This was the first event this season on the 650 metre Arbutus Circuit.The 18 starters set off on the first of 2 neutral laps but, before the end of the first lap there was a crash and so the race was restarted. Unfortunately, Jessica Reynolds had to retire injured but Rob Bau, who was also involved was able to continue. Within 2 laps, Nick Kupiak (Broad Steet Bikes) and Brodie Hay (Dr. Walker) had gapped the field and these two took top points for the first of the nine sprints, with Mark Wieler (Arrowsmith) leading the bunch for the remaining points. Then Nick,put the hammer down, dropped Brodie, and proceeded to lap the lead bunch of 7 riders three times by race end, taking top points in all the remaining sprints. This group in turn dropped the rest of the riders and shared all remaining points. With 13 laps left, Ray Wagner (CVCC) tried to follow Kupiak and for two laps managed to hang on but Nick proved to be too strong and so Ray spent the Remaining 10 laps on his own, picking up 6 more points in the process. As only 6 riders picked up points, the rest of the finishing order was decided by the final sprint and then by the order of multi-lapped riders on the course. Thanks to Iain Hay for helping with lap board and spotting. (points)  series points 1 Nick Kupiak Broad Street Cycles (32) 12 2 Ray Wagner Comox Valley C.C. (15) 10 3 Mark Wieler Arrowsmith Bikes(9) 9 4 Brodie Hay Dr. Walker (6) 8 5 Janna Gillick Cowichan Cycles (3)  12 W 6 Sean De Pol MIVA (1) 7 7 Aaron Milan Cowichan Valley C.C. 6 8 Mike Sevcov Cowichan Valley C.C. 5 9 Doug Merrick Cowichan Valley C.C. 4 10 Mike McCarney MIVA 3 11 Bruce Perry MIVA 2 12 Phil Birrer MIVA 2 13 Mike Gill MIVA 2 14 Rob Bau MIVA 2 15 Evan Luksay  Trail Bicycles 12 (youth) 16 Wade Luksay Trail Bicycles 2 DNF Jessica Reynolds Dr. Walker 2 (crash) DNF Bill McMillan MIVA 1 DNF Patrick Burnham MIVA 1

Special thank you to Cheryl Morch for organizing the first annual hill climb up Mt.Washington this past Saturday, May 23. Note from Cheryl:

"It was perfect conditions for an epic climb up Mount Washington!  Peter McCafery was fantastic behind the wheel of his new car, timing the riders and transporting their bags to the top of the hill.  Thank you to all of you who made the drive up island to conquer the “wall of pain”.  Fourteen riders lined up at the base of the hill, with Charles Sinclair starting at the 8 km mark (52.22).  Results were as follows:

1. Joel Lutz – 1:03.47
2. Sean DePol – 1:06.42
3. Mike McCarney – 1:09.22
4. Paul Thompson – 1:11.22 (off course)
5. Cheryl Morch – 1:13.17
6. Lori Baildham – 1:13.28
7. Kevin Heeres – 1:13.30
8. Simon Weber – 1:14.59
9. Mike Jorgensen – 1:22.54
10. Kiyomi Schultz – 1:23.54
11. Dave Steen – 1:24.32
12. Kim Sutherland – 1:29.35
13. Paul Callow – 1:34.15
14. Lisa McLeod – 1:45.00 (Flat tire)

A HUGE thank you to our sponsors: Kiyo Spa for the gift certificate, Mount Washington for the support, swag and meal deal, , and MIVA for the hats."

26 riders came out on another super wicked night for bike racing.  First, for people who want to skim:

• Here are tonights results on webscorer.
• Here are the 2015 TT Series standings to date
• Here are the 20k Course Records

The big news of the night was that a NEW COURSE RECORD was set by Janna Gillick of the Cowichan Cycles Cartel, coming in at 31:34, averaging 38.0 km/hr over the hilly 20k, and besting her previous course record by 22 seconds.  Lorrie, Kiyomi, and Lesley all raced strong despite plenty of k in their legs recently.  And a big welcome to Lisa McLeod, MIVA's newest member (#106!), and on her first TT here, rounding out the top 5.  Sandy Przada came in at 40:43, just 15 seconds off her personal best 20k time.  Tamara Zavarise was back for more after her debut last week racing well, and Carole Phee managed her 2nd best time ever on this course with a 44:15.

The youth category was slim tonight, but Abigail Hare kept up her 'MIVAs Most Dedicated' streak and rode a steady 41:35.

The male category was another fast one, with 17 racers duking it out.  Paul Auton's debut on this 20k course was solid, riding to the 2nd fastest time EVER, with a 42.3km/hr average.  Nick Kupiak was less than ONE second off his 20k PB, but the 5/7 race may have been 100m short so he legitimately rode faster.  He also hit almost 80km/hr on the way home (I was behind him in the van, I can attest to this).  Rounding out the podium was Justin Mark who knocked a FULL minute off his best time of the year, and set a lifetime PB tonight.  Orphee Bernard also raced his lifetime best with a 31:25 to sneak into 4th spot, not bad for hardly having time on the bike this year, must be the skinsuit.  Rounding out the top 5 was Mike Sevcov, returning to the TT's and coming in at 32:06.

Patrick Burnham roared up late to the start, and headed out with zero warm up straight from work, but still managed a 32:14 (then went back to work!).  Joel Lutz was back at it again, holding an identical 37.2km/hr on the 20k route, which has one more kicker of a hill in it than the 15k it should be noted, I predict he'll break 32 at his next 20k.  Dave Steen took the ferry over from Thetis to race tonight, great dedication, and still holding the 9th fastest time on this course ever!  Alex Daether also held his same average speed with a fast 33:39.  Kim Sutherland was top 10 with a 34:09, which is almost 3 and a half minutes faster than his time last summer!  Matthys Redelinghuys came in with his 3rd best time ever, just a couple weeks after a bike crash (glad you're ok!).  Jason Hare rode his best time of the year, a scant 4 seconds behind Matt!  Simon Weber rode his 2nd fastest time ever (as predicted by the wise timekeeper at the start who knew he'd go in the 34's).  Next up for Simon is breaking 34, it will happen this season.  Mark Overton rode his PB with a 35:15, as did Ian Drown (35:30), and Lee Zavarise (35:57).

'Sounds like a Steam Engine' Award goes to Jude Wilhelmsen, who was highly entertaining as he pushed himself nearly to the point of puking, while putting in a hard earned 35:12.

Thank you to Peter McCaffery for coming out and saving me by driving the cones out to the turnaround and acting as turnaround marshall.  Peter was in good position to critique some turn techniques and will be posting on them soon.

Coming up tomorrow 5/22 are the Match Sprints on Maxey Road, 7pm. Saturday 5.23 is the Mt Washington Social Hill Climb Monday 5.25 meet at the NAC for a 20k easy paced ride. Tuesday 5.26 the MIVA Crit goes to Arbutus Meadows, 7pm start time.

Next week is 2015s first 40k TT of the year, 2 20k's back to back.  Come suffer with us, but pre register here first!  See you then.

MIVA 44KM CRITERIUM 15051927 starters tonight -best this season. The pack stayed intact for a while The first prime was won by Nick Kupiak (Broad Street Cycles).with Janna Gillick (Cowichan Cycles) taking the women's sprint, the first of 5 primes for her. Sprint number 2, after 15 laps was won by Justin Mark (BCBR) with MIVA's Steve Crowley and Brodie Hay (Dr. Walker) in 2nd and 3rd. Positions. Just after this, a break of 7 went off the front and this proved to be the winning move. Nick, Justin and Aaron were joined by John Lam (MIVA), James and Mark Grant (Dr. Walker) and Sean Lunney (OBB). The septet gained 5 seconds every lap, and, just after sprint 3, won by Mark Grant, with Justin and James just behind, were coming up behind the main group when there was a crash involving Rob Bau and Mike Gill. Immediately, the lead group went into neutralised phase and eased off, letting the others pull away after reorganising themselves. Mike abandoned but Rob went on to finish. Sprint 5 at 5 laps to go, was taken byMark Grant, with brother James close behind. The main group avoided getting cught again as the leaders were playing cat and mouse, setting up for the finish. Final results saw Nick Kupiak outsprinting James and Mark Grant, with the top 6 completed by Aaron, Justin and John (well done Mr. Lam for staying with the break!) Janna got second in the main pack and won the women's category, with Cheryl Morch placing a very creditable category second only 2 places behind. Jessica Reynolds (Dr. Walker) completed the women's trio..

Thanks to the marshals and course set-up, take down crew. Also, a tip of the helmet to the riders for playing the safety card after the crash and when vehicles ventures onto the circuit.

Next week's race is at Arbutus Meadows and should be lots of fun, with a pre-race miss and out thrown in.

RESULTS

1 Nick Kupiak Broad Street Cycles 1h 13' 27” 2 James Grant Dr. Walker s.t. 3 Mark Grant Dr. Walker s.t. 4 Aaron Foos Yukon s.t. 5 Justin Mark BC Bike Race s.t. 6 John Lam MIVA s.t. 7 Sean Lunney Oak Bay Bikes s.t. 8 Mike Sevcov Cowichan Valley C.C. At 1' 29” 9 Janna Gillick Cowichan Cycles s.t. 1st. woman 10 Brodie Hay Dr. Walker s.t. 11 Sean De Pol MIVA s.t.

12 Shepherd Stewart, MIVA, s.t.

13 Cheryl M orch MIVA s.t. 2nd woman 14 Mike McCarney MIVA s.t. 15 Ronb Bau MIVA s.t. 16 Bill McMillan MIVA s.t. 17 Steve Crowley MIVA s.t. 18 Ron Hewitson MIVA At 1'45” 19 Jessica Reynolds Dr.Walker lapped, third woman NP Ken Olsen MIVA NP Iain Hay MIVA DNF Kim Sutherland MIVA DNF Patrick Burnham MIVA DNF Mike Gill MIVA DNF Menno Jongsma MIVA DNF Phil Birrer MIVA DNF Mark Wieler Oak Bay Bikes

Small turnout for tonight's sprints - only three participants; must be the long weekend!Jim Brown, John Lam and Mike Gill rode a round robin to give a bit of variety. Jim was beaten by both the other riders so the final was between Mike and John. Both competitors wer strong but Mike failed to draft in the finasl 200 metres and also used lower gears so \john took both heats and won ther series. They did have a third sprint too but John won again Next week, there will be a sprint clinic before the start

RESULTS 1. John Lam 2. Mike Gill 3. Jim Brown

Mike Gill is now the title sponsor of the series as his company is supporting the activity.