Great times last night! The final STC party of 2013.

Thanks everyone for coming out for our last big shin-dig before the New Year!

We had over 50 club members hanging out last night and enjoying the stories from the successful 2013 season. The massive list of what the club has to offer our cyclists was reviewed and fun stories and awards were shared by clubmates.

Thank you for a great season guys, I love this club and it's culture. If you are a potential new member, make sure to look at this page in January for details on our first clothing order and our AGM / party which usually takes place in early February. Potential members are encouraged to come and see if they like what they hear at that time.

Trev

STC Annual Year End Party and Awards Night!

I HAVE SENT OUT THE EMAIL WITH THE ADDRESS, and TIME. IF YOU DID NOT GET THIS, PLEASE EMAIL ME!

There will be a TV showing the Grey Cup for those that like the opposite sport to cycling.

UPDATE:  WE JUST RENTED A BLENDER POWERED BY PEDALING!! I can see an RPM contest 'brewing' !

UPDATE:  Kids are welcome, there will be a few there for sure. The is a basement filled with toys to play!

THIS Sunday night, November 24th, we will have a party!

I have sent out an official email to all club members, but plan to have some fun training/race stories to share with everyone!

There will be tons of finger food, a cheese and veggie fondue, and free beer/wine (with a DD).

In the past we have given out 'awards' for teammates, they can be in total fun, or completely serious. Over this week, try to think of something for one or all of your training partners and have something to present!


Trev

Arizona 200KM Brevet

It's coming to that time of year when the Arizona Randonneurs start their season.  The kick off event is January 04, 2014, featuring a totally different route starting and ending in the greater Phoenix/Scottsdale area.  Unlike past early season routes that have tended to be flat, this one sports almost 8000ft of climbing.  So time to man/women-up and organize your way down there, with this on you reschedule you can go crazy eating over the holidays.  I plan to head down to Tucson after the ride so if you want to spend a few more days pounding around the Sonoran desert drop me a line.  Regardless, let me know if your interested and we will organize accommodations near the start line. Due to Trev's general character when participating in sporting events we have developed a bit of a reputation on this ride, I won't say more than that.

You can check out the route here  Saguaro Lake 200KM Brevet

Stephen K

Horrible news from within our very close cycling world.

Brennan was a long time member of Pedalhead Road Works in Edmonton and has competed at the JayLap Memorial. Our hearts go out to his wife and family.

News story.

.

Beans n' Barley CX

On October 26th the good folks over at Terrascape Racing are putting on one of the best CX races of the year, the Beans n' Barley CX. They are looking for volunteers to help out with the race. It's a great race to spectate with jumps, fly over/under and sometimes snow. If anyone is interested in helping them out on the day send an email to beansnbarleycx{at}gmail.com

If you can't help out then hopefully you can race! 

Tech Guide
Registration

Movember Awareness Cyclists, ride into and out of Calgary.

Club, I got this email after a phone call from Darren Engles, who works at First Energy, who help us out with our jerseys. If possible, think about putting these dates on your calendar and we'll get you more info as the time approaches.

______________________________________________________

Hey Trev,
Great chatting with you today.  Here is the email notifying me about three brave guys riding bikes (+1 girl in an RV) from Vancouver to Toronto to raise awareness for Movember.  I am hoping that there are some friendly Speed Theory riders (I have also asked Erik and the Dead Goats) that might want to ride out, meet them, and cycle into Calgary on Thursday, October 24th.  They plan to leave Calgary on the morning of Saturday, October 26th, and this might be also a fantastic time to get a bit of support from Speed Theory and Dead Goats.

 I will try to get you better information, but this is the best I have at this moment.

 Thanks for any help Speed Theory can provide.  I am unfortunately away that weekend with my wife, so I will not be available.

Darren
______________________________________________________
(Here are a 'few more details')
______________________________________________________

Hi Erik and Trev,

I have a few more details regarding the three guys riding from Vancouver to Toronto to bring awareness to Movember.  They will be in Canmore on the night of Wednesday, October 23 and will depart from Canmore around 10 am on October 24.  Would any Dead Goat and Speed Theory riders like to meet them in Canmore to ride into Calgary on October 24th?  I guess an alternative would be to ride out from Calgary and meet them somewhere on the highway.

Also, they will depart Calgary on Saturday, October 26 at 9:00 am.  The planned departure place is Ridley’s Cycle in Kensington.  Trek is a main sponsor for the ride, and therefore, Ridley being a Trek dealer is a logical starting point.  It’s also fairly convenient.  A support ride out of the city would also be pretty awesome and helpful, if possible.

 I know there is a race that weekend, and people are busy, but I still wanted to check if there are any riders willing to provide a bit of support.

Thank you.
 Darren      

Trilobite is going to lose a few more lbs this weekend

That's code for Tom Kenny racing Furnace Creek 508 this weekend. While we are out doing our casual spin or a bit of cross, Tom and his crew will be racing in the hardest bike race ever.

Lots of ways to keep up with his progress here: http://www.the508.com/index.html somewhere there anyway, I'm sure you will find the live timing.

Tom has his own personal website dedicated to his and his crew's experience here.

Good luck Tom!

London ITU

The London ITU was a blast, especially the bike course. Screaming past Buckingham Palace on roads closed to trafffic was something I would have never of dreamed when I lived in the UK. 

Mike and I ended up in the closing straight together. Please note that I am in front of him........but he did start ten minutes after me.

Dianne had a good race except the seat fell off her bike early in the ride, which probably cost her ten minutes.

After the race we visited my family in Exmouth, on the south coast. Mark Hlady joined us. The Tour of Britain started at a nearby village. Cav and Wiggo are in the start.

 

Bob

 



Blitz Duathlon 2013

Start line picture, courtesy of Jeff Rhude

Also happening this past weekend was the Blitz Duathlon! We had several Speed Theorists show up for either the Saturday or Sunday event, which featured a 7km gruelling (hilly) trail run, 19km road bike, and a 3km trail run.
Big congrats to Dr. Trev for defending his title on Saturday and Mike Waldhuber, placing 2nd on Sunday despite suffering from what appears to be pneumonia!

Here are the results for Saturday and Sunday.

TTT action.

While the focus for many STC cyclists is cross right now, we had several hit up the TTT put on by the Crankmasters on Sunday.

Here is a shot of our women's team at the start line.

Marie, Lisa, Meghan, and Sara!

We also, had Mike Godfrey, Darcy Gullacher, Dan Sigouin, Mark Michalski, and Mike Healy racing!

Thank you Crankmasters for hosting this event.

CRANKMASTERS AIRDRIE ADRENALIN 20km Four person TTT - Sept. 22

Let's get a few Speed Theory teams organized for the four person TTT on Sept 22. Post a comment if you want to race and mention if you are solo and looking for a team. If your team is all set post up the names. Then later in the week we can try to team up. There are 3 divisions, open men, open women and masters men (40+), I'm in for the masters men and looking for 3 more. If we are all in our club kit it will look cool. Rob at Crankmasters would like to have the teams identified by Sep 20 so he can get a start list out.

Below is the link to Crankmasters. It's an 11:00 AM start. Can we get a few womens teams as well?

http://www.calgarycycling.com/cms/ 

Angliru Elbow Falls Combo Saturday 14th.

There should be an amazing grand tour show-down tomorrow on Angliru. Horner, Nibali, Valverde, Purito and Roche all gunning for it with no team mates on the final slopes. Hopefully old man Horner can dominate and Nico can hold on to 5th.

Crankmasters are riding from the big church on 69th at 10:00 AM to Bragg Creek and beyond. There should be enough time to watch the Vuelta then head out for a 10 AM departure. It would be nice to see some team mates out there.

In other news, Horner still has no contract for next year. Trev is not telling if he secured a pro contract from his Edmonton TT performance.

12-28. I definitely need to put on the 12-28.

I know, I know. The Tour of Alberta is so cool. The pro's are everywhere. They're fast and tough. I'd like to be there too so I could revel in it, but life isn't always fair.
So, we're in Newfoundland. Been here a week and finally had a chance to get out for a ride. (New job, new office, new house, new school - it all takes up riding time.) Saturday dawned clear and fair. Barometer steady. Time to go riding.
Now, when riding from our house in Wildwood I never gave my gearing much thought. I typically used what Cam refers to as he-man gearing. The mighty 11-23. Sure, I've got an 11-25 that was recommended to me for one race or another and an 11-27 that someone convinced me I needed once, but the 11-23 is a go-to choice. It's got me through many TTs, IMC (Penticton) and up Rainy Ridge several times. It should suffice.
I rode from our new home in Torbay to Cape Spear yesterday. There are a few bays and St. John's harbour between here and there. Some of the climbs get a touch peaky. There are many hills. The 11-23 is about to go on my trainer wheel. This is what the ride looked like in elevation:

 The elevations don't get to be too big. They're only about 220 metres asl at their highest. They start right at sea level though. Also, right at the sharp bits at the top of the highest hills the grade goes to 18%. Dude. My knees are a bit knackered today - good thing it's chucking down with rain so I have no urge to go try it again. 
There are compensations. This is the view from Marine Drive, about to head down to Logy Bay (and then up again and then down to Middle Cove and then up again and ... you get the picture).

When you're tired of hanging out with all the high-powered euros and aussies and such, give a thought to those of us out on the Rock. We'll be going down, or up. And looking for a really big cassette. If you find yourself out on a picturesque island in the middle of the north Atlantic, look me up. I'll be able to show you where to ride. I'll also have access to as many teeth as you might want.

Long may your big jib draw.

Darryl

Tour of Alberta KOM video

Here is a link to one of the videos I snagged from yesterday's race.
They were big ringing it!

Tour of Alberta Stage 5 Photos

Here is a link to the photos I took from the KOM and finish line at stage 5 yesterday.

Speed Theory Tour of Alberta GranFondo(ish) - Saturday, Sept 7

THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO CAME OUT TODAY. IT WAS A BLAST. SEE Y'ALL DOWNTOWN TOMORROW.

UPDATE: Joelle and I are also planning to head into Black Diamond for the Start Festival for 10:30 am. Any and all are welcome to join, but the plan is still to be at the church for 12:00 pm.

BTW: This ride is on rain or shine.

ST Folks, I'm calling a Speed Theory GranFondo for Saturday, Sept 7. It will be a fairly relaxed Fondo, mostly consisting of cruising around Stage 4 of the Tour of Alberta. Here's the plan:

- I suspect parking will be a nightmare at the 22X/37 Ave gravel lot, so I've arranged parking at Millerville Community Church, which is right on the race route. I know the pastor and he's avid cyclist and former racer, so it's all on the up and up.
- Meeting time: 12:00 pm

We'll ride down to the junction with Hwy 22 and Hwy 549, watch the racers pass, and then work our way up to the KOM on TWP 274, watch the racers again (twice), and hopefully blitz our way back to the north junction of 22/549 to see them a fourth time.

Come one, come all, and bring friends. This is a ride for chatting and relaxing.

TOA Stage Four Map is here.

Dennis starting in the Pre-Prologue, look at the turn out!

Dennis with 2 seconds to go before starting.

Trev and Dennis' Times at the TOA.

Just got a text from Trev. His time was 9:45, and Dennis was around 10:45. Rock on!

Tonight's Prologue Start list!

The day is here, time to get excited. You will be watching on TV something in your extended neighbourhood!!

Here is the start list times for tonight for the Pros:  Prologue Start times

All the riders that are big media draws go near the end of the evening like: Sagan, Hesjedal, Evans, Zirbal, Bell, etc..

Trev

We're here!

Dennis and I just pre-rode the course 3 times. There was an awesome family event here in the morning with parents and kids and chariots and scooters and trikes! It was great to see. Then the pros started riding the course in their TT kit! I saw Ryder and I think David Millar, for sure I saw Zach Bell too!

So I think I leave the start ramp tomorrow at 5:45pm. The first pro goes at 6:15pm. So a little more gap than I thought, but Alex wanted us to be able to watch all the finishers, which was nice. So I will text Paul right after I finish and get to a phone with my time. He will post my time here. That way when you are watching it live on TV you can be comparing mine and Dennis' time with the real racers !! 

It is a totally big ring course. There are only about 3 corners and the KOM uphill where I think I will need to get out of my aero-bars, so that means that the World Tour guys will be slammed the whole time except for maybe a bit of the uphill. It is a Sagan friendly course for sure with lots of corners and the main hill is only about 40seconds long.

The last picture is of Dennis and I relaxing in the Beer Gardens after the tough pre-ride :)

Chance of a '15 year' time. 'Do not miss your chance to blow'

Club, I have some pretty cool news. News that I have been talking about for about 15 years now that I wasn't sure would ever happen. It's happening!

When someone like you or I watch the Tour de France we know those cyclists rock the free world. We know they are fantastic athletes and we probably couldn't even keep up in a flat stage in the peloton during the neutral portion at the beginning of the race. But when I watch I always wonder HOW much better they are. Now with the internet and power meters it is easier to get a better idea, but there is no direct comparison. I have always said that during the Olympic track events (running track) it would be really cool to have an excellent Provincial level or even National level runner competing in the 5km, 10km, and marathon with the Professionals. Someone who's bio you know and you think is awesome. Locally, if someone like Brad Bickley pulls off a 31 - 32min 10km in a local road race you think 'Daaaammmnnn, that is is crazy fast, he had changed his clothes before I even finished?!?!'. Then when the gold medal for the 10km in the Olympics is in the 27:30 range, you think, 'I don't even get it, I don't comprehend that speed'. And that's the truth, it is hard to comprehend the speed difference. You can see the time difference, but it is hard to visualize what that actually looks like. I always thought if someone like Brad started the race with the likes of the Pros and we told Brad, if you can set a PB for yourself we'll give you a ton of cash. Then he is motivated to hammer. Then we could all watch the astounding pace difference as the Pros lap the runner over and over. That would be great TV!! The commentators would be able to say 'Do you understand what is happening here? This runner would win most road races in Alberta overall, and he is getting lapped...repeatedly!!' Then we would get a direct sense of how truly awesome the Pros are.

Well, you guys are about to get that opportunity at this year's Tour of Alberta! Dennis and I have the opportunity to race the Prologue 15 min before the first WorldTour cyclist! It will be a DIRECT comparison. Two decent Alberta Cat2 cyclists you've seen riding around racing the exact same course, with exact same weather, terrain, marshals, fans, EVERYTHING! These Pros will be starting the race fresh, so it isn't like we are racing a TT in the middle of a Grand Tour and the poor guys are tired. They will be extremely motivated as the terrain over the next 5 stages isn't incredibly selective, so the time differences in the Prologue are extremely important.

Over the last 6 or 7 years, the club has always held the 'Downhill tailwind Prologue' before the Tour de France as a fun way of trying to compare. Even with our course being dead straight, predominately downhill, and mostly tailwind sometimes, I am not sure many of us have ever beaten the LAST placed rider's time on a technical, rolly course of the Tour.

I found out about this opportunity about 2 weeks ago and I have been trying desperately to prepare. But that is part of the beauty. We get to directly compare a guy you know against the top of the sport!!  What an opportunity!

Personally, my goal will be to not come last place. I know there will be a few racers in the ToA whose Directors have told them to not go 'a bloc' (full on %100) since they are expected to help their leaders in the following stages, however this is the same as the Tour de France and we have still never beat them! There will be a few sub World Tour teams there like Kelly Benefit and SmartStop, so the results will probably be a little more spread out than at a race like the TdF where it is almost all the top of the top. But we will be able to directly compare my time with Sagan and Evans!!  AWESOME!!

I am crazy pumped. If you are up in Edmonton to watch, please start watching 6min earlier than you think you should and when you see two STC skinsuit coming at you...cheer like crazy !!! Make a mental note of Dennis' and mine's speed....then be blown away as Sagan and Evans come at you!

I will post my time here as soon as I finish so that while your are watching the actual event live or on TV, you can get a sense for the speed of these Pros!!

Dennis' start time is 5:59:30pm and my start time is 6:00pm.

See you soon,
Excited like crazy Trev.

21 STC club mates signed up for midweek mayhem!

oh hell yah !!  21 of your club mates hammering on the grass and dirt. The rest can bring your cow bells and your families and cheer like crazy!   See you every Wednesday night 6:45pm.  Learn new parks! Learn new language ! Set yourself up by a barrier or a a set of stairs and spectate some suffering! It's cross season!

Here is the schedule so you know which park to be in every Wednesday. The first one is at Laycock Park on Sept. 4th.

Here is a link to an album of shots Stephen Waters just took of tonight's CX Skills Night! Lot's of fun and learning to be a better cyclist overall. Remember you don't need to have a CX bike to come out to these, just a MTN bike!

Trev

JCC Ride for Relief (Updated with dates and times)

This is a message from Mike Urquhart, club president of the Draughters Cycling Club.

UPDATE with times and more info:   I found this link online on the JCC site. It has all the details. Sept 2nd at 9:00am at Red Deer Lake School.

 Gents,

The JCC and Kidsport are still looking for riders for the Tyler Hamilton ride.  The target is only 20–30 riders, so it should be quite good.  The route is attached.  Anyone registering through the Draughters also gets invited to the dinner with Tyler at the taproom.  So for $250 you get dinner, the ride, a tax receipt, and a warm fuzzy feeling from helping out kids impacted by the flooding so that they can participate in sports again.  If you would forward this on to your members it would be greatly appreciated.  Anyone wanting to register can Lynne directly at the JCC saying that they were referred by the Draughters, or e-mail me and I will forward on their details.

Thanks and best regards,

Mike

CX Skills/Practice

Skills/Practice is on this Wednesday! Same place, same time...

Location: Ramsay School - (map)
Time: 6:30pm
Date: Wednesday August 28

Also don't forget to register for Midweek Mayhem CX series. Link is in the post below.
 

Midweek Mayhem CX Registration is Open!

Register now! They will be limiting reg for the first race to 125.

https://zone4.ca/register.asp?id=5203

STC Clothing order is now ready for pick up!

The second round of clothing is now at the store ready to get picked up. The clothes are available during store hours. Go in, tell them you are on STC and have clothes waiting for you, then they'll go into the new studio area (currently looking like a storage room!) and find your kit.

Trev

The loooonnnngggg before the short.

Just before the crazyness of Cross season, there are still a few club mates doing some long racing.

Stephen Kenny rides in the longest 'one-stage' event of the weekend. He begins the Ontario Granite Anvil 1200km tomorrow Aug. 22nd. You will be able to follow his progress on that site. He is going to crush it.

Laura Quelch wins the absolute nutty distance award with her ride which beginson Sept 5th. Her ride is across Canada, yes, the whole Country. You can follow her progress here.

Jared Green competes in 'The New' Ironman Canada which is in Whistler this year. This has live race coverage at Ironmanlive.com.

I just heard the Meghan is doing the bike leg in an Ironman distance race in Penticton.

I know of several of our club mates that are doing the Banff Gran Fondo on Sat. Aug. 24th. Look them up in the results here on Sunday.

I think a lot of us will be up in Edmonton for the start of the Tour of Alberta on Sept 3rd.   This is upper tier pro riding. It is like having a mini-Tour on our doorsteps. We are booked at the Coast Hotel right near the race start! Come watch the absolute speed of a Prologue first hand!

Emily, Clarence, et al are doing the ToA Challenge which I somehow had not even heard about. Cool. In the comments, get a hold of Emily or Clarence to meet up before or after or during!

After these events, it is CycloCross time!! Here is the ABA calendar (scroll to September). And here is the Midweek Mayhem calendar. You don't even need a CX bike for Midweek Mayhem, you just need a MTN bike, so come out and give it a try! Remember, CX is a super spectator sport and really family friendly. Bring out your fam to watch and enjoy the action.

Trev

Indoor Cycling Classes for the Off-Season

Club, I started my off-season indoor cycling classes 6 years ago as a way for the club to spend time together and train as a group while the ground was covered in snow. Over time, more and more cyclists of different abilities and motivations wanted 'in' to the classes. By the end of last year's off-season it had evolved into me holding 8 big classes a week. This year I have secured a dedicated space inside Speed Theory to create my own Computrainer Cycling Studio. I am pretty excited. Many of your club mates have used these classes over the years to advance their aptitude and ability on the bike. The group atmosphere and progression of the training sessions makes the indoor season motivating and productive. If you are interested in checking out what I am up to from October - April visit this link. I begin the renovations on Sept 4th and will be constructing the new studio over the subsequent 2 weeks to be ready for the temperatures to drop. If you want to pop by and witness the creation of the studio firsthand and talk to me about the training don't hesitate!

Hope to see a ton of you out for Marcy's Cyclocross Skills Night this Wednesday. Also, the best race series in town is the Midweek Mayhem CX Series on Wednesday Nights starting Sept 4th. If you want a super fun intro to CX racing, this is the series. I will be attending the first 5 of these for sure, it is one of the best times of the year.

Trev

Cyclocross Practice

Unfortunately this week I won't be able to make it to practice. Marcy has said that she will be at the Ramsay school to practice at 6:30 on Wednesday but will have to leave by 7:15.

If you want to join Marcy to practice bike riding here is the details:

Location: Ramsay School - (map)
Time: 6:30pm
Date: Wednesday August 21

Practice so you don't end up like Joey...

STC Clothing, Megan's upgrade, and ITT Provincials.

The STC clothing came in yesterday! I will sort it on Monday and bring it down to the store for everyone to pick up by Wednesday. I will update this post to let you know when they are ready for pick up.

Congratulations to Meghan on her upgrade to Women's Cat3 ! It was a lot of fun watching you race this year.

Good luck to all the STC members doing the final 'road' race of the season. Individual Time Trial Championships. It is a 30km course. Hopefully someone will update us on the results after the race!

.

Aug 15 Thurs Night Skills

Hello everyone,

Next Skills night is posted in the training form.

Hope to see everyone out.

Harley.

Cyclocross Skills Practice

In cyclocross racing at least half of the battle is technique and bike handling skills. Tonight (Wed Aug, 14th) is the first of an informal series of clinics/practice for some basic cyclocross skills. We will be covering starts, dismounts/remounts, barriers, carrying the bike, off-camber cornering and more.

Cyclocross bikes are best, if you don't have one then mountain bikes are fine too. You will want to remove any extraneous attachments such as water bottle cages, racks, lights etc. You will need full access and mobility to your entire bike and these items will just get in the way.

I encourage all STC club members to come out if you have any inclining to try CX racing or just want to have a venue and people to practice with. 

Location: Ramsay School - (map)
Time: 6:45pm

Please comment if you are coming.

Now some video to get you primed

Quintessential CX compilation:



2013 CX World Championships:

Another awesome JayLap in the books!

Start of the first heat of the Kids Crit!  Possibly one of the coolest photos you've ever seen?

Well, our club pulled off a super event again this year! The Criterium is definitely a highlight on most Albertan Cyclists calendars.

We will make this post a collection of photos and stories and results from the weekend.

Isaac and Reiner going through corner 3 in Cat 3.

The women going through corner 1.

Masa Higuchi has some super shots of the Crit here. Thank you Masa and his wife.

Ken Anderson spent the entire evening taking awesome shots as well! They are here.

Luke Tymoski was out for a walk and took some great shots when he happened upon a bike race! They are here.

Results from the ITT here.
Results from the Crit here.
Results from the Road Race here.

Prairie-Roubaix Top 5 results for each category.

Congratulations for the 2013 Prairie Roubaix winners in each category. It was a perfect day for racing and the volunteers enjoyed some great racing. The Ambulance attendants were thoroughly bored and unused, which is the hope of every race director!

Cat C:
1.  Adam Zinatelli
2.  Alan Oickle
3.  David Stringer
4.  Suchaet Bhardwaj
5.  Andres Perdomo

Cat B:
1.  Brian Kozak
2.  Erik Cramer
3.  Alison Jackson
4.  Clarke Ellis
5.  Glenn Miles

Cat A:
1.  Dustin Andrews
2.  Colin Croston
3.  Geoff MacDonald
4.  Fraser Mills-Connery
5.  Chris Taylor

Race Day # 2 from The World Master Games in Italy

Hello everyone,

I hope everyone enjoys the read!

Here is the next update from Italy.  As the previous blog was about the MTN bike race held on August 4th, this will be about the Criterium on August 5th.  The race started at 9:00 am so the weather was decent, 31 celsius at the start line.  The course was a 3 Km circuit race with a 400 Meter hill at 3.5% gradient (up and down), a hair pin turn and a traffic circle.   We were to race 8 laps which made the race very short.  The pavement was good but had lots of man hole covers which were slippery due to the humidity.

The race started fast and hard with about 5 attacks in the first 2 laps.  On the 3rd lap a break with 2 guys managed to get away.  I stayed with the group as the race was aggressive and would bring them back.  The attacks kept coming with many trying to bridge the gap to the 2 up front.  These were serious all out attacks, 3-4 per lap.  That short 3.5% hill is very hard when your nearing 50 km/h every time you go up.  I stuck my nose out front a couple of times to either bridge the gap myself or bring someone back to the group.  I tell you, I had no friends!!  Each time I played at the front I payed dearly with counter attacks AND no one letting me in, or having to completely stop pedalling to encourage some other animal to attack, which was even worse as I was slowing as he was accelerating.  It is mean over here.  I really started to fatigue on the 6th lap.  Legs were tired from racing the previous day, it was hot and the racing was hard.  One the final lap I was sitting 5th place at the 700 meter mark thinking I had this in the bag.  I think I brought the wrong bag!  The pace really picked up and at the 400 meter mark the guy who had been at the front started to sprint and won the pack sprint!!!  WHAT?  The guy behind him got second and the guy behind him got 3rd in the group and so on.  

Who rides at the front of a peloton, for the first half of the final kilometer, then sprints to win?!  The Pro's do!!  Remember those 2 guys who got away on lap 2, yeah, they stayed away on they're own and placed 1st and 2nd.  The group sprinted for third.  With how aggressive the race was, I was perplexed as to how they stayed out front on their own for two thirds of the race.  As it turns out there were 2 professionals (team mates) and several guys who are.....no longer professionals that still race, that came out to play.  The Italian pro's are fast and tactical, i'll give them that.  As for me, my legs did not have enough punch to move me up in the final sprint (that I had in the bag).  Fortunately neither did anyone else as I held my position and crossed the line in 7th.

Harley.

Results to the Time Trial.

Results to the Time Trial are here.

.

Rocking the tunes.

Kiss Productions are coming down to the Crit tomorrow night to up the cool and ensure people are enjoying the music while Michael Godfrey announces. Thanks guys!

Friday night START LIST is here.

Here is the Start List for the PedalHead ITT.

It's time to hammer!

.

2013 dB Performance Jason Lapierre Memorial Cycling Weekend

Alberta cyclists:

The dB Performance Jason Lapierre Memorial Cycling Weekend is just two weeks away!

The Tech Guide.

The Registration on Zone4.
Volunteer sign up.

Here is the format for the race weekend:

Aug. 9th:  The Pedalhead 20km Time Trial in Airdrie. (starting at 6pm)
Aug. 10th:  The dB Performance Downtown Criterium and Kids Event.  (starting at 4pm)
Aug. 11th:  The Prairie-Roubaix Road Race. (starting at 9am)

The Time Trial and the Criterium will be full ABA points races. The Prairie-Roubaix will be a road race operated like it was going to be in April. This means it will be a road race without ABA upgrade points, it will be a pure race for racing sake. It will be run in three categories:  Cat A, B, and C, each with a corresponding distance of 58km, 72km, 86km respectively. These distances, given the challenging terrain will be long enough. Racers can choose which Cat they compete in.

Tour de Bowness! and now it's our club's chance to shine next weekend!!

Lisa Oldridge closing in on the top!  (Blake's photo)

Lots of exciting stories about Tour de Bowness to be had!

If you want to post your story about Tour de Bow here but don't have permission to post on this website, email me (at the email on the right) and I'll set you up.

Here are some great shots Blake took of the Hill Climb on Sunday night.

Calgary's resident awesome photographer and bike racer Masa Higuchi's also always captures great shots of Alberta racing.

Now it's OUR TURN !!  Next weekend is our chance to shine!

Marc and Dave mid-crit hitting a corner. (SpeedTheory's photo)

Race # 1, the Mountain Bike Race.

Oh where to start.  The MTN bike race was Sunday afternoon at 3 pm.  Issues started about 4:30 am Sunday morning as I found my-self hugging the great porcelain bowl.  Suspect bad sea food.  Was not able to go back to sleep after.  I did manage to get things quite stable by race start time though, thank god.

The temperature this particular after-noon was 36 - 38 celsius, this sets a new record for me.  It was hot! The start of the race was delayed by a half hour which sent me to the nearest water fountain I could find.   I filled a water bottle dumped it on my head until I was soaked head to toe.  I tell ya even the water in the out door urinals were starting to look like a good cooling source!  :s  The race was almost halved due to the heat as no feed zone was included.

The course was 3 km of paved road to a small park where we raced around a 2 km circuit 8 times, then proceeded 3 km back to the start line.  The circuit consisted of 40% pavement, 30% gravel and 30% of actual dirt.  This was a Cyclocross race course.  I soon realized I was going against the odds as everyone had carbon fibre hard tails that were at least 5 - 7 lbs lighter than my aluminum full suspension.  The Italian MTB National Champion from a few years back's bike was particularly nice, got a good look at it as we lined up beside each other on the start line.  (ask me about him upon my return as I have another story about he and I).  The 2 km circuit in the park was on the side of a steep mountain, we were going either up or down.  Luckily there was quite a bit of shade.

Recap...little sleep, unsettled stomach, very hot (no feed zone), technical bike on a smooth race course.  Oh yeah baby, shaky knee syndrome found me once again.  I had a good start on the pavement and got on the course in a good position.  I had my only mechanical on the first lap, chain fell off and got jammed between the little ring and the frame.  I passed a hand full of people in the first 2 laps but shortly after that the climbing in the heat really got to me.  I started getting passed as I slowed down to nearly a crawl.  I managed to finish all 8 laps (later found out quite a few dropped out or crashed) and hit the roads back to the finish.  Four Italian's we're working together and managed to catch me with about 600 meters to go.  I sat in and sucked wheels till the 100 meter mark and sprinted passed all but one.  Here is the really crazy part, after all that I still managed to place 6th.  Not sure how it happened but I was pleasantly surprised.

Moral of my story is NEVER quit.  The greater the odds of you losing a challenge, is all the more reason to accept the challenge.  That's how you learn and progress.

Matt is bringing the ST tent to warm up under for the team!

Matt is setting up the team tent in the EAST parking lot by the ski day lodge.  Meet there to warm up and pump each other up!!

Trev

TDB RR Report Cat 5

Best described as “Ugh!”.

No doubt this was a harder RR than in years past.  The distance was greater, the hills were bigger (ok, geologically that takes longer than a year.. just sayin’) and the wind was stronger.

We had a big crew, 13 of us plus the ‘Swede’ who, if he was able, was willing to help out the best he could. The plan was to protect Lampros to the best of our ability. If he started to fail then we were to switch to Cody or Waleed depending on who was around.

The race started off in a gentlemen like fashion.  The pace picked up as we headed north but not so hard that anyone was really being taxed.  A few jams on the minor hills got my heart rate towards the redline but easily recoverable.  I kept my eye on Lampros in case he was left out in the wind but our trip out to the turnaround wasn't as hellish as I was expecting.  I did expect to see a lot more riders being shed on the hill returning but either the pace was easier or I am in better shape.  My bet would be on the former as it seemed the entire pack was with us at the bottom.

The return trip into the wind was moderately taxing.  As Lampros would move toward the front for his rotation I would move up to take his pull.  Not that this happened often but I made every attempt to keep track of him. I would lose track of his whereabouts from time to time in the mob.  The pace had increased into the wind so a turn up front caused some damage.  As we approached the turnaround I had taken a couple of turns up front or was adrift to help protect Lampros unaware of the hell that would be unleashed after the turn. 

The turn went well (Thursday Night Skill Session!) but I was 2 or 3 bike lengths off.  Lampros was right behind me and I was doddling a little not realizing an attack was in progress.  By the time it sank in, (I blame ‘ODBS’ - Oxygen Deprived Brain Syndrome), we were probably 10-20 meters back.  Lampros was in tow and I put the throttle wide open but was soon failing.  I made some ground but soon realized I could not pull him all the way up and waved him through.  He put in a monster effort and was on the lead pack.  I was pretty cooked and was more or less on my own.  I reeled up Glenn Miles, or he reeled me in (ODBS). We worked our butts off but were gaining little ground.  We picked had a small group and we worked together.  We got close to the lead group, then we got far, then we got close again, then we got far. Ugh!  My Kingdom for a few more watts! Finally, I let it all go and caught them after one of the chicane turns.  Sadly we hit a little rise and the pace picked up. With no recovery time I was too cooked to stay on.

After that 4 of us rode together.  We didn’t slack off and we made good efforts to catch the lead pack. I knew that it was all over if we didn’t catch them before the turn.  We didn’t.

We worked together bucking the wind. We picked up a young fellow and another Bici guy pulled us in for a group of about 6 guys. My tongue was at risk of being caught in my spokes, and my aging heart was at 911 levels on a regular basis. My legs had a long conversation with my head about the abuse they going through however, my ODBS head was unable to process the information so the legs and all the other parts had to keep going. 

We made the final turn to the finish line and we all started slacking off getting ready for the sprint.  I did the math in my head…” knot, knot, double-knot = maybe 16^th place”.  No sense in sprinting.  The boys headed off in a flourish of lactic acid, sweat and spittle, I enjoyed the last 200 meters without ODBS.

All in all it was a good race but I was little disappointed I couldn't hang on to the lead group.  I have excuses, but I simply didn't have the jam when it counted.

Congratulations Waleed - 1st place!, Lampros 10th and Cody 14th.  It was good seeing such a large contingent of STC guys and gals.  I was really pleased to see new riders out for their first race!  

Time to cheer on your Club Mates tomorrow (Aug. 4th 2013) at Canada Olympic Park! 6:00pm

Club:  I just looked at the start list for tomorrow's Hill Climb up the hill at Canada Olympic Park. We have a ton of teammates tackling the hill. This is an exciting event since it isn't an 'Individual' Time Trial up the hill. The cyclists start in groups of three and battle it out up the 1.2km ascent.

The Cat5 racers start at 6:00pm and spectators can walk up the road and cheer. It is fun for kids since riders go by every 2min.

We have 14 club mates in Cat5! There is an STC racer in almost every heat! AWESOME. Bring the family, walk up the hill, and cheer like crazy. After the Cat5's we have 8 more racers sprinkled throughout the remaining heats.

Trev

Thursday Night Skills TONIGHT Aug. 1st at 7pm !

Team:  Tom Kenny and I will be hosting TNS this week. It will be a 7pm start in North Glenmore Park starting from the corner of 37th St. and 66th Ave.. The Western most parking lot that is gravel.

I have some cool coaching ideas I have been thinking of to try out to teach climbing skills more effectively and Tom will be working on pre-corner positioning, entry and exit speeds, cornering 2 and more abreast, and etiquette. I hope both will be really worth coming out for!

For my groups tomorrow night, people will need a pair of runners as I am bringing a bike with platform pedals for people to use and get some of the ideas I will be showing. So pack a pair of runners with you for tomorrow night.

See most of you at 7pm in Lakeview!

Trev

Ciao a tutti da Italia!

Hello from Italy!

There were lots of requests for updates from Italy so here is the first one!  The first week was quite low key as we were adapting to the change in time and weather.  We arrived in Torino late July 8th.  It was hot and far more humid than I had expected.  First ride was mid after noon July 9th, felt like 3 am, to find a local bike store.  This ride was just over an hour.  Quick lesson on riding down town in a European metropolis city any one!  Which way was that going?  Why is that there?  Why is this lane yellow?  Where did he come from?  Where are the traffic lights?... oh there they are, why are there 4 sets at this intersection?  What!?  8 lanes going in 10.5 different directions in one intersection!?!?  Uhhh what?  Never found the bike store but lucky to have found my way back to the hotel.

We spent Wednesday, Thursday and Friday riding around trying to find routes out of the city.  Basically we followed any cyclist we saw and took all the notes we could.  By the end of the week our map looked like a 4 year olds drawing of down town Singapoure done with an eatable 6 pack of crayons .  (yeah crayons!!)  In total, got in 10 hours in the first 4 days of riding and orienteering.

Saturday was a day off to shop around and check out some of the local attractions.

Ciao for Now!

Harley and Sarah.

Kicking Horse Cup THIS weekend.

If this coming weekend is looking a little empty, there is a great event based out of Golden this weekend called the Kicking Horse Cup. Follow this link for more information. 3 races in 2 days!

Missing Jason

It was 7 years ago today I heard the terrible news that my good friend Jason had been hit by a car on the 1A East of Cochrane. That horrible day had a huge impact on many lives. It is the truth that rarely a day goes by that I don't think of a funny story about a crazy training session or a fun trip to an event.

Soon we will be holding our annual Jason Lapierre Memorial Cycling Weekend. For the new members, it is good to have an opportunity to know who Jason was and why quite a few of us believe we should remember him with an annual event. Jason was a nationally recognized downhill ski coach. There is an annual alpine ski event called the J Cup in his name as well. Below is a video compiled last year by one of the members of his old ski club to help people attending the annual events know what is in the name.

By the end of this year, there will be a physical memorial in Jason's name on the Calgary Greenway Project. It will exist as part of a public interval running track and family area. The facility has been designed to encourage families and youths to lead an active lifestyle and use exercise to learn goal-setting, discipline, focus, and pride of accomplishment.

Volunteering for our big weekend! Aug. 10th and 11th.

Club, I have added a link to the Volunteer sign up application we use. I want to give everyone a lot of notice.

I love being part of such a great group of people. The race committee never has to stress too much about getting volunteers out. Please sign up for a position or three soon, so the race committee can cross this 'to do' off our list.

Please sign up for one or some volunteer positions. Lots of the positions can be done before doing another. For example, Chuck just signed up for Course Prep on Sat night downtown, before switching roles and turning into a Course Marshal.

Sunday's event is slightly NW of Bearspaw and Church Ranches. You drive up the 1A toward Cochrane, but head north on Lochend Road for several minutes before reaching the 262.

One of the funnest spots is volunteering for the Kid's Crit.   Putting race numbers on little run-bikes and 16 inch BMX's and watching the kid's smiles as they ride down the middle of a downtown street is totally awesome.

If you want to race both events (which is encouraged), please consider volunteering your partner or a friend for a spot for marshaling.

So it would take some pressure off my shoulders if these positions were filled soon.

Thanks everyone,
Trev

STC clothing, round 2.

I just heard from Champion Systems that the latest round of clothing isn't going to get here until Aug. 15th. So the jerseys for the newest members won't be here before the Tour de Bow or the Jason Lapierre weekends. The club has a few jerseys we've acquired from having to hit the minimums on some orders over the last year, so we have several extra jerseys.

If you plan on racing in the TdB or the JayLap Memorial, either email me directly or comment here what size you think you are and we will either get you a jersey to loan for the events, or, if we don't have that size, we will coordinate you borrowing one from a member. Don't leave it to the last moment though, from about 2 week out of the event I am crazy busy coordinating, so it is best to handle it now.

Trev

Trying it for the first time. Awesome!

Emily starts the 4.2km Time Trial. 5...4...3...2...1...GO!!

Jaya is ready to hammer!

We had several club mates giving bike racing a go for the first time this weekend. It was great to see. However, what was even better was watching other club mates lending advice, encouragement, and even gear. I am sure every new racer will be back for more.

Lisa has an instant groupie!

With the three different disciplines offered over the weekend, a club mate could ease themselves into the scene. I always recommend trying out a Time Trial first. This way you aren't around a bunch of other riders during your first event. It is just you against the clock and the course. You get to experience the atmosphere of an event and above all meet more of your club mates which can be potential training buddies. The next on Saturday's agenda was the Criterium, which I always recommend to volunteer for one first, or go into Calgary's excellent Midweek Series to learn how to do these before doing a weekend event. On Sunday, there was the Road Race, which teaches cyclists to work together, get to an intensity previously thought achievable, and find out how cool the team sport of cycling really is. Of course you can never forget what makes this sport so family friendly! The Little Critters Crit! Watching the children experience the crowds and the pure joy of cycling down the middle of the street is always the climax of the weekend for me. My Mom would always tell me to go ride on the yellow line when I was growing up, but it was never when the roads were fenced off?!!?

I had a great time this weekend and got to hang out with quite a few people from the club. I was totally pumped to see the size of the Women's peleton in the road race was bigger than the Men's Cat1/2 pack!  This is awesome and I hope this trend continues. If you are a women in the club and need a gentle nudge to try out an event, we have some very encouraging women you need to talk to! Email me and I will put you in contact.

Spectators line the finishing stretch as Rebecca hammers it home.

I am hoping that a couple other club mates post here about their weekends. Congratulations to several riders who had some great personal achievements this weekend. Chuck is leaving the Cat5 ranks with an awesome 2nd place in the Criterium. Lawrence showed that if you are fast, it doesn't matter what Cat you are in and got 2nd in his first Cat 4 Crit. Megan rocked the free world and got second in the Crit, Road Race, and Omnium, all while providing awesome encouragement to Rebecca, Allison, and Emily who were trying out their first mass start events. Thank you Megan! Waleed (winner of our STC Prologue) got 3rd in the road race. And finally Marc, who seems to be unstoppable this year with a 1st in the Cat1/2 Time Trial, 4th in the Crit, and 3rd in the Road Race. This was all good for FIRST in the Cat 1/2 Omnium. It was awesome being part of his team and Dave and I are still walking on clouds. I tell you, we feel like that Omega-Pharma dude in the background!! Except Dave and I would be much much further in the background :)

From Huffington Post Online.

Wedding Invitation

Fellow Speed Theorists, we would love to have you join us at our wedding!

The beautiful bride-to-be and a very lucky guy.

Together with their families

Joelle Kimberlee Dubber

&

Darcy Rae Gullacher

Invite you to celebrate their love story and marriage

Saturday, the twentieth of July

two thousand and thirteen

at two o’clock in the afternoon

Centre Street Church Chapel

3900 2nd Street NE

Calgary AB

Rundle Mountain Stage Race and Provincial Road Championships

Congratulations to all who raced at the weekend, there was some great racing and Speed Theorists placed really well. Check out the results at http://zone4.ca/results.asp?id=5935

dB Performance Jason Lapierre Memorial Cycling Weekend Aug. 9th - 11th. Some Updates.

Club, for this year, our flagship event has some tweaks.  Our sister club, the Calgary Crankmasters agreed to my request of helping us out with one of the 3 events we hold over the weekend. This really takes a strain off our volunteer base and allows more of you to race when you want to! Thank you very much to the Crankmasters for continuing to be a huge asset to Alberta Cycling, and congrats on another successful Stampede Road Race.

So the format this year for the dB Performance Jason Lapierre Memorial is this:

Friday August 9th, for a 6pm start time: Crankmaster 20km Airdrie ITT

Saturday August 10th, for a 4pm start time:  Kids Fun event (every parent that rides and has a kid should be present!)
Saturday August 10th, for a 5pm start time: Downtown Criterium.  (This is our shining jewel event, highlighting cycling to downtown Calgary)
Sunday August 11th, for a 10am start time: Prairie-Roubaix 4 Returns!

So get your kids pumped, and put all these events on your calendar!

Thank you once again to Dennis Bland, owner of dB Performance, for sponsoring this event.

This week's WNS is a 40km ITT

Club, this Wednesday night, the WNS series is hosting a 40km Individual Time Trial. Get in on it if possible.

There used to be a 6 or 7 race 40km ITT series in the province that was usually hotly contested. Unfortunately these events were super well attended and with the rising amount of work associated with hosting an event, they fell out of favour with race directors. I miss that series as learning how to time trial is a skill that is transferable over to road races and stage races.

Anyway, if you want to try a 40km ITT out, this is your shot.

Link to the time, route, and place here.

Trev

Tour of Alberta VIP Pro Cycling Experience

I was talking to Alex Stieda in Edmonton a few weeks ago, and they are still looking for a few more people to complete the VIP squad:

VIP Pro Cycling Experience

You ride about 1-2 hours *ahead* of the pros on each day, except for the prologue where you ride 10 minutes ahead of the first pro rider. So if you have $9500 burning a hole in your pocket... contact Alex (contact info is in the link).

Stampede Road Race THIS WEEKEND, Registration.

Women's contingent, Stampede Road Race, July 2011

Club, the Stampede Road Race this weekend is put on by our sister club The Calgary Crankmasters. I really encourage you to attend. It is a long established, well organized event. This is a fairly unique race on the Albertan racing calendar as it is raced in 'Age-Groups'. There is an 'Elite' category for racers that want to race in the highest ability category, and then 'Age-Group' waves starting shortly after. This is a PERFECT event if it is your first ABA race. I have raced this event about 8 times I think and each time it was been a typical Crankmaster event: well-executed and athlete friendly.

Women, this is a perfect opportunity to try out an event for the first time if you are hesitant. This is a low-key affair where you will be introduced to racing on a course that is beautiful and challenging.

Read more about the event here:  Tech Guide.

Registration is here.

Newer cyclists and and potential racers often look at experienced racers and assume they somehow just know how to race, or that it's all about fitness. The truth is, everyone has to learn, often by failing. Here is one of my many examples:

About 6 or 7 years ago, I got into a break at this race with Zach Bell, Jeff Bolstad, and another rider. I was a fairly new racer at the time (about 4 years experience) and excited to be in a break. In the paceline I kept surging forward with enthusiasm slightly gapping the riders behind. Jeff scolded me out and told me to ride smarter in general and also let Zach do the most work. Me, not knowing who Zach was, resolved myself to do just as much work. With 2 laps to go, as Zach effortlessly pulled the other two riders slowly away from my rapidly failing legs, the lessons Jeff tried to teach me were sinking in. The moral of the story?:  training and reading about cycling is one thing, but you learn valuable lessons far faster when in an environment where you will feel the effects of your mistakes. For me, I learned my mistakes that day the hard way, meaning I will never forget them.

I encourage you to attend this event and support a great cycling club.

Andres pictures from Banff Bike Fest.

Some of the STC Stage Racers at BBF 2013

Andres took some great shots of BBF this year. Have a look through! These are fairly compressed shots so you can load them quickly, but if you want a higher res version, he can email it to you directly. Just leave a comment with your email and he'll get it to you!

Here is the gallery.

Thanks Andres !!

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