2006 Year in Review > > >

whew - what a year! this year has to considered (by me) as one of the doozies so far in my life. 2006 started with some heavy personal stuff which was followed by a spring and summer of great racing and riding which was quickly followed by more heavy stuff (death of bk) and finally ended with some uplifting personal stuff. here are the hi-lites...

feb-mar

i had booked a flight to arizona in the fall of 2005 cuz i had a credit i had to use. i had no plan whatsoever beyond going there and riding my bike. i was hoping to get there with some miles in my legs so i rode like a madman in feb-mar to insure i was in shape to take advantage of the warm weather once i was in arizona.

april

tucson. serendipity. i ended up hooking up with cummings, kovacs, dalgleish, bk, keech, and young for 8 days of riding in the desert. it was cool to live like a pro - if only for a week - and the fitness level found after such an effort was remarkable!



may

started racing and found i was in incredible shape! in my first crit i finished 6th and felt like i could have done it again! i was very unsure of my form and myself - however - i would sort that out by canmore. in canmore i was racing with the cat.1/2's and felt incredible. our average speed for the event was 45kph! and the race was held right in the middle of canmore. its too bad the weather was so crappy or i am sure there would have been a bigger crowd to cheer us on. i ended up finishing 3rd overall and 1st in my category! I WON! I hadn't won a race in 11 years! AWESOME! after that result i fianlly found the confidence in myself and began to truely believe i could reach my season objective of winning the provincial criterium race in july.



july

canada day crit. i have historically had no luck at this event. i had never finished it before due to getting dropped or taken out by crashing riders - so - i was somewhat nervous going in. adding to that nervousness was the fact that the provincials were the very next day. as soon as the gun fired i attacked off the line and went as hard as i could to the top of the hill. i figured that since i had never finished this event before i was going to go all out from the gun and make the others suffer. i wanted to be the hammer, not the nail. anyway, i finished the race - hooray! - and ended up in 4th - doublehooray!!
provincials. the overriding story on this day was the course. super-bumpy-choppy-hairy! the short version for ya - started the last lap in about 20th position (very bad), faught my way up to 13th with two corners to go, faught my way up to 8th with one corner to go - finished 4th. i was disappointed at myself. so much so that it has had the effect of motivating me to continue for another year and work harder than i did last season to try and win this race. on a separate note, i also was able to take a holiday this month and went to silver star, sun peaks, and whistler for some freeriding and beer drinking. both were done to excess.






autumn and winter

well, fall was a time for sadness, reflection and friends. this was the season we lost Brian Kullman - bk. all of us that knew him could not understand how something like this could happen to such a nice guy. the upside - if there is one - is that many, many people in the cycling community have become better friends and i believe that new connections between people have been created while old friendships have grown stronger. when i think of bk - i think of this incredible gift he has given me. we will miss you bk - you crazy mofo! on a happier note, my father moved out from ontario during this season to try and forge new relationships with me, my brother and my son. to his credit he is working really hard to expand his bubble, try new things, and to build real relationships with his boys and grandson. hats off to you Dad! Thanks for finally catching the ball and throwing it back to me.

i am so excited for 2007. so many new things boiling right now - i can't wait to see the results. happy new year to you all and may your dreams come true in 2007.