Hey Cervelo Guy, where do you live. Here in Ottawa, we still have 2 feet of snow north of the city. I XC skied this morning, 50K in a light mist, 3 degrees. On the drive home, I saw some of the roadies out for a Flemish style 3 degree ride in the rain. I'll stay on the skis as long as I can before I put the Kestrel on the road. Riding in this weather is for pro roadies :-). Last year I skied right until 1 week before Boston Marathon and squeeked in for a 2:59.52. Hoping the same works again this year (I did run 3 hours on Friday as my last Boston long run)!

Lived in Ottawa twice in my life. Every now and then I actually seriously think about moving back there. Even did my last year of high school there. You've got the Gatineau for x-country skiing. Lucky you. I used to live in Haliburton and the x-country skiing there is also fantastic. Love Ottawa as it's got such good bike and running fascilities. We'll run the tri there again this year on Aug 30th weekend.

Cervelo guy, see you at the Ottawa half Ironman. I hate this race but I have to do it since it is in my back yard. Don't get me wrong, it is a great race. I just don't buy the story about "flat and fast races". All this means is ~4:30 min of grinding at 160-175 bpm. At least on a hilly course like Wildeflower, you get some big descents to rest up on. Last year, was likely the only chance in my life to win a tri, but I choked by ~1.5 min and finished 3rd. All the Canadian studs were at the National Long course championships. This year, I'll be hard pressed to make the top 20 :-). But enough of that. I still hope to be on XC skis for 10 more days.

Hey, at least you guys got out. Over here near Montreal, it was drizzling rain all day - so I couldn't hit the trails - was relegated to 3 hrs. in the basement doing my ride and dreadmill. Probably the same for tomorrow. But I have faith - that there is be some Spring x-country skiing yet to come.

This year I plan to do the Ottawa Half too - I'll be in the bottom 20......controlling the BOP and having fun at my first Half.

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put the mettle to the pedal

I won't be sad to see the snow go away! I don't cross-country ski and I love to run. I got outside on my bike today for the first time in 2003. Got in a 62k loop and was seriously beat at the end. The last 20k was straight into a strong headwind and you just can't get ready for that no matter how many rides you do on the trainer. I'm figuring on making the trip to Ottawa on the 30th of August too. I was in Cobden for Canadian Long Course last year so I didn't race in Ottawa but this year I hope to. Is the course really that flat?

"Is the course really that flat?"

Really nice course. The bike runs along the canal and then the run is on the trails beside the canal. The best part is that the whole thing is closed off to automobiles, even the bike part. That rocks with no cars to contend with. The run along the canal was flat but the bike course did have a few gentle rollers, so it wasn't totally flat. It's definately a must do for the wife and I again this year. We just did the sprint last year, but the wife won her AG and I set 2nd fastest bike time in mine. Of course my run sucked as always so was out of the poduim!

My last x-c ski was 1 week ago today. I knew the end was near, so skied about 100 km over the preceding 7-day period. Since last Saturday there's been amazing meltage. (1 hour NW of Toronto)