Race Report: Tour De Bowness

Here it is the official Race Report. I'd like to thank Lorne for snapping these pics and Lockie for being in good enough spirits to let me post them. More on this later.

We'll start with the Hill Climb, the leg crushing 1.8K of lactic acid hell. Speed Theory brought out quite a squad to represent during this vertical assault: RobW, RobL, MarkS, RyanM, Mr. Kenny, KyleM, SandraY, MikeG and Lockie. A huge mad props has to go out to Ryan (and I suspect Kyle and perhaps Sandra) who did their IM training in the morning, a mere 200K ride and a 2 hour run, then showed up to put down some mean times on the hill at COP. Tough as nails, I am sure Mr. Kenny is nodding in approval. At the end of the pain buffet served up by the fine folks at Bow Cycle we had some people rounding out the top 10 if not the top 5 in their categories. Those contesting the omnium had an ominous day 2 heading back the site of the 'Killer Kilometer'.

The start of the road race had some rain and was a bit chilly but that didn't stop Kyle Marcotte from laying down some badassery during the road race. Silencing any critics that triathletes can only ride straight, Kyle rode in the break and finished a superb 3rd in the final sprint for the line, that form is looking great heading into IMC. In Cat 4 Lockie rode to 5th with his upright sprinting style leaving us all wondering how he does it. Sandra finished safely in the pack for the ladies. And in cat 5 RobL was the lone survivor of a long race.

The Crit:
The Rob's and MarkS lined up for Cat 5 to contest the Bownessian crit. Typically, RobW's leash broke after the first neutral lap and he set a blistering but unsustainable pace and faded into oblivion. RobL, racing smart, lurked and took 5th in the final sprint. MarkS, suffering the after effects of some red grape juice made a valiant effort to hold on until his spleen exploded.
Lockie and Ryan put on some excellent shows in Cat 4. Mr. Murray escaped for most of the race holding the pack to a 30 second gap while MikeG made sure no one escaped out the back completing the Speed Theory Sandwich tactic. Coming into the last lap at corner 1 Lockie gambled and lost overcooking the turn and running out of room. Luckily the crash mat prevented and serious injury but soon afterwards Lockie recounted the experience, "My first thought was, wow this hurt a lot less than I expected and my second thought was, I can't win if I'm lying on the ground, damn!". Then the paramedic started digging asphalt out . . . wait that's too much info. At the finish RyanM finished a commanding second. Cat 1-2 had Jared Green riding solo but he showed his skills controlling the pack while Carson Bannon (friend of speed theory) rolled with the lead pack and finished 3rd. Great effort by all.