I’ve ridden bikes pretty much my whole life. When I was young I moved lawns to earn money to buy my first mountain bike, and was a trail rider growing up. Eventually my fascination for 2 wheels morphed to motorcycles and I spent several years in New Mexico enjoying the brrrrapp life. This continued when I returned to Maine in the northeast US (where I grew up), however the lack of a long riding season combined with a relatively serious (but NOT motorcycle-related) accident cooled my enthusiasm for motorized varieties of 2-wheeled fun.

Enter road cycling, first single speed, then fixie riding, in Maine, then NYC where I lived part time for a couple years. A cycling vacation in Croatia in 2016 sealed the deal and in 2017 I bought a proper road bike and joined the McGill Cycling Team.

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Let’s goooooooooo! #newkit #ilovewinterbut

A post shared by Johnny Venom (@johnnyvenom) on Jan 11, 2018 at 3:30pm PST

2017 was a year of cycling milestones that seemed distant and impossible, but incredible to reach and surpass. Improved physical and mental health followed, and new friendships and strange tan lines formed. A long winter of indoor training came and went and in 2018 the team drove to Salem, South Carolina for the annual week-long spring training camp.

In a nutshell: 20ish student-athletes rent several cars and drive 18 hours overnight from Montreal to South Carolina (longer when we drive through a blizzard, which is basically guaranteed each year). We arrive at a large house on a lake, and each day is the same: get up early, eat everything, assemble in appropriate riding groups and ride the Smokey Mountains in and around the confluence of South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia. 8 days later, after hundreds of kms in the saddle and many thousand meters of elevation climbed, we clean the house, pack our bikes back up and drive 18 hours back to Montreal.

Photo Gallery

Let's GOOO!!!

McGill Cycling Team 2018

McGill Cycling Team 2018

Coach Miller with the fashionable gas station shades

Top of Caesar's Head climb

Top of Caesar's Head climb

Fashionable men's group

ees hard work, eh?

some truly horrifying food creations.

Lake house

the man, the myth, the legend Dilly Jorgs

clean mech is happy mech

clean mech is happy mech

Rides:

• Morning Ride
  On 10 Mar, 2018 08:59 went 14.25 km during 00:42:00 hours climbing 321.00 meters burning 411 calories.
• Day 8: Epilogue
  On 10 Mar, 2018 08:59 went 14.29 km during 00:42:13 hours climbing 321.00 meters burning 404 calories.
• Day 7: Final chapter better make it count
  On 9 Mar, 2018 09:15 went 170.24 km during 07:27:53 hours climbing 3,944.00 meters burning 5,150 calories.
• Day 6: Who needs recovery rides?
  On 8 Mar, 2018 10:45 went 120.05 km during 05:05:03 hours climbing 2,476.00 meters burning 3,451 calories.
• Day 5: 1 ride through 3 states
  On 7 Mar, 2018 09:08 went 144.34 km during 06:04:57 hours climbing 3,464.00 meters burning 4,553 calories.
• Afternoon Ride
  On 6 Mar, 2018 13:37 during 00:00:12 hours
• Day 3: Unplanned visit to Brevard
  On 5 Mar, 2018 09:41 went 91.52 km during 03:39:22 hours climbing 1,619.10 meters burning 2,637 calories.
• Day 2: waking the legs up
  On 4 Mar, 2018 10:24 went 110.52 km during 04:25:56 hours climbing 2,274.60 meters burning 3,445 calories.
• Day 1: prologue - post 17hr drive neighbourhood ride
  On 3 Mar, 2018 15:08 went 23.83 km during 00:58:01 hours climbing 451.90 meters burning 721 calories.
• Afternoon Ride
  On 3 Mar, 2018 13:48 went 1.95 km during 00:16:52 hours climbing 52.40 meters burning 85 calories.