Pigeon Lake Road Race

Finally there are some photos available, check the photo gallery or  www.interpolatethis.com/L06/  There was a very strong contingent of riders that raced in the Pigeon Lake road race.   Finally the cat 5 and 4 events were given appropriate distances around the lake with the 5 field doing one large loop (58km) and the 4 group riding 2 loops (117km).  It was a great opportunity for some of us to exercise the demons from last year!  With the debut of the Cat 6 event, the field was spread out much more evenly this time around.  Unfortunately it didn't prevent a pileup in the cat 5 race as were hoping for the speedy return to form of Mark von Stackelberg and Clint Millard.  Hopefully it won't take too much duct tape for Clint to piece his bike back together.  Preliminary results have Trevor Pombert 4th, John Encarnacao 8 and Sinh Chim 10th in Cat 5, Simon Richard and I were the lone riders in Cat 4 as Kevin Noble moved up to Cat 3 this week to join Wayne Long.  With the departure of the 4 elite xc mtb racers for the Canada Cups, Zibi was left alone in Cat 1/2 to fend for himself.  He did an admirable job avoiding the pileups this week.  Results are available at www.canadiancyclist.com.  Photos are courtesy of our good friend Alan Schietzsch, who was perched precariously on the back of a motorcycle for the entire event taking some professional shots!

Canada Cup Recap

Evan, Tim, Roddi, and Cody arrived home from the three eastern Canada Cup events yesterday.  I imagine they're all in need of some home cooking.  To see how they faired and hear a tall tale or two, have a look at spaces.msn.com/timheemskerk .

GO OILERS!!!

Go Oilers!!!  Can you belive that we're in the STanley Cup Finals!

Canada Cup #2 Wrapped Up Yesterday at Mte. Tremblant, Que.

After the challenging conditions last weekend at the Canada Cup opener, saturday's race was a welcome sight.  Below is a summary of the event from both Tim and Evan as tehy recap from the midway point of the eastern series.  For photos of the two races, go to spaces.msn.com/timheemskerk

Tim writes, "The last part of the course still irritates me when I see it.  Yesterday I chased Neil Kindree for 4th and stayed 10m behind him for about 1.5 - 2 km on the paved section of the race.  I could not close this gap, I could not dig deep or motivate myself to give that extra little bit to bridge up this little gap and beat him in the final sprint...weird...I'm getting older I guess.  The race itself went pretty good for me, nearly crashed at the start line when the guy next to me hooked his bar on mine and luckily crashed to the right instead of the left.  I got into the single track in the top 10 and stayed there for the entire race.  Lost some time in the very technical descents but once I hit the paved road going towards the hill, I had lots of power and got back in to the position I was before going into the descents.  The weather was very nice and sunny but some sections on the course were muddy and slippery with the rocks and roots being wet.  There were some nice wooden bridges we had to cross and one of them was pretty steep and with a sharp right corner, very tricky.  This is a different way of racing compared to the races I have done in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. .....  At the end I was only 5 min behind the winer and this is good for a Dutchie on this course I think. 

Evan writes, "WEll, the second stop of the Canada Cup series went better for everyone.  The rain stopped and the sun came out.  I think it was something like 25 degrees today.  The course was pretty technical again, just without the raging rivers and streams.  The climbs were long enough for the dutch jedi to haul his skinny carcas up the hills faster than anyone else.  That earned him 5th place today.  Cody Canning pulled off a good day for a 3rd place finish.  This crazy kid will not use stan's latex for some reason, so he put 45 psi in his tires.  What a nut!  I bet if he used stan's he would have won.  I managed to have a better race and finished 11th, still can't seem to figure out how to go down the trail fast enough though.  Maybe Tim is wearing off on me or something?!?!  Roddi Lega had his best race in over a year.  I was riding along on the third lap and then this guy came riding on my wheel out of no where on the descent.  Next thing I know he is just sitting comfortably on his seast and blasting up the climb.  Finally!!!!!!!!  I think he was pretty happy, so he decided to head home to Edmonton to praty with the Oilers.  O yeah, he was just behind Tim for 7th.  More to come from him I'm sure."

Sugoi Dirt Series Highlights

Despite a horendous forecast saturday the weather was absolutely perfect for practicing skills at the Edmonton Ski Club as well as fitting a trail ride into the evening in Mill Creek, Skunk Hollow as well as Ewok forest.  It was encouraging to see such dramatic improvements in confidence as the riders tackled small ledges, teeter totters, and narrow skinnies in the safe confines of the ski club slopes.  When we headed out on the trails in the afternoon to put the skills to test the sun came out shinning!

The adventure began with Candace taking the short cut to the creek as she slipped of the edge of an 8 foot rock retaining wall.  There is nothing quite like that moment of absolute silence before the sound of all of the air in the lungs rushing out in one big WHOMP!!!  Another two feet further and it was a big drop right into the creek!  She's quite lucky.  There' s great shot of her climbing back out, and up the rock ledge. 

Check out the action shots of Mary Lynne demonstrating the "Peak and Push" technique and the riders of group 3 climbing, quater puching, rolling, and best of all splashing through the mud.  It truly is too bad that we have to wait another year before the Sugoi girls are back again. 

MS 150 Volunteer Info

In case you have yet to sign up to participate in the annual trek from Leduc to Camrose and back on June 10 and 11th, contact us as soon as possible.  There's still room for a few adventurous souls to join in the festivities of camping in camrose, riding with 1200 other enthusiasts, dancing the night away and doing it all over again.  Of course we'll help brighten up the mood on the road and fill our fair share of tires along the way.

Prior to the event itself, the MS society hosts a volunteer night this Wednesday, May 31, night at Intuit just of 75st and Roper road at 6:30 pm.  According to Cindy Martel, who sits on the MS board of directors, they're not above bribery with some of the worlds best cookies!  We can certainly attest to that.

Also new this year is a volunteer waiver that is upstairs at United Cycle.  Please stop by to sign prior to the event.

See you in Leduc.

Canada Cup #1 Update - courtesy Evan Sherman

Well this has been a pretty crazy few days so far. Tim and I are sitting in our black bullet (Ford Taurus) in the rain stealing some internet from the local coffee shop. We did spend quite a bit of money there already though :) It hasn't stopped raining for 3 days or so now, so everything is absolutely soaked. Including the roads, some of which are completely washed out!   View Photos of this epic race at spaces.msn.com/timheemskerk

The race today was.... MUDDY! Riding up creeks, crossing rivers up to our waist, sliding down decents, 80 racers i think. 3 big climbs, with one right at the start. Tim had a good race except for throwing his chain into the spokes! It took him a minute to get it out (i just about caught him then) and then he rode back to the position he was in before the mechanical for an 11th place. Not bad for a guy who supposedly has no technical skill! :) Tim says, "at least I learned something from the Edmontonians."

I had a good start (something to do with starting in 11th position) and went into the single track in the top 10. Almost right after i got a huge chunk of mud in my eye and had to stop to get it out. The rest of the race was, i would say, ok. Slowly lost positions and battled it out with Roddi at the end. I was climbing better than i was decending and Roddi was decending better than he was climbing. A winning combination! So, me 20th and Roddi 18th.

And then there was little Cody Canning. This guy was in first for the first 4 of 5 laps and then got a flat! (karma? what, no stan's Cody!?!?!?) He fixed his flat and finished for a strong 4th place. I'm thinking world's for him.

So we are staying in Sutton until thursday when we travel to Trembant. We are really hoping this rain stops! or we are going to need 10 more sets of brake pads. go oilers go!!!!!

Evan and Tim ...now for the laundry

Race Around the Lake - June 4

Remember to check www.ertc.org for this years race information. Preregistration is open and is strongly encouraged to all riders participating in category 4 or 5 to ensure that you are able to race. THis is also the first event that category 6 is open to U17 men and women, Master 55+ men, Master women, and women B not wishing to upgrade.