This year the popular MIVA cyclo-cross clinics return for a third year. The venue is Beban Park BMX grounds and the new day and time is Wednesday from 5pm on. All MIVA members and associate members may take part for free. Charge for non-members is $5 per session.  Dates are:

September 11th.

September 18th.

Septenmber 25th.

October 2nd.

If you do not have a cyclo-cross bike, bring a road bike as carrying a front or full suspension MTB gets pretty tiring. Topics covered will include:

bike equipment and preparation (tires, pressures, gearing, adapting your road bike), course walking and examination, getting over natural and artificial obstacles, dismounting and mounting, bike carrying,  negotiating  the running (walking?) sections, pacing yourself through the event.

For your interest and edification here is a video of a 1950's cyclo-cross in Britain. Note the bikes and the course features plus the Le Mans start; a little different from today's carbon bikes and fast technical courses!

MIVA 15km Time Trial 130827

Nanaimo River Road

Riders turning up for the last event in the series hoped that, as is often the case, the constant rain in Nanaimo during the day would abate and that the sun would be shining on Nanaimo River Road. Alas, that was not the case and all participants would be thoroughly soaked by the end of the event. At 6pm, when registration opened, only Sarah Davidson was there sitting in her car and hoping that the race would be called off due to lack of entries. But as the scheduled start time approached, more riders arrived in ones and twos. First Jason Hare with kids Aiden and Abigail, then the Gordons and after that Justin Mark who after the race was taking off for a few days competing in the sun. By 6.25pm, the start list had grown to no less than twelve riders – one of the better turn-outs this season.

Jason Hare was holder and then took off to marshal the turn. He is one of MIVA's best volunteers and his help is much appreciated.

The start order is usually arranged from slow to fast so that finishing order is compressed and firsat to emerge from the twilight mist was Patrick Burnham on his fixed, finishing in 24'15”, which would eventually place him second overall, less than two minutes behind winner Justin Mark. Mike Gill just missed his personal best by seven seconds and finished a very creditable third in 25'10”, just half a minute in front of Paul Callow.The next four finishers posted times within within a minute of each other, with Glen Gordon taking fifth with 27'29.

First woman was Sarah Davidson in twenty-nine and a half minutes, with Jennifer Gordon in second place riding her heavy hybrid for the last time as she picks up her new road bike on Saturday.

In the youth category, Abigail Hare beat brother Aiden by over three minutes, although both are in separate categories and so get equal points.

Thanks again to Jason for doing the turn and saving the organiser the task of taking the cones and signs out.

Next week, the MIVA hill climb series starts. This year the climbs are a distinct competition and are not included with the time trials. The schedule is on the MIVA web site. Full results are at:

www.webscorer.com/race?raceid=12007

MIVA 20/40 40KM TIME TRIAL 130604

Nanaimo River Road

Thursday evening, near perfect conditions greeted the participants yet again, with a good breeze blowing towards the turn and easing off when about half the riders were on their second lap of the out and back course.

Ten showed up for this final forty kilometre race of the season. Just one fifteen km and a series of hill climbs will round off the road season, and a series of cyclo-cross clinics from mid September to early October should prepare our members for the popular Cross on The Rock CX series.

Steed Cycles visitor, Justin Mark was fastest over the 40km distance with a short one hour and three minute ride, with HCTC rider Reagan Lovig about one and a half minutes behind. Several of the starters produced personal best rides including third placed Phil Birrer, Patrick Burnham on his fixie, Lorrie Baildham, and Mike Gill on his new Trek Madone.

The lone rider in the twenty kilometre event was eight year-old Ian Gillmore who also recorded a personal best with a fifty-two minute effort. Father Don, MIVA's fast man also started but eased up before the end of the first lap, still suffering the after-effects of his crash three weeks ago. Hopefully, he'll be feeling better next week when he is scheduled to conduct a turning clinic to help participants knock some time off their “race of truth” efforts.

Thanks to Glen and Jennifer Gordon who marshaled the far turn. Jennifer has ridden in a number of time trials and MIVA's Monday rides this season on a heavy commuter bike and Glen is looking to buy her a decent road bike.

Results for the event can be found at: www.webscorer.com/race?raceid=11743

Due to circumstances beyond our control, the MIVA youth omnium scheduled for August 10th-11th has been cancelled. We thank all those who showed an interest in participating in this exciting event and assure you that the club will work towards putting on a similar event next year.  

Peter McCaffery President, Mid Island Velo Association

We have all observed or have been part of a group of cyclists. These groups vary from "Monday's washing on the line", where group members are spread out over hundreds of metres, to close, well-organised units that move almost as one, enabling other, faster road users to pass in safety. To help you develop or improve your group riding skills, we reprint the following article without comment. Hopefully you will all learn something from it. Ed.  

The essence of group riding is riding the paceline. It allows cyclists to travel faster with less effort and provides a better social experience. (It is also a foundation of racing.) Pacelines do have some inherent danger and require communication among the riders. But a good paceline is a wonderful thing.

The basic SINGLE paceline is simple. The riders align behind one another to take maximum advantage of the "drag" effect of the cyclists to the front. The cyclist in the front will set the group's pace, when the lead rider decides it is time to change, that rider pulls off to one side and drifts back to the end of the paceline.

The new lead cyclist increases effort SLIGHTLY (just increases the amount of pressure on his pedals) to maintain the group pace. A good paceline is smooth. A good paceline is built on trust. The riders have to be confident that the others in the group will communicate well and ride safely.

TYPES OF PACELINES

Single	Double	Rotating	Echelon

Which direction should the lead rider pull off? The single paceline picture above shows the rider pulling off to the left. But there are various reason to pull off either direction. If there is a cross wind the lead rider will pull off whichever direction the wind is coming from. This is because the riders in the single paceline will naturally line up as shown in the "echelon" picture to hide themselves from the wind. Some believe that the rider coming off the front and going backwards should not be in the lane of car traffic and should, as a general rule, pull off to the right. Basically, whichever direction the group is using, all riders should do the same thing.

The DOUBLE paceline is a minor modification of the single paceline. In this setting there are just two single pacelines side by side. The riders on the front of each paceline pull off in opposite directions. As a general rules, the pacelines are far smoother if the two front riders agree and pull off simultaneously. Otherwise, one of the lines has to surge to get the front riders side by side.

A ROTATING paceline requires more focus and greater skills but is very satisfying to be part of. In a rotating paceline there is an advancing (faster) line of riders and a retreating (slower) line of riders.

The retreating line is on whichever side the wind is coming from. If it is a headwind a tailwind or no wind, usually the retreating line will be on the right side and the advancing line will be on the left. (The opposite of the picture above).

The key to a rotating paceline is that when the rider at the front of the advancing line clears the rider who is on the front of the retreating line, the advancing rider moves into the retreating line and softens up his pace. The rider who was behind him continues the pace of the advancing line until that rider switches over. The rider in the advancing line should NEVER surge. The idea is that you ride to the front and float to the back in a constant rotation. You change your speed by "soft-pedaling" as you switch to the retreating line and increasing your pedal pressure as you switch from the retreating line to the advancing line.

Smooth switches, and keeping the distance between the riders in the paceline as small as possible will keep the paceline smooth.

An ECHELON is a paceline ridden in a crosswind. The riders will naturally find cover at an angle as shown above. An Echelon can refer to either a single paceline or a rotating paceline. In either case, the lead rider will pull off INTO the wind.