Wrapping up the Rás

FBD Insurance Rás Stage 8: Phoenix Park Circuit, 50 km Eight days, eight stages and it ended today in Dublin with the type of race we're pretty used to--a criterium. Mind you this criterium had 156 guys in it. 156 left after 193 started last Sunday.

well, once again the final result eluded us, but we're pretty happy with this Rás all in all. We rode an aggressive race, gelled as a team and we've had a productive trip to Europe. We've done 9 days of world class UCI racing and had 13 days racing in total in the last three and a half weeks. We met the 'legend' Sean Kelly, and we got to ride through the 'heartland' of cycling in Belgium for a while. That's all pretty cool.

The guys will post a follow up blog or two reflecting their own thoughts about the past 3 weeks, but for now we're off to do what the Irish do best--PARTY! Here's some results and check out this historic shot of Andrew winning in Castletownbeare at the Rás in 2002.

Photo of Andrew courtesy the FBD Insurance Ras website.

results

1 Bill Moore (Irl) M Donnelly 1.01.14
2 Julian Winn (GBr) Stena
3 Morten Hegreberg (Nor) Sparebanken Vest
4 Simon Kelly (Irl) Nucleus
5 Eugene Moriarty (Irl) cycleways.com
6 Aidan Crowley (Irl) cycleways.com
7 Richard Kooijman (Ned) BRC Kennemerland
8 Yanto Barker (GBr) Stena
9 Colm Bracken (Irl) Murphy Surveys
10 Arne Hinrichsen (Ger) Stevens von Hacht

[+]see more at cyclingnews.com

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Buck is looking strong

FBD Insurance Rás Stage 7: Rathdrum - Wicklow Town, 138 km Well the two hardest stages of this Rás have turned out to be Buck's two best stages... is our would be sprinter turning into a climber? Who'd have guessed...

Today's tough mountain stage featured seven categorized climbs--including the first category ascents of Slieveman, Sally Gap and Luggala. Oooof! Buck made what turned into the front group of 30 on this tough stage and came accross the line in 16th today. This has been an unlucky Ras for us, but also a great one, and we're hoping to finish it off strongly in Dublin tomorrow.

results

1 Morten Hegreberg (Nor) Sparebanken Vest 3.29.36
2 Malcolm Elliott (GBr) Trinity Capital
3 Yanto Barker (GBr) Stena
4 John Tanner (GBr) Trinity Capital
5 Eugene Moriarty (Irl) cycleways.com
6 Simon Kelly (Irl) Nucleus
7 Sigvard Kukk (Est) Kalev Chocolate
8 Stephen Gallagher (Irl) Grant Thornton
9 Robin Sharman (GBr) Recycling.co.uk
10 Chris Newton (GBr) Recycling.co.uk
11 Conor Murphy (Irl) Grant Thornton
12 Roger Aiken (Irl) Safe Cycling
13 Evan Oliphant (GBr) Scotland
14 Tim Barry (Irl) Dan Morrissey
15 Andrew Roche (Irl) Worldwide Cycles
16 Kevin Miller (Can) Jet Fuel Coffee
17 Rostislav Krotky (Cze) Elmarco KK
18 Alex Coutts (GBr) Scotland
19 Malte Urban (Ger) Stevens von Hacht
20 Jan Novak (Cze) Elmarco KK

69 Zach Bell (Can) Jet Fuel Coffee
84 Andrew Randell (Can) Jet Fuel Coffee
86 Mark Pozniak (Can) Jet Fuel Coffee

[+] more results and the stage story from cyclingnews.com

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Newton continues to impress

53rd FBD Insurance Rás Stage 6: Abbeyleix - Rathdrum, 160 km British Olympic and world championship medalist Chris Newton continued his dominance of this year's Rás with a devastatingly powerful victory in today's stage.

Newton is just impressive here day after day, even though today his team seemed to weaken a bit, he was strong. And he looks pretty much unstopable on the GC here in Ireland. On paper tomorrow is one of the hardest day of the Rás, but like yesterday, you never know. Not that yesterday was 'easy' just it didn't turn into the all out GC slug fest that was expected.

We had a pretty calm day today, maybe we're getting a bit tired, or maybe we just had a quiet day. We're all pretty happy with Buck's ride yesterday. We are hoping he can pull it off again tomorrow.

results

1 Chris Newton (GBr) Recycling.co.uk 4.01.09
2 Morten Hegreberg (Nor) Sparebanken Vest 0.05
3 Nathan Mitchell (USA) TIAA-CREF
4 Eugene Moriarty (Irl) cycleways.com
5 Yanto Barker (GBr) Stena
6 Malcolm Elliott (GBr) Trinity Capital 0.06
7 John Tanner (GBr) Trinity Capital 0.11
8 Tim Barry (Irl) Dan Morrissey
9 Robin Sharman (GBr) Recycling.co.uk
10 Stephen Gallagher (Irl) Grant Thornton
11 Rostislav Krotky (Cze) Elmarco KK 0.13
12 Julian Winn (GBr) Stena
13 Sigvard Kukk (Est) Kalev Chocolate
14 Tino Haakman (Ned) BRC Kennemerland
15 Gary Dodd (GBr) SurreyRacing League 0.16
16 Morten Christiansen (Nor) Sparebanken Vest
17 Andrew Roche (Irl) Worldwide Cycles
18 Jiri Korbel (Cze) Elmarco KK 0.20
19 Roger Aiken (Irl) Safe Cycling
20 Paul Healion (Irl) Usher Insulations

33 Zach Bell (Can) Jet Fuel Coffee
54 Kevin Miller (Can) Jet Fuel Coffee
91 Andrew Randell (Can) Jet Fuel Coffee
148 Mark Pozniak (Can) Jet Fuel Coffee

[+] more results and the stage story from cyclingnews.com

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When NOT to get a flat

Stage 5: Templemore - Abbeyleix, 114 km Well today some things finally started to go right for us in the Ras. Buck finally cracked out a strong stage finish with fifth today, but there's a story behind the scenes.

Today's stage was supposed to be the toughest of the Ras, and it was hard, but in the end didn't crack the field as many had expected it would. Buck was our man today, he not only made all the pivotal moves of the stage, he also created them. And to top it all off, he punctured out of the final break today, and burned a lot of matches getting back on. Once back on, he still managed fifth at the end. So, we're pretty happy. We knew our aggressive riding would pay off sooner or later, and now we are hoping for another good stage, and hopefully a podium stage finish before the end of the race on Sunday.

Zach's run of misfortune continued today, he had a mechanical with his bike early in the stage and due to the narrow roads and huge caravan it was a while before we could get to him and fix the problem. By the time he got going, it was game over.

Results

1 Morten Christiansen (Nor) Sparebanken Vest 3.23.13
2 Simon Kelly (Irl) Nucleus
3 Roger Aiken (Irl) Safe Cycling
4 Mark Lovatt (GBr) Trinity Capital
5 Kevin Miller (Can) Jet Fuel Coffee
6 Rostislav Krotky (Cze) Elmarco KK 0.02
7 Denis Lynch (Irl) Kanturk
8 Are Andresen (Nor) Sparebanken Vest 0.05
9 Eugene Moriarty (Irl) cycleways.com
10 Chris Newton (GBr) Recycling.co.uk
11 Yanto Barker (GBr) Stena
12 Malcolm Elliott (GBr) Trinity Capital
13 Sigvard Kukk (Est) Kalev Chocolate
14 Morten Hegreberg (Nor) Sparebanken Vest
15 Paudi O'Brien (Irl) Grant Thornton
16 Evan Oliphant (GBr) Scotland
17 Andrew Roche (Irl) Worldwide Cycles
18 John Tanner (GBr) Trinity Capital
19 Daniel Lynch (Irl) Kanturk
20 Philip Finegan (Irl) Usher Insulations

[+] more results and the stage story from cyclingnews.com

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Niagara wrap up

Well we only had three of us Joey Guliano, Josh Hall and Tim Lefebvre to do battle at the Niagara-Hamilton GP on the weekend. With a small team and big threat in the form of Peter Mazur who was home for the race, our plan was to try and get up and over the feared Effingham hill with the leaders, and have one of us left in the mix after 120km.

The road race was nicely controlled by ItalPasta as they kept sending one of their 11 guys up untill Chris Issac teamed up with Brandon Crichton and rolled away with Mazur. Guliano made the next move as Josh launched him away with Ontario champ Nat Faulkner and a few others. Joey ended up 5th on the day as Mazur simply rode away from everyone. Josh finished in the group and Tim rode seven laps before deciding to save it for tomorrow.



The crit course was the same as the 03 Nationals, fast and furious with a deadly off-camber corner only 150m from the line. The race was fast with constant attacks and counters. A break went clear one hour in, with three Itals, (the 2nd and 3rd on G.C) Darko Ficko, Dan Lefebvre and an Espoir Laval rider. Sensing the danger "Fever" leapt across and make it seven escapees. With Mazur left behind the three Itals and Darko lapped the field and would duke it out with the fresh Lefebvre brothers for the win. With three to go the bell rang for $100 and Fever dashed to the last corner ahead of the Ital lead-out. Whether he was going too hot or on a wrong line, his new Cervelo flew away from underneath him and he piled into the fence. After coming to a virtual halt, brother Dan rejoined the break and pulled off his first win in twelve years.



Joey Guliano ended up 6th on G.C behind Peter Mazur who managed to win the overall title by two points over the Ital pair, as he won the field sprint. Congrats to the SCCC for a great event and especially Martin Cramaro and Gus Nella for putting up the prize money.

see more photos
Tim has sent in more photos from this weekend of racing that can be seen in our flickr photo log

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Unlucky number 4, no 5 err we've stopped counting...

Stage 4: Lisdoonvarna - Templemore, 162 km We're wondering how much bad luck can fall on Zach in one week? Or, how many unlucky falls Zach can have in a week? Despite that bad luck the team had another active day in this Rás.

Buck made the initial early break of the day, and after that was hauled back by the Recycling.co.uk team, Zach went away in the next counter. That move turned into the move of the race and went over the day's KOMs, and Zach picked up some points in that competition. With 19 km to go Mark Lovatt had attacked Zach and his other break companions, and in the dash to get things back together in front Zach Duncan Urquhart and Are Andresen crashed. Zach is OK, and we've decided to stop counting how many times he's crashed this week. Zach's still super motivated in the race as are the rest of the guys. Everyone is riding well and we're hoping our aggression will pay off soon.

Cyclingnews.com has a great wrap up of the story today.

With Tim going down in Niagara this weekend, and Zach's crashes here we're hoping we've paid the team's crash quota for the season.

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Coming around in Lisdoovarna

Stage 3: Tubbercurry - Lisdoonvarna, 156 km Again, we had a super fast day in the RAS for the third stage, riding 160km in 3hours 30minutes - pretty smoking fast. Given the speed you would have thought that it would be a tougher day, but it was tailwind and riding in the bunch was easy.

Yesterday saw a shake up on the GC and the Recycling Team taking the overall lead; they are about the only team at the race strong enough to control the field. With a climb 20km from the finish it was a fair bet that things were going to stay together until the base, at which point all hell was going to break lose. And that's the way it happened.

On the run -in to the climb we ran along the coast on some super narrow and 'heavy' (rough) roads, as the Irish would say, with everyone battling for position in the gutter. Zach was caught in a crash along this section which was a bummer; he hasn't had much luck these past couple of days.

I got to the bottom of the climb in great position and from there it was all out for 2km. At the top 11 riders, including all the GC guys like Newton and Elliot, had split off the front and it was a group of 20 of us left to chase. There wasn't much interest in getting back up to the front in the group so we didn't make it back to the front. But with only 5km ot the finish the race was still on. With just on 2km to go Andrew Roche and I got away from our group, holding them off as we sprinted to the line with them hot on our heels.

So, the legs seem to have come back after a crummy day yesterday, now it is time to see what I can do in the rest of this RAS.

results

1 Chris Newton (GBr) Recycling.co.uk 3.29.55
2 Malcolm Elliott (GBr) Trinity Capital
3 Malte Urban (Ger) Stevens von Hacht
4 Morten Hegreberg (Nor) Sparebanken Vest
5 Tim Barry (Irl) Dan Morrissey
6 Stephen Gallagher (Irl) Grant Thornton
7 Evan Oliphant (GBr) Scotland
8 Gabriel Rasch (Nor) Sparebanken Vest
9 John Tanner (GBr) Trinity Capital
10 Yanto Barker (GBr) Stena
11 Robin Sharman (GBr) Recycling.co.uk
12 Andrew Roche (Irl) Worldwide Cycles 0.41
13 Andrew Randell (Can) Jet Fuel Coffee
14 Simon Kelly (Irl) Nucleus
15 Daniel Lynch (Irl) Kanturk
36 Kevin Miller (Can) Jet Fuel Coffee 1.25

+ see more

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sympatico.msn Training Wheels

Josh is on deck at speedzone.sympatico.msn.ca for another addition of Training Wheels. Sympatico MSN is a proud sponsor of the 2005 Team. Every Tuesday, check out a new segment hosted by Josh, with pro tips to help you get the most out of your bike.

This week Josh talks about adult bike fitting. see more

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Tubbercurry and the Rás

Stage 2: Emyvale - Tubbercurry, 165 km Tubbercurry, you've gotta love some of the names here. Today Neil, our mechanic, said we went from a noun to a verb in the use of the word race. Yesterday we were simply at a 'race', today we 'raced'.

Poz got in the early break of 3 guys, while the Norwegian team controlled the field behind in support of Morten Hegreberg. When Mark's move came back Zach countered in what turned into 'the break' of the day. Zach's move went away shortly after the first KOM, and stayed away all day.

In the closing kilometers of the stage Zach's move had split and he was joined by a larger chasing group including the Yellow Jersey. Zach was pretty tired from being away for over 100kms into a headwind, and just got popped. He trailed in for 17th on the stage. But it was a good day for the team, we were active and present throughout the day and showing the aggression needed to get a good stage placing at this Rás.

Mark and Buck finished up in the main field today, and Mark has slipped one spot in the U23 competition to 3rd.

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Not the best start at the Rás

Stage 1: Dublin - Emyvale The first stage of a race is important, not so much because the GC can be won, but more because it can be lost. Today didn't start so well for team Jet Fuel. Active in perhaps the wrong moments and faced with some misfortune, we missed what turned into an 18 rider split that gained 3:07 on the main field.

The Rás is always an active race however, with small teams and a HUGE field, the race is hard to control and there is still hope we can put some riders into yet a different race defining split. If not, we are here to race for stages and other classifications. On that note, Mark positioned himself well in the final sprint today and sits 2nd in the U23 classification behind TIAA-CREF's Stu Gillespie--who did make the front split.

Today our bad luck included: Zach crashing twice; the team working hard to get our fast finisher back in the bunch... only to be warned off by the commisaires; and before the race even started finding out, unfortunately, that Stig could not meet the team in Dublin for the start of this Rás. He has personal things keeping him away that are far more important than bike racing and our best wishes are with him as he faces them.

So, we're a man short from the gun, and luck wasn't with us today. But seven more stages are ahead and tomorrow is another day. We'll be fighting for stages, opportunities and to keep Mark at the head of the U23 classification. Stay tuned.

Cyclingnews.com is carrying excellent coverage of the race and you can see daily updates and
results there.

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Beauce non merci

As team director one of the biggest things that I do is plan out a schedule of races that are interesting and challenging. You don't want to make things too difficult but you want to develop a schedule that challenges the riders and gives them goals for the season.

We had planned on attending the Tour de Beauce--although I had noticed that in past years the race spent some really big bucks on the Euro teams and the level of support offered to Canadian teams was decreasing. I always said it is their race they can do what they want.

Well this year the Tour de Beauce wanted $5,500 just for hotels and food. Add on some vehicles, staff fees and gas money and you're easily hitting close to $8,000 or more to compete in the one week race.

In contrast, our whole trip to Europe for four weeks of racing (including flights, cars etc) is going to cost less than $8,000. As you can see, when you're creative and leverage the greater cycling community, you can really stretch $8,000.

But forget the cash for one minute. What about supporting Canucks? People might point out that's how things work foreign teams get the cash--Canucks pay. Sorry, but when we were invited to race the Trans-Canada race several years ago we didn't pay one cent. I've asked our host in Belgium and he said a big race in Belgium would offer any Belgium team the equivalent support (hotel/food) offered to foreign teams, but the Belgian teams wouldn't get start money.

It's important to note that Canadian or North American teams cost the Beauce organization far less than the Euro teams. No flights, van rentals etc. Granted the prestige of the race is elevated by the prescence of the European teams... the question is the intangible value of 'how much' vs. our Canadian and American teams?

I don't know what direction the Tour de Beauce is headed but I really don't think its helping Canadian cycling as much as it could. What I find frustrating is the missed opportunity, the race could be doing more to help the sport but hey it is their race.

In case you hadn't read between the lines we are not attending the Tour de Beauce this year. I'll likely be standing alone on principle on this issue but at a certain point you've got to make a stand. Maybe we'll go next year...

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Travel Tips

One of the toughest things about being a competitive athlete is dealing with all the travelling. Over time you learn little tricks to make the trip a little smoother - using earplugs on the plane (instigated by Jibber Hall); not sleeping when you get to Europe, as you won't be able to sleep that night; wearing compression stockings for the flight to keep your legs from getting bloated; all these things help an athlete perform to their best level on arriving at their destination.

The other factor in travelling is what to pack, and how big your bag can be as you may have limited space in your vehicles at your destination. After a couple years I have finally paired down what I bring on a trip to the bare minimum, although I have to say that a trip like this one to Europe poses some difficulties in that we are likely to encounter a wide range of weather (just check out the difference in bag size between my bag and Buck's bag) Do you pack winter stuff as well as summer stuff? It can be a bit of a brain teaser.


So far on this trip my prize possession has been a sleeping mask. On the plane ride over it helped a lot, while here in Belgium our rooms have big windows with no curtains. Ear plugs are another essential sleeping aid, so much so that I'm kind of addicted to them.

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Zach 2nd in BELSELE-PUIVELDE

We have spotty details, but Zach has done it again with another fine second place finish in the team's final race in Belgium. The team is off to the island of Ireland now.

The race was the BELSELE-PUIVELDE Kermesse, and the full results haven't been posted.

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Merchtem Mayhem

Zach 2nd, Buck 11th MEISE - WOLVERTEM Kermesse. Today was yet another kermesse in our preparation for the upcoming RAS. Being a national holiday here in Belgium, everyone with a set of wheels was racing. There were 11 races at our level that we could choose from, all of them within a 2 hour drive.To keep things simple we chose the one 5 km from our doorstep. The day started off beautifully, the hottest weather we have seen so far this trip, which was good news for our fading tan lines.

The race, on a flat and fast 9km circuit, was the first in a series of 6 with an overall prize list worth 6000 euros. This brought out a good sized field, despite the generous helping of races available. With the circuit looking good for a track guy the boys were kind enough to offer me their legs, and they didn't dissapoint.

The gun went off signalling the start and before my computer magnet had even registered 5 guys were already heading up the road. Covering the move for us, Pozzy came by not a few hundred yards later. His group grew to about 15 inside the first lap and the pack started to get anxious. Three laps later, after lots of non-stop chasing by Andrew and Buck helped to bring back the initial break, it was time to move up. Andrew, the perfect general to our Belgian blitz, came back to make sure I was where I needed to be for the inevitable counterattack. A few attacks later (several powered by the fuel) the split happened. At first it was myself and 3 guys, then 5 and then the group grew again to about 20, Buck and myself included. The group rolled well until 3 laps to go and then the attacks started. As Buck covered the big splits I floated from wheel to wheel, then the gauntlet hit the ground and 3 riders split from the group hard; thanks to the hard work of the team I had the legs to go with it. The move grew to about 9 riders and rolled until the last 4 km. 500m to to the sprint started down the left side and I saw the perfect hole, so I guned it. But the group had other plans and slammed to the right, closing the door. I slammed on the brakes, and after drifting to the back punched it again. I was bearing down on the guy who had launched almost 400m earlier but I ran out of room, rolling across the line in second by about a bike length. Buck finished behind in the second group only 15-20 seconds down, and won his break sprint for 11th. Andrew and Pozzy finished up in the bunch.

Well, it was the first podium for the team on our European tour. We put in a great ride as a team, in a race that had an average speed of over 44 km/hr over 120K. Bring on the RAS!!!

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Speeding Hills of Linden

Yesterday Andrew, Pozzy, Zeb and I lined up in Linden alongside 80 other hungry Belgians and Dutch riders for a 120K leg-breaking circuit race. The course was 8k long, with one big climb a lap, and two smaller climbs along with a super twisty and bumpy descent. On the climb every lap there were KOM points up for grabs 5 deep.

The rest of the boys having raced the day before we decided that I would be the hit man in the latter stages of the race. In the first 3-4 laps Andrew was covering just aboug everything, with Zeb close behind. All of Andrew's early efforts paid off shortly, as he got away with another rider, and together they bridged to the 3 leaders up the road. Zeb and I quickly came to life trying to cover everything that looked like it might get across to Andrew. Zeb got in a lot of good moves, always looking strong, but they all came back and with 4 laps to go Andrew's break was finished.

Zeb and Andrew gave it a good go, riding really strong, and decided to cash it in with 2 laps to go. That left Pozzy and myself to try and get something away to the finish. On the last lap over the top of the climb I gave it everything I had. Only 2 riders could answer, but our gap was short lived, and the pack caught us quickly. On the last lap three riders got away, and we ended up sprinting for fourth. I stayed out of trouble, not contesting the sprint, and rolled in for 22nd, with Pozzy a few bikes behind.

It was a fast, hard race with an average speed of just over 40kph, and that's with hills!

Tomorrow's race is only a 10 minute ride from the house, we'll let you know how we do. Here's a picture of the boys with a classic's legend--Sean Kelly.


[+] zoom this photo

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PanAm video

Oof, this took a while to get pulled together, but here's a new video: Zach's PanAm Video Short from my recent trip to the Pan Am Championships in Mar Del Plata, Argentina.

As always, careful what you click on, this video is 7MB and you may only want to view it if you have a high speed connection.

If you have trouble, the video is in .mov format and you might need Quicktime to view it, the direct link to the video is here.

If you're into it, check out the full Pan Am results and stories from the archives at cyclingnews.com. I'm hoping to pull together a JF short from our trip over here in Europe. I'll keep you posted.

FYI »
Zach attended the 2005 Pan-American Championships in Mar Del Plata, Argentina, April 25-May 1, as part of the Canadian National Team.

other Zach Video entries include:
+ Texas spring
+ the South of France

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First Kermesse

In the house where we are staying there was an air of anticipation as they waited to see how the visiting Canadians would ride in their first kermesse. Would we come up trumps or suck and look like posseurs? Often in cycling, particularly in Europe, you're only as good as your last ride. Last night we were able to come home holding our heads high.

In the race the guys rode well, covering the early stuff and generally mixing it up. Zach instigated the early move on the 3rd of 12 laps, taking two guys with him. They were going well and opened up a decent lead of 40 seconds or so, but with 5 to go were back in the field.

The impression, with Belgium being the heartland of cylcing, is that everyone is amazing, but just like home you have an array of abilities: the guy that can't corner (me somewhat in the rain yesterday), or who doesn't know how to pull smoothly in the paceline and finally the guy that is just squirrely and that you want to just put in the ditch. All of these types of riders were in the race yesterday, and with that realisation I knew that the racing wasn't all that different to back home.

With Zach's break caught the attacks started again and the break of the race was established with 4 laps to go. I followed the right wheels and made the break, but have to admit that getting the break established put the hurt on my legs. For the rest of the race everyone worked smoothly, almost smoother than in any break I've been in. The last 5km of the lap were into a headwind and it was here that the attacks started coming into the finish. Each rider took their turn trying to get away and in the end one guy slipped away in the last kilometre for the win. The rest of us sprinted it out and I ended up 7th on the day. The Jet Fuel boys could come home with their heads held high.

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Riding in the Ardennes

Yesterday, the coffee boys and the Irish lads headed out of the Irish cycling centre in Merchtem for a wicked 5 hours ride in the Ardennes, a region in Belgium famous for the spring classics Liege-Bastonge-Liege and Fleche Wallone.

In just a short drive south, we went from roads as flat as a board to roads with 5km after 5km climbs. First up was the finishing climb of Fleche Wallone, the Mur de Huy. I'm not sure how steep it was, but Mark had a 21 cog on and by the top he was having a very hard time turning the legs over. Some names were still painted on the road, it was pretty cool. The rest of the day was made up of six 5km climbs, three going out and three back on an out and back route, with a sweet and well deserved bakery stop for some pastries and a pop at the turnaround.

During the ride the weather was a bit of a lottery, one minute sunny and warm, the next black clouds and sprinkles of rain. For the ride we had to bring along every piece of clothing we had, because we never knew what we would get for the day. In the end it didn't rain, I guess Mother Nature knew better than to rain on us because I've seen enough of that stuff for now.

The drive back to the house was a quiet one, we were all good and tired.

Tomorrow night we're racing a 120km kermesse, a first time for Zeb and I. As for the weekend, there are 5 races on each of Saturday and Sunday, followed by an impressive 11 races on Monday. Think there are even 5 races in all of Canada this weekend?

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It Begins in Lincoln

Lincoln GP, UCI 1.2, England. Today was our first race in Europe - the Lincoln Grand Prix in Britain. On the tough circuit, the main difficulty of which is the cobbled climb, the racing was full on from the start. On the climb you could avoid the cobbles by riding in the gutter which was paved with flagstones. For the gear heads out there: we rode 39x26 and I actually used it most laps. There really wasn't anywhere to hide on the circuit - there was wind to deal with, lots of attacking and of course the fight each lap, which came in seemingly rapid succession as the racing was so fast, for positioning into the climb.

This morning it was a crapshoot as to how the weather was going to play out. They were calling for showers, heavy at times, and all around there were grey clouds some of which were raining. The day could go either way - cold and rainy or sunny and warm. In the end it was a mix of the two, rain falling on the top of the course and sun shining on the bottom; I just didn't know what to wear ending up settling for a vest and arm warmers.

The team missed the big break of the day on the second lap, which was a bummer. This year the racing was exactly the opposite of what we saw last time we were here when the race kept splitting and coming back together. If it hadn't been for the 14 guys up the road (think tongue in cheek here) I would have ridden an almost perfect race, having made all the right splits and counter attacks to finish with the front 5 guys out of the pack... if only.

Can't say that I'm disappointed though as I rode to the maximum of my ability. On the final climb to the finish I was completely knackered, as the English would say, and was on the verge of cramping: I had pushed myself to the limit. When I took a pee after the race it smelt of ammonia, an indication that I had dug deeply into my protein reserves which I could definitely feel in the legs.

Tomorrow we get on the ferry and head over to Belgium. Between this tough day and whatever racing we rustle up in Belgium I'm pretty sure the guys will be fighting fit come the RAS.

see also »
Full race report and photos at cyclingnews.com
Photo courtesy Gerry McManus gerrymcmanus.co.uk /cyclingnews.com
[+] zoom in on the story photo more sizes, bigger + smaller

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Euro tip kick-off

After waiting and waiting for May 5th - our departure date - it's finally here... we've arrived in Europe. It was a pretty late flight leaving at 4 pm from Toronto and arriving in London, England to race the Lincoln GP at 4am, with 0 hours of sleep on the plane. We get off the plane and then it was a 4 hour drive to Lincoln, so we did a bit of traveling.

We did not do much our first day, still recovering from the travel, just a much needed nap and an hour spin in the countryside. Today we went into Lincoln to pre-ride the course. A steep cobbled climb in town, about 350 metres long, passing between an old cathedral and castle, makes this a really cool course. The rest is flat, with one other small climb and many turns. It'll be an exciting course to race on. At 102 miles, 13 times up the climb which will be pretty tough, but I think that it'll be tough but we will manage.

After this we are off to Belgium for 10 days to do some racing and then we are headed for the FBD Insurance Ras in Ireland, which should also be a very cool race.

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Wednesday Night World's

Well it's been over a year since I made the journey into the heart of Ontario's manufacturing, business, and industry mecca (also known as Mississauga) on a Wednesday night to tempt fate at one of the mid-week-world-championship races. I remember these events being faster and more agressive than what is typically seen in a Pro 1,2 category race on a Saturday or Sunday in the dead of Summer, and tonight's race did not disappoint.

After almost zero warm-up for yours truly, the gun went off and pretty soon we were sprinting hard out of every corner for at least the first twenty or thirty minutes. Nice. I chalk this up to a couple of things: a) for many of us doing these races, these are simply for training and the harder we can make the workout on ourselves the better, so we will definitely be willing to burn through every calorie possible; b) for many of the local guys who have the ability to do these races EVERY week, these qualify for serious bragging rights, so they are also going to be riding ballistically hard.

You know what though, that's what makes these hump-day slugfest's great - going out training by yourself would be pretty ineffectual compared to this. All the better to make you stronger for the bigger races. The downside is that the racing can be kind of crazy and doesn't really resemble the relative safety of a normal weekend race where for the most part I trust the course and my fellow competitors. Don't get me wrong here now, the Wednesday night event is GREAT and all, but the majority of the course is marked out with bright-orange traffic cones sitting on the ground to steer the riders in the right direction, and these somehow seem to be attracted to a bicycle going 50km/h. Riders are constantly swerving, chopping, and generally sketching their way around these things at the last possible second, and on more than one occasion tonight someone maybe 2 or 3 riders in front of me would unintentionally clip one of these things sending it flying up in the air about shoulder and head height. I tell ya, I'm not that keen on wearing one of these things on my head something like the friggin' hat that Mush-Mouth used to wear in the Fat Albert cartoons (this time it would be without any holes to see out of)...so I pretty much spent the entire race in a sort of "self preservation" mode. Needless to say I was so preoccupied with this sketchiness that I missed the race winning break as it went up the road and got mixed in all-camouflaged-like with the lapped and scratch-race riders. Definitely not what you want to do if you are looking to win.

Whatever. Seriously.

We went out, had a cool venue to race our bikes, and came away with a pair of legs that felt like they had had a good whoopin' by a half dozen kids with whiffle-ball bats...what more could you ask for in the middle of the week.

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And... we're off

Yesterday I went and got my international drivers permit - officially making me an international man of mystery - and tomorrow we leave for a three week tour of Europe. We'll be passing through Lincoln, UK for the Lincoln GP, then spend ten days in Belgium racing a series of one day events and finally finish up with eight days of the RAS in Ireland. Dave has already headed over to arrange vehicles and racks so that when we arrive on Friday everything will be smooth sailing. Heading over the pond for this project are: Zach, Mark, Buck and myself, with Stig coming down from Norway to race with us in Lincoln and at the RAS. It should be a good time, all I hope is that the weather holds out. Last time we were in Europe almost every race we did was in the rain and I don't know that I can handle that this time. Wish us luck!

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All in the Family

Jet Fuel/Sympatico MSN goes 1-2 at Springbank. Today was confirmation that the Jet Fuel team of 2005 is as good as - if not better than - the team from years past. All the disparate elements of the squad: Buck and Pozzy - the new kid - who were away in the sunny south; Tim who is working at school towards a teaching degree; the local yokels Matt, Andrew and Josh; and Joe who was out in the wilderness for a couple of seasons with Italpasta finally came together to race as a cohesive unit. Together we dominated the race. Jet Fuel was well represented in the break of the day by Joe and me, and when that came back the team put ourselves on the front to do a strong leadout for Buck and Tim. They pulled out an impressive one-two finish, with Joe rolling in for fifth after the leadout had splintered the field behind.

All in all not a bad day for what felt like, with all the teams at full strength, the real start of the season. One nice thing to see was that the racing in Ontario seems to be coming up a notch. When Joe and I were away in the break that would have been the race winning move in the past, but this year the Gears and La Bicicletta teams worked to pull us back. The more challenging the racing, the more fun it is for everyone. Now it's time for some of us to head off to Europe and for the rest of the squad to keep the home fires burning.

see also »
We've had some photos sent in from Jim Davis. Thanks Jim.
Springbank photos by J.Davis
Buck's first win/ Fayettville TX
Buck's 2nd win/ Coldspring TX
Tim's Springbank race report/ pedalmag.com

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