Looking back over my shoulder

Cycling is a beautiful thing

It is a form of expression of style and character, it is a form of exercise, it is a medium for social opportunity, it is even just a way to get around places faster than walking.

I had a hunch from a pretty early age that I wanted to try it and that I would end up thoroughly enjoying it. Young Brett had much yet to learn still but he absolutely called that one right.
I was quick to graduate from training wheels at the age of four and shortly thereafter my brothers and I began making jumps and trails for our department store "full suspension" bikes.

 In a rural farming community, we were a long way from any networks of bike lanes or paved shoulders and spotting a cyclist was about as rare as seeing any racial minority.

Both would be met with the same look of confusion that read "You're not from around here, are you?"

So instead I gravitated to motocross, substantially privileged by the convenience of a property large enough to house a personal practice track and a dedicated father/amateur mechanic that was determined to keep all the bikes running no matter what parts or labour cost was required. The thrill of adrenaline was something, but above all else, I always had a distinct appreciation for the bike handling. Being able to manipulate the machine in corners to find the smoothest (usually the fastest) line and playing with the bike mid air was just so so satisfying. I don't see myself ever making the return to those fossil fuel powered machines but they forever will hold a place in my heart and those skills I learned over 15+ years still help me today.

Like many other endurance sports, pro moto riders often use cycling for off-the-track fitness training. In 'behind the scenes' series I would always see the obligatory 'cycling training ride' scene (often in the rain for some reason) and would always wonder what that would be like. Captivated by the premium 'S-Works' model bikes they all almost exclusively seemed to possess.

In University, now living in an urban environment, cycling was much more practical with the paved-surface-prevalence. I initially bought a rocky mountain flat-bar hybrid for getting to & fro campus but with Ottawa's well equipped bike path network I couldn't help but dabble in some longer, 'fitness exploration rides'.
The pinnacle of this culminated with a 17km out and back on one of the flattest roads imaginable near my house, I was absolutely spent afterwards yet I was grinning ear to ear. It was clear that I was onto something and a change of equipment was necessary.

2016 Totals: 17km // ~100m // 0.75h

Oh yeah, it's all coming together.

---

Introducing: Blue Lightning

That's right, my first road bike purchase was a carbon fiber racing machine, straight out of NASA's jet propulsion laboratory. For a steal of $700 this 2005 Trek 5000 became my first road bike purchase, certainly not my last.
From the first pedal stroke everything just felt right. Having never ridden anything nicer than a heavy low-spec aluminum hybrid and not spinning anything smaller than 40mm tires, the ease at which the Trek got up to speed was exhilarating. Any input to the pedals went right to the rear wheel.

In comparison, all the other bikes I previously rode may as well could've been made out of pool noodles. To people yet to try a road bike, I cannot recommend more this experience . The efficiency of the energy transfer is just *chefs kiss*.

My trusty trek served me well and saw me through to my first pair of proper bibshorts! It handled the busy and harsh streets of Ottawa. Certainly at its best on the many parkways or across the on the other side of the Ottawa river climbing and descending the rolling hills of Gatineau parc. It even brought me my first taste of road racing with a friend who, regrettably, opted for a fixed gear bike instead.

When the time came for me to make my journey west, I had to part ways with my Trek, we knew that long distance just wasn't going to work for us. I begrudgingly put my bike up for sale, luckily to sell to another up and coming cyclist, in whom I saw visions of myself from 18 months prior. Knowing the bike that brought me so much joy would be doing the same in different hands felt like a proper way to pass the torch.

2017 Totals:958km // 9,437m  // 35h

beautiful british columbia

Within 48hrs of landing in Vancouver, before even purchasing a car, I had already bought a new bike. I was beginning my new career, all while living out of a disheveled motel surrounded by auto shops, but what I could see from my 2-star resort window was the north shore mountains, and I knew what I needed to do.
Introducing my: An-Emonda

Fortunately a local Trek shop wasn't too far away and they just so happened to have carried over last years' base carbon Emonda (in my size). I paid a deposit on a Wednesday and returned the following day to pick up the bike and ride it back to my motel. It wasn't quite what I had envisioned, but my first ride on BC soil was actually navigating the light commercial roads of Burnaby from the Trek shop to my dingey motel. 

I have nothing but great things to say about that shop, however, they really helped me out to keep rolling and even partially stored my bike for me when I was away from the motel for an extended period of time. One of the shop employees also hosted shop rides on Wednesdays which was a great way for me to take in metro Vancouver and the surrounding boroughs which were all uncharted waters on my GPS. Shoutout Trek-Burnaby.
Before my month in Vancouver expired, I made the daring journey across the second narrows atop the ironworkers bridge, looking to test my ability on the infamous switchbacks of Mt Seymour

The total climb is 13+ km with 1000m ascent, rivaling climbs seen in the legendary Pyrenese, or Alpes. Like my original 17km out and back on flat terrain, this absolutely broke me. Multiple stops on the side of the road as my heartbeat felt like it was building up to a bass drop and my legs screaming at me for such an obvious miscalculation of judgment. I did eventually make it to the top, heaving and grieving. Admitting that I was punching above my weight class on that day, deep down I knew that Seymour would not get the last laugh and that I would be back with a vengeance.
Loading up all my possessions including my Emonda on a rack out the back, my 1.4L civic navigated the Coquihalla mountain highway inland to the Okanagan valley. I had never been to the Okanagan and had absolutely no idea what I was in for. To my pleasant surprise I found myself arriving in a land of stunning lakes and rolling hills with tree fruits and vineyards galore.

I tried my hand on a few local group rides but nothing really stuck but I was just genuinely enjoying exploring all these new roads and just soaking up all the Okanagan had to offer. Unfortunately in the summer of 2018, the Okanagan was offering lots of airborne particulate matter in one of the worst fire seasons on record.

---

Despite putting my lungs through a 2 month marathon of 'The Fireplace Channel' 2018 also saw my first entry to the triple digit club. My first Century ride, a true achievement for any developing cyclist. Like most everything else, it becomes much easier with practice and experience but I recall being in a dark place around kilometer 80, still yet to push on for another 25%.
2018 was the first year I really got to experience the moutains and on decade newer equipment. I thought that this was just the beginning, only getting bigger and better from here. I was right in the long term forecast but sadly there were a few thunderstorms in the short term.

2018 Totals: 2,695km // 33,850m // 118h

smooth seas don't make good sailors

Ah 2019, the 'hiccup' year. In the fall of 2018, I was keen to try my hand at MTB, since it spoke to my moto roots. Not surprisingly, it came quite naturally as a lot of the dynamics are quite similar and the aggressive riding position translates quite smoothly. Doubling down on that adrenaline thrill, I also decided to buy a DH bike for riding bike parks, which is effectively a moto with all the engine components removed. Beefy brakes, chunky frame tubes, knobby tires and more suspension than you could know what to do with. That monster truck meant business. Unfortunately on the opening day, on the first run no less, my nerves and tight grip on the handlebars caused me to misjudge a corner speed, catching a pedal on exit and catapulting first onto the hard pack track. I knew immediately something had broken, as the x rays would later confirm my suspicions and that in fact it was actually multiple pieces I had broken (3 total).

This blue fibreglass melee weapon ended my summer of cycling, on both dirt or asphalt. I was able to return to the roadbike and my DH in the fall, but my fitness and motivation were both at lows and naturally being limited by a cast had resulted in a bit of mass accumulation over the 8 weeks. I was fortunate enough to cross off a bucket list item and experience the whistler bike part to its fullest extent. Returning back to the village in thanksgiving, I was first hand experiencing all the black diamond trails I had seen countless Youtube POVs of. 
I was glad that I was able to do that but ultimately I knew that DH wasn't completely compatible with what I wanted which eventually would lead to me selling that bike and shortly thereafter my mountain bike as well.
2019 was definitely the roughest waters faced on this journey, but fortunately my own luck would turn, albeit not at all in a way i had expected.

2019 totals: 1,210km // 18,995km // 74h

The Global Pandemic: Guess i'll just ride?

I hadn't planned for anything spectacular in 2020, still coming off from 2019 I was still feeling rather down and not really having the same motivation I had prior to my wrist injury. I also did not have world wide lockdowns on my 2020 bingo card but with closing a door, a window was opened. In the midst of not being able to break out of your 'social bubble' and with a public health body that was encouraging the use of gloryholes (2020 was weird)

I was left with a lot of free time and limited options to fill it. 
I guess I'll just ride my bike......A lot. 

Like finding a grocery store with a fully stocked toilet paper aisle, my rejuvenated appreciation for cycling was a welcome sight. I was regularly doing 10+ hour weekly volume unlike anything i had done before and my fitness was skyrocketing faster than housing prices.
I wasn't the only one in this position, cycling like many other outdoor recreation activities was booming and so I actually had some regular companionship on rides, Mr Samuel Biggs, a friend since 2018 was also indulging his cycling sweet tooth (ironically he also would regularly wear a ​Skittles kit).

Unfortunately, disaster would strike a second time in June again, although instead of fracturing myself it was the carbon frame of my bike that would break. This does not fall within the umbrella of universal healthcare coverage (unfair) nor was it going to be able to regrow on its own, so sadly I would have to turn in the bike I bought two years earlier to be taken out to pasture.
In a miracle of inventory luck, I was only sat on the sidelines for 3 weeks before I was able to get my hands on my third Trek, this one certainly the nicest of the 3 thus far. 

Introducing my: Happy lil Accident

This was by far the most expensive bike I had ever bought, with the cost totalling more than all the bikes I had bought previously combined (excluding my DH). But I more than got my money's worth from it. By the time I retired this bike 2 years later, I had amassed almost 18,000km, for an average cost of $0.16 per kilometer.
This bike saw me through the remainder of 2020 and continued my runaway train of COVID-induced mileage, nearly doubling my totals from the 3 years previous.

2020 Totals: 7,818km // 96,500m // 296h

LOOK AT ALL THAT DATA

2020 was fun and games still, 2021 was all business (well mostly). 
After trying my hand with winter indoor training I was surprised to see how much fitness can be carried over into spring, rather than restarting from 0. With that rising stock, I also made the plunge into data obsession disorder with the purchase of power meter pedals and a head unit display with it.

It's easy to get lost in the sauce of all the metrics and analytics available, cycling is a unique sport in this sense where you can make it as granular and scientific as you want, obsessing over every single performance metric and data point. I however was like a Raccoon dumpster diving for a half full pizza box and was absolutely eating it all up. You have perceived effort and with time you become very in tune with your body and how it responds to training inputs, but power data makes it way more accurate to control and target specific areas with training. 

As a self-identifying nerd who got an A+ in university level calculus and prides himself on his sudoku solving abilities, this whole new world of performance tracking was captivating. If my cycling passion was already a raging bonfire, my power meter was throwing a full barrel of kerosene onto the pile.

It's hard to describe but that feeling of building bike fitness is almost like enabling cheat codes. Climbs you previously struggled with barely feel like a sweat at all. I was beating my previous best segment times fists over handfuls. 
Skittles man too was still joining in on the fun and thru his widespread social network we were able to draw in a third musketeer, a co-contributor on this whole project and the man that loves Giant, fanny packs and Winnipeg's burger Week, 'Pppuma' Paul

Regularly partaking in the early inception of WNRs, we now had our three headed hydra with some occasional supporting cast. 
We had also made the excursion down to Penticton for a daytrip loop in an around the southern Okanagan valleys and hilltops.
2021 was truly my equivalent of NASAs mission to get a man on the moon, it was really a chance for me to push to my limits and beyond, seeing just what I was truly capable of.
This included pushing myself to my first freedom unit century and my final return to Seymour, 3 years later, not only did I demolish my time from my freshman attempt, I also landed in the top 10% of the global leaderboard.  Oh, and then I also proceeded to subsequently climb Grouse and Cypress in the same ride to complete the triple crown, both again in the top 20%. Not too shabby.

2021 Also saw my first dabbling with gravel....As a guided tour with a friend visiting we made the journey on the Kettle Valley Rail Trail from Myra Canyon, over the Okanagan mountain plateau and down to Naramata. After some refueling, we parted ways and I began my return journey back to Kelowna. All this on a cyclocross frameset, that was definitely too small and sporting 35mm tires, at way too much pressure. I had yet to learn much about the dark arts of gravel.
Unfortunately my 'moon landing mission' didn’t quite come to fruition, the all knowing google database tells me the moon is 382,500km from earth, which means i only traveled 4% of the required distance. By the time that the sun had set in 2021, I was pleased with what I had accomplished and how much I had grown within cycling. In my heart I knew that still, the best was yet to come.

2021 Totals: 15,040km // 168,400m // 545h

2022: I just wanna go fast

From the first month of January I knew 2022 was going to be about speed. I had the skills I needed and after a 2 year hiatus for any organized events it was time to get rowdy and get some serious pace going. My Happy lil Accident had treated me well, but it ultimately didn't have the Racing DNA in its bones. I needed something more aggressive, more responsive, more punchy. 

Introducing The Cannonball

Finally figuring out that bike pictures are to be taken from the drive side ONLY, I now had my third road bike update, and this was by far the biggest leap forward. Deep wheels, stiff aero frame design, aggressive position and all still more than a kilo lighter than my old build. This was exactly the tool I needed to get to work.

I had mapped out a calendar for events to test my merit and determine just exactly where my place is. I had Armstrong Century Ride, Jasper Gran Fondo, Okanagan Fondo, and Whistler GranFondo. I will have separate deep dives into each of these but just quickly touching on the summary of events for each of these below. 

Armstrong: Pretty evenly paced front group of ~80, there were two deciding climbs and only on the second were myself and my TCC compatriots Mark & Paul were able to separate with a gap of ~20. Unfortunately it was shortly after this that a dropped chain ended any chance at a competitive finish.
Jasper: Surprisingly low attendance event, the field was only 70 or so on the 160km distance. The route was brutal with a 10km climb in the first 30km, it was only 6 of us off the front by the summit, yet again plagued by setup issues (this time a loose saddlebag) i was separated at the descent and ended up solo TT'ing half the race. I was able to find a pair to share wheels with and rode in for respectable 6th place finish.

Okanagan Fondo: My best cycling performance to date. Strong efforts and top-level form all day, separating on the opening KOM, bridging with a group to the lead group. Only some nutrition mismanagement at the end had me losing touch with the top 25. Finishing top 40 in a field of 1200. This remains my largest relative effort score Strava activity.

​Whistler: Again strong start but super frustrating double puncture in the opening half hour after getting caught out on deep grooved rumble strips on the road shoulder. Luckily avoided what could have been a nasty crash but ruined my race nonetheless. The remainder became a solo TT to try to recover back time, I managed a top 20 effort on the KOM in the process but reached the line to finish 600/4400. Still a result I was happy with but still frustrated to wonder what could have been

Aside from personal achievements, we had also made some big moves on the TCC roster.
If we were to compare ourselves to the Marvel Comic Universe, which I will shamelessly do;
2022 would be our first avengers film.
We had gained Mark, from just a happenstance run-in at a cornerstone.
We had gained Oaken, a connection through a mutual friend who brought a wealth of knowledge from the cycling scene in Toronto. We had gained Adam, a seasoned local with a shiny titanium bike and some serious power moving it.
Together we had  formed the Original 6, and built the foundation of TCC as it stands today.

Oh, and we also decided to do a 200km day trip to Armstrong. Yeah, that happened.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Tempo Cycling Club (YLW) (@tempocycleclub)

2022 Totals: 15,550km // 176,028m // 546h

Eyes back on the road

So here we are, rolling into the spring of 2023. Building on 2022 I have my calendar with events and aspirations to top what I was able to achieve last summer as well as exploring the backroads and adventures where the pavement ends.
This will be a year to also branch out and do my part to grow the community. Through hosting our own TTC WNRs and being involved with local advocacy groups for cyclists that don't wear lycra.

There will be more posts to come, stories from rides, race recaps, but I promise none will be longer than this short Novel.

I am beyond excited to begin this next chapter and I cannot wait to see what TCC becomes and where I find my gap

Breezy

Distance Ridden by Year