STC Straightline, Downhill (but not downwind) Prologue

We had a perfect afternoon for our Prologue Challenge. Mostly sunny and next to no wind.

To recap what the pros did, their race was 6.4km through downtown Liege, basically flat with two full roundabouts. Our course 6.4km west of the city, net elevation drop of 83 metres, so a pretty fair fight! Spartacus managed a time of 7:13 and an average speed of around 53 kph. The last place finisher was Roy Curvers (Ned) with a time of 8:19 and average speed around 46 kph.

Both Dennis & Rick not only beat the last place pro, they would have tied or beaten the likes of Ivan Basso, Tom Danielson, Chris Horner & Frank Schleck (again assuming the pros ride a flat course with roundabouts). Nice work gents! Darcy came close to beating the last place pro (if he hadn't passed up the hold and/or been able to clip in faster might have been the difference).
Ernie & Dan rounded out the group.

A big shout out to Frank & his wife Sandy for coming to help volunteer and giving up a good chunk of their Saturday on this long weekend!


Dennis  7:43:81 avg speed 49.5kph
Rick      7:47:42
Darcy    8:22:58
Ernie     9:08:34
Dan      9:21:20

STC Straightline, Downhill, Downwind Prologue

What: 6.4km Prologue
When: 2pm, Saturday, June 30
Where: Township Rd 250 and Highway 22 near the top of the little hill
The Course: Township Rd 250 to Springbank Airport (see map below)

Meeting point at 2pm: Wentworth Tim Horton's (same as Wheelers Ride start) to ride over, or park at the Springbank Airport if you are short on time.

This Saturday the "Mac Daddy" of all bike races Le Tour de France kicks of. This year the ASO has brought back the Prolouge, a 6.4km sufferfest in Liege (you may have heard of this Beglian town from Leige-Bastone-Leige).

We are looking to continue a Speed Theory tradition of doing our own Prolouge, same day, same distance (slightly different course). The pros are racing through downtown Liege on a basically flat course with several turns, our couse is downhill, dead straight and hopefully massively downwind. The challenge is to see if we can beat ANY of the pros time over the same distance. We are going early pm to give everyone plenty of time to watch the Tour, check all the cycling sites and still get out to race!

To give you a reference point, the last time the Prologue was part of the tour was 2010. It doesn't seem that long ago, but both Lance & Contador were racing and on the same team back then. On that day in Monaco Mathieu Perget racing for then Caisse D’eparnge what is now Movistar finished 195th with a time of 11:42 over 8.9 km a scant 1:42 behind the winner, some Swiss guy Fabian something (tried Googling him, couldn't find anthing). Cancellera averaged roughly 53.4kph over the course, poor old Mathieu could only muster an average of 45.4kph and noted TT specialist Andy Schleck came in 1:09 in arrears at an average speed of roughly 47kph!

It is likely the winner in the TDF Prologue will do their course in around 7:00 - 7:15 and based on the time gaps from the 2010 Prologue the last place guy should be somewhere around 8:20, just to give you something to shoot for.

The race is super bare bones. We can do it with as few as one volunteer to handle end timing, whoever is starting last will need to double as our starter (I will explain on race day). If we wanted to go deluxe and had 3 volunteers we would have a starter, holder and finish timer.

Please leave a comment 1) if you are planning on doing the race and 2) if you are willing to volunteer.

Ironman Coeur d'Alene 2012 Race Report

Team,

Last Sunday I competed at my 4th Ironman race, my second time doing Ironman Coeur d'Alene. This was my focus race of the first part of the year. I had an excellent time at the race and will give you an idea to the decision to register, lead up to the race, and the race experience. I'm hoping that it's not a novel and that I can focus on the funny stuff that always happens when I enter and prepare for races. I will also note the section that require Jens Voigt accents while reading.

Before I get to the report, I want to personally thank Trev Williams, Marilyn Taylor, Steve Waters and especially Michael Godfrey for all your support and friendship through this journey. I really enjoyed bouncing training ideas off you guys and getting together for pool swims, winter runs and UCC races. It was also very important for me to have you all there as support at the time of the death of my father in law. His loss was a huge setback and you all were the spark to keep me training.

I had full intention of racing Ironman Canada this summer. I went down and volunteered at the registration tent to make sure that I could get in easy. At the last minute, I had a change of heart and decided that Coeur d'Alene was a better race that suited my job and family activities with working at SAIT. I quickly got one of the few spots left for Coeur d'Alene and the training officially began in November.

In September, my daughter entered a new dance studio. The new studio was a much bigger studio with a well run final recital scheduled at the end of June. Foreshadowing here of huge potential conflict. Remember that I registered for the race first!

In November I treated myself to TrainingPeaks. I bought the 1 year program and started ramping the training into the focused ATC program it developed. Within a few months, I had lost 15 pounds on the program. I was absolutely shocked to see my weight drop that fast!

With the big time conflict with the dance recital, many compromises had to made for activities and it was decided that my wife and I would leave the kids in Cranbrook, drive tent trailer to Coeur d'Alene, get everything setup for me here. My wife would return to Calgary with kids and take them to baseball tournament and dance recital on saturday the 23rd. At 8:00pm, they left Calgary and came back to CDA for the race start! What troopers, definitely not ideal family travelling.

On the 21st I signed in for the race and went through the Ironman village with a buddy from Cranbrook that was also doing the race. It was fun to do the sign on with someone else and chat with the volunteers. At the end of the registration tent, here was a wicked Rudy Project booth and I bought some awesome new Rudy's to match my ST kit. Red Gozen's and they are OMG awesome. I was so excited to have new gear for the race! Foreshadowing there.

Everything was going well leading up to the race and was well rested here at campground by myself without my kids around, constantly fighting. On race morning, Debby had sent several messages regarding the drive to CDA and I felt good. At 3:00 am we were pleasantly awoken by a huge freakin thunderstorm and hail. It was really freaky and I was wondering if the 24 and sun would be ran all day. Debby and I connected just after I got body marked and it was great to see that my family made it, driving through the night. At that point I realized that I had forgotten my brand new maximum awesomeness sunglasses on the table of my tent trailer and would have to ride and run without sunglasses. I'm not as bad as Lochie before races but sometimes, I'm pretty absent minded and not having my wife at the campground before the race was starting to show!

I dropped off my special needs bags and headed to transition to see the bike that had been poured on for several hours during the night. At that time I realized that I had forgotten my extra water bottles in the tent trailer and only had my aero bottle. I like to ride with one bottle on the frame so that I can get water, add electrolytes and slam it into the aero bottle. I'm now uttering f-bombs through transition at my lack of focus.

The swim start was very good for me and the water was very tolerable. It was very rough heading out and my first lap was 34:30. I was amazed at how relaxed I felt in the water and was ahead of my planned pace. The second lap became a fight for dear life. "Jens Voigt Accent here" I was suffering like I never suffered before! A storm blew in and the smooth water turned into 2 foot waves and I was taking on water. Every breath was like my last and my pace dramatically slowed. The lifeboats were moving in close as they must have felt an open water rescue was required. My left arm was entering the water every stroke smooth but it felt like my right side was just totally punished with fighting the waves. I came out of the water really tired and was disappointed when my time was announced.

As I got on the bike, the rain was turning to a mist and it was not warm. The first section of the course was spent trying to warm up and expel lake water on masse! The new bike course went south on Highway 95 which is pretty hilly. I was able to get into a good rhythm and pass many riders who were ridding aero in the drops with big gears up the 5% climbs. Not sure if they read any magazines on cycling and I seriously question those tactics.

This course had some choke points that were no passing zones. I had never seen that before and was held up a few times. I got stuck behind one guy who had just finished ridding a descent while pissing all over his bike, then decided to swerve in front of me into the no pass zone. I was great being slowed down then sprayed by his urine.

My body held up pretty well through the ride and I was not able to keep my split times consistent but was very happy with a ride time of 5:40. I ate like a king on the ride and had lots to drink. My nutrition felt good and I could feel that the climbs took some effort and I was tired, but should be able to have a good run.

The run started with stomach issues in transition. Not great starting out that way and I was a bit concerned heading out main street. I was hoping to run to each aid station, walk through and eat, then run again. It started out that way with a very consistent pace and my stomach just got worse. The first 12 miles were okay with more running then walking, just not running faster then previous years. I was hoping that the weight loss would show here, the stomach was in total control though. I felt good when I was running but had to take many breaks. It felt like I really lost the motivation to run. I wasn't in pain, my feet were fine, I was just unable to commit.

At mile 20, I partnered with a guy and we kept a good pace for the remainder. He was also suffering with an upset stomach and he was very happy with my pace. We worked and supported each other till the 25.3 mile mark together. At that point, we got passed by a 60 year old guy heading to main street. "Insert Jens Voigt" At that point I told my partner, "Bud, we got to hit it here, I'm not finishing behind Father Time!" We attacked! I went to the front and hammered it, head down, suffering with drool splashing down my jersey. I was hitting max VO2 levels and just looked at that 60 year old as I hammered past him at 9:00 minute mile pace. It was serious go time as we headed down main street and I layer the beats to Father Time, he was lost in the dust. I dug deep into my suitcase of courage to beat that 60 year old like I was a Norwegian Viking God.

Heading to the finish I was super happy with my day. My time was 12 minutes faster then previous IMCDA and I had no feet issues with toe nails. Once again my stomach was an issue of the run. Heading into the athlete area post race I felt okay and had the milk and pizza. Heading to transition to get my gear I realized I was in trouble. I rushed to a garbage can and started barfing like crazy. I was taken to the medical tent and continued to barf. After 1.5 hours of barfing, I was taken to the inner circle of medical tentness and put on IV. I was very sick post race and was unable to do much. My post race meal was pretty much nothing and I was severely dehydrated. It has been 5 days since the race and my stomach is still not normal. The medical staff was able to give me some insight into possible sources of the problems and it was good info.

All in all, it was a great race and I am super happy with my results.

Thanks again to all of you that have sent messages and I look forward to seeing you all in the next few months.



Take care and happy riding

Slayer Dan

Fat Tire Thursday - West Bragg

Check the forum

Stage 6 of Alberta Cycling Super Week! Stage 1 of the JayLap Memorial

Make sure to sign up for the entire Cycling Super Week if possible. This event will only grow if it is supported by Alberta Cyclists !!  

10 days, 8 races, 3 clubs, 1 stage race!

Aug. 10th 2012, time for some POWER !!

WNS - Mini Giro

We need at least 2 more volunteers to make the SPEED THEORY hosted race a go. Please add a comment here or over at the WNS blog if you can volunteer. Or email me at mikehealy at shaw dot ca. Thanks.

This Friday

I've led a serious double life, some of you may not know that. For many many years I was a beer swilling punk rocker who weighed close to 200 lbs of pure fast food. While times have changed every once and a while it's nice to remember where you came from.

I play in a band called downway, along with new speed theory member Dave Pederson. While we may not have gotten the fame and fortune, I have to say we were a pretty decent punk rock band, and we're playing a show this Friday night with the legendary Face to Face.

This is a big deal for us as we all grew up loving this band and while we did have a chance to play with them 12 years ago, this time is a much more intimate venue. If you are free this friday and would like a little punk rock in your life come on down.

Here is a link to our band's myspace, there are a few songs and videos we made for much music on there.

http://www.myspace.com/downway

The Cat 5 RR -

The field was big with 48 riders.  Pete, Alan, Chuck and I had a loose plan to shed everyone on the hill.  This, of course, was the exact same plan everyone else had.  The ride out to the turn was slow and somewhat uneventful.   The pace was going along a little too slow for my liking so I made a bit of a push and ended up being alone at the front for a short time.  Seems everyone was happy doddling along at a snail’s pace. 

I was shredded at the bottom of the hill where everyone put the hammer down. I was at the very back of the pack in short order.  Having no top end I settled into suffer mode and ground my way past 18 or so riders in hopes of catching the lead group before the turn around.  With a couple of hard pushes I was only a few meters away from catching the lead group.  Sadly, I needed more hill (or bigger lungs) to catch them.  They made the turn and were heading down.  I knew I was not going to make that up. But!  I was in a “NEVER SAY NEVER” mood and kept mashing the pedals  and tucking in hopes they do some more doddling or have some bad luck.  I had two guys from TCR roll me up at the bottom of the hill.  We recollected at the top and began rotating through like a well-oiled machine.  We were losing ground to the main pack but there was always hope, although it was fading.  We were later rolled up by Chuck and a group of 6 or 7 guys.  Our rotations were not as smooth as some guys did not want to pull or were just not savvy enough to know when to pull through. That was a little frustrating but 4 or 5 of us were still working well together.  We rolled up Alan O. and one other guy to make an even larger group.

Rob from TCR had done so much work at the front, it seemed wrong that he was boxed in 500m from the finish line.  Sprinting for 11^th place isn’t all that important but it’s just what you do.  I pulled out to make a space for him (he has way bigger legs than me) and he pulled away.  Alan O. was right with him.  I’m not exactly sure where I placed, probably 13 or 14^th or thereabouts.   The results say I, and a few others, DNF’d which is odd.  I’m sure they’ll review the slow motion replay and straighten it out.

I felt good about the race. I worked hard, suffered and had some good fun. Since it was my birthday, I figure a guy couldn’t ask for more. Ok, 1^st place and a surprise birthday party would have been nice…..  I got the party.

Epic Teamwork this weekend

Here is my take on the Cat 3 racing this weekend. In a word Awesome. I may not be the most seasoned veteran but the way we were able to work together this weekend was the most organized I've seen a team work since I started all this. Before I go any further a big hat's off to Mike Waldhuber and Marc Enter for a really great job this weekend. First up was the Points/Crit race Saturday night. With Marc Enter displaying such mad sprinting skills this year so far it was an easy decision to make him leader for the night. Now I've been on both ends of attempted lead outs in the past and have never seen it done right once, let alone 5 times (should have been 6 but I can't always understand basic instructions, nor count to 5). FIVE TIMES PEOPLE! Marc obliged by nailing first twice picking up the silver cupcake missing gold by a mere 2 points (damn you Holmes!!)

 Next morning was the 125km road race. Cross winds and a rolling course made it a race of attrition. The plan was to work for Mike and as the group slowly whittled away. Down the home stretch Marc laid down some vicious attacks that dropped the final few guys and we were down to 8. It looked very much like a sprint was inevitable so Mike selflessly offered up one of the most impressive displays of self mutilation I have ever seen. He hit the front from about 3-4 Km to go and stayed there, holding off the whole group till the final Kilo. Marc drove it home with another impressive display of power. An early jump, some cramping and a (later discovered) flattish rear wheel meant the best I could sum up for their efforts was a 3rd place, but the finish cannot do justice to the work that went into it.

 I received several congratulations over the weekend, not on our results but on how our group worked as a team. Personally what impressed me the most was not only how well everyone understood their rolls but the flexibility with which we applied our plan, jumping in for each other and generally riding for a team victory. I my mind, best weekend ever. Great Job to the event organizers, this weekend was a favorite of mine last year too. Make sure you put it on your list next year. It was a riot.

 Dave H

Tour de France fantasy pool.

2012 will represent the 6th year that we've run our Tour de France Pool. So far we've donated approximately $4000 for local projects/charities. Here's a breakdown of the previous podium finishers.

This contest used to be run to raise money for the University of Calgary endowment fund for the Jason Lapierre Scholarship (Not to be confused with the Greenway Project charity). We have reached our endowment fund goal and 100% of the entry fees will still be going towards a worthy cause; this year it will be the choice of the pool winner.

Rules:
Simple rules (follow the spreadsheet entry form attached)
-Submit your excel spreadsheet with picks to Kyle Marcotte (dukyle at yahoo dot ca) before 11:59pm Friday June 29th.
-You can enter multiple teams (Cost is $20 for your first team, $15 for your second, $10 for your third, $10 for 4th, 5th 6th... per household)
-Results are final after each stage (so no drug overturn of results). Points schedule is listed below. Ties are divided by the number of stage wins, then stage points, then a coin toss.
-Trash talking is encouraged.

Please use the spreadsheet to fill out your entries (when its available) as it makes organizing the contest a lot easier. The spreadsheet is here. Click this to download.

Scoring:
-Individual stage points: 1st - 25 points 2nd - 20 points 3rd - 15 points
-Yellow Jersey points: 1st - 150 points 2nd - 100 points 3rd - 75 points
-Green Jersey points: 1st - 100 points 2nd - 75 points 3rd - 50 points
-Polka dot Jersey points: 1st - 50 points 2nd - 40 points 3rd - 30 points
-Team placing: 1st - 50 points 2nd - 40 points 3rd - 30 points
-Yelow, Green, Polka dot and Team points are only awarded once at the end of stage 21 (but they will be updated so that you can see the swing as the race progresses).
(see last year's table above as an example)

The points will be updated as much as possible (hopefully after each stage) and posted here.

Again, all proceeds will be donated by the overall pool winner to the charity of their choice. The pool winner will be receiving a tax receipt for the entire amount donated and there will be an assortment of other prizes for top finishers.

Kyle

Calgary Greenway Project Presentation

The STC Presentation Tent for the Calgary Greenway Project.

Missing tools from Banff.

Did anyone pick a full allen key set by the Speed Theory tent on Saturday morning? I set them down beside a short fence post. They are black. If so please let me know Harley 403-880-7695

Hwy 1A twinning to Cochrane finally completed

Notable features include a shoulder that is wider than most 2-lane roads in Europe, and a traffic light at the Glen Eagles / Retreat Road intersection.

STC on Breakfast Television tomorrow morning at 7:20am!

Team, on City TV tomorrow morning the film crew will be spending the morning highlighting the 'Calgary Greenway Project'. There is a 13km stretch of the eventual 113km continuous pathway opening in the NE and there is an accompanied 'Walk-with-us' festival that will include the Mayor and several other political figures.

The completion of the Greenway Project will be a massive resource for us as it will include long uninterrupted stretches of relatively remote pathway. There is also a public open-air interval running track (with rubberized surface) planned in the SE alongside the pathway, which is a great idea.

Our club has a registered charity in Jason's name associated with the Greenway Project to build a useful sport related memorial alongside the pathway. This is really exciting, as we have the opportunity to do several great things at once. The club will provide the ideas and partial finances to build a portion of the exercise facility associated with the pathway. We plan to make our structure youth oriented as this was the demographic that Jason coached and one a lot of us are most interested in.

Tomorrow, on Breakfast Television at 7:20am, I will represent the club out on the pathway talking about how we plan to use it and why having these resources are so important. Our involvement with this is a team effort, just like our training and racing, and I am proud to be able to promote our club as healthy living advocates and promoters of significant works like the Greenway Project.

Trev

Devon Roll Call-Who's in

I'm in Cat 5- RR and Crit. Last I looked RR was filling up quickly. I promise to be focused, organized and on time.

MTB June 19

What else can I say?

Devon is the provincial crit championships

If you were on the fence about Devon, get off. It's the provincial crit championships plus it's a points race, which is a really fun format. Essentially every 5 laps there are points awarded for 1-5 place with double points on the last lap. Same format as the old Canada Day Crit (which I'm still missing and crying about) which rocked. Sign up and put your name in the comments below on Alan's post. See Y'all in Devon!

You think you have it tough

So there I am, attending a small midwestern University and I never thought it would happen to me...sorry wrong story. I was riding up Edworthy last week and bemoaning the fact that I'm out of shape and have alder tree fluff stuck in my nose, when up ahead I see a one legged cyclist. Not a word of a lie. Not on some weird retro-fitted one-legged bike contraption, but on a regular bike. He had his right leg clipped in and the other went only part way to the top tube where he had it fixed to the bike. AND HE WAS ROCKING IT. I was very impressed. I asked him if I could have his right quad.

Photos and stories from Banff Bike Fest 2012

Derek Jobson crushing the Crit.  Courtesy Double E Motors

What a great weekend! I know there are a lot of good stories out there to hear about the series of high quality events this past weekend! I can talk about our 7-man open men's stage race team. Overall, we did really well and entered the final day's road race fighting the other teams well. We ended up 13th on GC which we're all pretty happy with.

Scott and Andres are currently working on there photos and if anyone else out there has some good ones, please contact me and I will let you know how to get them up on the site.

Jenn Joss sprinting at finish. Courtesy Double E Motors

Courtesy Double E Motors Courtesy Double E MotorsFor now, here is Bicisport's Masa Higuchi's great shots of some of the crit action. I was relieved to see the pained look on the crit leader's faces in the Cat 1/2 race. It wasn't just me!!

Scott McGeachy and Andres Perdomo's photos.

Masa's crit album.

Masa's Road Race album

Double E Motors album

Trev keeping an eye on competition.  Courtesy Double E Motors

If you want to post a race report or tell everyone about some aspect of the weekend you enjoyed or was funny, then don't hesitate.

Trev

Four skinsuits for use on Sat. and a spot for a Cat5 for the ITT.

Team, the club has 3 men's medium and 1 men's small Time Trial skin suits for use this weekend. They have been fully cleaned, sandblasted, and given the thumbs up by the most discerning clean freak. I will have the suits there for Sat. morning, but give me a heads up if you want one here so I know who to connect with when I get there.

Also, Andy has had to pull out of the ITT on Sat. Due to the unfortunately circumstances, they have told him he can transfer his Cat5 entry to another Cat5. Does anyone want to spontaneously grab that spot and crush it?  Do it !! Call him at 403-282-3098.

Trev

Banff Prologue Start List, Friday night team (family) dinner, and Sat.

Team, I am pumped about this weekend as most are. The weather looks to be the only deterrent, but it'll be OK. Wicked racing and bad weather still equals a great weekend.

The Prologue Start List and Times are posted here.

The team dinner Friday night is at the Elk & Oarsmen. The reservation is for 6pm and is under Mike Godfrey. They have veggie and gluten free options, so everyone should be accommodated! Once again, team mates AND FAMILY are welcome to come to this!

Saturday morning: we'll have the team tent set up early so everyone can warm up close to it. I will have several spare race wheels for people to borrow if they want.

Saturday evening:  Most of the team are staying at the Ptarmigan Inn, so we'll set up our tent close to that since it is right ON the Crit Course.  Here is a link showing the streets I am talking about. Walk your trainer and your bike over to our tent and we'll pump each other up together. Dave Holmes is going to give his 'Crit Tactics Jam Session' to the Cat5's there. Be there EARLY !!  You NEED to warm up well for a Crit, or your race will be 5minutes long. We'll line up all the Cat5's and you can warm up while Dave talks to you guys!!

See everyone this weekend!

Trev

MTB at Powderface

I headed out to Powderface/Prairie creek last night with Thomas and Andres for some awesome trail riding. Mud, rocks and roots...what else can you ask for? Oh ya, and great company! Hope to see you at the trail head.Andres is totally pumped for next week!

Banff Bike Fest - Roll Call!

Time to get pumped... Banff Bike Fest is just days away!!
Who's all going, which category, and which races?

I'm in!

Reinier - Cat 5 - Prologue, ITT, Crit

Clothing Order pick up!! and clothing exchange post.

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Clothing is at Speed Theory for pick up !!

If you have received your clothing and find it doesn't fit, please make a comment here and if you want to trade or sell and hopefully a solution can be found with another member.


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10th street bike lane Feedback

I don't use 10th street myself I don't know if it's good, bad or indifferent. "The Rosemont Community is hosting a Community Consultation regarding the City’s Pilot Bike Path on 10th Street . The meeting will be on Wednesday, June 13 at 7:30pm….The point of the meeting is to receive public feedback into how they feel the bikes lanes are going. I highly encourage folks from both sides of this argument to attend. I will try to get some of the city official to come out, but we really need members from the biking community to help give us some real feedback and options… Folks we need options and solutions, not just complaining…Please come and make sure the interests of our community are being voiced. 10 Street Bike Path Community Forum" Wednesday, June 13, 7:30pm at Rosemont Community Hall 2807 10th Street NW

Tuesday MTB June 5

So...we missed you on the trails! Thomas and I had a fantastic ride last night! We started on Tom Snow to Ridgeback then back on Tom Snow for a total of 14km 458m elevation over 1hr38 mins. Here are a few pics to make sure you join us next week.

Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer

The Enbridge Ride is coming up in a couple of weeks. I'm riding with my team from work. The ride is about 110 km south to Chain Lakes area on Saturday June 23rd, returning to Calgary, same distance on Sunday. For many people this is a daunting task. My training is coming along fine as you would expect, my fundraising needs a boost. For those of you who have donated to one of the other 2000 riders, many thanks, for those of you who would like to contribute, click on the link below and you will be connected to my personal fund raising page where you can make a donation. Thank you very much.

http://www.conquercancer.ca/site/TR?px=2890145&pg=personal&fr_id=1411&s_src=BF_emailbadge2012

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Weekly Tuesday Evening MTB Trail Ride - (Fat Tire Tuesdays?)

All you STC members with a MTB join us on Tuesday evenings! We will be riding every week starting June 5. Location and time will be posted in the training forum weekly by Tuesday at noon. See you out there!


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What a club! Let's continue this momentum!

With no less than 3 big rides posted Sat. it was great to hear reports from all of them!  I did the Wheeler's Ride, with about 10 cyclists showing for that. Harley's group was huge (around 17?) when we saw them on Retreat Road heading out for their ride. And Lel's group in Banff had 11 club members checking out the parcours for Banff Bikefest! Oh, yah, and DJ Mike was out riding too :)

To all you new members, don't hesitate to post training rides in the 'Training Forum'. The rides don't need to be at regular times, they don't need to be formal, or structured. If you want company on a ride, and you have a few hours some time, post it, and you may get some ride buddies.

Also, we have about 15 new members since we did the second round of clothing. As well, I have been fielding questions from long time members that they forgot to order some pieces in the previous orders. Please leave a comment if you would like to order any kit. If there is a decent response, we'll do another round.

The Open Men's STC contingent for the Banff Stage Race team is all staying at the Ptarmigan Inn which is a great place and close to all the action. If you want to stay close to your team mates, then book a room there. Dennis, can you leave a comment on how to get that Bikefest rate for the rooms?

Great to see everyone out on the road!  Ensure to use the Wed. Night Series frequently and make sure to show up for Harley and Dan's Thursday Night Skills rides.

Trev

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That which does not kill us

Makes us stronger. Friedrich Nietzsche

Or maybe just really pisses us off DJ Mike

I am always amazed by the focus and dedication of our fellow Speed Theorists. As dedicated albeit part time endurance athletes (when I say part time I mean as opposed to pros who get to do for a living what we do for fun) we all juggle many roles in our lives. Work, family, friends, caregivers, volunteers etc.

We have all had the awkward work conversation where someone marvels at "how we fit it all in". Another thing that I am sure everyone can relate to it how time pressured we all become. It is often the case that there is a very narrow window of opportunity to get a particular workout in.

Such was the case for me yesterday. I had a precise 3 hour 45 minute window within which I needed to fit a 3 hour 30 minute workout. The departure time was noon, after both family & work obligations and before a booked appointment and more family obligations, it's now or never. Great gonna get the workout in. I live on the extreme north end of town, so pretty much everyone ride goes north or north west and looking to the north & northwest there is clearly rain and more likely major rain. Well at this point in the year, is there anyone that can go back to the trainer in the basement for a 3+ hour session?

So let's make the most of it... About 45 minutes in it is just spitting a bit, I'm loving it, cheating the elements getting a good ride in. The moment this thought passes through my head, the skies open and it starts raining for real. Being wet isn't so bad, once you are wet, you are wet, slow, creeping getting wet kind of sucks.Then it really starts raining and for the better part of 2 hours it pours. While I am grumbling to myself I am thinking about my team mates who were doing the pre-ride in Banff and I'm thinking "OMFG if it is this bad and this cold here, they must be in hell" (more on that in a moment).

At this point the novelty has really worn off and I am getting legit cold. Toes are basically numb, hands aren't working the shifters very smoothly, but at least I am getting close to home and out of my self induced misery. Welcome to riding in Southern Alberta. Slayer Dan has researched the weather stats for this special part of the world... it's truly frightening data (first or second year members, ask the Buddha himself at the next TNT ride, but he may not answer you, you may not ready for this knowledge yet, it will set back your learning)

I know you know this one, the slog home it stops being a ride, it stopped being fun (a long time ago), it is just transportation and the hope for warmth at the end of the road. Once I get inside the house I realize my hands are so numb I can't get the chinstrap on my helment off, I can't pinch the clip with enough force to open it and have to push the strap up over my head to get my helmet off. At the same time I realize my teeth are chattering because I am shivering so much. And just then the phone rings. It's one of my fellow Speed Theory team members driving home from Banff, happy as can be, telling me how beautiful and sunny it was and how much fun everyone had, how everyone was shedding layers as fast at they could, people out on the patios... oh, and btw the way, "what was up with your voice... you sound terrible?

Now those of you how know me will appreciate how hard this was, so through gritted teeth I lied and said "well that is great, I'm so glad you guys had a great time"

And as soon as I got off the phone and looked outside the sun had come out, the wind was gone, perfect day, just in time to leave to DRIVE to my appointment.

Sometimes we don't get the luxury of choosing when we ride, run, swim or rest, we get what we get and make the best of it. But this much I know I didn't see one other person riding or running for those 3 hours, It didn't kill me, it sure did piss me off, I can only hope it made me stronger. See you on the road soon!

Update: Pre-Banff BikeFest Ride 2 June

Hello all, just a reminder that the pre-Banff Bikefest training day on Saturday 2 June is a go! James from RMCC recommends that we park in the Safeway parking lot. We'll muster at the Starbuck's a little before 10am and roll out of Canmore shortly thereafter to meet Marcy and Thomas in Banff. It looks like it will be a bit chilly and/or wet to start but we'll make the best of it. See you all tomorrow morning.

It looks like most folks can't make the Sunday ride in Lake Louise, so please don't show up - I won't be there either.