Bacon Race Photos

More photos are online, some terrific shots of riders from all starts at www.baconrace.tk , thanks to Craig Hobbs for hiding in the shrubs for the pics.

 

Roddi Lega Update

Not only has Roddi provided an exciting recount of the last 6 months of training as a pro, but unfortunately his Team Norco EXC 1.0 hardtail was stolen last week.  Please keep an eye out on the trails for this one of a kind - bright yellow hardtail - spec'd to the nines.  The dead give away is the Roddi Lega on the top tube and the  Norco Factory Team on the tires.  Below is his latest update.

 

Hello Smurfs,

I last left off way back in November with my very exciting race updating from Costa Rica. And monkey, what good times you had reading that one. Well, you are about to take part in, "Roddi's Winter/Spring Update Jam '06". I would compare it very much to the fun had with, "Smuckers Raspberry Jam". Oh beans, here we go. From the months of January until March I headed back to Victoria for some training. This year my plan has been to train less overall hours but to work on more specific things like weights, intervals and chocolateering. It was a tough couple of months as I had taken record amounts of time off of the bike. This gave my hot, chiseled body a much needed rest. The problem was that the break made me morbidly obese. I became so robust that whenever I rotated it was my birthday.

So by the time I got to Victoria I found it difficult to burn the donuts off of my poo-nanny (bum). I rode my Norco road bike through Oompa Loompa amounts of pain and suffering during training because of my time off. Stink did I ever suck. On many of those winter days I felt super weak, just like the school girl skirt wearing Vancouver Canucks. Actually, I would compare the Canucks to Christina Aguilera because they think they are totally, like, bad girls, but they are actually only good for one thing, bikini modelling. Go Oilers Go! Back to Roddi now. My coach also made it hard on me this winter. We had a lot of steady paced rides that were survival of the fittest. Any rider that could make it through the winter of training we had is sure to be a gifted athlete both physically and mentally. I, on the other hand made it through with excuses like my doctors notes for my extreme cases of pre-menstrual cramps.

At the beginning of March I made a trip home to Edmonton. It was a rest week from our rock hard training and I just had to get back to mother Alberta for some outdoor rink hockey action. I did however do a few other things while I was back home. I visited the family, ate white glue, and got engaged to Kathryn. Yeah, that's right! The lovely Kathryn and I are going to be like chicken soup and crackers, like bean and cheese burrito's, like milk and cookies, like cream corn and salt, like what the hell am I talking about. We are getting married! I took her to our secret spot in the beautiful Edmonchuck river valley. I asked her to marry me and she said, "Yes, of course I will, you are super good looking and cool". SMURF YEAH!

By early April I headed down south to Monteray, California for the biggest (population wise) bike race/show of the year, the Sea Otter Classic. An estimated 1 billion (give or take a few) people come to see the races so it's always a good thrill. I got my new Norco EXC race bike when I got there and, OH NELLY, does it ever ride like a dream. Plus, it's a lime green color so if I ride by it looks like I'm riding a Kawasaki dirt bike. It's my 5th year of competing in the Sea Otter and every year it's dang stressful because the field is huge with over 100 guys, and filled with many Olympians and world class racers. This then makes me very nervous, which in turn gives me a wicked case of the butterflies and the never pleasant, pre race speelonker shuffle (die'r ree'r). It always happens when I think too much about my races. So I try to switch my thinking from the race to fun stuff like watching Canadian Tire commercials while eating muffins. But then my friends get really annoyed with me when I try to show them how good my new self ratcheting, solar powered hockey skates work while I have muffin chunks falling out of my mouth as I'm laughing. Bleah! One.... One bad joke, ah ah aaaahhh..... CRASH, BOOM, BANG, THUNDER AND LIGHTNING! Oh yeah, the race.

Well, I stayed for a week with the Norco team at the beautiful town of Carmel Valley. It was in a nice little rustic place and I roomed with Norco teammates Catharine Pendrel and X-treme free rider Gareth Dyer. The races went pretty well for this time of year. You see, as I wrote before I have been doing less overall hours. So this year I've been holding back with certain asbestos of my training. I have been saving my energy kind of like a hibernating bear. Yeah, that's what I am this year, a hibernating bear. In the past you could say I have been a little kid after a large coke and marshmallow blasted Fruit Loops. They explode out of the gate like a race horse but then when they have to eat their meat loaf they kick, scream, cry and throw a tantrum. Even pulling out well known tantrum techniques like the, "screaming limp perogy". That's when kids throw their fit while going limp, in order to make you, Dr. Claw (the evil one), have to carry them back to the supper table. Then after all that, they say, "I HATE YOU, HEEEEEEE HAAAAAAWWH, HEEEEEEE HAAAAAAAWWH (like a donkey)", and stomp on the ground to their room. Don't you love the sound effects. I would bet chicken nuggets (money) that the sound effects in this race update will win the, "Best Sound Effects in a Race Update" award at the '06 Race Update Awards (previously known as the "Oscars"). Well anyway, that , "kid", was pretty much me in the past for various reasons. I have been too fast in the spring and then before the important races in the summer I get poopy and stinky like an old piece of toilet paper. Okay, once again, back to the race. There were 4 races in as many days and they went fairly well. However, the conditions were absolutely appalling for the first 3 days of racing. It rained caribou and moose which is a step up from raining cats and dogs. This made the mud about a foot deep, and up to 2 feet in some places. I would say it was just like pudding only it smelled more like poo. No really, it was like a pig farm out there and we raced through the stuff. The final and most important race was the cross country. It dried up a bit and the course turned out to be much better. I started the race going nuts like a peanut M&M, but my candy shell melted very early. I went from about 10th place to 50th or so in less than a few minutes. I stuck it out like any good M&M would do and I rolled my way back up to 24th place. I was happy with this result because I had spent the whole second half of the race by myself in the wind and rain. I finished off feeling great and I was catching a bunch of strong guys that had been riding in a group all day. Good stuff.

Now I'm sitting here typing this from the place I'm staying at in Solana Beach, California. It's about a 10 minute drive up the coast from San Diego. I'm getting in some really good training on the many long climbs in the area. My climbing is the one thing I have to improve most, and there are 2 well known ways to become a better uphill rider. One is to climb all the mountains you can and the other is to drop a few pounds by using the, "Suzanne Summers Thigh master". I on the other hand have a much better idea. I'm going to eat Cadburys's Cream Eggs exclusively. That will allow me to spontaneously collapse and become a black hole, thereby making it impossible for anyone to beat me up any hill, because I will have eaten the climbs. Okay, now I'm REALLY not making sense because I have typed this whole thing while watching the Oilers beat the Red Wings in double overtime. Eh Le Boo!

Thanks to everyone from Norco, to all of you for reading and to Kathryn for saying, "yes". Roddi "Black Hole" Lega

 

Tuesday Night Mid Week Road Race Calendar

The series kicks off Tuesday May 2, with the weigh sales road race - a multi lap course.  Sign on begins at 6:30, racing 6:45 at the intersection of HIghway 16 and Range Road 214 in the parking lot.  Remember that these are training races and noth the world tuesday night championships.  The goal is to keep these casual and stress free.  Races will be cancelled in the case of poor weather.  There are 7 organizing clubs, so all participants have to be members of these clubs. The clubs include : Pedalhead, Juventus, ERTC, Velocity, United. The new additions are APTS (Aerobic Power) and Cranky's. The cost again is $ 2 and no IOU'S or payday loans. If it is cool with everyone we will again donate all money to the Sprockids program.

In terms of courses and events, we will not have any Crits due to the construction and overall quality of the Research Park.  We will have the RR at the Weigh scales, ITT at Villaneuve and a new course that adds on to the old one on highway 530.   We will again have a TTT and a 2-up TT as well. 

The schedule looks like this:

May 2: RR @ 6:45 Weight Scales (Juventus)

May 23: TTT (3-4 person)@ 7:00 RR 530 (ERTC)

May 30: ITT @ 7:00 Villeneuve (Cranky's and APTS)

June 13: @ 7:00 RR Weight Scales (United)

June 27 @ 7:00 2-up TT RR 530 (Pedalhead)

July 11 @ 7:00 ITT Villeneuve (Velocity)

July 25 @ 7:00 RR Weight Scales (APTS)

Aug 8 @ 7:00 RR Weight Scales (Cranky's)

 

 

A sneak preview of what's in store for this summer for Team United's Tim Heemskerk and Evan Sherman as they tackle a full Canada Cup XC series and cap it off with a shot at the Transrockies Title. Hey Brys, Our ambitions is finishing on the podium of the TR 2006. It's something new for both of us because it will be our first TR but we're gonna try and stay at the front of the field. Training and preparation right now is simple: our first peak will be the Canada Cup races and we're training for this very specific. Because endurance will be a main factor for both TR and XC MTB we keep doing some long rides every week. After this first peak Evan will prepare for Nationals and I'll try to continue my peak until the end of June. In June and July we'll have to sharpen our endurance by doing some really long rides together to train our bodies for the long days in this terrain. I'll be on "vacation" in Jasper/ Banff and Fernie in July and I'll be doing some longer rides with Evan up there. I'll be able to pre- ride the first 2 stages I hope so we know the tricky parts of the beginning of the TR. Not sure how our legs will feel after 3- 4 long days in the saddle in this terrain but we're both very fit and we're training properly to be able to finish this race very well. It will also become a mentally tough challenge like the stage races on the road I have done before. Having tired legs and defending your position in the GC. I hope we can stimulate each other to give 110%. We'll have to work on our "teamskills" to become a smooth engine by compensating each other weaknesses. The support of the shop is great and once everything had been finalised we have an advantage, because we'll be able to focus on racing only and save all the energy needed that could make the differences needed to finish up front. It's gonna be a hell of an experience for sure. Tim.

• Weekend Event Volunteer     15
• Weekend Race                       10
• Weeknight Event Volunteer   10
• Ride Leader                            10
• Mid Week Race                       5
• Club Ride Participation           5