ScorpyStell's blog

That’s the bike I want! The 2010 Cervélo S1 Ultera aero road bike.

A few days ago I paid a visit to my friends at Duke’s Cycle to drop my Specialized Stumpjumper mountain bike off for a tune up, as it’s been long overdue for maintenance and I didn’t quite trust my quickie tune up job. I’ve been riding this bike hard and love pushing a heavy gear. Actually, I’m always on the highest gear possible, and I’m usually left wanting to go faster but without a gear to shift to. Although this may be a mountain bike, I’ve made several adjustments to emulate the qualities of a road bike. Things like raising and moving the seat back, lowering and flipping the handle bar, and swapping in Armadillo slicks in place of the knobbies that came with the bike. It’s not the lightest of frames and has a front suspension fork, but I can easily manage speeds anywhere between 28 – 35km/h on it. It’s been at the back of my mind for a while and I’m thinking the next step would be to actually get a road bike and start wearing cycling shoes.

As I looked around the store, this Cervélo S1 road bike caught my eye. It’s a very streamline, sleek, light weight, full aero road bike. Absolutely stunning! Although a bit pricey, it’s actually a great price, and not to mention, value for a Cervélo. Instead of dishing out 3.5 grand or more for Cervélo’s higher end models (maybe I’d consider those if cost were no object, or if I was a serious competitor, but i’m not….yet?), this one retails for $2500, possibly $2000 if you get the 2009 model. The fact that the frame is constructed with aluminum as opposed to carbon, also helps brings the price down by at least $1000. As mentioned on the website:

Nowadays people are sometimes so blinded by “carbon” that they prefer a mediocre carbon frame over the best aluminum frame that is lighter, stronger, stiffer, more responsive and even more comfortable.

I knew I wanted to test ride this bike. To tempt me even more, I was told there was one left in my size that was yet to be built, so when I went to pick up my bike yesterday, I had the joy of taking the Cervélo S1 out for a test ride around the city. It was a slightly different feel from that of a mountain bike and would probably take some getting used to. The main difference I felt was in the lightness and braking. This bike was at least half the weight of my mountain bike and of course very aerodynamic! I started off slowish, just riding it in and around a few small side streets to get used to the feel of the bike, shifting gears, braking, and such. Afterwards, I was zipping down Richmond Street, flying by the shops on Queen Street, and riding alongside the heavy rush hour traffic on Bathurst Street. Before I knew it, it was time to take it back to the shop. Unfortunately, I did not get to put it through a true speed test, as city riding is a little less conducive to that with all the stop lights, people and obstacles. I guess that test will have to wait ’til next time. Nevertheless, this bike is very responsive, cuts through the wind like nobody’s business and is one sweet and fast ride! Now I just really want one!

Afterwards, I had a good, quick 11km ride back home on my newly tuned up Stumpjumer, which I still love very much. They did a great job on the tune up. Got my brakes changed and gears oiled. Everything was tightened up, working much more efficiently and I could’ve sworn I was going faster as I had shaved at least 5 minutes off my commute home. It was great!

My ride - 2005 Specialized Stumpjumper minus the knobbies which I replaced with slicks because I like to go fast.

I love long weekends. You know the weather’s good when you look out the window and all you see is people running, cycling, rollerblading, and walking to the beach with volleyballs and nets in hand. It just makes me want to get outside! On Easter weekend, I stayed in the city and focused on fitting in some good workouts, enjoying the outdoors, and getting together with family. The one thing that’s been missing from my workouts is my bike. I haven’t been on it for at least 1.5 years, which is a realllly long time! The last time I rode it was the day I wiped out and broke my clavicle. Not counting the times I used it on the stationary trainer. Since that event, I’ve been a bit hesitant about cycling again and have this fear of poles, riding over uneven surfaces and falling, but at some point I had to fight this fear head on. I love biking too much. Plus, it can get me places faster than rollerblades and walking. In anticipation, last week I dusted off my bike, pumped up the tires, and tuned it up. My goal this weekend was to get back on the bike.

I needed to restore my confidence in riding again, so on Saturday afternoon I took my bike out for a 20km ride along the beach and to the Leslie Spit. Easy route, no poles, just a few speed bumps in the road. Perfect. And I survived it without any broken bones! If anything, I think that experience has made me a lot more cautious about the surfaces I was riding on and for good measure, I also made sure that any major unevenness in the road was approached at as close to a 90 degree angle as possible. Yes, I’m a bit paranoid…for now anyways. I’ll try not to become too wreckless as confidence goes up. Aside from that, I was riding 27-30km/h, passing people on the path, and feeling pretty good about the whole thing. I’ll definitely be cycling more as the weather warms up.

Among other things, I also played beach volleyball, rollerbladed a total of 40km, took family members through a kettlebell workout, and did a spur of the moment 10 minute long cycle set. It was a great weekend and my legs were fried!

improved pole spacing, baby!

Since then, I have been biking to and from work and just the other day I rollerbladed past the site of the accident and was really happy to see that the bike path was newly paved in several areas and that some poles have been removed so that the spacing is not so tight and claustrophobic. Definitely a selling feature! I know I’ll be biking that route sometime soon and when I do I will race past where I left off!

I’ve been working out with kettlebells for almost 5 years now and have seen tremendous results. Everything from losing 40lbs to improved strength, speed, and athleticism, to being a more confident and successful person. It’s all about training the mind and body as a whole. Training hard really does carry over to every aspect of your life. I love my kettlebells and am always finding new ways of switching things up. Lately I’ve been getting more serious about testing my strength endurance and integrating kb timed sets into my workouts. This is a 10 minute Long Cycle test set I did after a fit test, kettlebell workout and some indian club work. I’m sure I could’ve gotten more reps had I done this earlier in the workout but I think it’s a good start. My new fitness goal for 2010 or later this year, is to work up to 130reps, compete in a Kettlebell Sport competition and of course, WIN! I think it’d be a good challenge, just to see how far I can push myself.

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Kettlebell workout of the day. Building functional strength and working the entire body with a series of compound movements involving single and double kettlebell swings, windmills, overhead squats, presses, and rows, topped off with a set of weighted pistols.

This was filmed exactly one year after I fractured my collarbone in a cycling accident. Serving as a reminder that setbacks create challenges to be overcome and opportunities to become better.

My latest project – My good friend Marc ‘Funk’ Roberts has just launched his 6 Week Jump Training Program. I designed the page layout, website, and all the photography. This program is designed to help you increase your vertical by 2-10 inches. By the end you will jump higher, run faster, get stronger, and be the best!I only did a few workouts and I was able to jump over a bench and overall it has helped me improve my beach volleyball gameplay!

Get your copy now at  www.funkjumptraining.com

Just launched – My latest design project and fitness venture.

www.funkrobertsbootcamp.com

I have teamed up with professional beach volleyball player Funk Roberts to teach a series of 16 boot camp sessions starting June 6, 2009. The boot camp will incorporate kettlebells, plyometrics, bodyweight exercises, cardio, speed and endurance training, core exercises, military calisthenics and much more. I’ve been the trainee long enough so this is another step I’m taking towards building up my teaching experience and becoming a trainer. What better way to achieve that than to dive right in and just do it! I’ve lost over 40lbs since picking up a kettlebell and would love to share my fitness/health/training knowledge to help inspire others to also achieve their goals. It’s going to be amazing! Come one, come all!!

This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend and work with world-class kettlebell athlete and fitness coach Steve Cotter at the Agatsu Kettlebell Seminar, hosted by Shawn Mozen. I’ve learned lots from Steve’s kettlebell and bodyweight dvds so to actually get to meet the man in person was an incredible inspiration.

He is an amazing coach and a very down to earth and approachable person, providing a high level of instruction and not to mention, demonstrated a very impressive level of athleticism that is beyond belief. It was great to see Steve perform some of his many feats of strength in person. Pistol dances, heavy bells, bottoms up clean and all that fun stuff.

The seminar consisted of quite an advanced group of individuals. Most of the people in attendance were trainers who had just undergone Shawn’s kettlebell trainer certification the day before. Given that, I knew I was in for a fantastic workshop.

It was approximately 6 hours in length. We began the workshop with some warm up drills and joint mobility moves then moved into some agility/bodyweight moves, kettlebell timed sets, pistol training, animal moves, and concluded it with some Qigong breathing exercises.

Up until this point, I hadn’t really done much kettlebell training involving timed sets, so this was all very new to me and provided a good challenge of mental toughness and endurance. It really forces you to tighten up on your technique and form and perfect your grip of the kettlebell as you must be at one with it in order to be able to sustain yourself for that period of time. As I learned, each lift has to be consistent and a single perfect form is better than a thousand incorrect ones. I liked it. I think this is something I will certainly be incorporating into my training.

I also got to work with the pro grade bells for the first time and now know what everyone’s been raving about. They are bigger than the classic kettlebells, and I must admit, they do feel really nice in the rack position and to hold because of the narrower handle. They are made of steel and all consistent in size, with varying densities depending on the weight. The main advantage being that when you switch from one weight to another, you do not need to relearn and adjust your technique or grip. This is especially advantageous if you are doing high reps/timed sets for the basic competion lifts – cleans, snatches, jerks, and long cycle.

I learned so much – not just on improving my kettlebell lifting technique and how to be efficient for timed sets, but also how to train my body for optimized athleticism. To do so, your body must be trained to move in all dimensions as opposed to forward and back. You must be able to get down low, react quickly and move swiftly. I really enjoyed the pistol training portion of the workshop. I was following Steve’s Mastering the Pistol DVD previous to this so it was great to get some in person instruction. Steve took us all through some basic progressions that would help prepare the body and eventually lead into doing a full one legged squat. The final part on Qigong breathing was also a highlight. I learned to do deeper breathing through the abdomen as opposed to the lungs along with 7 of the basic movements that go along with it. Aside from being very relaxing, this helps work the internal organs more and works to release any negative energy and tension the body holds.

After a hard days work, we all went out for dinner and in keeping with the kettlebell theme, we partied at a Russian bar afterwards. As we waited out in the cold, Steve tried telling the bouncer his name was Pavel but that didn’t have enough pull so we waited patiently in line with the rest of the people. Good times!

As an athlete, it is important to be at your best and to always be able to perform optimally.  To do so requires one to be both mentally and physically fit. Your body is a machine, much like a car. It requires regular maintenance and is powered by the fuel you give it. If you cut corners and feed it inferior grade fuel, performance will suffer. If you give it the best, premium grade fuel, you will have optimized the chances of high performance. Having said that, by cutting out all the junk, processed foods, refined sugars, and replacing it with natural foods and healthy fats, you will see a difference. It has been said that by purging your body of toxins, you will in turn revitalize your mind, keep energy levels high, and body fat down.

In an attempt to optimize my performance and to gain an extra edge, over the last 3 days I decided to go on a Fruit Detox program. Any extra weight and toxins I have is going to hold me back so it must go! I’m not an endorser on popping pills to achieve end results, and much prefer to do my cleansing through natural foods, which is one of the main reasons why I decided to try Jay Robb’s 3 Day Fruit Flush Detox. It claims that one can lose as much as 9lbs while on this program, no workouts necessary. Okay, I didn’t quite lose THAT much, but I did come close and couldn’t resist fitting in a couple of kettlebell workouts in between.

After having tried it, I was really surprised that it didn’t leave me hungry all the time and I still had more than enough energy for my workouts. However, I did crave food – especially on Day 1, where I was just consuming whey protein all day. Other than that, I like how this detox is very natural in the sense that you’re always consuming fruits/protein. The richest food I ever consumed was avocados. The program was especially easy to follow and keep to since I was swamped with deadlines at work and pretty much tied to my computer all day. I packed all my fruits the night before to save on time.

As for results, I lost 5lbs on the first day alone! Then for the remainder of the time I lost another pound, making it a total of 6lbs by the end of the detox. Not too shabby at all. I felt cleaner, my abs were flatter, I was revved and ready to go!

I feel great and would definitely do it again. The fact that it’s only for 3 days, I think anyone can do it.

Bottom line: Doing a detox for 3 days is a great way to lose a few quick pounds but not a quick fix solution for weight loss. For the long term, I suggest adopting healthy eating habits that include a good balance of fresh fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, and fats. If you’re in, you’re in all the way!

One move that I have always wanted to master is the Pistol. It is essentially a 1 legged squat whereby one leg is extended 90 degrees in front while you balance your bodyweight on 1 leg and lower your body until the extended leg is parallel to the floor. This is considered one of the most difficult feats in flexibility, strength and conditioning, so difficult that many are unable to do even one full rep. Well, I was up for the challenge and wanted to see if I can do 10 reps on both legs.

I recently purchased Steve Cotter’s Mastering the Pistol DVD. On the DVD, Steve reveals the secret to mastering this move by breaking it down into 3 components: balance, flexibility, and balance. You will get 3 workouts that help further reinforce and develop those skills. I had an easy time with all the warm up exercises but it was when I got to the actual workouts that I really began seeing my numbers increase, and not to mention, my legs got even stronger as a result! When I first started the program, I able to only do 2 or 3 in a row. I’ve only been on the program for 3 weeks and I’m already up to 10 pistols each leg! Simply amazing stuff!

For more info on Steve and to purchase the dvd, check out www.fullkontact.com