Rennes; the race…

Posted on May 17, 2007

…report is online.  Navigate throught the site to find it!

-A.

 

PS: at the risk of being presumptuous, I will attach a link to google reader for those interested.  It’s a bit of work, but it will notify you if I update the site.  It’s a pretty cool little device that I heard about from Andrew Love.  Oh and Andrew, thanks for the comments bro.  It really is nice to have the efforts on the site appreciated.  Your site is, and has always been fantastic!

Quick Updates…

Posted on May 17, 2007

I haven’t finished or frankly spent much time on that report on Rennes, so I thought I would post a series of very breif updates… 

My hand… swelling gone, pain almost gone, scabs almost gone…

My shin…  scabbing almost gone.

The Chainring Cut… getting better, but man was it deep! I mentioned that my sock was full of blood after the race.  I wasn’t exaggerating.

A new pair of cuts…  I think this is a sign that my current boots are a little too high.  My next are a touch lower.  I may cut these ones down, because they are killing me.

My tattoo is healing nicely…

That’s a lot of hair…

:P
A dot com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 (end)

Back From Rennes…

Posted on May 15, 2007

So I am back from Rennes, and working on finishing the report on the race that I started while traveling back from france.  All I will mention now is that I enjoyed the travelling, though I can’t say it was especially luxurious.  I will also mention that after the race I felt terrible.  I felt like I did when I was a kid after racing my first marathons.  I could hardly bend at the waist, and my left foot locked up like you wouldn’t believe.  I took a long hot shower, and when the muscles in my foot relaxed enough to put my toes upward even a bit, my big toe kind of ‘clunked’ and went back into place.  It was one of the most releaving ‘klunks’ of my life.  I was in rough shape today, and all I could manage was a light skate over some of the Weinfelden Marathon course.  Tomorrow I am hoping to hit the bike for a nice long ride.  I was looking through a map book, and I plotted a course that I think I would really enjoy riding.  It includes a bridge over a river into Germany that I’ve been eyeing for a while now, just haven’t had the opportunity to spend the time exploring…

I hope the weather is nice for it tomorrow. 

Peter Michael just asked: “Are you guys racing the Swiss Nats?”  That’s the big question right now.  I have to decide tomorrow.  I’m really not sure about it right yet.  I guess I’ve got some serious thinking to do. 

I’ll keep working on the report, I do want to post a good one.

Cheers,
A.

To Rennes

Posted on May 13, 2007

I am on a train from Zurich to Paris as I write this, with just enough time, energy, solitude, and peace for a little introspection.  Not that it escapes me with as busy as I’ve been, but it hasn’t come to me in presence of my laptop. It usually finds me while I am on the bike, actually.  Now, here I am.  The countryside is beautiful.  I am sitting by myself.  Members of Athleticum Rollerblade are seated somewhere behind me.  There are audible conversations in every language that I am even remotely familiar wih; Various dialects of German, French, Spanish, Italian, and of course several different twangs of English.  A small bearded man in a blue suit and hat just asked to see my ticket while he had a brief conversation with his French colleague.  “Merci.” He said to me.  “De rein” I replied, and only then did he look up at me.  I noticed it was the first time he actually looked at me.  He studied me quickly, I’m sure to decipher the accent, clearly English, but…  He reminds me of the Ringo Star/George Carlin character from Shining Time Station, followed by glimpse memories of my brother Dean watching the show in his youth and collecting the toy trains; Thomas, Henry, James (the red one), and Gordon (the green one). It’s funny, my memory to me sometimes.  Please don’t ask me to attempt to understand why I remember which colours of which toys each train was named some twenty years ago.  Raphael Pflug just told someone they were the “master of the crossword”.  I don’t like crossword puzzles.  I do enjoy writing. To me it is therapeutic, and sometimes I feel like I am good at it.  I feel like I can, when the environment is right, put my thoughts into words in a way that is clear, and somehow more rewarding than in speech since I can share it through this website, with so many people, and of course with the people I love.  I haven’t yet, but I just wanted to quickly say hello and thanks to my mother, Sunday is mother’s day.  J  Hi mom!  I know this context isn’t great, but I am happy you are reading this.  You’re so current!  “My mom follows my website!”  How many people can say that?  Probably more than a few… anyway, I did want you to know how appreciative I am of all the help you’ve given me, especially since I went back to school.  Without you, things would be really different for me, and I know that not much of what I am doing or have done would have been possible without you.  I considered, for a long while, saying something at the party, but in the end decided that it would be ‘hokey’ somehow.  I know it probably would have been.  Then, I may have never taken the time to say it the way I would have truly liked, but this all means a lot to me, and I credit your help endlessly.  It’s funny how sometimes the small silly feelings get in the way of saying the larger important things in life.  I don’t think it is exclusive to my family, and I am from now on going to do more to ensure that doesn’t happen to me anymore…
The ticket man looking at me inspired me to write something specific, and so I pulled my laptop out.  I am in Europe, remember.  The Giro D’Italia starts this afternoon.  The prologue is a team time trial.  The big question is; who will be riding in the celebrated pink jersey tomorrow?
…What I had really wanted to write about is the less tangible differences in Europe from an American [and by that I mean North American] perspective.  I know that I’ve only been here for a very short time.  16 days today, actually.  I have a while yet to go, but it is interesting to me to see what it is that I’ve noticed so far.  The biggest difference that wasn’t obvious to me before I got here is that there is a different hierarchal order to what is important to people here.  What I mean is that there is far less emphasis on commercialism and consumerism here.  It just isn’t as much a part of the landscape, the importance, or the mindset here.  There aren’t franchised coffee shops on every corner, there is no grocery store that is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, where you can buy ripe mangoes 12 months of the year, and there certainly aren’t any buffet style, all-you-can-eat Kentucky Fried Chicken locations [yes those truly do exist, as awful as that sounds], or Wal-Marts with multi-football-field-sized parking lots within 16 blocks from every front door of every city.  This difference is manifested in the attitudes of people, their system of values, and in the culture here.  There is more social value in a fine wine, or a good cheese, or who it was that baked your bread that morning, and less on the ‘volume of food per dollar’, ‘how much do I get’ or the  signage to indicate the lowest cost of milk.  Shops generally aren’t open in the middle of the day, and the reason is simple; that’s just the way it is.  […and everybody’s just fine with that.]  The break at this part of the day was even a little longer during the Tour of Romandie, Switzerland’s largest cycling race.  (won by Thomas Dekker of team RaboBank this year.)  I think the “I don’t know, its just different” I’ve heard so many times by people can be explained by this hierarchy.  I don’t have it all figured out yet, but I know this is part of it.
I have not heard flattering things about this race this weekend.  At the house we all had a good laugh at how awful it was going to be last night, actually.  Rain, slippery, cobbles, narrow, corners, metal grates, diesel covered pavement, hills, paint, and a “stupid-hard” pace that is sure to be set by the ‘better rain skaters, and those on the right wheels that day.  Apparently, “When Chad did this race, he was lapped out twice.”  The thing is, the course is 3.5km.  Ouch.  I remember Kalon saying that; “If you haven’t raced Rennes in the rain, then you’re not a real racer.”  And that if “you’ve done Rennes in the rain and not crashed, you’ve done something pretty spectacular.”  I think that was my favorite quote of the night.  The boys at the house are a lot of fun.  It is funny to me to hear their vernacular in action amongst themselves.  It really is a different language.  Some of the phrses they use!  It is going to be a hell of a race this weekend, and I mean that in the most non-flattering sort of way.  I will finish, but I am starting the race in my team suit that is already ripped up.  I booked my ticket home a day later than everyone else to spend some time in Rennes, and Paris.  With the WIC comp’d hotel room, and an already purchased departure ticket, I just couldn’t resist.  I will arrive late Monday night, and travel solo.  I brought my laptop so that I could write during the return train back to Zurich.  I hope that all goes well.  One word of advice though; when you purchase train tickets in Europe, be sure to purchase a reserved seat.
Aaron Richard Arndt

Today…

Posted on May 10, 2007

 
Today was a bit of a busy day.  After a few tough [for various reasons] practices this week, including lasts night’s sprint workout with the likes of Diego Rosero, Kalon and Shane Dobbin, Scott Arlidge, Dj Nation, Danny Finster, Peter Michael, Ruban Martinez, Wayne Begg,(Hi guys, thanks for checking in)… Nicole Begg, Andrea Gonzalez, and a host of others that deserve equal mention, I wasn’t feeling the greatest physically or mentally (frankly) so I went out for a moderate bike ride in the hills [of Kruezlingen and Weinfelden] by myself so enjoy some scenery, spend some time thinking, and of course to feel better.  Here are the stats from the solo ride:
05/10/07:
Ride time: 1:39.30
Avg. HR: 139bpm
Max HR: 168bpm
HR Zone (135-170)
      Time in zone: 1:22.16
                 above: 0:00.00
                 below: 0:17.14
Kcal: 958
Distance: 43.45km
Avg. Speed: 26.2km/hr
Max Speed: 66.3km/hr
Avg. Cadence: 93rpm
Max Cadence: 118rpm
The ride was really nice. I just took my time, rode around, got to know the roads a bit, climbed some hills, had some fun with descents, and even stopped by to see who was at the track, and to see Andrew and Sigrid at their place in Weinfelden.  I listened to some great music, and even managed to listen to the complete album; “Carnavas” by the Silversun Pickups, that I’ve been meaning to listen to for a while.  It’s good.  I like the vibe that album had for me on the ride.  Anyway, the highlights were definitely the mountainous skyline, and the decent into Kruezlingen. 
Some food, some cleaning, and a shower later, I headed out with Wayne to go to an expo for the BEE Company, a sponsor of our team for a few hours.  They manage 24/7 call centers and other services for various companies.  We have met the owners and the “High-ups” already, and get along with them well.  The team is even on their company posters and other media pieces… (which reminds me: I need a haircut.)  There is one huge picture of Jasper on one of their posters that I thought was kind of funny.  It always seems to fascinate me to see the types of pictures that non-skaters pick out as “good ones”.
After that I had a bit of food, prepped my skates for a ~50min workout/skate on the streets and paths around here.  It was really fun.  I just explored and booted around since I missed the group skate Kalon and the boys had set up out of the house while I was at the expo.  I felt alright on skates tonight.  It seems I always feel ‘alright’ when I skate by myself here, since I don’t have to attempt to manage the pace that the number of current and former world champions tend to train at, and I actually have the chance to warm up, and work on my form.  At the end of the skate, I followed the “around the lake path” as far west as I could to attempt to find the Frolf course, which I did.  I was excited to see the first frolf basket, as the boys at the house give frolf such a hard time, and now I could show them that it actually exists.  Anyway, I cooled down, and got back to the house with just enough time to change, head down to the course, which is about a three minute skate from my front door, and explore the rest of the course/throw a quick round.
For all my frolfing friends back home that might actually take a look at this site, the course isn’t nearly as well maintained as White Spruce.  We really should feel privileged to have such a great course in Brampton.  It is world class.  The course here has no set tees, I just shot from the basket of the previous hole.  The placement of the pins was rather remarkable.  It seemed that they would just be on the front lawn of someone’s house, behind a tree of the side of a foot path, or at the foot of a small castle.  Yes, castle.  It is a really cool park though.  I couldn’t resist playing on the zip lines after my last hole, or noticing the huge chess board/set where the pieces came up to my shoulder… or the outdoor table tennis (ping pong) table, and the mini-golf course.  There is even a petting zoo.  [Oh that reminds me… at the expo, there were two loose baby goats.  I had no idea goats were so cute!  I pet one.  Or I petted one.  Spell check didn’t grab “petted”, so I’m sure it’s a word.  I just invented a website!  www.isitaword.com …does that count as a trademark?  It should. Oh, that was how my brain usually works, by the way…]  Anyway, this is getting long, and I am rambling and probably losing your interest, so I will wrap it up.  With my trusty yellow Champion Aviar, I shot pretty much par (3) for every hole I could find, with a few bogies, (not boogies, Jake Maas) and no birdies.  It was a fine, fine day, though busy.  I leave for Rennes, France and race Sunday.  It will be my first time in France, and I am excited, though I would like to stay longer.  I hope to get a better chance to do just that in July.  The Giro starts Saturday!!!  I am excited about that too.  Oh, I may race the Swiss National Championships next weekend, depending on how I’m feeling.
Goodnight all,
Aaron.

Report

Posted on May 9, 2007

…it’s up.

Sorry again for delay.  Enjoy.

-A.

 

in case you can’t use the very simple buttons:
http://aaronarndt.ca/articles/basel/

Basel Report…

Posted on May 8, 2007

Long before leaving for Switzerland and skating the 2007 WIC, I estimated that my role on this team would be limited and for the most part defined.  Skating on a team of established WIC skaters and strong athletes, as a rookie from Canada it was entirely possible that I would be the weakest link on the team, and likely to be the case.  It seems as though this is becoming evident.  While I feel good for the most part in training, the racing is a different story.  I do feel that my fitness is good or at least adequate, but it is as if it isn’t translated into the races.  The racing and skating here is so fast that my technique falls apart long before I am able to apply any said fitness.  The frustrating thing is that before this happens, I feel as good as ever, and as good as anyone else in the pack.  I feel good technically, and was even feeling good on the track during may last few practices (which was a bit of a nice surprise to me). For the first time since I can remember (before accident etc.)  I was skating through a corner on a track flat-out, through the apex.  While I do think that with some more confidence and control I can run them a little bit faster, I was pleased to feel fast on the track and keeping up just fine, though everything still needs some work, and I fatigue long before everyone else. I think the hardest part of the first part of this season will be managing my rest with training so that I can feel good for the races, but do all the work I need to in training, which, frankly is far more than the other skaters here since I have a large enough gap to close.

I won’t include details of the Basel race in this post, you will have to look under my reports section, as I am hoping to get some traffic there as well as my journal.  I will write a full report and you can navigate through “articles”, as well as through “WIC Schedule”. 

…I am hoping to type the report up tonight, as I just got back from training at the track.  It’s pretty cool to show up to the track and to just have heaps of fast skaters.  There are normally at least two packs to jump between if the top guys are ‘killing it’, and both are usually bigger than any pack at a training session in the history of Canadian inline skating.  Cool cool cool.  Anyway, I will write that report and post it up tout suite. Come back, and take a look through the site to find it!
-A.

Sorry for the delay…

Posted on May 7, 2007

Hi All, I am back from Basel, but don’t want to rush my report or blog post, so I will wait until I have enough time to write this one properly.  Please excuse the delay, but please check in again soon to read the full report on the 2007 Basel SIC/WIC 25km Team Time Trial.
Aaron.
PS: For now, here are the stats from yesterday’s recovery ride:
5/06/07;
Ride time: 1:42:36
Avg. HR: 109bpm
Max HR: 154bpm
HR Zone (135-170)
      Time in zone: 0:10.22
                 above: 0:00.00
                 below: 1:34:14
Kcal: 726
Distance: 41.6km
Avg. Speed: 25.3km/hr
Max Speed: 66.6km/hr
Avg. Cadence: 89rpm
Max Cadence: 108rpm

It was nice, but did include an altercation with an aggressive driver, and Danny Finster [aka D.Finisher] riding in hot pursuit.  It was somewhere between alarming and hilarious.

Basel: 25km Team Time Trial [+ this stupid hand…]

Posted on May 3, 2007

I leave tomorrow for Basel, Switzerland for my first WIC race. It is a team trial format, 25km, five laps of a 5km circuit. Five skaters start, and the time is given to the team according to the third skater to cross the line. In order to receive WIC points, the fourth and fifth skaters must cross the finish within 5 minutes of the finish time of their team.
Today my team gathered in Frauenfeld to train for the TTT, we tried to figure out the order of who drafts who, and who will start the pace etc etc. It was pretty cool actually. We decided that I will start the race, and find the initial pace, followed by Giovanni, Dario, Jasper*, then Wayne, and we will repeat this order in intervals according to the more acute race conditions. It is supposed to rain all day Saturday in Basel, which could be an advantage seeing how MY TEAM DREW FIRST!!! Ouch! Yes, my team will start the TTT first, which could make things interesting depending on how the rain plays a factor. We are followed by Matter, then Spirotiger (Who, by the way should be in top form after ‘tigering it up’ this afternoon. Though this may have caused them to skip the hockey game.) each a minute apart in start times. Anyway, it was a pretty cool day, and we spent a lot of time at the track. Wheel choice will be tricky, and will be chosen around the rain. Yellow Matters are pretty much the standard for just about everyone here. You see the odd Green Matter, but their dominance here is obvious. Anyway, Red Matters will be in use if the rain comes into play, but the real gem is this Matter rec. wheel with flags painted on them. People are making calls to retailers and distributors, and even pulling wheels off of some powerslide rec skates with those 100mm wheels on them, and replacing them with wheels that retail for nearly ~twice as much. It’s actually pretty funny. Those wheels are an extremely hot commodity with the forecast this weekend looking like certain rain. I was pretty excited when we decided today that I would start up front first. I thought that was really cool, and I am a total geek, but it meant a lot to me. I just hope I don’t start too fast or slow. In practice, I started a little too fast, and the boys let me know it. It will be really interesting to see the time gaps, and follow how we finish. It is my first team time trial, and there is a lot to it. You don’t just show up and bang off a bunch of really hard laps. First of all, its 25km. You have to be conservative, but not too conservative. It’s kind of like “time trialing goes extreme” or something like that. Anyway, this is likely my last post until I get back from Basel, and write a real report, my first since I arrived here. Anyway, after training, I got a cell phone for like $45, including the $15 worth of credit on it. I can receive text messages for free, and local calls as well. I plan on using it exclusively locally. Then played a game of hockey. I am off to get some good rest, and take it easy until training tomorrow morning at 10am, then we leave for Basel!!

Oh, and my hand looks like it was stung by a thousand bees.

Wish me luck,
A dot com.

*Newteammate in place of Christoph who is out for the season with a herniated disc in his lower back. I will explain later, but my new Teammate is Jasper Corne.

Oh, and DJ Nation is cool. He has a Lung volume of 7.2L. He’s basically an ox.

PS…

Posted on May 2, 2007

Oh, and you should have seen the [called] frolf putt into the goal net from ~100m.  Andrew and Bill Begg were witnesses.

hell of a shot.  :)

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