Chicks Ahoy Attack!

I thought i gave myself plenty of time today to get to the TBN Monthly Marathon out in Hamilton Beach, but with all the road closures in Toronto on the weekends, needing to get gas and then getting stuck at the Lift Bridge, we still had to rush a little bit. Although it's such a casual event that folks were good about waiting for us.

Given the fact that it's August and people are generally away at the cottage or on holiday or off to the cottage, there was a smaller turnout, particularly for those doing the full marathon. I figured rather than have everyone skating alone, it might be better to try and pack up and see if we could do some prep work for the upcoming races in Ottawa and Montreal.

As the TBN Marathons are generally friendly and not hugely competitive events when you have so few people spread across abilities, the challenge is to try and keep everyone together for as long as possible but make sure that the faster guys can be sufficiently challenged as well. Typically, you try and stay in the pack as the faster guys do most of the work and slowly over three laps the speed picks up and people drop out of the pack. Once dropped, you tend to skate alone, and I know I find it a bit harder to get motivated skating by myself... the Garmin helps if you are fighting for time, but I don't think there is anything better to push you to work harder than the energy that comes with group skating, not just for the drafting in a pack, but that infectious energy of enthusiastic skaters that are having a good time.

I've heard a great deal of discussion and debate around the "value" of keeping slower skaters in with you, particularly in competitive racing situations. Certainly is is a social sport. I think the situations will always vary. On the one hand, I think we've all encountered a racing scenario where you have someone who tells you that they can't pull uphill or into the wind, only to show you that they have enough sprint at the end to beat you to the line. LIve and Learn. I certainly found it helpful at the Montreal 24 hr to allow skaters I was passing to jump on board if they could hold the pace once in my draft. Even if I was doing the Lion's Share of the pulling, I could occassionally pull off and get in their draft. We'd certainly slow down a little bit but even a short break to stretch my back out and take a quick drink is appreciated and energizing for me. I've also heard arguments on both side of the fence about the "wind tunnel" effect. I think the great thing about skating within a small community of folks is that you do know what each person can contribute and in a fun and social situation, everyone gives what they can.

Today, it was evident that Kevin would probably be doing a great deal of pulling as the fastest guy there. I'd probably put in my fair share as well since I was feeling pretty strong and there was plenty of opportunity to rest. The others could put in whatever they had in them, but we were setting a goal to try and hold the pack together as much as we could.

The first lap tends to be a warmup lap anyways, so we decided to try and keep Carolyn in for as long as possible in order to give her the experience trying to stay in with a slightly faster pack and to adjust for the surges in speed that are experienced in a racing environment. We lost her on an uphill as we approached the turnaround on the first lap, but it was evident that she still had some fight in her as we saw her coming up behind us on the turnaround. She managed to stay with us for a good part of that first return lap before another uphill took her out. I'm proud of the fact that she managed to stay in for so long given the speed and endurance of the guys in our pack today. Carolyn also managed to shatter her pervious PB for a 42km run on Hamilton Beach Trail today as a result!

With Kevin, Jacky, Jay and myself in the pack, I suggested a good training excercise for us to do as a group would be to simulate attacks that the rest of us would have to chase down. Someone would sprint off the pack and the everyone else would have to give chase to the best of our ability and then we would regroup. It appeared that the first round was just Kevin and I attacking (although I know I tried my best to make sure everyone got back into the pack and rested), and that was fun, but for part of the next lap we made sure that it was just Kevin and I pulling and we would give Jacky and Jay a chance to experience what it was like to attack. I know that for most of their marathon and racing experiences they are generally used to hanging on, so I imagine it was fun for them to see what it was like to take control of the pack. Of course I didn't anticipate the sheer joy and madness that they took to this... attacking at every opportunity they could, including when they have just caught back up to the pack when they should have been resting! I was a bit worried that they were burning themselves out, but the beginning of the third lap proved to be a good opportunity for them to take a bit of a break as Kevin had to adjust something that was loose on his skate. Kevin hammered it out to catch back up and I caught a ride behind him. Once we were back together we opened it up so anyone could attack, and once more some fast and fun chaos ensued which unfortunately left Jacky behind us as we headed for the final turnaround. We slowed the pace down and rolled slow for a few minutes, but it was obvious that he was done for the day as the gap opened up wider despite our efforts to allow him to catch back up. Jacky put in 100% effort as we were attacking and chasing, so I give him huge slap on the back for sticking with us for as long as he did.

At that point we decided to try and keep Jay in with us and just do speed work on the final half lap back to the start. I'm always in awe of just how strong a skater Kevin really is when he's given the right amount of challenge. He took long pulls into the wind and still managed to pass me like I was standing still as we sprinted for the finish. Jay also finished quite strongly given the fact that he had done an extra lap earlier in the day to sweep the coarse for major debris, as well as all the insane sprint intervals we were doing. All together, I think everyone had a great morning out at Hamilton Beach.

I ate too much again afterwards at the Buffet at Emma's BackPorch. Jen made a nice healthy dinner that night, but I also couldn't resist getting a hot dog at Gillian's Roller Derby Game that evening. I'll have to eat better in the next two weeks.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Flax Bread. Banana. Apple. Cliff Bar. 2 Croissants. Eggs. hash browns. Pile of Bacon and Sausage. Cantelope. Pineapple. Ice Tea. Icee. 4 Chocolate Cupcakes. Pasta. Salad. Hot Dog. Slushee.

Daddy-O's

Today was supposed to be a Full Rest-Day, but Kevin talked me into going skating on the west MGT with him and Benji. I probably would have ended up sneaking out to do spinning anyways.

Despite what we generally seem to do when we train around here, which is chase faster skaters, it's also a good benefit to skate with slower skaters. I know my technique just falls apart horribly when I'm maxing out, red lining and fighting to hang on. Today, I tried to focus on slow skating today and think about technique. I could follow Kevin's rythm well when I was drafting him, but kind of lost it when I pulled. It's so easy to slack off at a slower pace, particularly when you are tired from the week's cumulative workouts. I focused on trying to keep my upper body still, not toe-out on the recovery and bring the knee behind. Easier said then done and I think I often mess myself up more when I'm thinking about it too much. Eric mentioned that the rec/fitness group is doing video assessment this week, so I'll have a look to see what I'm doing wrong.

I finally tried out Morgan's killer hill sprint with Kevin on lookout, and it actually wasn't as scary as it looks. With the new pavement, there is plenty of rollout and space to do the merge as well as a good view of the trail on both sides. So as long as we're careful, there should be no mishaps. However, we had Benji with us, and given the "curse" of the past week with Carolyn and Jay going down while skating with Kev and I on the MGT, I figured it would be wiser to just do the Legion Hill today. I'll do more of the other hill later. The Legion Hill might better simulate the long slow climb I'm expecting to encounter in New York.

It gave me a chance to play with my stride as Kevin and I took turns pulling up the Legion Hill. Kevin makes it look so easy with his long slow strides. I find I can follow that stride up to a point and then I have to revert to shorter choppy strides in order to keep up. I know my cadence was definitely quicker and shorter when I was up front. This is going to be a problem... it might keep you in and in fact give you an edge if it's just a short burst like at the end of Duluth, but as I discovered in A2A, it's going to just burn you out in an endurance event with sustained and continuous climbing. Long. Slow. Use the arms.

I can't remember if we did six or seven of them, but that pretty much wiped me out for the day. Looking at my Garmin, I was suprised to see we actually did do a little over 20km today... almost a half marathon.

As luck would have it, we got a little turned around and ended up on Roncesvale, which is where my old friend Cristian has opened up a 50's style theme diner called Daddy-O's. We had a nice post-skate lunch there. Ate too much again, and then followed that up with a lobster dinner with my parents up in Markham.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Apple. Banana. Granola Bar. Gatorade. Crepe with asparagus, ham and cheese. Panini with Prosciutto cheese and other stuff. Chocolate Waffle with Brownies, ice cream, marshmellows and chocolate syrup. Broiled Lobster. Lobster Bisque. Mango Mousse Cake.

Can't keep my eyes open. Allergy Season.

It's official Allergy Season has begun. I have itchy, watery eyes, and my throats been pretty scratchy. Jen asked what was up with my voice last night. It might have been from all the yelling I've been doing in my Body Combat classes lately... there is no mike at Parkview.

Checking into my body at Yvonne's Yoga class noon hour, things are a bit tight and I had shaky legs doing the simplest poses. Definitely a rest day for me tomorrow.

Practice tonight felt similar to Tuesdays. The gas tank felt empty, but I suprised myself by sticking it out all the way through the drills. Got there in time for warmup this time. Focused on skating behind better skaters tonight and trying to match different strides and not let a gap open up (it inevitably would). We did 10-on/30-off, and then the points race. At dinner afterwards, Morgan mentioned again how my crossovers slow me down in the corners. I need to commit to stepping one foot over the other.

Kevin comitted us to skate on the MGT with Benji tomorrow, so not quite a rest day. I don't know what "Benji speed" is, but hopefully it won't be too strenuous. We'll once again see if we can do those elusive hill intervals.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
2 peanut butter sandwiches on flax bread. apple. orange juice. Gazpatcho with hot sauce. pickle. Spinich salad with soy dressing and grape tomato. whole wheat pasta with veggies, soy "ground beef", mushrooms in salsa and pasta sauce. orange juice. Banana. pita. miso soup. white rice. sashimi. bul golgi beef. salad with ginger dressing. nestea.

Jay Brown Goes Down. Ethiopian Dinner. The Dream in High Park.

I really need a way to build more rest into my regimen. Since I've started teaching two kickboxing classes a week, it leaves only one or two rest days if I am training inline a minimum of three days a week. and often I will want to do something on those days as well. I don't know if it's better to load some of the extra workouts on one day and then have the next day completely off. Yoga helps the recovery, but I think I would be recovering quicker from the 106km this weekend if I didn't push myself as hard on the other activities immediately following something like that. So many people have different opinions on rest... I guess it comes down to what works for you and knowing your limits and what your body can endure (and we know that the mind leads the body!).

Given the intensity of the previous days practice for me, I pushed through the morning kickboxing class at Victoria Park with relative ease given the fatigue. I had told Kevin and Jay that I would hook up with them for a skate on the MGT West immediately afterwards

I got myself a Strawberry/Mango Smoothie with a Ginseng boost and headed out to meet up with them. As we started out, I began feeling the cumulative impact from the week as I struggled to move my legs on our warm-up lap! I pressed through because I knew we had planned to do the hill intervals that we missed on Saturday and maybe even some of the 30/30 intervals that everyone was saying is so good for you. It genearlly takes me quite a long time to warm up, and just as I was finally getting into the groove and really focusing on matching rythm with Kevin in front of me, disaster once again struck!

In front of the Pizza Pizza stand on the way back from Ontario place on what was just our warm-up lap, Kevin gave out a yelp in from of me. I was tucked in pretty low and tight behind him and I just barely managed to hop over a propane house from a propane truck that was strung out across the trail into the Pizza Pizza stand. Behind me I heard Jay going down and I also caught the sound of his helmet hitting pavement. I turned around to see him sprawled down and not moving. Kevin and I quickly slowed down enough to turn around to see if Jay was okay. We were generally very good as a group at calling out all the obstacles, but in this case, I can understand why Kevin had not really seen it until the very last minue... for one it had not been there a few minutes perviously when we skated by on the way out to Ontario Place, and as we approached it he apparently thought it was just a road-snake. I know he was feeling really badly about Jay's spill.

I know that spills are in inevitable part of inline skating, but I have to admit that I'm also overly squeamish in these kinds of situations, and his fore-arm had road rash and looked like it had started swelling pretty badly and in my mind I was thinking it might have been broken. From the state of his TISC jersey it also looked like his shoulder had taken some impact as well. We determined he was well enough to get him to move off of the train, and a quick look at the front of the helmet showed he had taken enough of an impact to crack it. Jay was a bit upset at the fact that he now had to throw away his relatively new $200 helmet, but upon reflection, we all agreed that it was $200 well spent if you were to put a price on avoiding having your skull cracked versus the helmet. We skated back to his car and I offered to drive to the clinic/hospital, but Jay told me he was well enough to drive. Kevin and I finished off our lap out to the lighthouse and decided we were pretty much done after the second mishap on the MGT this week and that we were better off going to get a couple of Turkey Burgers at Lick's. Something tells me that these hill intervals are just not meant to be this week.

Jay called me later to let me know he was okay and nothing was broken. I was releived. There seems to be an unusualy high amount of spills this year compared to other years. This one just reinforces the fact that you should ALWAYS WEAR YOUR HELMET.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Nature's Path Synergy and Rebound Cereal. Sour Gummies. Mango/Strawberry Smoothie with Ginseng. Banana. Apple. Nectarine. Lick's Gobbler with all the fixin's. Booster Juice with Warrior. Ethiopian flat bread, spicy lentils, green salad with tomato, beans and carrots, turnips, cabbage, beats, and other vegetarian delicacies from Ethiopia. Mango Juice. Ethiopian Coffee with lots of sugar. Creamsicle. Reese Peanut Butter cups.

Gray

I felt a bit shakey in some poses at Frances noon hour Yoga class at Mount Pleasant today. I'm glad I took the opportunity to stretch things out. Even if I think I feel fine, I think Yoga is an excellent way to tell where your body is truly at in terms of fatigue, the ability to relax, flexibility, and any subtle injuries or strains you might have which you normally wouldn't notice.

I arrived at TISC practice tonight with tired legs. We got there just as the race group was winding down their warm-up. I was happy to see that one of my former Camaleon Inline Club coaches, Camilo was there! I had not seen him since he took off for Europe to skate ice last year. I'm glad to see him back on inline skates. I owe a great deal to Camilo (and his brother Leo and coach Andreas) for taking me to the next level as I transitioned into speed skating from the world of rec/fitness. He's a very supportive guy and very generous with his time and coaching in the two seasons previous that I trained with him. Hopefully we will be seeing more of him at TISC!

I suprised myself at practice tonight by sticking with the drils almost all the way through. Usually when you are tired and dropped by the pack, it can be a bit demoralizing and it's easy to slow down and stop. I tried my best to push through the fatigue and finish the drills... it's probably good training to do so given the fact that I often experience this partway through races. I'm going to try my best to not give up and see the drill through to completion in terms of the time on the track that the rest of the group is doing it. It's often hard to determine which is best for the intention of the drill and what we are working on... to stand up for a lap once you are dropped and wait for the pack to come around and jump right back in, or to continue sloughing it out solo. More often than not today, I'd try my best to latch onto a faster skater like Scott or Sarah and hang on for dear life by trying to match their strides.

We did 3 off/1 on as the first drill, with the powering out of the corner. Not sure if this quite works with the slower folks in the back of the pack however. Then we did the points race for a couple of dozen laps. I found it worked better if I tried to stay near the front each time... I was inevitably overtaken by all the faster people, but it forced them to go around me and allowed me to keep up with them in this format rather than hang in the back and constantly have the gap open up and inevitably get dropped. I managed to stay in for way longer than anticipated.

Kevin bought me dinner for the wheels I gave him, so I ended up overeating again after practice and before bedtime. The Thai food was really really tasty though.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Nature's Path Synergy and Zen Cereal in Soy Milk. Strawberries, bananas and omega 3 Yogurt. pita. Gazpatcho with hot sauce. banana, nectarine. Pad Thai. Hot and Sour Soup. green mango salad. white rice. Fish in spicy sauce. green curry chicken. mango juice.

Chicago Marathon 2006

After getting rejected from the New York Marathon Lottery system, Jen decided that we should do the Chicago Marathon instead. I have never participated in a race like this before, where there were cheering crowds and entertainers almost the entire time we were on course. I would say that it was a good way to tour Chicago on foot. This would be the Marathon that I recommend for people after Disney.

We managed to run Jen's Godmother Donna in for a new Personal Best.

1st Friday Night Skate. 2005

My first ever Friday Night Skate was in 2005 when I participated in the kickoff to the 2005 season in early June.


My buddy Jason Strimas did it with me. You can see various TISC/TBN friends like Kevin M, Randy, Richard A, and Mike L in attendance as well.

I can't believe in all my years in Toronto as a Rec Skater I had never heard about this weekly fun skate through the downtown core. I wish I could do this skate more often.

I feel pretty good!

I actually feel suprisingly good today given the 106km skate yesterday! A bit tired, but none of the muscle soreness I normally feel after most Ultra Distance. It was a bit tougher teaching my Kickboxing class at noon from an endurance standpoint, but I could perform all my moves with no difficulty.

Again, I should not have had such a big meal tonight for dinner before bedtime.

I should consume a majority of my calories in the morning and afternoon.

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Strawberries and Yogurt. Vector and Nature's Path Rebound Cereal in Soy Milk. Gazpatcho Soup with hot sauce and pickles. Whole Wheat Pasta with zuccini, onion, mushroom, spinich, veggie soy "ground beef", in pasta sauce and salsa. hot veggie pickles. Frozen Berry, Soy Milk, Greens Eccinicea, vitimin D, banana smoothie. Fish and Flax Oil.

Hamilton Boxing Day 10 Miler 2005

One would think there is a scarcity of running events in December given the holidays, but there were actually quite a few fun runs out there during the holidays that kept us running in anticipation of the Disney Goofy Challenge in mid January of 2006. The Hamilton Boxing Day 10 Miler was yet another winter run in cold, wet conditions, but it was made pleasant by the running into our good natured friend Martini, who worked with Jen at Texas Instruments. I ended up doing the run with him, and there were some challenging hills on this course! Despite the freezing rain, it turned out to be a much better experience than the New Years 5km we did less than a week later that had Jen and I sliding around in a heavy snow-storm. I found it next to impossible to run in a foot of snow on top of ice.

What I love most about athletic events is the swag, particularly when it departs from the usual t-shirt (my walk-in closet is drowning in race t-shirts). Registering for the Boxing Day 10 Miler earned us those snazzy red quick dry running vests complete with pockets for water bottle and an embroidered snowman.

Montreal Inline Marathon (Festival de la Sante) 2004

The Montreal Inline Marathon was part of the larger Festival de la Sante Montreal Marathon event at the beginning of September that is geared mostly for runners, but also included cyclists and an inline race. The course was simply wild. Starting on the bridge overlooking the Expo site, down hairpin off-ramps and on-ramps, taking us around the Formula 1 track, over the bridge, along the shore and all around Montreal, including the old city where we skated over cobblestones at one point. For an experienced street skater like me on my old Nike 78mm rec skates, it was a blast.

They cancelled the inline portion of the Festival de la Sante in 2006, which was dissappointing given the fact that this had become my second favourite race after the NCM which kicked off inline season in Ottawa (the NCM cancelled their inline race in 2007). The good news is that this year they are holding an inline race the same weekend out on the Formula 1 track on the same course where Nationals were held last year. Jen and I have tentative plans for her to be running the same time I am skating.




My race finished much earlier than Jen's, so I jumped on coarse to run her in as she approached the end. The photos below are pretty funny because it looks like I am running in the Marathon in my flip flops carrying a huge knapsack containing all my skate gear. I got some strange looks from the folks on the sidelines cheering people into the finish.




Jen and I turned this into an active vacation by bringing our bikes and cycling around Montreal a couple of days later, before heading for Vermont for some hardcore hiking in the mountains. We then returned to Montreal the following weekend to participate in her Uncle Danny's Montreal Triathlon.

The Wellend Canal Trail Mission Report

A group of us went out to The Welland Canal today in search of a Mythic Trail based around rumour, inuendo, and various cave-drawings that Jay had stumbled across.

Jen got me up after I hit the snooze button. Luckily she had set the alarm on both her watch and her phone as well. We were in bed by 11:00, so I got a pretty decend night's sleep for a change. I met up with Jay in Etobicoke, and we headed for Joel's in Burlington.

The Scooby Gang consisting of Jay, Joel, Stephen, Carla and myself piled into "The Mystery Machine" (Joel's Van) and headed off to the unexplored wilds of the Niagara Wine Region.

I'm happy to report back that there is 42km of skatable trail that is mostly wonderful to skate. However, there are a few portions that are a bit more technical, including sections where gravel is scattered intermittently on otherwise smooth prestine asphalt. There are also quite a few hills including some that require an extra bit of maneuverability. The descent down the escarpment might give some folks trouble. Gates, Railway Tracks, bridges, heavily trafficked intersections, small children, convenience store domestic disputes, and Tourists were all obstacles we encountered along the way. Street Skating skills are highly recommended if you are to undertake the entire trail, however there are smaller sections that are ideal for those who are looking for a skate similar to the Toronto MGT.

The best part of the Welland Canal Trail is the fact that it links up with the Friendship Trail, which adds another 24km of smooth paved surface to skate on.

As for the skate itself, what a wonderful experience it was. According to my GPS, we managed to log in about 106km today. A bit more than our anticipated 84km due to the fact that we decided to add on a portion of The Friendship Trail to the skate at Joel's suggestion to up our mileage to 100km. It turned out to be an excellent idea given how nice the Friendship Trail is. It is built on on old railway bed and is a pleasure to skate given how smooth it is. The only drawback is that there is generally a road cutting across every km or two. I seem to recall most of the Wellend Trail being quite flat other than a few sections, including a steep climb up the escarpment, which led to a quick descent on the way down. We opted to take the road which had a good roll out.

There were a variety of technical challenges which kept it interesting, but you can't beat the scenary on a skate like this. There was suprisingly little traffic along most of our journey given how nice a Trail it was. Luckily we are all skaters of similar ability, so the pack stayed together quite well for the most part. The Gravel was a bit of an issue as well, but no luckily no one fell despite some stumbles. As a group of experienced skaters, I think we were all pretty good about calling the obstacles, and luckily Joel was familiar with the sections along Port Colburn.

We found a couple of nice places to stop... Port Colburn had a Food Basic and 7-11 that we used to fill up our water supply and eat some bananas. We also had a quick break in Thorold for the best Freezie Pop I've ever eaten, just before fun descent down the escarpment.

We were caught out in the rain for the final 10km or so, but it wasn't really that bad. Most of us are experienced at skating in the rain, and it wasn't too heavy.

Upon examination of the Bicycle Map we picked up at the Information Centre, we think it might be possible to do a 130+km loop that would take us down from the start of the Welland Canal to Niagara on the lake, through Niagara Falls, out to Fort Erie (a route I skated back in the days before they cancelled the Casino Niagara Marathon), up the Friendship trail and the final leg would be the 42km of the Wellend Canal.

Again, we'd be undertaking this with the same degree of exploration and wonder that Chris Columbus set out with to discover an Eastern Shipping route to the Orient. I'd imagine the roughest stretch would be the Niagara Parkway between the Falls and Fort Erie, although the short route between Welland and Niagara on the Lake is the major X-Factor at this point.

I'm very much looking forward to our next adventure as we undertake the Niagara Circle Skate!

WHAT I ATE TODAY
Vector and Nature's Path Zen Cereal in Soy Milk. Strawberries and Yogurt. Vanilla Cliff Shot. Cliff Blocks. Freezie Pop. Banana. Apple. Coke. Brownies. half a banana. 2 Lick's Gobbler's with all the fixin's. Frozen Mango/Peach/Pineapple, Greens, Soy Milk, ecchinacia, vitimin D, Soy Milk Smoothie.

Paintball. 1992

I used to love playing paintball back in the day. I can think of no greater incentive to run than the threat of bruising. I'm sure many more people could be incentivized to join The Cult of Running if they were chased by people brandishing paintball guns. So many people would run their PB's in races while fleeing their coaches brandishing paintball projectile firearms.

With my friend Adam back in 1992 at a fantastic outdoor paintball facility close to Waterloo.


More recent photos from a few weeks ago when we went to play paintball at Sgt Splatters as part of my frined Jason's Stag. Jason is the gentleman below being chased by the woman we hired to (un)dress as a police officer.

Missauga Half Marathon 2005

This day was memorable because Jen posted a new PB at close to the two hour mark in the half marathon.

Falling Rampage 10km Inline 2005

The Rolling Rampage earned the nickname "Falling Rampage" as the quality of the pavement had greatly deteriorated from the previous year. It is primarily a wheelchair race, who's participants could easily roll over the rough pavement, potholes and tar snakes that typified the pavement on the stretch of University Ave surrounding Queen's Park. However, for the Inline racers, it was a disaster. My friend and fellow Marathon Dynamics Inline Group member Kevin Mount (in the green below) took a spill on the timing mat around the finish area during the second lap, and I had to leap over him rather than dodge around in order to ensure my timing chip registerered my lap. Kevin only suffered a bit of road rash and finished the race. I later learned from Jen that another friend, Andrew T wasn't so lucky and dislocated his shoulder.

Photos courtesy of Peter and Kevin Noh.



Poor Andrew T!


In the photo below, I know it appears that Dave, Jen and I are cruel and heartless people laughing at Marathon Dynamics Coach Stephen's mishap. He actually was among the few who did not fall, but was simply resting on the comfy comfy concrete immediately following the race.


Despite the conditions of the road, I have to admit that I mourned the loss of this race the following year when there were no Road Races organized at all in the Greater Toronto Area in 2006, let alone a venue in the downtown core! I'm hoping that Queen's Park circle gets paved so that we can return to racing in downtown Toronto in the Rolling Rampage.