Re-Building My Bike

Well it's that time of year.  I've had about as much running as I can handle this fall.  The huskies are great and it did keep me in shape, but the love is for the bike and I am ready to rip in 2011.  This week I have been re-building my bike literally and figuratively.

Literally 

Earlier this fall I cannibalized my road bike.  I moved 90% of the parts to a cyclo-cross frame.  I striped everything down.  Right down to the bearings.  It all gets a good sound cleaning. and then pieced back together into a proper road bike.  I actually find this entire process to be very relaxing, even zen like.

 square one

poor cross bike, it has no idea what is comming

road bike going to get a major face lift

In Saskatchewan we do it right.  We clean our bikes with diesel.

take it all apart, polish, rebuild

 Now that looks like a bike.

 And that is a hollow shell until next fall

Figuratively

Re-building everything.  Big news and Big plans for 2011.  A new year.  A new Team. A new city.  A new winter.  A new program with new tools.  More on all that later this week.

Tonight a new base period began with a little bike ride on the Saskatoon indoor running track.  I have never been so excited to ride around a 200m circle for 2hrs,  I was super stoked to be on my bike tonight.  You can expect to find me turning circles at the Saskatoon field-house every Sunday night.  play this video on loop for 2hrs and you get the full experience.

Training shall be based solely on feel,
while racing shall be guided by sensations and instinct.



Cuylar Conly 

CIS photos

Here are a few photo's from the CIS champs.  I still need some practice with this whole documentation thing.

Huskies Cruisin' down main street Sherbrook

pre-race hair cuts!

 Steffan went through a major transformation.

Steffan, as king of the jungle.

 Uh, yes there was a reason for this.

lol, safety scissors.

 Just a little off the sides.

 There was a reason for this too.

Race day and The million dollar hair cut.

A french braid Mohawk!

Can you believe this was actually encouraged. 

I quote from the race organizer "Just never-mind, there are plennty of bushes."

Green hair and electrolytes.

Mens Team Afterparty

Guys and Gals.

 ?

?

 Down Town Montreal, pretty cool place.

Limping around Old Montreal

Wow that was like 18,000 words.  Hope you enjoyed the visual insight.

Training shall be based solely on feel,
while racing shall be guided by sensations and instinct.



Cuylar Conly 

CIS

Well, I honestly have to say that my race at the CIS was rather anticlimactic.  It seems that all this running finally caught up with me.  I am overdue for a little R&R and I suspect that I am not the only one who wishes this race was one week earlier.  I may be frustrated with my race but there were stellar performance from the UofS huskies.

On the mens side the team pushed through difficult course conditions and the paings of a season of hard racing.  All of the men gave everything they could.  With breakthrough races by Eric Mueller, and John-patrick Waslen, solid efforts by Stefan Gerard and Riley Magee.  Matt Mazurik ran a good farewell race, this is his 5th and last year of University Athletic eligibility.  Samir Marin over came some painful injuries and was the best placed Sask-Man.  Although the numbers didn't quite add up this year the Huskies have a strong foundation and more depth then they have seen in years. So keep an eye out for the future.

The women raced very well.  As a team they collected enough finishing points to place in the top ten teams.  This is something that the Huskie Cross-Country team has not done in many years.  In medal contention was non-other than the Huskies own Caitlyn Warkentin.  Caitlyn ran fantastically with the race leaders until the closing kilometer.  Caitlyn placed fourth in the womens championships,  that evening she was named as Western-Canada MVp and as a Canadian all-star.  Caitlyn has one year of eligibility remaining and is more than capable of this championship.

The entire team is now on for some much deserved rest time.  Most of the mens and womens team will be moving indoors to tear it up on the track for the winter.  I on the other-hand feel that my bike has been idle for too long.  After some rest and some planning I will be back in the saddle to load the base for the 2011 season.


 Training shall be based solely on feel,
while racing shall be guided by sensations and instinct.



Cuylar Conly 
















Wait there's more-  I snaped a few photo's so check out the photo-b-log tomorrow.

CIS TOMOZ

Well we made it to Sherbrooke alright.  Over 12 hours late due to some unfortunate travel delays.  Our Scheduled flight at 2pm was canceled.  The next available flight was at 730pm.  This landed us in Montreal at 230am.  The team was put up in a hotel and on the road for Sherbrook at 9am.  We finally got into Sherbrooke at 1130am with much less sleep than anyone would have liked.  We all took a quick nap and were ready to carry on with the day.

I have to say I am very impressed by the adaptability of the Huskies Cross-Country Team.  No one wined or complained or made a big deal out of it.  Everyone brushed it off and carried on.  At this point I am convinced that nothing can slow us down.  This is a true measure of the professionalism of this team. 

As an athlete you do everything you possible can to control the outcome of your performance.  However there are always those things that will be beyond your control.  From the weather to a broken plane, when things don`t go the way you like you must be able to adapt and to manage the situation.  True champions will do this without being mentally affected, without spiraling into a defeatist attitude.  Running with the Huskies I find myself surrounded by champions.  Real competitors who know that the mastery of their minds and bodies will bring them greatness, not the weather not the course and certainly not any external excuses.

 This afternoon we checked out the course and ran a few primers.  The course is fantastic, located on a golf course with all kinds of exciting terrain.  Tomorrow will be one for the ages.  The girls race at 1230 and the guys are off at 145.  The race is 10km of mud and hills and boxing for position.  Tomorrow is a good day to be a dog.

I will try to remember to take some pictures, and above all else try to run myself blind.


Training shall be based solely on feel,
while racing shall be guided by sensations and instinct.



Cuylar Conly 

Better Late than Never

I have an update, and it is a little late.  Last weekend I traveled with the UofS Huskies Cross Country Team to Calgary.  The University of Calgary hosted the Stuart Cup cross country race.  The trip was a blast even if my race was a little off.  I got a little too enthusiastic with the pasta buffet the night before the race so I was feeling rather sluggish.  I tell you ten kilometers is a tough distance to run as a race.  I cracked with several kilometers remaining but I clung to a diminished pace and saw a slight recover in the final 3km.

My bi-pedal efforts this fall have paid off, and on the bus ride home I was named to the Huskie mens team for Nationals.  Next weekend the Huskies fly to Sherbrook, Quebec for the Canadian University Championships.  I had no expectations of my running performance this season, so I am very excited to be a part of this Team.  Those dogs joining me at Nationals are,

Samir Marin
Matt Mazurik 
EricMueller
Stefane Gerard
 Riley Magee
John-Patrick Waslen

 The Huskies will be sending an excellent team to Nationals and we intend to run ourselves blind.
More Huskie Cross Country news can be found HERE

Look forward to more immediate updates as Nationals approaches.

Training shall be based solely on feel,
while racing shall be guided by sensations and instinct.



Cuylar Conly 


 P.S.- I apologize for the strange "gaps" in this post.  It seems to be some kind of html error that I don't understand