Monday, April 29, 2013

Race the Ridge 2013



Yup, there was some bike racing going on in lovely Maple Ridge.  Cory was 2nd in the TT and 2nd overall in Cat 4.  Stotts was 21st overall in Cat 4.  Mark was 10th (4th in the Crit) and Lats 11th (5th in the TT) overall in Cat 3 but I'll let Lats tell the story:

The RR was on Saturday morning.  Sunny to start with threatening showers.  A 10km loop with 5kms of punchy rolling climbs that always tear the feild apart.  I dressed for the rain and boiled in the first 3 laps, but was happy for the choice of attire come lap 4.  Of course then the corners got slippery.......There is a couple of knarly +90 degree corners at the bottom fo 70kmph+ straights.  You had to really pick who you wanted in front of you.  I was never feeling great,and then on the last lapdiving through the corners I locked up my rear wheel up and then found myself riding between a culvert and a pole....thanks for the advance driving course dad....look where you want to go.
The group was gone at this stage and I knew I had to limit my losses...and TT'd it as best I could to the finish.  The group must have been pinning it as they put about 90seconds into me.  1 v 12 in teh run to the finish....I lost misserably!

We headed back to Marks for waffles, newspaper in the wet shoes and a snooze...golden.

The TT is a great course (we raced it 3-4 weeks ago so i felt I knew it well) and on arriving at the sign in, I realised in my haste to leave Marks, my newspaper filled shoes had remained by the heater!  Shit......it took me 45mins to find someone with shoes that would fit me and a spare pair of pedals (one of the 1-2 guys with lots of sponsorship....) I got 5 mins of pedaling in and then is was 5/4/3/2 - Go!  Boom.
Awesome 12km course that a little over half way becomes this really rough road...great for heavy guys (any ex rower albiet lightweight or not).  I think I should do short TT's with minimal warm up more often.  I felt great!  Rolled in for 4th on this one, and cursed myself for missing that corner this morning!

I just got home from the crit.  I love this course.  Anticlockwise (southern hemisphere style) with a chicane and a big long sweeping bend before the finish straight.  I knew coming into this I was sitting in 10th, 4 secs back from a Canberian......6/4/2 second bonuses on the primes, so you know what the tactic was get some time, then line up for the win.  The field was small, and the time gaps between the guys going for podium places minimal so no break was going to be let to go.  I think I got two thirds, but am waiting for the results which would put me even for 9th.
There were crashes everywhere, and well, including me coming out of the last bend.  Sitting in 4th wheel, feeling great by this point, I pedaled in the usual spot.....but we were coming through a little hotter, clipped the pedal and well, the photos tell the rest of the story!  Crap by me but it comes with the racing.  So much skin and carbon left on the bitumen!  It's going to be expensive!

The guys were great, taking my bike, loading my bike in the car while the ambo dudes patched me up... Though I found alot more grit in the wounds later!  Then, Stotts (who took the photos) handed me a beer with Ryder Heshadals name on it..... a fucking cyclist with a beer named after him - it must be zero calories!!

I'm gonna need some new kit, so those that expressed interest - remind me!


Personally, I think it toughens up his image a little bit...





I love Cory's pensive look:  'Hmmm, what have I got myself into with this bikes thing?'


Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Where's Sherman?

Drinking beer... (Photo by Paul Craig)

So, apparently Mark was 3rd in the Cat 3 Men's sprint at Barry's Roubaix.  Unfortunately, he was too cold to move and had to be directly transported to the nearest pub to be revived with Guiness.  

Sadly he ended up losing the placing (and upgrade points) because he didn't confirm his result with the officials after a very close, muddy sprint.  With the bigger stage races coming up, let this be a reminder that we all should confirm our results within the appropriate post race window before they become official.  

Or just say eff it and go drink beer.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Pitt Polder Time Trial

Local Ride continues to provide us with challenging races and last Saturday they held a 'preview' event for the new TT course that will be part of their excellent Race the Ridge Stage Race.

The wind and flat course led to some fast average speeds.  Lats was 4th in the Open Men and 11th overall (from 62 riders) while Ryan was 11th and 24th respectively.  Both went well over the 40kph marker.  Jen Gerth had a great ride to 3rd fastest women and 37th overall.

Very solid riding and a great test for the upcoming RTR where they will all look to use their knowledge of the course to go even faster.

Full Results Here.

Monday, April 8, 2013

Yard Sale

Time for some spring cleaning:


Sunday, April 7, 2013

Roubaix Wknd

 Fun with dirt courtesy of Local Ride's wonderful Barry's Roubaix.
A great day for racing!

Photo by Paul Craig

Full Results here.

Cat 3 Men:  Irish Mark 4th, Lats 11th
Cat 4 Men:  Alex Dove 1st, Amiel 6th, Summers 13th



And words of wisdom from the master of the hard man races:


Monday, April 1, 2013

Spring Series Stage Race

The Spring Series SR was this past weekend and riders faced the usual fast crit, windy tt and hilly, dreaded Snake RR.  

Extended Mighty family member Amiel had a fine stage race debut wining the Crit and the overall in the C group.  Cory raced to an excellent 4th overall in the B's behind a strong Snake RR.  Jen won the C women's TT and finished 2nd overall.  

Photos by Jacob Murray
Amiel crushing Merckx style in the TT.

Meat on his x-wing and confused by lack of mud, sand, barriers.

Ryan suffering in the TT.