Crazy Cross night

WOW... there were SOOO many people out last night it was insane!! The girl's field was bigger than most ABA road races. The B race looked like the Cat5 start at Velocity, HUGE. The A field was a little smaller, but the quality of the field was totally awesome.

I really encourage you to come and at least watch (preferably race) the action this weekend at Dark Knight Cross.. which takes place at UofC in the evening. They have a DJ and lots of glow sticks and it is a family friendly event. Come cheer on your teammates, have a beer, and get to know each other.

Any pictures from last night? I was in the big ring for a bit of it and I want a picture of it. :)

This picture is from CanadianExposure.

Hou je van racen in de kou, modder, sneeuw en regen?

Who's all in for the Dark Knight 'Cross and Oval 'Cross this weekend? Long-term forecasts say that the weather's getting cold and wet for the weekend, so we should have some true-blue 'cross racing conditions on our hands. I'm looking forward to Fausto yelling at me for 40 minutes.

Darcy G. C for Dark Knight, Sport for Oval.

[NOTE FROM THE DARK KNIGHT RACE DIRECTOR !!] Let your hoards know that the Sport race is filling up quickly. Also, tell them that we will be giving away a Wild Rose Brewery Party Pig keg of beer in each of the starts as a lap prime ... that should get some of them interested in 'cross!!!

See you Saturday.

Ed

[Editor: The shot is from Jared at the Las Vegas Crit]

Bike P*rn

A few or the many, many beauties I saw at Interbike.

Lance Armstrong's Tour of California TT bike.

Andy Schleck's bike.

Andy Schleck's "Schleck Brothers" saddle - pretty cool.

Contador's Tour de France Yellow Madone.

Cancellara's TT bike. Notice the home-made spacers under the base bar.

Cancellara's Yellow Specialized.

Specialized Shiv.

Quintana Roo CD01.

Highroad Scott Plasma 3.

Bianchi Pico Crono.

Guru Crono 2.

Kestrel 4000 LTD.

Fuji D-6 Professional.

Jared in Pro Crit tonight in Las Vegas

While most of us will be thinking of only having one more beer before bed at 10:30pm tonight, Jared will be clipping in and participating in the fastest crit of his life!! The race starts at 9:30pm Las Vegas time and podium celebrations are scheduled for 10:30pm.. oh yah.. it is 60km long !! HOLY CRAP !!

Good luck Jared.

Chris Hooper is watching and I gave him my little Flip Video Camera so hopefully we'll have a few good videos to post by the weekend.

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From Jared

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Well, I am here in vegas to find what cool new products speedtheory should bring in next year. There are bikes everywhere. More on that later.

Right now I am sitting in my hotel room doing some stretching. Why? Well I somehow managed to get myself an entry into the US Pro crit series final tonight. How? I don't know. at 9:15 tonight I will toe the line with the best crit riders in the US. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. How long will I last? Trev and Kyle both guessed 2 laps. Badger said slightly longer. But only slightly. We will see.

The course is a 1k course with 5 corners and a roundabout. 60k long in the pancake flat parking lot of Mandalay Bay.

Off I go.

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UPDATE

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Jared lasted more than half way through the crit. Then apparently the pace went balistic and he got taken out by another racer. He and his bike are fine though, apparently just with a big bump on his arm he is getting X-rayed.

Patio, last evening!!

Hey Speed Theorists,

A bunch of great reasons to come down to the Ship & Anchor (Rose & Crown if the Ship is full) tonight some time after 6pm:

- it's great weather
- it might be the last of this great weather we see for a while
- we're heading into off season
- when was the last time you saw your Speed Theory buddies
- there's no race tonight, anywhere in Calgary, as far as I know
- it's Tim's (my brother) last evening in Calgary before heading to Mauritius

Hope to see lots of you there! If you want to give me a head's up, and/or find out where we are, my cell is 606-8477.

Lockie

Dark Knight Cross Race

Just wanted to make sure everyone on the team noticed that the registration for the Dark Knight cross race is open.

http://www.cyclemeisters.com/index.shtml

Scott

The BOW 80

Bowness Nationals, the 15th or so ?... went down today in K-Country. It was frickin HELL MAN !. There was almost 3 straight hours of high elevation snow, preceded and followed with rain.
Over 3/4 DNF when race Officials forced a course closure for Safety reasons.

Speed Theory was on the Podium.

Perfect for a cycling vacation.

I thought this link needed to be shared.

http://gizmodo.com/5360418/screw-a-house-im-buying-a-camper-bike

Just think the training you could get in traveling from race to race.

Scott

Stiff, sore, and PUMPED !

Wow, what an awesome turnout to the races last night. Last year for the first two races, they started the B and A's together since there was barely anybody there. This year both fields were bigger than a few of the road races this year! Awesome. Great to see so many SpeedTheorists out racing and cheering.

As for me, I am a mess today. I forgot how hard 'cross was !! I love it!

Pictures from emak2

Wind Finder

I found this ealier this year. It's nice to know what you might be up against in terms of wind some days. It's mostly accurate but sometimes can be wildly wrong... not much different than the weather predictions.


http://www.windfinder.com/forecast/springbank_calgary

Teammate Bob Woodward is cycling in France.

Just got this email from Bob:

I have been out of town. Just finished Cols de Tourmalet, Aubisque and Solour. Finished off with Hautacam. Absolutley stoked. Back in ten days.

Bob

Mt. Norquay Race Report

The suffer-fest known as the Mt. Norquay Hill Climb Championships was held under ideal conditions. Sunny and warm with only a little wind at start time, times were sure to be fast on the freshly paved 5.4 km climb to the ski lodge.

Speed Theory was well represented, and we didn't disappoint the fans at corner seven. Dennis Bland brought home silver in Master Men A. I won silver and Darryl Parry took bronze in Cat. 5. Good suffering was had by all ST racers. Congratulations go out to all of the day's winners. A special congrats to handcyclist Brian Martin and para-athlete John Bereczki. Great efforts!

Thanks to Andy, Carol, and RMCC for putting on a great event!

P.S. Speed Theory now has a team mascot: Jaya the Tiger!

Full results are here.

Mt. Norquay Roster

In alphabetical order:

Keith B., Dennis B., Harley B., Clarke E., Darcy G., Mike H., Andy H., Lockie H., Carl M., Steve P., Carlos S., Robert W.

Anyone missing?

Ryder did it !!

HE DID IT !! HE DID IT !!

First Canadian to win a stage in the Tour of Spain !!

First Canadian to win a stage in a Grand Tour since Steve Bauer in 1988 !!

Video here.

Congratulations Ryder

.

Feedback from JayLap SR

I just got this note from Arthur Bland (ERTC) via the forum:

"...I just wanted to comment on a great job you guys did organizing the Jason Lapierre Memorial weekend, awesome! I had 2 flats prior to the start of the ITT and I would like to thank the Speed Theory rider who pointed out the second one and offered to loan me a spare wheel I didn't get his name and I had a another wheel, but that tells me Speed Theory is a classy club"

On behalf of the team, thanks, Arthur.

Great sportsmanship doesn't go unnoticed. Nice work everyone.

Lockie

Look on Training Forum for 'cross skills session!

Keith could be offering a 'cross skills session that will help get you over the barriers. Mount and Dismount stuff. Make sure to reply if you are interested.

.

Test Race for COP races next year.

Email I got today (click on poster to see it bigger):

Okay crew, here goes. Please find attached the poster for the Thursday, September 17th Fall XC Race at COP. If you could spread the word that would be fantastic. If we can get the people out we will be able to seriously look at getting the weekly races up and running again here at the Park.

Again, if everyone can either register their team or get individuals to register by Monday, September 14th 5pm (email travis.ferguson@winsportcanada.ca with name and age). That way we will have an idea on the numbers and decide whether or not to run the event. Check-in will be from 5-6pm (West Ticket counter of Guest Services) and race start is 6.15pm sharp. We will be using the Calgary Corporate Challenge Course.

Travis Ferguson

Fundraising suggestions wanted

A recent appeal for assistance with a would-be cyclist (and a bit of a humourous backhanded compliment for Darcy at the end :) Sorry Darcy, I'm sure she didn't mean it that way. :)).

Any suggestions, email Mary directly, her address is: oregan at shaw, dot ca.

Lockie

"I need some help. My daughter's father has just been diagnosed with
Mesothelioma and is not doing well. When I was out for a ride last week
with my daughter (she is a 24 year old student nurse), I mentioned the
Conquer cancer ride to her. Before I could even finish telling her about it
she said "I'm in". Right now she is riding an old clunker of a mountain
bike and has put about 150k's on it this year. That is the most she has
ridden in the last 10 years. So we have lots of work to do but she is very
determined.
We have signed up for the ride (I am OK with everything) so we are committed
to it and the cause. We have signed up on the Massey Mashers team. BUT she
needs a bike - donated would be ideal but...... So I am asking everyone I
know to keep their eyes and ears open for a good but cheap bike for her to
do this ride.
She is 6' tall (I'm 5'2") and has a 36" inseam so needs a large bike.
Any help would be greatly appreciated - any ideas - like can she put a sign
up on a board at the store or or or.

I was out to watch the crit up on Stoney trail and what a blast to watch it.
Darcy finished and that is great.
Take care and thanks
Mary"

Mt. Norquay Hill Climb: Road Racing Isn't Over...

Contrary to what some have been implying on this blog, the road racing season isn't over yet! There's a little climb up the Mt. Norquay access road on September 13. For those of us on the, um, lighter end of the weight scale, this is our chance to shine.

Note: This race has a entry limit of 100 racers. Be sure to sign up early. Or, if you wish to have a convenient excuse to avoid suffering, wait until the last minute and the race might be full...

Mt. Norquay Hill Climb Blog
Registration
Technical Guide

Ouch

Not sure if anyone caught this one today... It must be the biggest crash i have ever seen in a race.



Happy racing :-)

Carson
Triplec.ca

'Cross Clinic tonight

Check out the training forum in 'The Pain Starts Here' for the time and the place tonight.

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