This Thursday, the MIVA bike trainer clinics resume. Venue: Pleasant Valley School, time: 7.30pm set-up, 8.00-9.00pm Suffer big time, 9.00-9.30pm cool down and pack up. Cost: $5

MIVA NEW YEAR'S DAY 16KM TIME TRIAL Duke Point Highway, Nanaimo

Things didn't look too good at 5.00am on New Year's morning as a light snowfall was settling on the ground but by sign-on time for MIVA's first time trial of 2012 the temperature had risen a few degrees and the roads were clearing. Seven stalwart souls showed up to start the siteen kilometre time trial – the first and perhaps the only race to be held on the Duke Point Highway. Normally, there is an abundance of ferry traffic on this road, both leaving and arriving on Vancouver Island, as ferries draw up to the Duke Point terminal every two hours on a daily basis but last week, the Coastal Inspiration, one of BC Ferries' super C ships, the largest double-ended ferries in the world, crashed into the loading ramp at Duke Point, causing severe damage to both the ship and the dock. This has resulted in the terminal being closed until further notice, probably for several months.

Race organiser Peter McCaffery was quick to seize the opportunity to run a time trial on the beautifully -paved Duke Point Highway which stretches just over nine kilometres from south of Nanaimo to the ferry terminal. Several runs were made on the road, picking out good locations for start, turn-around and finish. Seeing as this first event was on New Year's Day and that one or more of the participants would posibly be recovering from too- enthusiastic New Year's Eve celebrations, it was decided to finish the time trial before the beginning of the tough one kilometre hill at the start of the highway.

All the starters really liked the course but did find it even tougher than MIVA's regular one on the Nanaimo River Road as there were stiff climbs both out and coming back from the turn. Rob Russell showed his good conditioning by beating ex-hockey player Warren Muir, who has been taking degree courses in Calgary since September, by almost one and a quarter minutes. Iain Hay was third, a further two minutes down and was followed in by Kristy Mighton, a further minute and forty-one seconds down.

Full results here

Brodie Hay, MIVA's only youth member, was at the provincial youth track camp in Burnaby all week! Great week of training, experience and fun! He raced Wednesday and Thursday night on the track and both nights had very good races.... However, Brodie is our only under 18 rider who has regularly come out to our races for four years. Since youth development is part of MIVA's mission statement, the club is applying to the BC  Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch for a Community Gaming Grant to enable MIVA to get into the schools, community leagues and other youth-oriented cycling clubs like the Nanaimo BMX club.  The priorities will be road safety and an introduction to competitive cycling, with an emphasis on grass track racing. The grant application, if successful, will enable MIVA to introduce up to two hundred 11-13 year old teens to a sport that none of them have experienced and many of these new cyclists will be able to join MIVA and take part in its range of activities and gain access to the mentorship and support of the club's existing membership

Cycling has received more than its fair share of knocks vis a vis  P.E.D's. The majority of top ten placings in  the major tours and European Classics  in the past twenty years have possibly/probably been filled by riders who may have resorted to the use of performance - enhancing methodology.  Will 2012 be the exception or are the current attempts to clean up our sport still somewhat futile?   Here   is and interesting article that provides much food for thought. Whatever you think, professional cycling in the New Year will still provide some of the greatest spectacles and mano-a-mano battles in sport. Let's hope that the scientists are finally catching up with the cheats.

Re. parking for this event: park in the Country Grocer car park as Serious Coffee is OPEN. A nice place to relax and swap excuses after the time trial. Besides, riding up the hill to the start is a good warm-up. For real wimps, there is parking along the hard shoulder before the start.

BTW, if this event is as successful as we think it will be, the organiser is exploring the possibility of holding further events on the Duke Point Highway after the ferries start running again. The ships arrive and leave every two hours and there is about a one hour plus window between sailing times when there is very little traffic. Further information to follow.