Wow we can’t believe six weeks have already passed! Where does the time go? Now that we look at the calendar we are finding out that there is just over three weeks left before the start of the BC Bike Race!

Last week John finally purchased the plane tickets. We are going to fly out of Boston, MA and into Vancouver on Air Canada. John did a fair amount of research on all the different air line companies and Air Canada seems to be the best one. It only costs $50 per bike box to fly anywhere in North America. Not too shabby compared to some other US companies that charge $300 to fly to Canada! The only thing left we need to do is make reservations at the host hotel for the few nights prior to the race.

The training has been going well for us so far. During the week days Andrew’s time is limited do to his job at Starbucks. To help cope with his work schedule he has been putting in 90-180 minute rides during the week depending on his work schedule. John has more freedom on week days and tends to put in more ‘structured’ work outs. However, we both have the weekends free which allow us to get out and log in big hours.

This past Saturday we went up to the White Mountains in New Hampshire with our buddy Chris Cyr. We picked up Cyr around 7:15am and then made the 1:15 drive up to North Conway, NH. We left North Conway and headed north on Rt. 16 and climbed over Pinkham Notch. If we weren’t so busy racing to the top of the mountain, or if John had remembered to charge his camera, we could have taken some sweet Mount Washington pictures. From the top of Pinkham Notch we descended into Gorham, NH. This would be our last ‘town’ we would pass through until we got back to the parking lot so we decided to grab a bite to eat. After refueling we headed east along Rt. 2 into Maine before heading south to climb over Evan’s Notch. Luckily it is Black fly season in Maine. The two of us inhaled our fair share of black flies as we again raced to the top of the Notch supplying us with an ample amount of protein! From the top of the Notch it was smooth sailing back to the parking lot. The totals for the day were about 87 miles in 4:22 with an average of 19.7. The ride was pretty tough with lots of climbing. Hopefully rides like this will help out during the race!

Sunday was the Trek/ Gary Fisher demo tour stop at our local stomping grounds, Bradbury Mountain State Park. John spent the morning riding some sweet New England Single Track. Andrew spent his morning at the demo truck helping out his sponsors. The turnout for the Demo day was huge! By far the largest number of people we have ever seen out riding on the trails. Andrew was able to lead a small crew of local juniors for a ride where they met up with John. It was great to help share some advice with the young guns. We took the juniors on a second loop up to the top of the mountain, gave them some tips and then ripped one track to the bottom. These kids are only 14 years old but man can they rip! Keep an eye out for these young up and coming athletes.

This weekend we will be heading up to the Rangeley Lakes Region of Maine for a long training camp. We will be up at camp for four days of solid training on mountainous dirt logging roads. We are even planning a day trip over to Kingdom Trails in East Burke, VT. This will just be another big block of training to prepare us for the BC Race. Check back next week for a full report on our training camp. Maybe we will remember to charge our camera… These photos will have to do for now.