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.