Let's get ready to race!

Hello STC!
Training camp in Penticton is rapidly approaching.  If you are thinking of going, book your room now.  This camp is super friendly, a fantastic learning and training experience and its FREE.  Go.

Ok, I'm going to do several new things this year for those who are interested in racing this year.
Apart from the Wednesday Night Race Series, which is excellent I am hoping to host the following;

Intro to Road Race for Women
This is about a 1-2 hour overview and Q&A about getting started road racing.
We will do this in the Engine Room at Speed Theory (735A 10 Ave SW)
Friday April 15th at 6pm
You must RSVP to marie.michalski@gmail.com
Bring a friend.  Beer is free.

Road Race skills practice

Lets start with 2 dates for those who want to refresh their skills before race season.  I will add more if the demand is there.

Pace-lining, group cornering, climbing strategies, passing, accelerating  and braking safely
Apr 18th (6pm) at North Glenmore Park, Parking lot 2

Crit/tight cornering, attacking, bridging, leadouts, sprinting 
Apr 25th (6pm) Elbow Valley South (along HWY 8)
We are going to start out of town for this one and meeting in Elbow Valley.  There are some very quiet streets, big cul de sacs, and open roads nearby. RSPV and I'll let you know where you can park.

I am also going to be hosting a unique
FRIDAY MORNING TRAINING SERIES
This will be an alternating road/dirt ride. Check the training ride forum for weekly details.
  
Road rides will start at 9am from our place in Elbow Valley.  Plenty of parking at our house and the coffee pot will be on any time after 8am.  From here we can head North, West or South.  These rides will be at least 2 hours but up to 5hrs.  While they will be "no-drop" (we will regroup periodically) they will not be coffee rides either.  These will be training focussed so bring food, water, money, and tubes.  If you bonk, we will make fun of you...
Mark will be providing free pulls!

The alternating weeks will be "dirt rides".  There has been much interest in both mountain biking (my first love) and cyclocross.  SO we head to one of the many cool trails nearby for 2-4hrs of getting dirty.  This keeps things fresh when the pavement gets monotonous, AND you get to work on bike handling skills at the same time.  For these rides we will meet at the trailhead of the proposed ride at 9am.  I will throw in the Nordic Centre occasionally for good measure. As we move closer to cross season we will add in the cross skills!  (This year STC had entered an all-women's competitive team in the 24hours of Adrenaline, and we intend on crushing it!)

So if you have the odd Friday off or work an alternative work week, please join in!
See you out on the road.
Marie

Club Ride South-Saturday April 9 - 10:30 Departure

Hi Everyone, This weeks club ride leaves from the parking lot at 37st SW and 22x. Rolling out at 1030am. It will be about 100k with some longish climbs and fast descents. Not to mention absolutely stunning views. This is a group ride so we'll come together at obvious collection points.We'll probably break for coffee in Turner Valley. Here's a Map My Ride (need account) link to the file http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/373203721 We had a great turn out last week so hopefully even more can make it this week, the weather looks favourable.

Why am I such a terrible climber?

Have you asked yourself this question?  It's something I do every time I hit a hill that's over 5% or lasts longer than 30 seconds.  I hesitate to count the number of times I've settled into a climb, thinking I'm doing well, and looked down at my Garmin to see my legs chopping out 75 rpm.  Then the peloton turns into a herd of goats bounding joyously up the hill.  All that's left is to grit my teeth and swear revenge on the flats should I ever catch them.

Well no more!  I'm announcing my intention to use this great early season weather to explore what it feels like to probe the upper cadence registers while climbing.  Weather permitting, and for the next month or so, I'll be posting Tuesday night rides on the training forum.  I expect most of these to be in-town hill-repeat festivals.  

So have a look and book a spot if you have a predilection for foolishness (I was going to say 'pain' but that's too melodramatic).

Chuck

Update on our Jason Lapierre Fitness park and Memorial.

Here is the latest update I have received from the Parks Foundation. Hopefully we can ensure this will go through. This was originally going to be placed in Mahogany Bay alongside a really cool running track I spent A LOT of time creating and planning, but there have been a lot of issues with that location and the tanking of the economy has not helped. This new location won't include a running track, but it is in a MUCH MUCH higher traffic area, which is really cool. I would like to ensure the creation of this Fitness Park and Memorial, so I hope to funnel any revenue from the races (which may happen due to the city subsidy and different/cheaper location of the Crit) into this since it is crunch time. Please, if your corporation would like a logo on the jersey next year, or you have a good idea, we need to raise some funds soon. In the past we have held a Tour de France pool to raise money, I may resurrect this. (Read Below)

Hi Trev

The final construction drawings are being completed for the fitness park and they will hopefully go to tender shortly. We still want to construct the fitness park this season. There has been a lot of back and forth with the city on this project but the final location will be in Point McKay near the Angels Coffee house - a very highly used area of the pathway system.

I will send you the final drawings once they are approved and forward the installation date when that is solidified. I will also work with you for approval on the final wording for the plaque.  

It is important to note that the pre-tender estimate for the landscape feature that we are hoping to place the memorial has come back at over $30,000. If the actual tender comes back a lot higher, it may affect our ability to construct this particular structure and it may have to be modified (budgets are very tight this year as you can imagine). We still feel this is a very interesting piece that will attract attention so we will do our best to have it installed as planned. The memorial account that your donors have contributed to has approximately $17,000 of funding which will help with these construction costs for the memorial. Going forward, I will work with you if problems do arise.

Please feel free to call if you would like more details.

Thanks – I will be in touch

Parks Foundation, Calgary

First Club Ride Saturday Apr 2 11AM!

The weather is looking great for Saturday so let's get our first club ride done!

The idea is to host a formal team ride starting at a north location one weekend and a south location the next.  We'll start by splitting the difference and doing the wheelers route. However, this will be a friendly ride, with a more relaxed early-season pace, with the goal of keeping the group together.  Anyone feeling inclined to test their indoor training will be free to do so, but expect to wait at strategic points to re-group.  Details of the route are here.

A stop will be made in Cochrane for coffee and snacks with a short break.

Meet at the Tim's at 85th Str and 9th ave SW at 11:00 am sharp, but I'll check my phone for stragglers.

I'm looking forward to seeing the regulars and some new faces!
Chuck Johnstone
403-620-2304

Strava Club.... join it!

Team... there is a 'Speed Theory Current Members'  club in Strava. If you are on Strava.. go to Clubs and join it!

Here is a direct link to it!

Jason Lapierre Memorial Cycling Race meeting last night.

We had a good turnout for the meeting last night. Here is a synopsis of what we decided.

We would like to make the race desirable to Edmontonians willing to make the trip. So we are going to have the events Saturday late-ish afternoon and Sunday mid-morning. This will concentrate the event to make it easier on volunteers as well. We will make it an Omnium and try to devise a cool point structure that will still appeal to the Crit Specialists who would sometime skip the TT. Make the TT short enough that people can't use its length as an excuse to skip it and wait for the Crit, but make it challenging so that the weekend isn't dominated solely by one type of rider.

We are going to use our new location for the Criterium since it will be on almost abandoned wide well-maintained roads making it safe and appealing to cyclists wanting to try a first Crit or to experienced racers that usually shy away from Crits.

So, pending approval from all the authority figures (Rocky View County, the City, the ABA, etc), here is what we are going to do this year!

June 4th late afternoon:    12km TT. Course here.   We wanted a challenging course that would make it worthwhile for people to test their pacing and gearing strategies on.

June 5th mid-morning:  1.1km Crit. Course here.   This course will be a good contrast to something like the Velocity course which contains multiple direction changes and slight elevation changes. This will cater to slightly different skill sets and also appeal to those that may not always enter Crits.


We'll keep everyone updated on the approval progress.

2016 Speed Theory/Penticton Training Camp

Please note that the 2016 annual Speed Theory Penticton Training Camp will take place from:

 Sunday May 15 (day 1) 

to 

Saturday May 21 (day 7)

Stay tuned for the actual daily routes which will be very similar to prior training camps. Note that the longer challenging days will have a shortcut option to ensure everyone is back in Penticton at a reasonable time for dinner. 

For those who may not want to cook after a long day in the saddle we will also be organizing daily dinner reservations at various local restaurants.

Please indicate if you are attending and also indicate if you are interested in sharing accommodations and/or carpooling.

*Temporary insurance will be available for guests who are not current members of Speed Theory Cycling.

UPDATE:  [Here is the link to follow to become an STC member while in Penticton.]

It's time to get out there!

Rob hosted a NW ride on Sat.   Make sure to hook up with him next time he posts!

Thank you Rob!

Training Rides already happening!

STC group rides are already being posted in the Training Forum!  

Remember, you need to be a current member of our club, or another ABA club to participate in these. You don't need to have your ABA race license. As long as you are a CURRENT member of an ABA affiliated club like ours, you are good.

Here is the link to sign up for STC if you have not already.

See you guys on the road!

Clothing Order update.

I just got confirmation from Champion System that our order is due to ship the week of March 28th !!

Meaning we will get our kit either that week or the next. We we efficient this year!

Wednesday Night Series Fun Wrap Up, Race, and Awards Night.

To all you STC'ers who did the Wednesday Night Series last summer.... this is to you...

Hey WNSers,

Your last chance to RSVP for the Last Chance Qualifier-WNS / Crankmasters Banquet is tonight and tomorrow morning! Send Glenn an email now at glenn@rmvpublications.com to let him know you’ll be there. 

Thursday night is the last chance to enter the Last Chance Qualifier race. Hit the Zone4.ca link and commit to some serious fun that only a callous cyclist could know.

This is just like a typical bike race - everyone registers at the 11th hour! Don’t worry about the weather, its indoors, so the climate is controlled. You’ll have artificial wind generated by massive fans - just like a tail wind. It won’t rain and you won’t crash on icy roads (but be careful on the sweaty cement)! Add that to an easy field of only 9 so far and it will be a breeze.

Caterer Karen wants to know how many pizzas to deliver, so its time. Send me an email now. We'd love you to see you there!

Dinner details: 

Calgary Jewish Community Centre (CJCC) 1607 90 Ave SW

February 20, 2016

Dinner begins at 6 pm, awards start at 7 pm. Event is over at 9 pm.

Race Details:

Races will be held beginning at 4 pm, 4:40 pm and 5:20 pm. 

Register and see technical details on Zone4.ca

Cheers,

Glenn Miles

glenn@rmvpublications.com

403-471-1881

Clothing order!

Club, Champion Systems have upgraded their front-end to be a little more user-friendly for the team. I have put together the 'store' for the team clothing. Thank you to Kluane Partners, Charles' company, who have agreed to help pay for the Kid's Crit portion of our race!

We are going to close the first round of clothing early this year, so there is no question everyone will have their new kits by the first event, be it a race or the training camp.

Clothing DEADLINE! is Feb. 21st !!

Here is the link to order.

Notes:

The clothing design will remain the same this year so there is no stipulation to ordering kit. Your kits of years past will work at events.

I have the 'Repel' Rain Jacket and it has become my favourite piece of clothing. Somewhat expensive, but I wear it almost every ride at some point.

Repel jacket.