Hill Climb start list. It's go time !! READ TECH GUIDE!

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Hill Climb start list.

PLEASE READ THE TECH GUIDE before driving to the race.

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It's our turn !!

It's our time to shine guys !!

This is OUR Weekend! Let's show racers we know how to host a race!

Don't forget the Kid's Race!!

Who's going to take these home?  The white ones are the Kid's Medals.

Volunteers for THIS SUNDAY REQUIRED !!

Team, thank you to everyone for making the volunteer process so painless for us so far.

The biggest positions that haven't been filled so far are for the follow cars. The follow cars are needed to drive the Commissaires around the course behind the pelotons while they keep track of the racers. At a miminum we need 4 more people to volunteer to drive a Commissaire around. Ideally, it would be great to have wheel cars as well.

Please go to this link to sign up!

Thanks everyone.

The Circuit Race

Before I start my long winded race report. Thank you to the Niklas Group for putting on a great weekend of racing.  I know how much effort goes into holding one event let alone 4.  Great job.

I came into the Circuit Race with apprehension.  Those of you who know me, know that I don’t do crits.  My lamo excuse is that I’m afraid of crashing, which is true but all that speeding up and slowing down over and over again… I mean really!  This was the first Circuit Race and since it’s in my own back yard and it only has two corners, how could I refuse.

After a disappointing road race the previous day, I was not really pumped like I should have been.  My leg had cramped rather drastically on Saturday and my attempt to hydrate and electrolyte myself back to normal lead to an endless pee session all night long.  Having the bladder of a small rodent and fretting about the corners, I slept poorly as I’m sure many do before a race.

The 1^st Lap

I figured I would do one lap, see how I felt, then lounge about and hope to get lapped.

The field was full but I was glad not to see the guy in the cotton shirt or the guy with the cross bike from the day before. Not that I’m opposed to guys giving it a whirl, I give them credit for showing up... I’m just sayin’.

I started at the back of the pack and quickly realized that this was not a place I wanted to be.  I know everyone says that you need to be at the front in a crit if you want to be safe. Although this is true, in my experience it’s easier said than done.  I slowly moved up as we neared the first corner.  I was impressed at the gentlemen like approach on the first corner and everyone was slowing and giving adequate space for a nice line through.  Unfortunately, I was not near the front and had to engage every muscle including my colon and small intestine to catch the pack.  Enlightenment #1: stay near the front for safety and leg preservation.  By the time we reached the second corner I had wiggled my way up to the top 10 riders or so and easily hung on the pack.

Lapp 1 was completed.

Lap2

Lapp 1 had gone better than expected.  I was still full of self-doubt but my legs miraculously didn’t have any spasms and my heart and lungs were enjoying the middle of the pack.  Through the winding road of the south end I found a nice line that allowed me to move up to the front.  Hopefully I was not ticking anyone off in the process but after 3 and one half years of racing, I’m getting pretty adept at moving through the pack…. at least in my mind.  The strategy of moving towards the front prior to the corners was paying off.  The youngens were laying it all out in the front and I was happily cruising in the middle.  Sure, call me a slacker, fair enough.   My trepidation was starting to drain away and I was beginning to enjoy this.  OK, I’ll do one more lap.  The laps following were relatively similar.

The Bell Lap

I managed to weasel my way close to (but not on) the front of the first corner.  The fellows were holding nice lines (other than an incident with an unsuspecting pylon) and my mo-jo level was good.  As we approached the final corner, things were a little more bunched up.  I didn’t get moved up as far as I was hoping and I was boxed in a little too long and ended up near the back of the pack.  A tactical error on my part but that’s how it goes sometimes.

THEN!

A line opened up the right side of the road.  With 500 meters to go it was perfect timing.  Imagine the angels going “AHHHH!”, the clouds parting, sun shining through.. it was enlightenment #2… sometimes you get lucky if you hang in there.

My lungs and legs had all the guns they needed to really crank it up.  I was ready. A quick check to my right and I was full on the gas.  The tall fellow just ahead of me had the same view and pulled across my bow.  That was ok.  I would let him haul me up to the front.  Life was good.

Then, out of nowhere, he was cut off.  He locked up his brakes so hard his back tire was off the ground at about eye level.  I was just to his left but heading for his rear tire.  I slammed on my brakes.  In an instant, I had the impending vision of me with a lot less skin than I had only few moments ago.  In what seemed forever, his back wheel was off the ground.  My back tire was locked up and I was hard on the front brake. I don’t know who he was but his bike skills were excellent as he landed his bike safely.  There was a great deal of swearing and cussing from this fellow which was probably justified.  He was mad that he was taken out from the sprint.  As for me, I was glad to have my epidermis in one contiguous piece. Enlightenment #3  Shit happens.

It’s rare that I can be in and have the guns for a sprint so getting shut down was disappointing. But I was pretty pleased that I was there and ready to hammer at the end.  I may not have been first for sure, but I was certainly in the game. 

Tom

Sat. morning 'Criterium Volunteers Ride'

Wendy and Brenda have organized a big ride Sat. morning for all the people volunteering at the Criterium Sat night.  Get in a solid ride before watching the race !! Details here.  Great idea.

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Start list for ACSW Crankmaster ITT

Here is the startlist for tonight's timetrial!

Startlist.


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New Course for JayLap Hill Climb

Due to extremely last minute, unexpected, and unforeseen logistical reasons, the Hill Climb route has been changed. Luckily, we have a crack team of super volunteers in our STC stable that unleashed their collective experience and resources and together with an extremely supportive Rockyview County, we have come up with an alternative route!

The new route is still almost in town and is a climb that the club has wanted to use for several years. Parking will be at the Springbank Park for all Seasons / Highschool located on Springbank Road. PLEASE read the updated technical guide.

Our team is pleased to offer you this new route in light of the new insurmountable obstacle on the original course presented to us this week. Thank you very much for your understanding with this issue. Thank you to all the teammates that have come through for Alberta Cycling !

Speed Theory Cycling

Below is the new route:

Cat 5 ers

Who's racing and what?

Tom Cat 5
TDB RR
TDB Circuit Race
Cranky ITT
JLapp HC
JLapp RR

Any chance we could strategize before the RR on Saturday?  Meet at 9:00 am in the parking lot.  Look for my old blue VW.

Calgary Herald Article on Superweek !!

Here is an article on Superweek to share around the office.

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Super Week for Super Women

Hey Gals,

I just signed up for all the events for Super Week and I didn't see a single other STC woman there.  This will be a great opportunity for anyone looking to start racing  ... why? Here are five reasons not to chicken out:

1) You won't have to race against the pros - the crazy strong women will be in a different category!
2) Big prize money
3) The courses are awesome
4) Our club is putting it on!
5) We get to race as a team at the best event of the year

Okay, that's my pitch.  Oh, and if you aren't pregnant you don't have an excuse.  :)
It would be awesome if we could have a team presence out there.

-Jennifer

Time to make your friends promise they are bringing their kids!

These will be distributed to a lot of places downtown!

Proof your team mates were at the Tour!

Darcy has been combing the TV coverage for the last 3 days and let me know when we show up on the TV coverage. I got a hold of the HD version and took some stills. Proof !

Here I am about 6.5km to the Summit of the Tourmalet just a few km after Voeckler had successfully dropped the current Polka-Dot jersey. I didn't have to wait long until one of my heros mashed the pedals by me telling his legs to Shut Up!

The shot of Darcy is a little less clear, but who else would keep their helmet on? So that is proof enough.

Darcy beside Voeckler and Feillu

What are they doing looking left? I am on the right ?!?!

Volunteering for the dB Performance Jason Lapierre Memorial

Team, I have created the positions needed for volunteering for our big race. This software really saves me time, since I can communicate with all volunteers easily after they sign up.

Please go to this website and peruse the positions required to make our race another huge success.

Remember, you can sign up on multiple days and in some cases you can sign up for multiple positions on the same day (example:  course prep & marshal).  You can sign up friends and family, but ensure you use an email and phone number that I can get in touch with them.

There are lots of positions that you can sign up for and still race.

The most stressful positions for me to ensure get filled are the car and driver volunteers for the road race. If we can get those sorted soon, that would be great.

Volunteer Sign up link !!

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Also, ensure that all your kids and all your neighbour's kids and all their school friends are coming down for the Kid's Event and bringing their parents to watch !  Please copy and paste this web address into a mass email to all your family friends with kids under 12 and tell them to be there!

http://albertacyclingsuperweek.com/kids-race/   This race was extremely fun for all the kids involved last year and it would be cool to see it grow. Remember, it is free and crazy fun for the kids involved. 

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Race numbers are in !!

The time is coming !!

Alberta Cycling Super Week is fast approaching.

I will have the volunteer link up and running very soon, thanks to all those who have emailed me already!

The numbers are high quality and will last no problem for the events.

Get pumped, get extremely pumped!