CrankMasters…Bruised, Battered but no DNF!!!

Sorry for the delay in posting but I needed some time to figure out how I could put a positive spin on a dreadful weekend of Stage Racing.

The final stage was a short ride of 160km with a total of four mountain passes. I had the misfortune of getting popped on the first pass and then soloing for the remaining 120 km to the end of the race as well as having the distinction of finishing absolute last. It wasn’t all bad as I had the sweep wagon tail me the whole distance and I had my very own cheering section and shouts of encouragements as I refused to DNF and continued riding the race. Needless to say but my position on the GC plummeted to near basement status!!!

Unfortunately Mike popped on the second pass and he to soloed in the rest of the way to finish the race.

Twelve riders DNF this stage!!

It was a tough race but well organized and the people, the town and the other riders were great. I am already making plans for next year!!!

Final GC
Mike 41st at 10:35:13
James 45th at 10:52:21

Riders finishing all stages, 48. from 66 who started on Friday.

Trev CRUSHES competition

Trev, we missed hereing about your Prestige Half Ironman.

Thought the Team should know that Trev absolutely CRUSHED the field at Prestige Half Ironman.

Swim: 32:32 (I heard he hasn't been swimming much - that's awesome - 13th overall)
Bike: 2:17:29 (Fastest bike time by 10 minutes - if distance was correct 40 km/hr pace)
Run: 1:22:43 (Second fastest overall - 6:30 min/mile pace - I'm still trying to run a 10k at that pace)
Total 4:12:43.3
Next fastest guy came in at 4:33.

Sorry guys, this is my first post - still don't know how to attach the results. They are on the Winning Time website.

Ride with Trev on Thursday

Hey guys, I will be doing the exact same thing as we did last Thursday this Thursday. It was super fun and we all had great workouts. 3 X Cochrane Highway hill.

I will have a lower gear this time so I can spin with you boys !

Meet at my house at 7pm.

Trev

Three posts in quick succession.

Please read all three new posts below.

It's like Pete, Rob, and I all decided to post at the same time.

BTW: Pete, wicked pic !!

Update: Race Results:
Trev Williams: 1st Place Prestige Half-IM
Pete Lawson: Qualified for ITU Worlds in Hamburg
Mike Healy: 2:33:40 5th (50-54 Age category)

Devon Cat 5 Race Report

Ok, I want to keep this short due to Pete's Awesome ITU race report below.

This weekend I snuck up to Devon for the Devon Grand Prix hosted by Juventus. First off, Juventus did a great job and it was a riot. I only competed in the Hill Climb and Crit but this race is a must for us next year. The crit is flat, fast and wicked fun while the hill is short, steep and perfect for power climbers.

The HC was decent, I managed to finish 7th in Cat5. The Crit was good times. Without any backup I resorted to lurking for a few laps before launching a nasty acceleration to drive the pace up and help out the local favourite Austin. Austin may be the only person I have met to race in a t-shirt and aviators but he was wicked fast. After that I fell off and pulled for the chase pack until I was lapped.

I think Frank and Steve may have hammered out the ITT on Sunday but I was happily sleeping in.

Stampede Road Race..Registration

Please read Pete's race report below, I didn't mean to overpost him so quickly.

OK guys.. our next big race is the Stampede Road Race. This will be fun as we all get to race together. It is a great opportunity for the Cat5ers to experience what racing in the upper Cats is like.

I would like to lead a few rides up there so you guys aren't under the gun in terms of terrain. I will show you guys where the attacks typically occur and show you where to be and how to avoid being spit out the back. Does this sound good? Let me know.

Go to http://www.calgarycycling.com/racing/pm_stampede/pm_stampede.html and register, and then leave a comment here that you are signed up.

Don't be too intimidated, if you get dropped, it was still a good time and a great workout, and then take pictures for the rest of our crew still in the race.

Trev

Edmonton BG World Cup race report

On Sunday I competed in the Edmonton BG World Cup Triathlon (Olympic Distance).

Mike Healy was also at this event but I didn't see him afterwards to see how his race went. You were looking strong on the run mate!

This was a huge day of racing and not just for the Pros.

The day also consisted of The Pan Am Junior Championships, Olympic and Sprint Triathlons and a 5 mile road race all in celebration of the 10th and final year of Edmonton as the host city.

There were lots of qualifying spots available for the World Championships in both the Olympic and Sprint distances so many folks brought their "A game".

But first, on a personal training note, let me say that tapering is tough.. not so much physically but I never fully appreciated the emotional and mental aspects one "endures" when experiencing a proper taper.

I was feeling great the week leading up to the race and thought many a time "oh I'll just go for a quick spin or I want to ride with my friends tomorrow"... stick with the plan!!...

"My" plan called for no activity 4 days pre race aside from stretching... lots and lots of stretching... and some core work. I wanted to come into this event with my legs fully fresh and my body fully rested.

I've never done this before... a long taper like this... and honestly it wasn't even a "proper" taper as many training programs call for.. but I wanted to listen to my body and it was telling me to rest and stretch.

As it turned out I was very happy that I did listen.

I've never done an Olympic distance Triathlon before and honestly didn't know what to expect in the way of time so I sort of "guessed" at some time goals where I hoped to hit.

Thinking about it in the days leading up to the race I would have been extremely happy with a time of 3:15:00 'ish .

Considering my lack of swimming and questionable run fitness but my strengths on the bike, I felt this was a realistic goal.

No pressure though.. this race was really about celebrating life and my journey coming full circle.

That said, what I achieved yesterday went beyond my wildest expectations.

Pre-race:
Up at 4am, ate and spent about 60 min stretching. By 6:30am I had made my way to the venue and was setting up in transition.

The Pan Am Junior Championship went at 7am so that was a great distraction and before I knew, it was time to wriggle into my wetsuit and make my way to the beach.

Swim:
Because of my shoulder tendonitis injury I was quite worried about the swim. I hadn't done any "serious" training in the pool since February and any pool time I managed to log in the past 10 weeks was relegated to just doing TI drills and working on my balance in the water etc.

Obviously resting the shoulder paid off because aside from the typical "human washing machine" of arms and elbows to the head I enjoyed a wonderful swim, no shoulder pain and posted my fastest 1500m split ever!

Swim 1500m: 00:28:13 (PB)

T1: is teh suck!
Need to try and improve this time.. spent several min limping the 200m from the beach to transition (will need to see if I can wear sandals or something next time I have to walk this far.. my left foot was in spasm after this)

T1 : ~ 7 min :(

Bike:
I really wanted to lay the hammer down on the bike course as that's been my primary focus of training since April. I logged over 1000 km in May on the bike and know that right now I'm enjoying the best bike fitness of my life. Joining the Speed Theory Cycling Team has also helped with my confidence and handling skills and I just knew today would be a great day!

And it was...

I laid it down on the bike course and posted my fastest 40km split ever!

Bike 40 km: 1:08:00 (PB)

Mental note: I probably didn't need to carry the extra water bottle.

So a bottle of H20 and Gatorade looks to be enough for me.

T2:
no worries, off the bike and on the run course in short order

Run:
This was the leg that worried me the most.

During my LSD runs this spring I was working on taking in Gatorade and gels. Even bought a fancy schmancy fuel belt and wore it yesterday.

My run plan called for water and Gatorade at 10 min intervals respectively then a gel at the 30 min mark.

I also stuck to my 10 and 1 plan. Run 10 min, walk 1 min.. REGARDLESS of how I feel!!

Again this worked out really well as I posted my fastest (ever... even before my accident) 10km split!!

Run 10 km: 1:04:12 (PB)

At the end of the day what I achieved went beyond my wildest dreams.

2:47:44

On top of it all, I had the incredible honour of qualifying in my category (AWAD) for the National Age Group team and will be representing Canada at the Triathlon World Championships this September in Hamburg.... and (from what the ATA people were saying yesterday) the 2008 World Triathlon Championships in Vancouver next June!

All told it was an incredible experience and I'm looking forward to firing it up on the bike with the team the rest of this summer!

cheers

edit added:

Thanks for the worlds of encouragement guys!

Last week, in lieu of the race, the Edmonton Journal did a story on some of the disabled athletes competing including my friend Kim Wedgerfield (Last year she instilled in me the idea that I could "tri" again) and myself.

Please click on the link to view the article.


http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/story.html?id=89e98291-9df9-4d41-81de-119fb3031b0f&k=82698

CrankMasters bounce back...just a little!!!

Well another hard day of racing but we did better today than yesterday.

The TT came first. Strong head winds and a rolling coarse made the 16.5km route challenging.
I ended up in 18th place and Mike was 28th out of 66 riders.

The Crit....so fast...with the wide streets we were hitting the turns in the low 40's!!!
I finished with the bunch and Mike was popped off the back with three laps to go. We both stayed up-right so the race was a success.

GC
James in 36th place
Mike in 37th place

Thanks for the support guys it really helps.
James

The big one tomorrow....160km of pain.

CrankMasters POP under pressure!!!!!

After what started as a great race with perfect positioning and stealth like riding both Mike and I popped just after the feed zone. The heat (90 degrees+) just took it's toll as well as the surprize attack through the feed zone that we were unable to counter. We picked up people on our way back and made a vain attempt to rejoin the group but it soon became appearant that wasn't going to work and our small group fell apart. We did our best to limit our losses but any hopes of the GC are out the window as Mike finished in 37th place 17:39 down and I finished in 39th place 20:52 back. We are baffled as to how a race could fall apart so fast when everything was going so well in the beginning!!

So now we are on the hunt for stage wins, the TT and Crit are being held tomorrow.

TdF Pool

Guys, this is the coolest thing to happen to Calgary since our last pool. Get in on it. Do it.

It's for a good cause and is super fun. Drop your 20 spot down at SpeedTheory and hop on the pool train.

For the record: I will probably win.

http://calgarytriandbike.blogspot.com/2007/06/tour-de-france-pool-contest-details.html

Go to the link and do it.

Trev

Thursday's Ride with Trev.

I am prepping for the Prestige Half Iron on Sat, but this would be a perfect workout for anyone racing on Sunday.

Meet me at my place at 7pm. This isn't much later than meeting at Extreme Bean at 6pm, since we leave so close to Cochrane.

Plan:
EASY small chainring spin to Cochrane.
3 X ( Highway Hill from Cochrane Pursuit style, 10min rest)
Easy ride home.

Please tell me if I should wait around for you.

Trev

Tuesday Night Training Ride

Alright Team. Something a wee bit different this evening. Meet at the Bean for 6:30. Mosey over to Edworthy Hill where we can practice some 1000m Hill-o-rama. Now, with people heading out for Triathlons this weekend, stay on your plans! We want you to kick ass on the weekend.

Devon Stage Race and Training Rides

Well Team, the Devon stage race is upon us. With a Hill Climb and Crit on Saturday and a TT on Sunday this should be a good chance for some of our crew to pick up points. At this point, post a comment if you're racing this weekend so we can set up some strategy (via encrypted email). As well, I'd like open the door to some training ride suggestions for the week. I think some hills and perhaps a TT ride would be good (we also have the Team Time Trial on the horizon so we should start picking our race partners)

Lastly, a huge props to the Ryan and Alex for representing at the Crit this weekend. Also, a mad thanks to Mike and Ernie for cheering on the team. It's good to see the E-train out and about.

Elbow Falls HC pictures (a few anyway)

This is my fist time to try posting pictures, we'll see how it goes.

Everyone ready to suffer?

Rob at the line

Lining up

The A-train arriving

Feeling Fine!
Rob rolls in to the line

Post race discussion about loose gravel, rough pavement, false flats, bear attacks, yada yada yada.

Thanks to the Crankies for putting it on!

Matt.

Wild Roses Crit

A few photos from the Wild Roses Crit where Alex and Ryan rode hard in Cat 5.

Ryan leading out:

Alex looking strong:

Ryan in about 7th and Alex in 12th at the finish:

Saturday Crit

This Saturday is the Wild Roses Crit hosted by the fine folks of HnR Block. Details of the event can be found here (click me). Now, I'm not sure what people are up to but this event combines several excellent things. Beer, fund raising for the Kids Cancer Care Foundation, and lastly bike racing. If you're not up for a hammer fest come out and cheer on the Speed Theory and Friends group. If you are racing, post a comment so we know who to watch out for. As always, to the racers, best of luck.

PLRR results

Results Here: Pigeon Lake Results

Awesome work guys!

Tour de France Pool with proceeds going towards the Jason Lapierre Scholarship Funds

Forwarding from Kyle:

This is just an initial heads up on a Tour de France "fantasy" pool that we are going to organize with the proceeds going to the Jason Lapierre Scholarship fund.

The pool will be easy to run... i.e. there will be no day to day changing your picks so it will NOT be time consuming. All the picks will be done before the tour starts. Contest details will come.

The entry fee will be $20.

The overall winner will get a tax receipt in his or her name to the Jason Lapierre Memorial Scholarship fund made out in their name. All of the entry fees will go towards the scholarship. Also, the winner will get HUGE bragging rights which is far more important than race winnings.

I will be contacting some sponsors for product prices (e.g. Timex watches, hats, etc) which will be used for overall pool placings.

EVERYONE is welcome to join in this pool. Further details will be coming out soon. If you are interested, please let me know by leaving a comment on this (or the Tri & Bike) blog.

Editorial comment from Frank:

Trash talking is encouraged.

This Weeks Rides Tuesday / Thursday - Hammer Time

INTENSITY RIDES for Tuesday and Thursday.

Same format as last time: 6:pm @ the Extreme Bean
Warm up ride to the 1A
Attacking each other to Cochrane
Pursuit style up Cochrane Hill (one time)
Then more attacking on the back roads back to the city

We're all going to hurt after this one!!!

Come out and help Mike and I do our last bit of build up for the Elkhorn Classic Stage Race.

This will be great prep for the up coming Crit Saturday evening.

See ya there.
James

This weekends' forecast is for sunny breaks…

…with extended periods of pain!!!

Two interesting rides planned for this weekend if anyone is interested. On Saturday, Ryan Murray and I are planning on riding the Highwood Pass loop leaving from Bragg Creek at 7, through Longview, through Highwood Pass and back to Bragg Creek. Greg and I rode this last year and it was conservatively 200K (including the detour to avoid the pack of angry mountain goats through Highwood :( Ryan talked to the ranger at Peter Lougheed and he said the pass was clear on the North side and he figured it was clear from gate to gate. We were planning on getting out for a long day, so no UCI points will be awarded. On Sunday, I was planning on riding from Bragg Creek, out to Elbow Falls, hammering the CrankMaster's TT and then riding home (with at least one stop for coffee).
Anyone interested? Let me know here or send me an email.

Next Races

June 10th Crankmaster's Hill Climb. Try it, I'm sure it will be fun. Click here
June 16th Wild Roses CRITERIUM, Calgary (THIS IS NOT A TT ANYMORE)
June 23rd Devon Hill Climb and Crit
June 24th 40km TT
July 1st Madden 2-up TTT, 40km. Click here
July 1st Canada Day Criterium in Edmonton
July 15th Stampede Classic, Next big race for all Speed Theorists. Click here
July 28th Provincial TT Champs, 40km ITT, Canmore

Cat 5 Pigeon Lake Race Report

June 3rd is a day that will go down in history. June 3rd is the day that Speed Theory reared its head and roared at the rest of the Cat 5 field. And what a day it was.

Firstly a huge shout out goes to the awesomeness of Trev and Paul C. Trev wasn't racing but came up to cheer us on and take pics. Paul C made the trek up thinking he was going to unleash the fury but alas the ABA lost his registration in the series of tubes that make up the internet. Still, Paul offered his experience and made
sure to cheer us on with reckless abandon. The rest of the cheering section was rounded out by Shannon, Yvette, and Colton who kept the Speed Theory mascot (Monty the Chug) in check. The racers thank you all.






Sunday began with racers assembling from all points within Calgary and hopping on the highway. Groggily we all randomly met at the Timmies in Gasoline Alley. Kirk, Carl, Ernie, Rob, and Pete fueled up on the awesomeness that is timmies and piled back onto the highway to Pigeon Lake. The race begins with the selection of parking adjacent parking spots. Right from the get go people could see we were serious. While there were no UCI vampires taking our blood there were approximately 9 kabillion mosquitoes that were happy to ensure our hemocrit was below 50%. After sorting out plates, numbers and a last minute application of OFF we took off for a brief spin to wake up the legs. After warmup the crew assembled.








The Cat5 Pack from left to right:
Rob, Ernie, Kirk, Carl, Pete, Paul C, Mike G, Mike H, and Alex. So, it was time to line up for the start. After seeing the rest of the categories off it was our turn to roll. After getting sorted on the road the Speed Theory posse formed an imposing squad as we set about executing the top secret Williams plan. Kirk and Carl rolled out to the front to set some tempo and get the speedsters excited. Alex and Ernie lurked back around 10th wheel where they were casually marking people. Mike G, Rob, Pete, and Mike H stayed tucked safely in the crowd letting the occasional flyer cook on the baking hot asphalt.

Around the mid point, Rob and Pete moved up to the front to give Kirk and Carl a much deserved break. Rob launched a few wimpy attacks just to see how people were feeling. The pack was certainly dancing to the speed theory tune by this point and everyone was waiting to see what we would do. Strangely, the crowd was more nervous than usual as almost every turn was punctuated with that eerie squeal of a rear wheel locking up. The hills began at this point and for every roller the ST people pushed the pace hard. So hard in fact that Rob and Kirk fell off the back. Luckily Kirk is a monster and some hard pulls and they reintegrated. Ernie and Alex took a few pulls with Mike G at the front just to keep things exciting. Mike H, despite having tweaked his back the day before, kept rolling within the pack and making sure to stare down the young guns that were getting cheeky. At about the 50 minute mark Pete went up to the front and laid down a nasty pace. So nasty that when the pack hit the hill Rob fell off and Pete finally cracked.




Despite some surreptitious drafting behind Trev's truck Rob and Pete just tempo'd it in from that point. The real action was a minute up the road as Mike G was organizing the train. Alex and Ernie were sitting in the top 10 wheels as were Kirk, Carl, and Mike H. Alex, Ernie, and Mike G were ready and primed, Kirk, Carl and Mike H were still strong when disaster struck someone clipped Mike G who was right at the front with Ernie. What started as the ultimate Speed Theory sprint train derailed to the tune of popping tires, snapping carbon and screeching tires. Tragically, Mike G, Ernie and Alex overcooked leaving the sprint to Kirk, Carl, and Mike H.




1600m from the finish it was a scene of carnage. Rob and Pete rolled up to a visage of crumpled bikes and bruised bodies. In true cyclist fashion all three of our warriors reached deep into the suitcase of courage to sum up smiles for camera. Despite the crash this was a great day for the team. All of the athletes displayed traits befitting of champions, courage, calm, commitment, class and competition. It was a fantastic race. Once we get everyone healed up we'll be sure to do it again.

Still Foggy..........

Hey Guys,

Just wanted to say thanks!

As you know, I went down pretty hard yesterday. My collarbone is broken among other things.

Mike heal quickly, thanks for talking to me in the ambulance.

Thanks Trev, Rob and anyone else who picked up the pieces. I take great comfort in knowing we rode our plan perfectly until the last two KM.

In the words of the Governor........"I'll be back!"

Cheers!

Ernesto

Frank WINS Stage 5 !!

On a stage tailor made for the crazy climber, Fast Legs Frank poured his soul into the 89 mile stage. Breaking away with 19miles to go, Frank was riding on courage and a lion's heart to crush the strong field.

WAY TO GO FRANK !!

Stage profile here:
http://www.mthoodcyclingclassic.com/stagemap5.htm

and Results found here:
http://www.mthoodcyclingclassic.com/2007results/default.htm

Trev

Franky kicks butt in Mt. Hood.

Holy Crap... Franky laid it down and ripped off a second place Cat3 overall in teh 19.5mile TT today in Mt. Hood.

Nice work Frank.Here are the results:

http://www.mthoodcyclingclassic.com/2007results/PDF/Men/Stg04_Men3.pdf

Here is a link to the website:

http://www.mthoodcyclingclassic.com/2007results/default.htm

Pigeon Lake is here.

OK guys. It is time to dominate.

Great ride yesterday.

Good luck.

Trev