This weekend I had the chance to join in the fun that is the Single Speed World Championship.  Without a doubt Parker, Drew and the rest of the many crew and volunteers put on one hell of an amazing event. Getting to Hoyne Brewery at ten am Saturday morning to be greeted by trays of free beer I knew this was going to be a weekend unlike any other.

Broken into groups to keep things "manageable" we were sent on a booze fuelled tour of Victoria to tackle the Feats of Strength.  Five challenges designed to separate the winners from the losers and qualify for the championship race.  Our first challenge was simple, up the stairs, through the pump track and back.  The tone was set quickly as we realized actually riding the pump track was optional and the "rules" were really just suggestions.  But as long as fun was had it was all fair game.  

The next morning at Western Speedway you could tell fun was had the night before.  Many of the volunteers and riders looked like they could have used another two days worth of sleep.  But in spite of it they still managed to have an amazing course set up and ready to party.  Tents were set up, grills were lit and beer was poured.  A look around the site would almost make you think a race was going on.  But there wasn't really any organized racing that I could see.  Short cuts were offered as reward for taking a drink.  Drinks were offered as reward for taking a drink.  The course tape in a lot of sections was taken to be a suggestion only.  Hand ups were varied and plentiful from waffles peanut butter covered pickles to the healthy Kale wrapped in bacon.  If you were thirsty, hungry or not having fun you were definitely doing it wrong.

And that really is the theme of this event.  Don't take it seriously and have fun.  As we were riding I overheard Sam say that he couldn't remember the last time he rode a bike this slow and casually, and then remarked at how much fun he was having.  Its a good thing to remember.  We've all heard the joke that if there's more than two people out its a race.  We've seen it/done it even on solo rides with strava and pushing ourselves to beat the other guy or get a new PB.  Or when we've only got an hour to ride and we have to cram as many miles in as we can to make it count.    When all is said and done we need to take time to remember why we started riding bikes in the first place. Because it's fun.

PHOTOS

THURSDAY is coming up fast, don't miss another exclusive MIVA night at the SWET HAUS!  Last week SOLD OUT. Risking a walk up spot may leave you disappointed. Book in! Details below, get signed up now.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Swet Haus is MIVA's training ground for spin classes this winter.  State of the art machines and top end instructors, MIVA members will pay only $5 for the MIVA only class.  $5, on what can cost up to $20 per session, is an amazing bargain.  We expect all 15 bikes to fill up quickly every week.

Please contact Jacqui at the Swet Haus (email, phone, or facebook) to let them know that you made an account so they can 'upgrade' them to MIVA members. This is a special deal ONLY for MIVA! If you aren't a MIVA member yet, sign up now and be good until December 31st, 2016!

The class are every Thursday @ 7pm.  Sessions will be varied, usually in the 45-60 minute range with the occasional endurance night of 90 minutes.  Classes will be every Thursday until March 17, 2016.

To register for these classes please click HERE and then sign in or make an account. You can then pay the $5 online, or pay it when you get to the studio. Please note no-shows will have to pay, no exceptions.

Thank you again to the Swet Haus for providing such a great deal for MIVA!

We'd like to thank everyone who came out to attend our AGM this past Friday at the Longwood Brewpub.  It was great seeing everyone out and having the chance to socialize and learn what everyone looks like without a helmet on. It was also great to recognize the hard work and effort everyone has put into improving their riding this past year.

http://imgur.com/79yGlY9

For the Overall points in our Time Trial series.  Our top riders were Paul Auton and Janna Gillick.  The top youth riders were Aiden Hare and Abigail Hare.

http://imgur.com/8wEm11H

The BAR(best all around) award went to the riders who posted the fastest combined time over all three distances (15/20/40)of our Time trial series.  Don Gillmore and Janna Gillick.

http://imgur.com/5uMU4R8

Crit overall Champion went to Nicholas Kupiak and Janna Gillick.  For the youth riders we had Evan Luksay and Abigail Hare.

http://imgur.com/vX8gm44

Winners of the Hill Climb series were Nicolas Kupiak and Lorrie Baildham, in the youth Category we had Evan Luksay and Abigail Hare.

http://imgur.com/kAGL1z3

Based on their overall performance and improvement we saw through out the season we named Evan Luksay and Meghan Gillmore as our Overall Youth Champions.

http://imgur.com/XwcWZrX

With Most events ridden we had Nicolas Kupiak(24), Janna Gillick(21) and for Youth Aiden Hare(14) and Agigail Hare(15)

http://imgur.com/CUKVt1N

Our most improved Male rider this year was Lee Zavarise who worked hard and showed some great gains in his time trialing.  Our most improved Female rider was Kiyomi Schulz who put in a lot of miles this year training hard.  Put in a fantastic effort in the hill climbs being in contention for the overall win before breaking her ankle on a training run to prepare for cross.

http://imgur.com/gLqdMU4

Something new we added this year was our Bounty Hunter prizes of Fifty dollars handed out to riders who managed to knock down our 40km TT and Doumont Hill Climb course records.  In our time trial series Janna Gillick worked hard and earned not only a personal best but a new course record for the 40km distance   At our series championship Hill Climb up Doumont Road riders cleaned out our presidents wallet and he was left owing some people as we had three records smashed that night.  Evan Luksay took down the youth male record with 16:51, Nick Kupiak with 11:48 and Janna with 14:12 also knocked down their respective records as well.

http://imgur.com/0skfCT0

The Peter Mcaffery Volunteer of the Year award, is a new award created by this board to recognize that this club and these events simply don't happen without the hard work of the volunteers who come out to run them.  It was named to honor Peter without whom this club simply would not exist here in the Mid island region.  For all his time and energy spent organizing and running the time trials and hill climbs and for all his countless hours behind the scenes planning and organizing, and for his constant barrage of emails and communication this board (without his approval) voted to award it Corey Friesen.

http://imgur.com/TguTsy2

Also just in case you couldn't hear him, Phil mentioned that we have spin classes at the Swethaus, he just doesn't know where it is.

http://imgur.com/5EAff1m

More shots from the AGM here

Thank you MIVA for your enormous help to pull of our MOST SUCCESSFUL EVENT EVER!

• In 2013: 173 racers, on the front end of a double header
• In 2014: 241 on it's own weekend
• In 2015: 284 racers, on the back end of a doubleheader!  That is simply awesome.

Hit up this amazing stats page, http://www.crossontherock.com/results/statistics/ and look at the most popular races: Little Pony Cross was FOURTH HIGHEST EVER.  Ever. After 63(?) races in the Cross in the Rocks history, FOURTH. I won't lie, we anticipated about 180ish to race back when the Cross Season planning was underway. Being the back end of a doubleheader, we figured the 2013 numbers were closer to what we'd end up with..instead you all showed up and killed it. Message from Cross On the Rocks NORM: "Please thank MIVA for putting on a great race!" For a full recap see the Cross On The Rock newsletter here!

Results from the races are here: Kona Kup Pony Cx

The biggest thank you has to go to Race Director Ron Hewitson, he put in untold hours planning and prepping this event. He was out there negotiating where we could run the course with the landowners, he was booking food trucks, he was riding it over and over to find the flowiest most fun spectator friendly course possible. Ron marked out the course with small flags so when our crew showed up Saturday with headlamps on to set up the Pony Cross, we had it all laid out already. If you were there at the race, you likely saw Ron also, because he was EVERYwhere. I'd paste in his message but I think/hope he is crashed out recovering now. Again, THANK you Ron!

Also thank you to the many many MIVA members who stepped up on a Saturday everning to help set up the course. If you didnt get a MIVA waterbottle for helping out, let me know. Thank you to everyone who helped at the Pony Cross, from timekeeping to registration to parking to setup/takedown. I loved seeing so many familiar faces (and so many MIVA jerseys!).

Saturdays KONA KUP hosted by Oak Bay Bikes was also a huge success with a whopping 269 racers on the line, also up from last. Sean and Corey have hosted Cross races since '06. The first Kona Kup in 2009 had 86 people in it, this past Saturday had a whopping 284 racers! As per Norm, biggest Kona Kup ever, biggest Saturday race ever, biggest Day 1 of a double header ever, biggest race in 12 years of using Beban Park.  Nice work to the OBB/Rock City Cycles crew, and to all the volunteers who helped mop up the wet. Sean and Corey pass on a big thank you to all MIVA members who lent a hand as well! Thank you also to Oak Bay Bikes/Rock City Cycles for hosting the Saturday night social!

For a full slate of great pictures from both events, hit up Patrick Burnhams site here https://www.flickr.com/photos/palleus/albums

Thanks again MIVA for stepping up and helping pull off a huge weekend!

THURSDAY is coming up fast, don't miss another exclusive MIVA night at the SWET HAUS! Details below, get signed up now. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Swet Haus is MIVA's training ground for spin classes this winter.  State of the art machines and top end instructors, MIVA members will pay only $5 for the MIVA only class.  $5, on what can cost up to $20 per session, is an amazing bargain.  We expect all 15 bikes to fill up quickly every week.

Please contact Jacqui at the Swet Haus (email, phone, or facebook) to let them know that you made an account so they can 'upgrade' them to MIVA members. This is a special deal ONLY for MIVA! If you aren't a MIVA member yet, sign up now and be good until December 31st, 2016!

The class are every Thursday @ 7pm.  Sessions will be varied, usually in the 45-60 minute range with the occasional endurance night of 90 minutes.  Classes will be every Thursday until March 17, 2016.

To register for these classes please click HERE and then sign in or make an account. You can then pay the $5 online, or pay it when you get to the studio. Please note no-shows will have to pay, no exceptions.

Thank you again to the Swet Haus for providing such a great deal for MIVA!