two top 15s in B.C. Cup races, or a top 30 finish in either White Rock or Delta, races in which several continental Division III pro teams compete. If those are not forthcoming, I’ll take solace in a couple of Masters race wins, and a couple of top 5s in mid-week races. If I get none of those, then I darn well hope to have had a lot of fun in the process!

Seems like a good time for a training update. As of this morning, I have now done a total of four road rides in 2008, beginning exactly four weeks ago with a two hour spin, followed each Saturday by 100k with the “Burnside” ride, each of about 3 hours, although today’s ride was a bit quicker, at about 2:45.

Low quantity should not be equated to low quality though, as I have found I have not lost a lot of fitness on the bike. I’m not in racing shape at the moment, obviously, and a significantly longer ride would feel quite hard. Even so, I can tell that the base of riding miles in Costa Rica has remained embedded in my system quite nicely, and I remain one of the stronger riders on the group rides. I was fairly sure this would be the case, as long as the running mileage was consistent in the meantime, plus a couple of short spins per week on the exercise bike at Oak Bay Rec and light weight training. This is why I was quite happy not to touch my bike until February.

Running mileage has also been relatively low, save for one week leading up to the Cedar 12km race, when I managed something over 100km for the week. However, recently there has been some good quality sessions, including an interval session this last Tuesday consisting of 5 X 400 in 1:13 each (one at 1:14), and 10 X 200 in 36s each (one at 37). The idea was not to go flat out, but to be at a pace something just faster than 5km pace.

Last Sunday was a comfortable 20km, twice around the lakes, at about 44min pace per loop. This was the day after a fairly hard ride with the Burnside group that began with about 20 riders and whittled down to Brett Boniface, Anatoli, Allison Sydor, and me, by the time we hit the waterfront on the way in, with Bruce Schlatter not far behind. The winds were severe along the water on the way in. Allison (three-time mountain bike world champion) will be heading off for a 9 stage, two-person team, Mtn bike race in Capetown, South Africa, in a week or so from now.

That Friday I joined in with Hicham, Michael Lord and Jen McLean for some pacing by Jim Finlayson, taking us around for the following workout: 1 x 1600 in 5:08; 1 X 1200 in 3:47, 1 X 800 in 2:23, and 1 X 400 in 1:09. On the last 400 Jim ripped it in 60flat, with Michael about a second behind and Hicham in about 1:04, to my 1:09. Jen was a few seconds back on each of the intervals, but not far. Hicham is aiming for a May marathon in the States (I don’t recall exactly which one), and is being coached by Jim, and invited me to join him, along with others, for Jim’s paced workout.

This week, after a hard weekend last weekend, and intervals Tues, my legs were actually quite cooked by the time I did a 15km run on Thursday, with a light gym workout yesterday. I had intended only about 2hrs on the bike today, hoping to leave something in the tank for tomorrow’s Bazan Bay 5k, but I fear my legs will be quite roasted for tomorrow, since, under the mostly sunny skies, I decided to the whole ride. The ride was also was a bit faster overall today, as the winds were lighter, and a few more guys were out to quicken the pace. Again it whittled down to about 5 of us coming in on the waterfront.

Nonetheless, the plan is, as of 6pm today, to race tomorrow. However, that may change if I awake in the morning and simply cannot move. The plan is to run the Comox half marathon next week and then to phase out running in favour of substantially more riding, as I would like to do quite more bike racing this season. And, to get my five races in for the Island Series and to qualify for series awards, I need to do both Bazan and Comox. So, even if I do not run well tomorrow, I still need to run the race in order to hold my second spot in my age category, behind Cliff.

So, there is a brief update. Training has been consistent, and I can tell that once I begin riding in earnest, there will be some good fitness this year. I do need to begin working in more mid-week riding though asap since I can sense a certain staleness creeping in from just one ride a week. But that is coming soon. I am also soon to acquire a new bike, much needed, and plan to ride with the Schwalbe club this season, primarily for the reason that they have some funding available for racing fees.

The idea for the year is to focus on Cat 1,2 races (highest of the amateur levels), and simply to hang in for some top 20 results – I will be happy if I can achieve that in a few races this year. Along the way, I’ll do the odd Masters race and some Wednesday night races too.