MIVA 15km TIME TRIAL Nanaimo River Road

May 3^rd. 2012

It rained for most of the day but from 6pm to 7.30pm there was a brief window of sunshine and the roads partially dried so the nine starters in tonight's I.T.T. Stayed fairly dry. The high humidity and little wind made for a fast evening and everyone improved significantly.

There were four new faces. Mykelti and Russell Berg joined the club and Gareth Slocombe rode for Hub City Tri Club. The fourth was PDA who made a welcome return after training hard all winter and just failed to beat his 2011 best at the distance by a scant three seconds. He is now living in Duncan and riding for Cycle Therapy. He rode the sixty kilometers to the event and after his superbe ride, rode back to Duncan again!

Next week is a two person team time trial over fifteen km.

  The weather was really uncertain today, with everything from hailstorms to bright sunshine. However, by 6pm the rain had stopped and the reappearing sun was drying out the circuit. The small field of eight riders started promptly at 6.30pm and the first few laps were ridden cautiously but the pack soon upped the speed and got down to business. There were several attempts to break – by Iain Hay, Rob Russell and John Lam but at the bell signalling the first prime, all were together once more and the prime was won convincingly by Hay, with Russell and Sevcov tailing him.

The pack continued to ride steadily until the second prime, which again was taken by Iain from Rob and Mike, with Shepherd Stewart rounding out the lead quartette.

As this was the first event in the season-long series, the 5 laps to go sign was put up after half an hour. John Lam again rode off the front but was soon brought back by the accelerating group. When the bell sounded the final lap,the bunch were still together but as they appeared at the top of the finishing straight, it was Rob Bau taking a flyer on the inside. However, the Russell – Hay tandem was alert to the move and Rob did a great job of leading Iain out for the win, with Bau half a wheel back and Mike Sevcov rounding out the top three. Thanks to Iain Hay, and Rob Russell for course set-up and take-down, to Dave Kenny for signage, and to Al Henderson for looking after the bell and lap board.

Janna Gillick, who organises the very successful MIVA Monday evening club rides (23 out this week!) came within 17 seconds of winning the women's 3/4 category Race The Ridge stage race at the weekend. As she collects upgrade points, it won't be long before Janna is in the 1/2 category events and she is bound to make her mark there as well. Well done Ms. Gillick!

With 23 riders out this evening, I think that we must have set a MIVA group ride record. It was great to see the mix of people all riding bikes together - from the young triathlete, to the single-speeders to the retirees. Hopefully you all had a great workout and made some new friends! Thanks Colleen, Charlene and Corey for stepping in to lead / sweep.  

Next week we move the start time to 6:30PM and we're back at OBB. Feel free to contact MIVA if you have any questions / comments / suggestions for these rides.

Sean                                                             Only three lonely souls out this morning on a dull, rainy day.  Shepherd, Sean and Paul set off at 9am prompt for parts unknown. Doug Routley arrived 10 minutes later and went for coffee with Peter.