Velocity RR and Aerobic ITT

Team:

This weekend is the Velocity Road Race and Aerobic ITT. It's a focus weekend for the team and a great time. The RR is much flatter than Lethbridge so there should be less pack shattering on climbs and the only challenge will be from cross winds, head winds and various other types of wind.

Most people will drive up Sat. morning to the road race. Or stay in a close hotel if early mornings are not your thing.

Velocity Road Race Planning details:Velocity RR is Saturday, May 9th. REGISTER HERE !!

• RobL and RobW are heading up Friday night to the lovely Park Ave Inn.
• Map from YYC to Josephburg: MAP
  

Aerobic ITT Planning Details:

• Aerobic ITT is Sunday: Details here.
• Hotel for Saturday Night: Motel 6
• This is close to a BPs for another team dinner Saturday night. Since this is a focus race, the team will be supplying FREE BEER for all team members and their wives that make it to BP ! (Rob, if you bring an escort, we will include her in the 'free beer' thing)
  
• Map from RR to Hotel: MAP

I will update this post with more detail as I get it.

Roster:

Cat5 (12 so far)
Rob Woolley RR/ITT, Clarke Ellis RR/ITT, Aryeh Rosenberg RR/ITT, Darcy Gullacher RR/ITT, Steve Pickett RR/ITT, Charles Finstad RR/??, David Morgantini RR/ITT/TTT, Mike Hoang RR, Tom Kenny RR, Mark Shand RR, Bart Ujack RR, Alan Oikle RR.

Cat4 (4 racers)
Rob Lukacs RR/ITT, Mike Godfrey RR/ITT/TTT, Larry Welsh RR/??, Thomas Yip RR/ITT

Women (2 racers)

Marilyn RR/ITT, Kailee Boyle RR

Cat3 (7 racers, FULL TEAM !)

A-Train RR/ITT/TTT, Jason RR/ITT, Lachlan RR/ITT/TTT, Ben RR, Ryan RR, Keith RR/ITT/TTT, Stephen RR, Len Conlin ITT/TTT

Cat2 (6 racers!)

Trev RR/ITT/TTT, Dennis RR/ITT, Rod RR, Dallas RR/ITT, Kyle RR, Frank RR/ITT/TTT

Yup

!! Well there ya have it folks, Trevor Williams, Top 'non-Olympian' at the Lethbridge Road Race!!. I'm getting suspicious of the werewolf like ability of this guy to grow facial hair ?... how much 'natural' testosterone does this guy really produce ?. Never mind 5 o'clock shadow, Trev looks like Wolverine's brother by 9am with thick chops he grew over night.
Is it true Trevor that you fathered 19 kids since you were 15 ?. Inquiring minds want to know.

The Hill Climb, yes, only 2km. I knew I could do it. Somehow I won ?. For first place I earned a hacking couch for the next 12 hours, and a gift certificate for a free chest cold that I cashed in today. Ughh. Speed Theory also takes 2nd position Podium, for a lead in the ABA Team Pionts Standings, Cat 1/2.

Mountain Bike XC. I'm surprised I didn't come out looking like Lockie. That was the 3rd ride on my newest Race bike, and had a 'new girlfriend first time' experience trying to get this thing up the hills, down the singletracks, and around the lapped riders. My seat kept slipping down in the collar and I stopped a few times to adjust it back .
The lowlite of the race was my amatuer pass of Deadgoat friend Devin Erfle on the only double track / steep downhill section. : I rolled right into the outside and neglected to call track ( wasn't feeling that confident ).. then Devin pulled right as well, just as I was there. We tangled bars and somehow he sacrificed for me and took the crash while I speed wobbled off to the right, twisting my seat in the collar. Devin was in a heap but I'm sure the rocks broke his fall as he was still vocal, so I knew I could keep racing. As I rounded the valley and looked across he was standing and I yelled an endearing "are you ok ".... "grumble grumble". Uh ?. No, I'm guessing he's not ok.
After the race I apologized sincerely, it was both our faults. But he was walking better than Lockie.

Road Race. After waking up sad, due to the Hawks beating my Team, I took my depression out on the hotel Breakfast buffet. Eating 3 plates to Marilyns, 1. Then we burned down to Magrath.

The Race starts, ' small field'. Lacking any H&R and 5-6 other A.B.A regulars. I pull a fools attack ASAP, not to test my fitness but to bolt ahead and let that bacon fart go I was holding in.
KM 10 I see The Wolfman Trev Williams Sastre and an ERTC kid go wailing by on the outside, it was exciting. Looking around this early in the event, nobody goes after them >? . I however know this is only a 116km race and any good time trialist could have his day here. Several of us in the Peleton had also raced the day before, IE: race Cody Canning, Roddi Lega, Erik Bakke, Rod M, myself and Trevor too. We're slow to warm up.
Around km 12, Craig Deboffle (Bow Cycle) and Shawn Adamson( Juventus) make a break. I must have been flossing or something but I totally missed that ?. I sat in, Rod sat in, and Trevor's chance of success was growing by the minute. I knew they couldn't catch them, not in this wind. At this time I knew ST was a part of a Top 5 for this day.

At the first turnaround, I attacked. Only ERTC rider Jon Wood was able to come after me, after a long effort he caught me on the downhill the fat bastard, and I'm 180 lb. ? \Well the guy must be born part MAVIC because he attached himself to my wheel like a Mexican parasite and I wasn't gonna shake him. We near the next turnaround double back on the course and Trevor and the ERTC kid have a great lead, about 6 minutes. In between in no man's land @ 2mins, is Deboffle and Adamson, they are my mission.
With my Giverator in Maximus, I T.T up to Deboffle and Adamson, ERTC wheel sucker takes about 1 pull the whole way, claiming, 'You're too strong, I can't pull through". I started to think he was hitting on me but I know Jon is married. Anyways I catch Craig and Shawn and they look like buzzard meat about this time. And with a short burst I pop Shawn on the KOM doubleback. Now it's 3 of us after the last turn around, the last 3 of Top 5.
I pull towards the Finish line and away from the chase. I'm sure I can get a Top 5 now if I can maintain it. Craig sucks wheel the whole way back, just to survive, but is the utmost sportsman and rolls neutral across the line behind me, while Jon Wood takes my sprint. I got 4th. ERTC owes ST some prize money...

Tips - Know your competition. Who are the Time Trial guys, who are the Sprinters ?. Who has big side burns and who has a pony tail ?.

- When one of your men is up the road, stay OFF the front, if you are on the front, ride nearly bloody neutral. Who cares if the break wins by 20 minutes if you have Team mate there. Win from the Chase pack if you have to for 5th or 6th. Remember Points go 10 to 12 deep in the ABA depending on the Race Category. Check your rule book.

- And, bring a BBQ to Magrath next time for some post race food.

Cat 4 Report

Team,

I got some messages today mentioning that I had not posted yet. It sounds like some of you actually like reading my posts. Sorry for the delay.

Well, that Cat4 race started off pretty smoothly. Coming from Trans Rockies where the neutral start means, "Force the fire truck off the road and get at it!", I was very relieved for the cautious start. Bicisport had numbers, we had numbers, obviously it was going to be a 9 man battle Royal. King Kong Bundy, Big John Stud, Andre the Giant, SuperFly Snuka style.

The first 20 km were disorganized and guys were struggling with the wind. The paceline was taking along time to get established. Three riders were off the front within distance, the group was letting them sit out there, not forcing anything, waiting to see if they look for comfort within the group. 

I was following strict orders from El Capitan to sit in the group and look for shelter. Rob and Carlos were taking pulls and trying to stay out of trouble. Guys were really disorganized getting to the first climb. Roy and James were hanging out at the front, I was trying to cover their moves with assistance from other Speed Theory riders. When the Bici riders made their move, Michael jumped on their wheels. I was with them to the top and then they surged again. Michael was super strong, riding fearless, Carlos was licking his chops getting ready to attack, Rob knew that there might be hot chicks down the road and I was looking for the heart paddles!

I was stuck in "No man's land" I couldn't stay with Michael's chasing group, and I had distanced from the main pack. I worked really hard for minimal gains and it didn't make sense for me to pace the pack up to Michael. Michael had the boys in his wheel house so I was going back to the group. I really needed some recovery, I am not sure if the Bow Cycle jerseys changed colours or if I was in bad shape, all I could see was arm warmers that pink plaid, it was like staring at the sun. Your not supposed to look, but you do anyways.

The chase was in earnest to the bottom of the large hill. Roy and James were well paced by Michael and then they left him. Those guys were on great form yesterday. We re-formed at the bottom and set a hard pace to the top. It was a great move for us, we got the selection we wanted. All of the ST boys were in the mix for the chase. Michael set an awesome pace that shattered lots of guys. I was able to tuck in on the climb and keep the heart rate lower. The final turn during the climb south confused Michael and I felt bad to pass him, I think he thought it was a bit shorter. We saw the group ahead and felt that we could catch them on the way back. I think I got the "King of Fat Guys on the climb" award, prize should be coming in the mail.

After the turnaround, with the wind at our backs, and the steep downhill we made another separation. Michael's diligence of hill repeats didn't serve him well on the downhill. Sometimes, my consistent Krispy Kreme training pays off and with the course prevailing downhill to the finish, it was Tsunami time. If every one forgot the term Tsunami, refer back a few posts to the emptying of the SAIT pool and the banana hammock.

We worked really hard coming back and we couldn't catch the leaders. Even my dashboard sumo was sweating. The sumo was really good at letting the guys know when to drop back and let me do some work. Much like Roddie said, it was a 47km TT getting home.

I'm not to sure how the results worked, the top 8 had the same time. Roy and James were in another class. 

Coming back, I did get some feedback about the team. Once again, comments were made about the size, class of the leadership of our team, and the overall sense of organization and rider skill. There are riders that are very envious of our team. I am very proud to wear the red and black in racing and training.

Keep up the good work guys and gals.  Have a great weekend racing in Edmonton this weekend and I look forward to reading the posts. It was really good to hear the success of the Cat 5 riders and their race. It will be great to work with some of you in Cat 4 when you stop to visit us. Great work Carlos, Michael and Rob. We worked well together.

You'll hear more from me later this week.

Slayer Dan

Roadies welcome at Calgary track meet (May 23-24)

The Calgary track scene (www.cbtl.ca) has already started, and they offer Learn To Ride clinics for $10, last time I checked. It's a fun experience to fly around on the track, even if you're not about to become a trackie.

There are only two track meets a year in Calgary, with the first coming up on May 23-24. Roadies that can't make it to the Calgary velodrome in Glenmore for the two introductory lessons, can just rock up with their road bike and kick some butt anyway:

Calgary trackies spit in the faces of roadies, call the roadies' mothers "fat", and request a duel

.

Bearspaw Crit

Those of us that missed out on the Lethbridge Party wound up in Calgary at the Bearspaw crit. Another fine event hosted by the good folks at Crankmasters that had excellent turnout and even better weather.

Speed Theory was well represented, RobW, Alle, Aryeh, Darryl, Steve, and one other gent (who I have shamefully forgotten the name of, please post a comment so I can correct this error and a million apologies in advance).

First off, these guys are effin fast. Darryl set a course record, Alejandro dropped everyone in the TTT like a bad habit, and Steve put the hurt on in the road race. Wicked, I am stoked to hit up a larger road race with you guys.

Thanks for coming out guys and thanks to Crankmasters.

My first Road Race

My first Cat 5 Race.

I was a little nervous not knowing how well I would do. I’ve ridden my bike a lot but not in a competitive environment where other guys are trying to crush my spirit. Looking at some of the bikes and quads on some of these guys, not to mention I’m no spring chicken, I was a little unnerved.

The team had a good plan. I like plans. I’m good at following plans. Plans don’t always seem to work out like… you planned. But in this case… the plan worked!

Our goal was to start spreading out the pack after the first hill. Have a few guys up front pushing the pace on hills two and three to separate the wheat from the chaff. This seemed to be working except I really didn’t notice the hills. I’m sure they were there but I was so busy trying not to do something stupid I didn’t notice. I was focused on moving around the pack, taking a short pull, then slipping back, but not too far back and working my way through the pack again. This required all my concentration as there were indeed a few sketchy riders who jiggled and wobbled like a fat chick at a hoola hoop party.

The wind was from the NW and everyone was echeloning (if that’s a word) across the road. Whoever was at the front was pulling the entire pack until…. All of sudden, the pack thinned out into a long thin string along the yellow center line and I was left out thrashing in the wind. “What the hell was going on? I can’t draft in this! Who in their right mind would do this to me?”

Then, looking along this long line of riders, gaps were beginning to form. Slower guys were struggling against the wind as if they were by themselves, the wheel ahead of them was doing very little and they were suffering. I looked up the line to see who was the devious mastermind behind this plan. And there was Carl, smiling away as the pack started to break apart. It was brilliant! He had the help of other Team Theory players deploying this evil and brilliant plan. Before I knew it the pack had disintegrated into smaller groups and we were game on.

The big hill was looming and I did not want to be too far back. Simon, who was in the unfortunate crash, had caught up and was moving towards the lead group, I knew I needed to be close to him if I was going to hang on.

At the bottom of the hill there was a big surge. Simon and some other fast guy were in the lead. Several other guys including Thomas and Joel had sprinted by me but since I have virtually no ability to sprint, I simply settled in and turned the pedals in true ‘Randonneur’ fashion. The hill was long enough that if you went out too hard, too early you could blow up and I started reeling in rider after rider. I caught Thomas about two thirds of the way up and that’s where the Team came together. We got to the top of the hill and were greeted by a good size wind. There was the lead group of Simon, Joel and the other fast guy and a second group of two guys quite distant from the lead. Thomas and I worked the wind taking 20 seconds pulls. It seemed to take a long time but we slowly pulled them in. Another fellow work his ass off to catch us and we were now a group of 5 about a minute or two behind the leaders at the turn around. There was no way in hell we were going to catch them and I knew that Thomas needed points to move up so we agreed he would sit in and I would do his pulls. If anything went wrong for one of the riders in the lead group, Thomas would have a chance at 3rd.

I pulled, gave the signal, no takers, I pulled some more, gave the signal, no takers, Thomas and I slowed down to a snails pace, they all sat in. One fellow took a few pulls which I appreciated but the other guys sat in. If that’s the way it’s going to be, then so-be-it. I pulled for the remaining 20km’s or so with Thomas tucked in.

Joel had blown up and was off the lead pack. He later told me that he made some tactical errors and blew all his matches at the wrong times and was cooked when we reeled him in.

Thomas played it perfectly. We picked up at the pace even more at the 3km mark. We were surprised at how quick the finish line came up and I yelled for Thomas to go. In retrospect, a better ‘code word’ than “GO NOW”! should be deployed but he had the jump. I eased off for a second to make the remaining riders around me and voila! Thomas was over the line.

It was an awesome first race. The tactics deployed by the team were excellent. Carl I believe deserves the credit for destroying the big pack with his yellow line tactic. Simon and Joel were awesome in the lead and I felt great through ride. I came in 6th place but one of the guys in our pack was disqualified for some reason which gave me 5th place. No podium but it was better than I could have hoped for.

Thanks everyone for a great first race!
Tom

The Weekend Warriors

Great weekend, lots of hard racing and good company.

Shout outs to the unsung heros of the Cat 5 Race...

Joel and Carl gave some huge efforts in the first half of the race. I'm sure this led to shedding a few competitors and hurting most everyone else.

Clarke and Andrew for surviving the crash and working hard to finish the race.

Thanks to anyone else I missed, I couldn't always see where everyone was but I know everyone was working hard. Funny thing I got comments from 4 people in the peloton who were in shock at the numbers, strength and organization of Speed Theory in the Cat 5 race. I think this speaks loudly for the commitment and effort of the racers and management of our team. Kudos to everyone on a successful showing this weekend.

The Jens Voigt award for hardness goes to my wind shield and lead out man Tom K. Tom worked super hard at the front of the race in the first half, then when the peloton shattered on the KOM he and I did a 2 man paceline to catch the group that was chasing Simon. Tom then basically dragged 4 of us across the prairies and gave me a perfect opportunity to beat out the others for a 3rd place sprint finish.

It was also great to see Marilyn out to battle the women's division for Speed Theory this weekend.

Great job to everyone that made it out to Lethbridge. Super impressive season opener!

Midweek Mayhem

Midweek crit action starts this Tuesday at University Research Park.
Info and registration available online at www.midweek-mayhem.ca

Another report

Lethbridge road race this morning. Great job, Trev! Woo!

I had a fun mountain bike race on Saturday (thanks for lending the bike, Trev), mixing it with numerous cat 2 & 3's (much to the chagrin of the rest of the field). First MTB race, second time on single track ever. Was feeling fantastic for the first 500 metres of uphill before the hurt set in (similar to my road race today). For the downhill, I know from other sports my usual style is to push it 'til I fall, then ease back...and repeat (watching me skiing must be amusing), I tried to hold back a bit on the death-defying front, but near the end I wanted to make up time and let loose. Having a 25 pound bike break-dance on my spine as I slide down a hill at high speed is not something I wish to repeat soon - but it was super fun overall, and I'll be back. I knew I looked as bad as I felt when, as soon as I finished, Trev said "wow, tough ride? I have to take a picture of your face".

Great weekend for the club!

Well, the club sure represented well this weekend. Everyone got in some serious suffering (Stephen's favourite word) with either a brutal high intensity hill climb, or a relentless XC race inside an oven, or a crosswind filled rollerfest road race. Thanks to Phil Rayner for a great weekend. I didn't hear or see of any hiccups to anyone's race experience in terms of organization.

Personally, I had a super weekend. Something was clicking and I am happy it corresponded with a few races. The climax was today's road race....

...I've always thought it would be super cool to one day get good enough that after a race somewhere, sometime, a dude walks up and tells you he needs to follow you into the outhouse since they need to check to make sure you raced 'on your own'. My goal since I started athletics in 2000 was to one day be good enough that someone cared enough to check to ensure you were clean; to be in a race where the level was high enough that a drug tester was present would have even been good.

As the years have gone on, I have slowly come to the realization that maybe I should switch my goal to having coached someone who gets to the level where someone cares enough to drug test them :)  ...

...well today, was a great day for me, and I think I am pretty happy with the compromise. Today I was the sole dude in a breakaway with an amazing athlete who has been to numerous world class events, including the big show (Bejing). We broke away early in the race, and it was just me and him for about 95km. Trading pulls. Me and an Olympian !!  Sure. It may have been a training day for him. But just being able to be at the pointy end of a race with a dude who was riding a custom painted Cervelo with the Olympic rings that CERVELO GAVE TO HIM !! was nothing short of awesome. He decided my company wasn't to his liking on the last downhill crosswind and laid it down to drop me. However, I would like to think I kept him honest in the last 10km to the finish while we were mano-a-mano about 10-20seconds apart. Thanks Paul for making me think all the training was worth it!

I hope the other SpeedTheorists will pipe up with their stories of the weekend, but I wanted to share with you guys something that still has me smiling.

Trev

Coullee Cruiser

It was a fabulous day in Lethbridge. Some excellent climbing and some great suffering in the cross country.

Hill Climb
Cat 2's
Dallas took over all
Trev placed second

Cat 3
Locky placed 3rd
Alex was 1 second behind for fourth

Cat 5
Joel took second place
Yours trully placed 5th
The rest of the results will come later.

In the cross Country
Novice
Lockie took a beating and was leading the group for the majority of the race. Then, in good Lockie fashion crashed (Trevs bike). Apparently a good end over end, some minor blood and contusions to take second place. While Rod came in around 5th.

Thomas in the sport category came in around 6th.

Trev in Expert still suffering worked incredibly hard through the race to take seond place. He looks like hell but says he feels great. I think he's lying.

Dallas in Elite look cool through the whole race and took 4th in elite.

Dinner at Boston Pizza. We're in a huge B&B getting ready for tomorrows big road race.

Coulee Cruiser Race - Who's Going? - Updated Racer List

With the GP Bici canned, everyone should be rested and fresh for the Coulee Cruiser next weekend. Who is planning to be there, and which races are you doing? Post like this:

Darcy Gullacher, Cat 5, HC and Road Race

This way we don't have a bunch of racers named Anonymous showing up. =) =)

I was down in Lethbridge for Easter and checked out the hill climb by car. It appears to be a consistent climb that kicks up just a touch at the end, but nothing too serious. It's in a gully, so it will feel a lot like Edworthy, but twice as long.

Here's who I have:

Darcy Gullacher HC/RR
Clarke Ellis RR
Andrew Wolaniuk RR
Thomas Yip HC/XC/RR
Carl Miller HC/RR
Tom Kenney HC/RR
Mike Healy HC/RR
Joel Souchotte HC/RR
Simon Williams RR
Andy Hill HC/RR

Cat 2/3

A-Train HC/RR

Keith RR

Dallas HC/XC/RR

Trev HC/XC/RR

Rod HC/XC/RR

Lachlan HC/RR

Dennis HC

Cat 4

Rob HC/RR
Slayer RR

Mike G RR

Carlos RR

Women

Marilyn

Anyone missing?

Team Dinner in Lethbridge Sat. night ?

 Let's all meet for dinner somewhere close to the finish of the XC.

Let's say 6:30pm at......  THIS BOSTON PIZZA

ALSO... I just put the RR course into MAPmyRIDE and the profile looks brutal going out!! Follow this link and if the profile doesn' automatically come up, click on 'Show Elevation'.

Trev

OK, guys, quick.. I need a cool, REAL name.

OK, since our race is A GO !! for June 6th on brand new fresh closed HIGHWAY !! on NE Ring Road. We need a cool name.

We need a name that reflects the full-on coolness of this event.

I met with the media lady on Wed. and she needs a name....   you have 2 hours.

Thomas thought of   'Lord of the Ring(Road)'  ... if you want to vote for this one, then leave a comment too.