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Thursday, February 5, 2015

Winter Racing is about to start!!!

Just a heads up to anyone looking to do a little racing on the Mountain Bike or Fat Bike.  ABA now has 3 races scheduled for Feb and March.  Time to get your ABA licence!!

Harley.

Stephen's race report from the Gila Monster 300km, Jan 31st 2015

Here is Stephen's report from his latest rando ride with Paul and I!

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Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Annual General Get Together on Feb. 5th at 7pm Potential Club Members Welcome !!

Annual General Get Together (AGM)  Feb 5th at 7pm !!

Club, we'll meet on February 5th where we'll meet, eat, drink, and get pumped up for next year !!  We will have a very short 'formal' section where we talk about our successes of 2014 and where the club is going for 2015. If you are thinking of joining the club, this is a great time to come and see if you like what you hear and enjoy everyone's company.

Rough sched:
Everyone hang out for a bit eating and grabbing a beer.
Trev gives quick synopsis of 2014.
Harley, talks about Penticton which will be May 10th - 16th. (Crazy popular training camp)
Marie, Jenn, Sarah, and Emily talk about the women's group.
Darcy talks about our plans for the JayLap in 2015.
Everyone hangs out and meets new members and potential members.

Meet at Speed Theory on Feb. 5th around 7pm. The store will be closed, so we have the whole place to hang out.

Sunday, January 25, 2015

Clothing is up and ready to order. Deadline Feb. 20th.

We are doing things a bit differently this year. Champion has set up a 'Store Front' for us to use. This means, you will log in with your created login with it's associated name, then on Feb. 20th Champion will gather all the orders made for STC, make the stuff, and package it all individually for your order, and send it. This way there is no sorting to be done and no potential mistakes made by me while I collate all the orders like in the old days!!

Here is how to order.

1.) Follow this link.
2.) Use the LEFT login screen and login (in the space where it asks for an email address) as: speed with the password: theory
3.) Create your profile so Champion knows who to package all the clothes up for.
4.) Go through the store and order what you need/want.

There are some new items, the most significant is the creation of women's specific cuts and chamois for the bib and shorts called 'Bella' and 'Donna'... have a look at those.
The most popular jersey is the 'CS Air Lite Short Sleeve' it is the one that we have been getting for several years. There are some preyty expensive other options, if you want something with more features.
The most popular short is the 'CS Pro Bib Shorts' it is a bit of an upgrade to the ones most of us have been getting for the last several years, but in my opinion worth it.

We will close the store on Feb. 20th

Tour Down Under 2015

Start of the 2015 Bupa Challenge ride. Stage 4 of the race. 6800 cyclists, good luck finding your mates in this mess! It was a great and well organized event. We enjoyed the ride and then hit the gas over the last 30 Km. Huge festival at the finish with tens of thousands of people. We set up at 175 metres to go. Sprint finish at about 70+KPH until: Huge crash. Smell of burning carbon everywhere. Dead silence in the crowd. Crappy way to end a great race. For sale, race bike, hardly used and never (honestly) crashed!!!! Stage 5 was up Wilunga hill twice at the end of the stage. 3 Km climb starting at 11%, settling to 7% the rest of the way. We rode up and then settled at 400 metres to go. Local paper estimated 120 thousand people through Wilunga town and up the climb. Fantastic atmosphere with towns out in force and campers all along the road. Richie Porte crushing them all! A great event, made better by being out in beautiful weather on a bike.

Thursday, January 1, 2015

2015 Current Members

Anna
Cheryl
Emily
Janet
Choy
Wilks
Jobson
Watson
Jenn
Juli
Turcott
Robinson
Julie
Kelsey
Marie
Parchewsky
Castro
Michalski
Marilyn
Sabrina
Taylor
Millevoi
Sarah
Sarah
Tina

Foster
MacDonald
Delisle

Adam Zinatelli
Alan
Andres
Oickle
Perdomo
Andrew Arnold
Blake
Brent
Brian
Bartlett
Thumlert
Banderk
Carl Miiller
Charles
Chengcheng
Chris
Chuck
Derek
Bougie
Huang
DeVries
Johnstone
Jobson
Dan Alboiu
Darcy
Daryl
Gullacher
Beatty
David Baker
Dennis
Ernie
Garry
Gavin
Harley
Bland
Cosman
Good
Creighton
Borlee
Jay
Jean
Jeremie
Jeremy
John
Jonathan
Jordan
Jordan
Joshua
Bachman
Garez
Green
Luntley
Olsen
Donahue
Eckersley
Perchard
Singh
Keith
Ken
Ingstrup
Crockett
Ken Erdman
Kevin
Kevin
Klaus
Matt
Mark
Michael
Michael
Nathan
Nelson
Patrick
Mills
Noble
Vencovsky
Joss
Michalski
Godfrey
Montgomery
Singh
Whitmore
Brick
Paul
Rob
Rob
Rod
Roman
Anderson
Crooks
Mott
Batycky
Cotra
Scott
Simon
Spencer
Steve
Suchaet
Tim
Tim
Tom
Bratt
Spanswick
Pootz
Waters
Bhardwaj
Gilbertson
Ryan
Kenny
Trev Williams
Ty McDonald
Wayne
Wyatt
Giles
Petryshen

CX Membership

Lisa Oldridge
Eric Cramer

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Road Bike Party 3

Now... this guy's cheating a bit by not using clipless pedals, but I'll give him a pass because it's Christmas.

http://youtu.be/WjN2cjBKWO4

Saturday, December 13, 2014

Club members doing great things.

Teammate Rebecca Morley was the successful Gala Chair and her sister Allison hosted the massively popular and important YWCA WhYWhisper Against Family Violence Against Women function over the weekend.

Read the story here.

Here is Rebecca with key-note speaker Erin Brockovich.
(photo from the Calgary Herald)


Sunday, November 30, 2014

Speed Theory hosting a private Shop Night at the store for us and Kronos.

Guys, Speed Theory is hosting an evening on Dec. 4th where the STC club can access all their '12 days of Christmas' sales and other discounted items.  Mike Godfrey will be coaching his class in The Engine Room from 7pm - 8:20pm, so you can come and see him in action as well!


Saturday, November 29, 2014

STC Season End Wrap up!

Great night! Thank you to Lisa and Erik for opening up their home for the party.

Here is a shot of Jenn being a great MC. The trivia game was super fun and hopefully will become a great tradition.

See most of you soon, and we'll get our clothing order going very soon for the new year!


Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Nov. 29th is the STC Year End Party!! HOLD THE DATE.


Hello STC members!

Please put in your calenders that you are going to be busy on the evening of November 29th for STC's Annual Year End Wrap-Up party!

Lisa and Erik have so kindly offered up their amazing house again for the festivities. There will be tons of free finger food, beer and wine...yes, you read it right, FREE booze! Nothing excites a cyclist more than free beer and a strong tailwind. (Please bring a DD along to the party if you plan on drinking)

Come hang out, share racing stories and bring silly, stupid and/or sincere awards for your fellow teammates. In the past we have given out 'awards' for teammates, they can be in total fun or completely serious. 

Bring your significant other as well! They are all part of the STC family. 


Date: Nov. 29th
Time: 5:30 p.m.- 9:30 p.m (ish)
Location: Trev will email the address to the team.
Please RSVP either to this blog or the email Trev will be sending out.  

Monday, November 17, 2014

The Mount Lemmon 200k Brevet

A randonneur event is something every self-respecting road cyclist should have in their bucket list.

Behold the Mount Lemmon 200 km Brevet in Tucson, organized this past weekend by the Arizona Brevets and Randonnee Club. A mere 210 km and uh... 3000 metres of climbing on an out-and-back course:


I was a bit apprehensive, but the warm 26 C weather in Tucson beckoned. As a rando virgin, I was imagining something more spirited than a charity ride, but with more coffee breaks than a Cat 2 road race. It actually sounded like fun. It was time to dust off the bike box and join Stephen Kenny and Trev Williams on this epic adventure.

But you don't just put your bike together and show up at the brevet. Oh no. First, you do a 110 km warm-up ride the day before in the nearby rolling hills of Sonoita and Elgin wine country along with some sketchy sand/gravel sections thrown in for good measure. Teased by wineries but no time to sample the merchandise. And of course multiple uphill sprint sessions, because Trev can't resist a good uphill sprint.

With legs freshly stiffened from the warm-up ride, I was ready for the big day. Thankfully, the weather cooperated with partial clouds, lighter-than-usual winds and a forecast 12 C at the top of the mountain - no bulky clothes required for the ride down. The brevet start was a refreshingly casual affair. We assembled in a Safeway parking lot for a 7:00 am start time, and after a few pre-ride instructions, we were off. No commissaires and you ride in traffic like a regular bike, with checkpoints at various places along the way where you can get water and snacks.

The first 60 km was a traverse through Tucson to get to the base of Mount Lemmon. That isn't nearly as bad as it sounds - Tucson has an impressive cycling infrastructure where nearly all feeder roads have dedicated bike lanes with good distances between safe, well-marked intersections. I would estimate 95% of the distance through Tucson was on bike lanes. Trev was feeling frisky at the start of the race, so we rode tempo for 10 km up a false flat and shed about half of the riders. I was reminded (multiple times) that I needed to pay attention to my nutrition, but feeding on roads with traffic lights was a bit distracting, so I only got one bar and one gel pack in me before one of our fellow Canadian riders (Steve from Vancouver) got a flat at the 50 km mark. Trev and I stayed back to help while Stephen continued with the lead group to the start of the Mount Lemmon climb. After we fixed the flat, the three of us sprinted to bridge the 5-minute gap to Stephen, who btw is not a slow rider.

It was during our sprint to the mountain base (and up the mountain) that I realized my fatal error: After three hours in the saddle, I had instinctively given myself enough nutrition for a typical 3.5 hour ABA flat-ish road race - but not nearly enough for another five hours and 2000 metres of climbing ahead of me. I fell back after bonking in spectacular fashion on the climb. Trev eventually caught up to Stephen and I met both of them at the top some 20 minutes later - over 5 hours into the ride. My punishment was not having the time to enjoy some of Stephen's fabulous cheesecake in Summerhaven at the top:


The ride down from Mount Lemmon is freaking awesome. First, you go through 5 climate zones that start in sub-alpine tundra and end in cactus fields. Second, the road pavement is excellent with engineered turns that do not require any brakes for the entire 25 mile (40 km) descent. Check out Stephen's race line:



The last 60 km were harder than expected. After descending from the mountain, the ride descends further into the town - followed by a gradual elevation increase to the finish point. Funny you don't notice that so much on the way out. With some good paceline work we were able to catch up to the remaining leaders and managed a Speed Theory sweep at the finish with a time of 8 hours, 14 minutes. It would have been under 8 hours if Stephen and Trev didn't have to wait for me multiple times. It was fun, but it wasn't exactly easy.

Day three consisted of a short 65 km recovery ride up A-Mountain (Sentinel Peak), Gates Pass and a nice stop at the Marriott Resort. Ok, I was able to handle this part... and my legs were grateful.



As Ferris Bueller would say... if you have the means, I would highly recommend it.

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Farewell to Poon!

Clarence Poon is moving to Puerto Vallarta Mexico next week to join his wife and son who moved there earlier this year. I've organized good-bye beers at Wild Rose Brewery on Saturday evening at 7 p.m. to send him off. 

Farewell to Poon!
Date: Sat Nov. 8th
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Wild Rose Brewery, 4580 Quesnay Wood Dr S.W.

Hope you can come out and join us!

Full Calendar