end of an era

Well kids, it's been fun. Blogger that is. It is with a bit of regret that I leave behind the wonderful world of [dot]blogspot. What started out as a way for me to keep my Ottawa community informed of my adventures during a rather impromptu trip to Europe to race cyclocross in the fall of '04 has gradually turned into the main pipeline of information for all things GReain related. Frankly it's becoming a little too much for this format to handle.

And with that, I would like to present the new online home of GReain

All your favourite things are still there, including, yes, the crazyfast blog. There is also a news page & archive, schedule, and many other things soon to come. All content from the checkonetwo blog has also been transferred, including a new [chart] page for those of you curious enough to care about what I'm listening to.

So this isn't really a goodbye, more of a "see you there"

ciao
//GR

Friday Tidbits

There is another interview type thingy of me floating around on the web. Race.cx is "cross love from the soggy northwest", set up by Molly Cameron and flat-mate Brian Ellin. Molly was here in Belgium with us participating in the mighty beat-down of North American 'crossers, 06/07 edition.

St. Niklaas went off on Tuesday of this past week and it did not disappoint. Fast, muddy, sandy, sketch. I turned out a top 20 there, but didn't feel like I was riding especially well. I'm kind of surprised that in the 3 years that I've done this race, no one has been ejected from the sketchy off-camber traverse into the lake. I think that the fans are secretly disappointed about this.

I ate shit training today. Basically I was descending a trench-cut sandy downhill at a good clip, started to feel the groove, pedalled a couple of times, then clipped my left pedal, flipped over, landed pretty heavy on my left side and then continued to slide downhill head-first on my back in the middle of this sandy bobsled run. Ouch. Took me a little while to get up and now my knee is kinda sore. No helmet, so I was lucky to get away with a toque-full of sand. Note to Americans- a wooly hat is a toque, not a wooly hat. Jeez.

Next stop- the 2nd annual Scheldecross in Antwerpen on Wednesday 10 December. All the Euro nations have their championships this weekend, so no racing for us.

Countdown to Worlds = 23 days.

//GR

2007 - is it the new 2006?

A couple of interesting things going on...

1. The guys at cyclocrossontario.com have started up an online drive for funding to support the Canadian athletes going to CX Worlds in Belgium on January 27/28 2007. It's a pretty cool initiative and if anyone feels like pitching, head on over there.

2. There is a New Years phone interview with me posted up on roadie.ca right now. Just click on my face. No, it doesn't look like I'm actually talking at you but I do look a little stoned.

3. OK, this is the exciting one. Jason of roadie.ca has started a special "pro talk" forum, in which I will be the January "pro talker", or whatever you want to call it. He didn't blackmail me with secrets from my past, honest.

Racing news-

1. I took the hiding of a lifetime at the World Cup in Hofstade on 26 December. I was expecting it, but that didn't really make me feel any better about it. Turns out that racing once in the preceding month and being sick for a week beforehand wasn't great preparation. Who knew? The upside was that I wasn't alone in the caboose group- Wicks bodyslammed a tree, Powers just felt crappy, Troy Wells made us all suffer needlessly, and Tonkin tried to demolish the wooden stairs with his face. Not a pretty group of North Americans, to be sure.

2. Raced the SuperPrestige in Diegem on 31 December. Got a decent start position and once again found myself in the North American group but this time we didn't get lapped. Powers decided he was too good for us today and turned in a stellar top 20 result, Wicks made the group ahead of ours, and Eric stayed upright. Troy continued to put the smack down whenever the course opened up, and I felt a little better than I had 5 days previously.

3. Next race is tomorrow in Sint Niklaas. Love this course, and it will be the only race along with the Hoogerheide World Cup that I'll have done in each of my three seasons here. I hope to continue towards finding some form here.

//GR