Post JayLap Road Race BBQ

Hi Team,

We are hosting an STC club BBQ at our place next Sunday afternoon, August 7th, after the Jay Lap road race. Whether you are racing on the weekend, volunteering or neither, swing by for a drink and a bite to eat with the rest of the STC club (DD required if you are drinking). We’ll kick things off around 5pm. The BBQ is family friendly so feel free to bring your significant other and kids along too. If you plan on attending please RSVP by way of a comment so we can get a sense for numbers.

We hope to see you there. Our address is 3007 Canmore Rd N.W.

Matt and Jennifer

Roll call

Who's in for tour de bowness.

I (Dave H) am in for all three events in cat 3. Who else?

Niklas Group Tour de Bowness

Just wanted to remind everyone tomorrow night is the last day to sign up for the Niklas Group Tour de Bowness!!!!

Full details and registration can be found here.

Also wondering if ST has anyone in the feed zone???

STC second-round clothing.

Lesley grabbed the clothes from me last night and sorted them all solo !! Holy cow!

The clothes will be ready to pick up at Speed Theory Calgary as of Thursday July 28th. So make sure to get in there during business hours.

All the women that ordered shorts with a 'Performance' chamois have had them replaced with an 'Endurance' chamois, free of charge. So go in and pick yours up.

All the mistakes Champion made and we made in sorting, have been rectified, so Dennis, Emilie, and Simon, your stuff is there too.

Thanks Lesley!

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Wednesday Night Series August 3rd - It's Our Turn

Speed Theory members get great training and racing benefit from this series. Those of you who race on Wednesday night also know how much fun this can be. Well it's our turn again to organize the August 3rd race. Along with Jami and Crankmasters we had selected a circuit/crit course for this race. The course is a 2.5 km circuit just south of Lower Springbank Road, across from Morgans Rise between Range Road 31 and Morgans Road. Its a new estate development with no houses yet. We have been using part of the circuit for the sprint series the past couple of weeks.

Here's the catch - I will be away for the next 9 days and won't be back for the race. So in addition to looking for a few volunteers we need someone to organize the event. It really does not take much to organize a WNS race, just show up early, ride or drive the course, sign up the racers and organize a few volunteers. This circuit will need a few people to show up early and sweep a few sections of pavement that have construction gravel, should not take more than 10 minutes to do.

Jami has set up the series such that we alternate time trials, road races and sprints etc. If however you are not up to organizing the circuit race, feel free to put on a road race anywhere you like. So make my day and post a comment that you can organize the event. Speed Theory really needs to do this, we have no hesitation in showing up in large numbers to race so let's give back. I'll organize another of the series when I get back as we had committed to take on 3 races this season.

Sponsor for the Jason Lapierre Memorial Race Weekend! and new STC clothing.

Guys, we got a sponsor for the JayLap race weekend! It is:

ARC Resources Ltd.

they responded to our request for sponsorship and are interested in our desire to grow our event year over year.

We will have the TECH GUIDE and RACE REGISTRATION details out very soon. I would say within the next couple days.

Make sure to get your name on the volunteer list. We still need drivers for the Road Race, so please sign up for that as a priority. The link is here.

Also, our clothing is in. I will make a post in the coming days to give me a hand sorting, although the race weekend is my priority. If someone want to take on a leadership role in this (someone who was there for the first round), that would be great.

Trev

Close to Him and a super cool ride.

Standing in the throng of fans I could feel his presence before I saw Him.

I could only stammer "J... J...." to try to get His attention.

I think this shot is cool since it shows several cycling superstars in one go. The Man, Eisel, Hushovd, Gilbert, Greipel, Farrar, Ciolek, and Roelandts.

The riding here has been absolutely amazing. Almost zero cars, perfect roads, endless vistas. Yesterday we started in Limoux where we are based and rode 105km to the Mediterranean Sea where we laid on the beach for an hour or so.

Here Marilyn and I are on the Tourmalet watching Him pull Andy, Contador, Cadel and the others up the crazy climb. When we rode up the mountain it was sunny and warm and we chose that spot to watch since you could see all the way down the valley at the switchbacks. about 3 hours before the racers came through, the temperature dropped to about 5 degrees, the wind was crazy, and the fog packed in. We had to huddle inside the car of some nice Norwegians to stay warm. The descent off the mountain was a bit chilly but we were still pumped from the excitement of the race so it wasn't too bad.

I was flying down a long descent when my camera snapped and captured a cool sequence of shots. It ended up I filmed myself in Europe all artsy-like.

Just before it happened, I was keeping up with a van on the twisty roads!

Two frames of video after the camera snapped.

Strategically placed camera up over my shoulder as I rode by. The camera had already hit the road by now. I was lucky the camera bounced to the left and into a ditch as the right side of the road was a drop off!

As we started getting closer and closer to the beach the pace kept going up and up. Here is Marilyn making the final sprint to the sea !!

Here we are having just pulled up in Lecate. It was amazing riding from Victoria-like forests of Limoux, through central BC-type Pine forests, then through desert-like cactus regions like Tucson, and arriving in a sandy paradise all in one ride!

I have been really trying to not get on the internet much while I am here, since I can watch the Tour live on TV and it is great to actually be on vacation! Hope everyone is doing well in Calgary. I read about the Wed. Night Race Series Tornado?!?! That sounded crazy.

Trev

My shoes smell

OK, this is serious. My shoes smell. Not a little bit of smell but the kind of smell they used to use in warfare. The Geneva convention addressed this in 1942. "It is prohibited by international law to place shoes with a smell magnitude of 10.5 or greater in front or near a prisoner of war" However, I believe George W. allowed this Guantanamo.

Fred Fartlek, Psalms 96: "Thou shall not haveth shoes that smell so badeth that they can kill an elephant at 40 paces" .

I have washed them, soaked them and used toxic death that would eat your skin off in a matter of seconds and the evil, lurking smell persists.

I don't want to buy a new pair of shoes as these still work perfectly well. I'm not suggesting you not suck my wheel but it could cause internal injuries, blindness, lesions, pustules, impotence, hemorrhoids, pre-manopausal symptoms, and possible paralysis.

Help! I need solutions to this problem. Otherwise I am destined to ride.... alone.

TnT Ride

Dudes,

Hey everyone, change of plans sort of. I learned my lesson from last night after the storm blew in and pummelled me on the road.

The weather is getting ugly in the northwest and will probably be storming pretty soon. I will be hitting the trainer inside instead. Sorry about the late notice.

Slayer Dan

Volunteer guide for our flagship event.

Alright, it is time to start getting even more organized for our Aug. 6th and 7th awesome cycling weekend. We are holding:

Provincial ITT Championships: Sat. morning Aug. 6th

Downtown Calgary Criterium: Sat. evening Aug. 6th

Bergen Hills Boiler Road Race: Sunday Aug. 7th

Last year, it was so great to see our club come together and offer a truly first class event. We are getting to be pros at this stuff!

YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE AN STC MEMBER TO VOLUNTEER !! If you missed volunteering for your club's event, or simply want to help out, then sign up!!

Here are the rules: I would like all club members to have the opportunity to race in at least 1 or 2 of the events. So that means that you can volunteer for the other one or two. Many people last year, just enjoyed the atmosphere of the weekend and volunteered for all three events, that was great.

If you want to race in the Omnium (all three), then you need to provide a family member or friend to volunteer in your stead.

Our most public event is the Criterium and the easiest to volunteer for. Unless you are Cat5 (you race first), you can help with course setup and the Kids Crit, and then the Cat5's can take over some of the duties for the rest of the evening once their race is over. The club really gelled last year at this event and acted as a single unit and it was totally inspiring to see.

The most stressful (hard to fill) positions I would like to see filled soon, so I can sleep at night are:

1.) Co-Race Director to be the 'go to' person while I am away July 12th - 25th and then to help me in the lead up to the race.

2.) The cars we need for the Road Race on Sunday.

3.) A handy dude with a truck and a trailer hitch to spell off Carl our super volunteer. If we had two people, his work would be greatly reduced.

AS SOON AS POSSIBLE: Go to this document. Scan it. You will see lots of '??' inside the document. Find one or two or three that suit you and then fill in your FULL name (or your volunteer's name) with name, cell phone number.

If you are signing up someone else, do it like this:

?? turns into Brenda Lennox 403-589-2901 (Marilyn's Mom)

Thanks guys!

Trev

Grand Fondo Rockies, July 24th

I have entered in the Grand Fondo Rockies which is held July 24th. There are several distance to choose from plus a men's (140 km) and women's race (100 km). I entered in the race and hoping to convince some team mates to join as there are also team prizes!!! I have never ridden the route but should be a lot of fun. Full details here.

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Stampede Road Race 2011.

I think it is safe to say that all of us guys, with the exception of Handsome Rob and The Big Brad Wolfe, would prefer this to be the public face of STC!

This was taken yesterday just before the women entered the battle field. Great job yesterday! Jenn Joss got second overall, out-kicking breakaway companion Sherri MacDonald on the final straight away. Congrats to Tanya Hopping (Niklas Group) for becoming the 2011 Women's Masters Provincial Champion.

As for the Men's Masters A field. STC had a massive showing, which was awesome to see. It was great being able to ride with our cyclists from all Cats and I look forward to this race every year. I got ejected from the front breakaway group when Brian Robinson (Cyclemeisters) unleashed an attack my legs couldn't handle and I solo'd it in behind the winning 4. Jeff Proche (ERTC) outsprinted Craig D. (Cyclemeisters) and an RMCC powerhouse Eric Jensen. Congrats Jeff, that was a great 5 laps!

If anyone else has photos from the race or other stories then definitely pipe up!

Trev

A 10 year dream come true!

In July 2001 I was sitting in the Cheesecake Cafe in Victoria. Back then the Tour wasn't covered on OLN on Versus. I was a starving grad student so I didn't have cable anyway. I was trying to get all the riders right in my head, being relatively new to cycling. It was the evening after Stage 7 and a rider named Jens Voigt had just put on the yellow jersey, taking it from his teammate Stuart O'Grady. This would be for only a single day before giving it back in one of the largest time gaps a breakaway would gain in recent history. Pretty exciting stuff!

I was chatting (or 'talking at') my best friend about the Tour and how cool it was (I couldn't convince him) when the waiter piped up about how amazing a 22min time gap was and how Stuey would be in the yellow for quite some time now. Wicked !! I ended up talking to the waiter more than my buddy that night.

Since that evening, having read the text updates on the stage (and slowly coming to grips with how rad Jens was!) I have always thought how intense and amazing it would be to watch these guys live. To experience the speed, grandeur, pain, and elation all at once.

10 years later.... I am doing it! Marilyn and I fly to Limoux, France on July 13th and will be ON (yes... standing ON) the Col du Tourmalet watching the racers on Thurs July 14th for Stage 12. Holy crap !! I can't believe it is happening. I will also be watching the Stage 14 mountain top finish on Plateau de Beille and I will be the guy making a fool of myself trying to get Jens' signature at the Stage 15 sign on in Limoux.

Below is the Google Earth rendering of the Tourmalet .. make sure to be watching the stage and see if you can spot me running beside Ryder, Wiggens, and the Shlecks !!

I want to be wearing something distinctive and I recently lent out my Borat green speedo, does anyone have a T-shirt that is a pure Canadian Flag, or do you think I should wear my STC kit? That would be cool too eh?

Anyway guys, I hope to bring back tons of great stories and lots of wicked video for the spin classes.

Trev

Harley and the rest of the crew are back!

I took this snapshot from the race last night climbing Col d'Falls l'Elbow. Great to be riding with Harley again. Brent was racing in the B group and is looking no worse for wear from his spill at Midweek Mayhem.

I also received word that Matt was out on a ride last night! and the unstoppable Jenn was hammering with Marilyn last night plotting their Stampede strategies.

So everyone is back at em'

Word on the street is that Harley crashed intentionally to get an awesome looking scar as he intends to audition for 'The Worlds Most Interesting Man' in a month. I think the producers will be really impressed with his immersion into his character.

Trev

TnT Ride

Sorry about last week everyone.
I was in Las Vegas for a bachelor party and forgot to post that I would not be in town for the TnT. It was 3 days of total chaos with my high school buddies from all over BC. It wasn't like "The Hangover" as we didn't have a film crew following us around, but, as they saying goes "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!"

Well I am back, and after 4 days of detox, I think I am fit to ride my bike again.

No real agenda set for tomorrow night, I am kind of excited to see how the new riders felt hitting the road with Trev and "Hitting it!"

Hope to see more people out.

Slayer Dan

Banff Bike Fest Video

Look back at the action from the best weekend of the year (aside from the J-lap that is!!). Seems much less cold now in my memory than it was in person!!

WATCH VIDEO HERE

Stampede Road Race

Here is a note from Stampede Road Race's RD:

"The Stampede Road Race needs riders. We need to triple the number of registrations to effectively hold the race. We have made all the preparations so we really want to put this on.

Registration will remain open until Friday BUT, we will make a Go/No Go decision end of business Wednesday. Please don't delay and sign up now.

Thanks and safe training.

Robert Armstrong"

Info Here.

Registration Here.

Canada Day Crit - what a riot!

Drove up to the chuck with the whole family in tow for the Canada Day Crit on Friday. I have to say it was a great event. For those of us with family it can be a challenge mixing racing and family time but not this time. While the kids picnicked in the infield (which was surprisingly devoid of mosquitoes), watching bands, pow-wow dancers and screamed for ice cream, I got to put my mind to racing.

The course was awesome. A few hundred meters from the start/finish was the climb. Short and punchy with a false flat into a headwind at the top just to make it interesting. It finally flattens at the top just in time to corner hard to the left again and come screaming down to the finishing stretch. It's not often you get to sprint in your 11 toother but here you needed to.

The format added the final bit of spice to the party. It's a points race where every 4 laps the bell rings and all hell breaks loose. 4 points for 1st, 1 for 4th and the final lap is merely worth double points. What results is fairly continuous action and one of the most interesting races I've done yet. The Cat 4s had 28 laps so 6 sprints total.

While the format favors the sprinters, the course is better for a climber. As a guy who is OK at each but not a specialist in either, I liked my chances. A patient of mine who has done the race many times kept the advice simple 'stay at the front and get points in every sprint'. Sounded easy!!! In the end though that is what I was able to do. A break did get away after the 3rd sprint and the PRW team had 2 men left to mark the chase so in the end it stuck. I did wind up with enough points for 2nd place and enough prize money to buy Pizza and beer for the in-laws. Couldn't stay awake for the fireworks though, those 28 climbs won out in the end.

Official results from today's 'Pros vs. Joes'

Our fearless individuals who took on the ProTour teams did pretty well today. The spectacle was a little less impressive and there were a few less fans.