Cyclocross Nationals results

Just got word that Shawna raced to an amazing 4th place at the National Cyclocross Championships in the masters women division!! Way to go, Shawna!!

Podium results from Pedal magazine here

Amazing racing.

On Sunday, Kyle, Ryan, Jared, Frank, and Trev competed in the Wasa Olympic Triathlon. Talk about awesome racing. This race is the premiere event of the summer for Olympic distance racing in North West America. Pros get to race side by side with Age-Groupers in an awesome organized enviroment.

Kyle did what he does best and battled it out near the front of the crowd and laid down a sweet run time to finish third overall. Trev, Ryan, and Jared battled it out for top 15 with their final placings being 13th, 14th, and 16th repectively. Frank battled the lake, but posted good bike and run splits to climb back through the field to finish 31st.

Full Results here.

Cat5 Pigeon RR report

The Speed Theory cat5 team went into the Pigeon RR with a plan and 9 strong guys to execute it - ST would lay down the hurt, and Dan and I would suck wheel and sprint finish.

The race started out at a lively pace, and took the big hill in the opening km's at speed. But it's just the start of the race, and we can kinda take it easy, right? Errrr....no. A gap formed between the front half of the pack, and after a weak attempt at a ST paceline, Dan and I sprinted to bridge up, leaving Rob, Mark and Rui in the chase pack.

Most of the rest of the race was kept at a fast pace, with just one crash (interesting, one of the two guys to go down was the same young buck that crashed twice in the crit the day before while riding by himself). Despite some strong pulling by ST, very few racers in the front pack got dropped, one of which was Mike G, who was really just trying to keep a low profile with his 95 upgrade points. Mike of Hardcore Racing led up a couple of hills and sat about 100 metres off the front of the pack for a few km, and three ERTC guys ramped up the pace at the front, but other than that a uneventful race.

So what happens at the end of uneventful races? Huge field sprints! We came around the corner with 20 dudes ready to duke it out. The ST guys left at this point worked our way up through the pack ready to launch past the front markers and oh! There's a slow moving van. And oh! there's 50 cat-4 riders, and a bunch of people handing off stuff in the feed zone, and watch out for the cones! And then we crossed the finish line...

The official results posted by the ABA have me 4th and Dan 7th. There were a few DSQ's for ST guys, probably for centre line infractions in the last moments of the race, which is too bad because ST would have had a bunch more guys in the top 10. Mike of Hardcore Racing finished first, which really shouldn't have happened, since he was working hard during the race, but maybe he saw the cat4 pack and knew that he just had to catch them and he wouldn't be able to be passed? Anyway, good on him.

So was it a success? Well, Dan and I both finished in the top 10, so sure. Would we have done better if it wasn't for the unexpected gong-show of finishing as cat4 rolled through the start-finish line? Absolutely. Certainly that would have avoided probably all the DSQ's. But really, having a field sprint finish was not part of the plan - so Dan and I were thinking that when we saw the pack not have to work, we should have gone to plan B. If only we had one! :) Thoughts, anyone?

Hats off to all those ST guys who pushed the pace, and let Dan and I suck wheel all race, especially Mike G who gave it everything and had to drop out. You rock, Mike!

Overall results for the weekend:
Lockie 3rd
Dan 5th
Paul 25th
Mike 26th
Mark 32nd
Old-Rob 41st
Rui 46th
New-Rob, Andy and Carl DSQ

Race results.

Hopefully someone from the team will post a race report from Pigeon, and Jason, Kyle, and Ryan will give summaries of their weekends doing HIM's.

Lots of races, how cool is that?

Here are the results:

Pigeon Crit

Pigeon Road Race

Oliver Half, Kyle did a 4:09, while Ryan picked up an IMC slot with a 4:34

70.3 Boise, Idaho Jason did a 4:57.

Giver 8'r Trev managed to complete 8 laps in around 4:45 and then had to bow out.

PLRR results

Results Here: Pigeon Lake Results

Awesome work guys!

THE BOB REPORT

Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen this is the BOB Report.

Day One 8.5 km ITT

After spending a portion of the day cycling around Saskatoon and scoping out the marathon route (which my wife Celine will be running next weekend) and the ITT route I had a good feeling about the up-coming race. Sign on started @ 4:30 and it was interesting to see the Sask riders making last minute decisions as to which categories they would ride this weekend, not sure I would want the added pressure of picking my Cat before a race but since I ride in Alberta it’s not my problem I guess. Great it’s raining now! Well at least the wind has died down a bit from this afternoon. Start time 6:57:30.
I did my usual warm up on the trainer while ingesting my pre-race goodies which will remain secret at this time. I arrive at the line just moments before my start. 1 2 3 GO TIME!!!! I hear Steve and Frank yelling encouragement and from the corner of my eyes I see Steve running as well. It’s a real blast to have friends around!! First corner… HOLLY CRAP MAN I almost hit the deck!!! OK FOCUS…Although the rain has stopped the road is very wet with numerous puddles about. YES…I am getting my TT legs back as I just smoked past one of my cat 4 opponents. Time at the line 12:01. I am happy, that’s a huge improvement over last year and in worse conditions.

Day Two 86 km Road Race

I am very nervous today as this is my first real road race since moving up to Cat 4 and to add to the pressure I am currently in 5th spot on the GC after the Time Trial. After getting some last minute advice from Steve it was time to go to the staging area. Man these dudes look fast!! The race starts and the first portion is with a wicked tail wind and as expected the pace is fast…stay close to the front but out of the wind. As usual there is the required confusion at the first turn around point but once that gets sorted out the bunch is all back together and riding into the wind. Even more important to stay close to the front but out of the wind as the pace slowly starts to wind up. I have the names and numbers memorized of the guys ahead of me in the GC and I am going to shadow them like a bad smell. As we get close to the second turn around it’s time to pay attention and sure enough there goes a bunch of us, me included, in an attempt at a break away but unfortunately it fails. Just after the turn around another shot!!! But it too gets pulled back and to add insult to injury the wind has shifted and it’s going to be a wicked head wind all the way back to the line. The pace was quite strong despite the wind and people were starting to pop off the back. For a brief moment I thought I was going to pop as well but I dug deep and managed to claw my way back onto the tail end of the lead group. Once recovered I worked myself back to my cozy spot of 4th to 8th wheel. Oddly enough with only approx 1500 meters to go I found myself right at the front and no one seemed to be around me however that changed really fast around the 700 meter mark as it seemed everyone one was there at the same time and after the same line. I gave it one more charge and to my huge surprise I started passing riders left right and centre till I crossed the line in seventh position!! I had successfully defended my 5th spot on the GC!!


Day Three CRIT 35min + 3 Laps

Luckily the rain has held off and the roads are just a little damp. The crit starts and I am stuck behind two guys who can’t seem to get clipped in. The long line develops and all ready the pace is through the roof and I have some serious ground to make up. Mental note next time start right at the front!! Again I had to dig deep to make up ground but lap after lap I gained on a few more riders until I reached my desired “resting” place, you guessed it 4th to 8th wheel. Strategy…at this pace all I can do is hang on in the hope of defending my 5th GC spot. Prime lap F^$#&^$K, I am barely hanging on by my finger nails. OH Thank god they shut it down at the front after crossing the line. A few more laps and crash number one goes down. Prime lap F$#@%K, I am barely hanging on by my finger nails. OH Thank god they shut it down at the front after crossing the line. A few more laps and crash number two goes down…it’s Brad, the third man on GC!! Stay FOCUSED James!!! Prime lap F*&^%&^*K I am barely hanging on by my finger nail and this time I know damn well they won’t shut it down because there is only five minutes left to race…Digging deep lap 1…still in there…Digging even deeper lap 2…still in there…Make a vain attempt at passing a few riders, lap 3, did I mention it was a vain attempt!! Dug really really deep…the line!!!! Sixth to cross!!!

Results:
Frank 4th on GC Cat 3
Steve DNF Cat 1/2 (Suffered back problems during Day 2)
James 4th on GC Cat 4

Full Results found here

Congrats to Kirk and Carl in Lethbridge

Kirk and Carl... why was it up to me to get this up on the blog? RACE REPORTS GUYS !! :)

Looks like Kirk took 2nd overall, capitilizing on the fastest bike split of the day by 2:41 !

Carl took a 16th position, which is totally solid.

Hope both of you guys can make it up to the Pigeon Lake RR. I think SpeedTheory will dominate Cat5 if we get a good turn out.

Full Results here

Trev

Cat 2-4 Race Report Bici Sport Crit

Trev and Rod round out our coverage for the categories above 5. Of course, a special shoutout to our friend James Tallian recently accepted into Cat4 where he placed a decisive and consistent 16th. In the cat3 mayhem Rod seemed to be enjoying the speedway but his competitors got a little scared and laid sprinkled some carpet tacks for him to flat on, resulting in a tough DNF. Frank of TRS fame also finished safely in the bunch for cat3 leading to some epic showdowns in the TT for Sunday. Lastly, the cat2s ran (luckily facing a wee bit less breeze than the preceding groups) an advantage nullified by the extra time these speedsters had to pedal. In the pic to the right we can see Trev, casually discussing the Lay-Z-Boy kit and potential labour strategies with an unidentified LayZboy rider. Unfortunately, Trev was outnumbered, but let's be honest he's never out gunned, and working with the HnR folks made the crit exciting and wild.

Results:
Trev Williams: 24th
Rod McAllister: DNF
James Tallian: 16th

Full Results

Cat 5 Bici Sport Crit Race Report

Saturday was the Bici Sport Crit held at the infamous Race City Speedway. The Cat5s of Speed Theory were well represented. In the Pic to the left, we have (from left to right) Mike 'Chewie' Chui, Alex 'The A-Train' Shaw, Ernest 'the E-train' Wyder, Mike 'the Heater' Healy, and Rob 'El Twitchy' Woolley. Facing a brisk headwind, the ST boys piled up at the front right off the start teaming up with Mike from Cranky's. In the first laps MikeC suffered catastrophic chain failure and coasted to the side. The Heater (MikeH) drifted to the back but gamely pulled two other riders around the speedway for the ensuing 30 minutes. A gracious guy, MikeH claimed the work was shared well among the chase group at an estimated 90% Mike, and 10% the other guys. A BowCycle rider full of spirit launched a flyer several laps in. Cranky'sMike and Rob had to hold the A-Train back with repeated shouts of, "STAY 5 BACK!". Coming into the wind, this left the bulk of the heavy lifting to the E-Train. Ernie could be found almost every lap pulling the entire pack into the wind on the back straight. Rob was clearly being a pest leading the pack on the tailwind straight and doing his best to knock Steve(independent) over. Thankfully, Steve kept Rob on the straight and narrow until the second last lap when Rob attempted an ill-fated flyer into the wind. Coming into the finish it was up to the big guns Alex and Ernie who did an extremely good job.

Results:
Alex Shaw - 8th
Ernest Wyder - 16th
Rob Woolley - 20th
Mike Healy - 22nd
Mike Chui - dnf

Balzac 20km TT. 'The Refrigerator 20'

Well it was a super cold brutal day for the racers.

Competing for Speed Theory Cycling today were:
Alex Shaw 30:37
Rob Wooley 37:25
Mike Healy 35:46
and newcomers:
Kirk Draper 30:59
Carl Miiller 34:13

I volunteered as a starter, which was fun. I got to scream at everyone as they were beginning their 30mins of pain.

Hopefully we can have a bigger turn out at some of the later races.

Other notables in the race were:
Steve German (TRS) 29:08
James Tallian (Crankmasters) 30:14
Kyle Marcotte (TRS) 28:25
Kirk Loberg (Campione) 31:47
Frank Woolstencroft (TRS) 30:18
Jared Green (TRS) 28:29

Results found here

Notable absentee today was Paul Anderson, who is settling into married life perfectly.

Trev

Indus TT today. RESULTS NOW UP

Well, there was a huge turn out for the first TT race of the year today. 56 riders took the 20km TT and wrestled it until the finish. The day was cross-windy with several gusts and temperatures around 7degrees.

Of the SpeedTheorists were:
Paul Anderson: 31:42
Alex Shaw: 30:17
Peter Lawson: 34:33
Rod McAllistor: 31:49
Matthew Fieldwalker: 30:53
Trev Williams: 27:54

Friends racing included,
Kyle Marcotte: 28:14
Frank Woolstencroft: 30:30
Steve German: 29:40
James Tallian: 30:15

Also, congradulations to James Tallian for not hitting a horse while competing today.

Full results found here.

Trev