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June 14 Quebec World Cup Wrap Up2007 Mt Ste Anne World Cup
The 101 rides toeing the start line at the first North American World Cup of the season proved a much more manageable field compared to the over 200 rider fields in Europe. The XC race course is essentially the same 5 kilometre loop that has been used the past few years. Only a 200m section between the first and second climbs has been revised a touch. The long sustained climbs made for a difficult race in the typical heat and humidity that Ste. Anne offers. Tim finished a solid 63rd after riding really well the first 3 laps, despite bending his front derailleur and forcing him to ride in the middle ring for the entire race. A top result was on the horizon untiol the cramping started again. Experience told him to back off a bit and finish strongly. Unfortunately this meant watching the stronger riders that he was ahead of go past him. Unfortunately, the conditions took their toll on Roddi as well, as he didn't feel well throughout the event, and had to pull out.
2007 Ste Felicien World Cup
Once again Tim and Roddi lined up against the best in the world on Sunday while we were watching the Canada Day criterium. The new venue proved to be a worthwhile course, and comments from participants raved about the course saying "this is wicked mountain biking" to "this is the best course that we've done all year.". In the end, the course was well-treed, rooty and rocky ground. It featured a 6.4 kilometre circuit with less sustained climbing than Mte Ste Anne. Instead, there are more short, steep climbs and descents, plus lots of technical sections and twisty turns. Afer a one kilometre start loop, the riders head onto a steady, wide 700m climb and continues on singletrack for another 300 metres. From then on it is a mixture of up and down, and lots of turns for three kilometres on singletrack. At the 4 kilometre mark the riders face the second climb - shorter but steeper and on singletrack followed up in the final kilometre enters the most technically difficult part of the course, as it descends back to the start-finish area.
Again, the boys started right at the back, with only 4 guys behind Tim in the call up. After the brutal start up the steep gravel climb Tim caught 30 riders until running into a rider standing sideways! All 30 rode right by him and Tim had to settle in and take it easy due to the wet, rooty and rocky single track. During the 2nd lap, he started passing more riders to find himself in 62 after 3 laps. The cold weather helped prevent Tim from cramping and allowed him to make it into the final lap and start picking more riders off to find himself with a 54th place finish. Roddi rode strongly to finish 76th and continues to improve! Look out at Canadian Championships! June 11 Canada Cup and Local ResultsHardwood Hills Canada Cup
Roddi, Tim, and Evan were back in action out east in the 4th stop on the Canada Cup series. Hardwood Hills played host to the Trek sponsored event on a course very similar to the Sunridge course according to the boys. Cramping seems to be the word of the weekend! Tim received a call up for the start and raced super strong in 6th spot until severe cramping pushed him down into 8th position at the end. Evan suffered a similar fate, moving up from the back to crack the top 15 after 2/3 of the race before succumbing to the cramps and pushed him into 31. Roddi fared a little worse and came up with his top 10 reasons for not being fast like the wind right now:
1. I had a stomach issue for the past 2 weeks (Dier Rear).
2. As soon as #1 went away I got a cold. 3. It’s just that time of the month. 4. Baby fat. 5. I have to travel with golden boy Ricky Federau and his positive attitude is pissing me off. 6. I broke one of my high heels. 7. Roomie Stef “Salty Head” Widmer yells in his sleep and it scares my care bear. 8. Tim says, “you must need more coffee”. 9. There is no Fruit Loops in Quebec. 10. Country music Tuesday Night Training Races
The June 19 crit was extremely well attended. Congratulations Jon, Shannon, and Corey who decimated the B field with their aggressive riding. Jon took the sprint win ahead of Shannon, after Corey clipped a pedal half way through the last lap. Good job keeping it upright. Photos to follow shortly. The June 26 training event has been changed to a road race hosted by ERTC, using the Weigh Scales road course. The course map is located at http://www.runningmap.com?id=16944
Devon Hill Climb/Criterium/Time Trial
It turned out to be a perfect weekend for racing in Devon. The gruelling 700m climb steadily increased in grade, just steep enough to break the legs apart. Word has it Jon Benskin was leading the Cat 5 standings after the two events Saturday. Shannon Hein followed Corey's example of how to clip a pedal in the crit saturday afternoon, and followed it up by rolling the tubular tire off of his rim and donated a little bit of skin to the course. Full results to follow at www.albertabicycle.ab.ca shortly.
Bragg Creek Summer Solstice Mountain Bike Race
Thanks Bruce for chaperoning the trip to Bragg Creek this past weekend. As usual the cycling is top notch, terrific single track, spectacular views, and awesome descents. Unfortunately there isn't much time to admire the scenery during the race. Evan Sherman and Mark Bomhoff were the only Elite participants with Tim and Roddi racing the World Cups. They both suffered a bit on the ol' hardtails and wound up finishing 4th and 5th respetively. Bruce had a good day in Expert to finish 5ht-6th?, and thankfully had enough energy to keep his eyes open on the way home. Congratulations to Peter Knight for his podium performance (2nd) in Sport, hopefully securing his upgrade to Expert. Full results will follow shortly at www.albertabicycle.ab.ca. Next up, Provincial Mountain Bike Championships, Terwillegar Park.
June 05 Road Racing Updae Pigeon Lake and Tuesday RRTuesday Night Training Race - Weigh Scales The first road event of the season was well attended last night. Thanks to Cranky's for hosting the event. The A race was very competitive with Tim, Roddi, and Zibi racing together for the first time this season. A few hard attacks split the group into pieces, as all three of them made the lead group with Shawn Goulet (PRW) and Shaun Barr (PRW). Roddi's final attack left him with the solo victory, and Zibi placed a well timed counter attack to join him. Unfortunately his rubbing brake pad proved to be his demise as he was brought back into the fold so Tim could take the sprint for 2nd. Pigeon Lake Road Race
The annual race around the lake was incredibly well attend, with full fields in each category. The result was exciting and anxious racing in all 6 categories. Thanks to Mary Knight, Kathryn Lega, Kathy Keough, and Leisje Sarnecki for feeding and hydrating us all! Full results are posted at www.canadiancyclist.com
In the Women's event, Maryann Heacock had her hands full with the two short loops and 1 complete lap of the lake. Unfortunately, she was caught behind an early crash and was unable to catch back on to the group. She toughed it out, digging into her "suitcase of courage", and rode the remainder of the race to finish!
The Cat 5 event was as fast as always and Stew Hutchings, JC Coupal, Wayne Douglas, Corey Dickinson, Marc Bailey, Jon Benskin, Adrien Regimbald, Mike Kohlenberg, Roger Clemens and Trevor Pombert had their hands full. Reports indicate that repeated attacks from Jon, Corey, and Trevor kept the pace high and kept them out of trouble when half of the field was halted behind a crash approaching the finishing corner. Congratulations Corey on the 5th place finish.
The cat 4 field did 2 complete laps of the lake, and from Shannon and Peter's accounts, if Bruce wasn't on the front driving the pace he was on the side getting a new bottle from the feed zones. Unfortunately a late flat tire prevented Peter from unleashing his devastating uphill sprint. Shannon was able to make his was through the peleton on the uphill finish as they overtook the cat 3 stragglers.
The cat 3 field ripped the first lap off in 1 hr 18 min thanks in large part to Zibi's repeated attacks! We were riding single file and two up the entire loop and watching his yellow helmet go off the front time and time again. His expertise came in handy and he rounded up Wayne and Brys approaching the second feed zone to be attentive on the front of the race for the eventual decisive solo attack from the last short climb 8km's away. In the end Brys wasn't quite able to hold off the field and fell 200m short, it's a long way when the legs are finished. Wayne and Zibi contested the sprint for 2nd as the field was whittled down to 20 or so riders.
The main event featured Marc Bomhoff's second race out of retirement, and with a little fitness in his legs since the Velocity debut. The plan was to have Marc represent in the early break away. No one expected the break to last 3 hrs at an average hr of 179! Roddi and Tim remained in the main field and kept the field on it's toes with repeated attacks, surges, and some ridiculously fast pacelining! In the end, they left the chase a couple km's too late. Roddi was able to solo away from the field from 10km out and reel in all but 3 of the leaders to finish 4th. Tim was able to disrupt the chase enough to slow down the field and then cleanly win the field sprint for 5th.
Stay tuned for results and photos, courtesy of Al Schietszch (of the back of the motorbike).
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