Last week was a busy one. First we had the hugely successful second running of the Midsummers Cross Race at Diver Lake Park.  An amazing event.  Despite the heat and smoke we had a great turn out, lots of volunteers to make set up a breeze leaving plenty of time for racers to pre-ride the course.  Also a huge turn out of racers with 113 taking the line and kicking up dust.  That number includes the Zoom Zooms and the Half lappers that made sure Norm warmed up for his race

He had to to drop that Megaphone because they were on his wheel.

We also had Rhonda and the girls from Superstore out serving up cold snacks.  The lack of a hot barbecue didn't seem to bother anyone.  The Icecream sandwich and Orange slice hand ups were definitely a welcome treat to parched and dusty racers.

B race results Here

A race results Here

We followed that up with our Arrowsmith Bikes Hill climb.  I'm not gonna lie, after Wednesday night I considered cancelling the hill climb because I thought who wants to race again the next night.  Well I was wrong.  We had a great turn out with 14 riders tackling the Jameson Road climb.

Hill Climb Results Here

Then to finish off the weekend was the Comox Valley Cycling Clubs Annual Mount Washington Hill Climb.  MIVA put in a strong showing with over 25% of the field.  The Weather was perfect for the climb today.  Overcast and cool with just a sprinkling of rain to help cool you off half way up.  The complete results shamelessly stolen from their Facebook Group page at the bottom of this post

With that it's time to start winding down our season just a bit.  By that I mean we only have Two events per week until the end of August.

Tomorrow night we will once again be meeting at the Nanaimo Ice Center for our Monday night development ride.

This Thursday will continue our Arrowsmith Bikes Hill Climb Series with the Witchcraft lake Climb.  Riders will once again be meeting up at the bottom of Kilpatrick Road next to the mailboxes and heading straight up.

Mount Washington Hill Climb; Hosted by Comox Valley Cycling Club

Results

Name Tme Category Mark Grant 53:51 A Doug Merrick 53:56 A Isaac Rankin 53:57 A Keiran Neilsen 54:15 A Sean Lunny 54:16 A Thomas Kalynuk 55:09 A Brett Whitehead 56:01 A Isaac van der Vliet 56:50 A Nicolas Parlee 57:39 A Nathan Walsh 58:35 A Wade Luksay 59:23 A Emily Johnston 59:24 A Dan Wilson 59:24 A Dave Opko 1:00:40 B Harry Reddin 1:01:12 A Juan Rodriguez 1:01:31 B Chris Pullman 1:01:33 B Jamie Saunders 1:03:14 B Ken Johnston 1:03:31 B Ray Wagner 1:03:45 B Jacob Yells, 1:04:48 A James Manders 1:05:28 B Jim Brown 1:05:36 B Kerry Hale 1:07:25 B Gary Argyle 1:09:00 C Lorrie Baildhar 1:09:08 C Jamie Olsen 1:09:20 C Chris Bowman 1:09:57 B Larissa Pelleterio 1:10:05 B E.J.Duncan 1:13:47 C Tim Everets 1:14:21 B Mort Allingham 1:15:34 B Ramon Ramirez 1:16:12 B Janine Bell 1:16:54 C Jeff Lawrence 1:19:17 B Fetze Elgersma 1:19:33 C Chris Perrault 1:20:55 C Wanda Reddin 1:21:08 C Patrick Burnham 1:23:18 B Evan Luksay 1:27:09 C Brynn Johnston 1:35:03 C Lisa McLeod 1:35:03 C

Crits and time trials are done, but the season is far from over. Wednesday night we are hosting the Mid Summers Cross race in Diver Lake park.  Entries are limited with only five spots left in the A race(at 5pm Monday afternoon)  If you're interested nows the time to sign up //embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js We're still looking for help Tuesday evening around five pm to walk the course and rake up pine cones/move big branches etc... to prep the course.  I had a quick look around this afternoon and it's not too bad.  Four or five people with rakes and gloves and we can be done in less than hour.  Bring your bike and we can pre-ride afterwards.

Wednesday afternoon 3:30pm we're starting course set up.  We know we've got six people for sure, who else can come lend a hand.  The more the merrier.  Sign up Here.

Don't forget as well that in addition to my eternal love and respect, all volunteers are going to be entered into the draw for a set of Easton EC90s or Vision Trimax30s at our AGM

Cross isn't your thing?  That's ok, we also still have our Arrowsmith Bikes Hill Climb Series on Thursday August 10.  Meet at the mailboxes on Kilpatrick Road just off Jinglepot at 6pm.  It'll be a great warm up for the Mount Washington Hill climb on Sunday August 13th hosted by the Comox Valley Cycling Club  www.comoxvalleycycleclub.ca

A hot sunny night for the final crit. We had 14 racers take the line.  With it being the final race 40 laps were on the board.  After two neutral laps they were off with Harry getting out front pushing the pace and trying for an early break.  The pack reeled him in fairly quickly though.  13 laps in the bell was wrung for the first prime and Doug Merrick showed he was the thirstiest taking the sprint by over ten seconds on the rest of the pack.  He didn't let up though and continued to push the pace staying off the front for another lap until he was joined by James Grant and Connor MrGrady.  Together the three of them held the main pack off for the next six laps until Doug had enough and fell back to main bunch.  From there Connor and James spent the next 15 laps working together off the front building up almost a 30second lead at one point.  On lap twenty the bell was wrung again for another prime but none of the riders seemed interested and James and Connor maintained their break.  With five laps to go the group shut down the break away closing the gap on the two young riders fairly quickly.  In the final sprint James Grant showed his fitness as he managed out gun the rest of the pack depsite having been off the front for the majority of the race.  He was followed closely by Iain Hay and Liam Sullivan.

LAP TIMES

Tech issues meant the first seven laps were missed

This week marks the mid point of our season as we run our last Criterium and Time Trial of the season. Come out tomorrow night and cheer as racers fight it out one last time.  While first place in the series is going to strong man James Sage; the fight for third could be close with Mark Wieler, Chris Cameron and Kevin Park with in 3 points of each other.

Thursday nights Time trial is a 40km event, and while James Sage has the series locked up for the men(Did we mention he's been training pretty hard this year) he still hasn't broken an hour on this challenging course.  The forecast is looking good so come out and push for a personal best.

Even if you don't want to race spectators are always welcome, bring your lawn chairs and sunscreen and come cheer them on.

We're also still looking for Volunteers for tomorrow nights criterium.  Sign up here

Time Trial Standings

Criterium Standings

MIVA Criterium Scoring (2017)

We're really excited to see so much interest and we're thrilled to be joining the thousands of other women around the world riding 100kms. Here are a few additional details:  

1) Start Time - We've decided to split the 8:30AM start group into two and merge the two 9AM starters into that group. Please arrive at least 10min before your start time to sign-on. Sign-on is at White Sails Brewing located at 125 Comox Rd, Nanaimo, BC V9R 3H9.

2) Late Registration - It's not too late! Anyone who hasn't registered for the event can do so on Sunday but we ask that they arrive no later than 8AM to do so. Cash only.  

3) What to Bring - The weather looks great, but it never hurts to bring arm warmers and a lightweight vest or jacket. Bring a spare tube and gear to fix it. (Don't worry, we'll pitch in and help the less experienced with any flat changes) Aim to consume 200kcal per hour, but read (6) before you try to stuff 1000kcal of bananas into your jersey. Bring a $10 in case you need an emergency Coke from the closest gas station.

4) Leaders - Janna will take the first group out at 8AM, Lorrie will take the second group at 8:30AM (sharp) and Kiyomi will take the final group about ten minutes later. The leaders will be responsible for knowing the route and keeping the group together. This includes periodic headcounts. Please inform the leaders if you don't intend to complete the ride or if you decide to change groups.

5) Pace - This is intended to be a social ride. Nobody will get dropped. If you'd like to download the route in advance: https://www.strava.com/routes/9431404 . Some hardcopies of the waypoint list will be available at the start.

6) Rest Stop - A few kind MIVA members have offered to set up a rest stop along the water in Qualicum Beach, which is at ~60km. Water, Gatorade, home-baked mini-muffins, fruit and gels will be available. Public washrooms are also located nearby.

7) Pop-up Refreshments - A mystery hand-up station is currently into the works. Keep your eyes open for it on E&N across from Rock City Cycles.

8) Social, SWAG & Draw Prizes - Our sponsors have generously provided us with a few small gifts for all riders as well as several draw prizes for some lucky riders. These will be available after the ride at White Sails. Please join us for a complimentary beverage afterwards!

9) Social Media - if you want to share photos of the ride with the many thousands other women riding 100km on Sunday, tag your pictures with #womens100 and #midislandvelo

10) Sponsors - We'd like to acknowledge our gracious sponsors for the event: White Sails Brewing (@whitesailsbrewing), Rock City Cycles (@rockcitycyclesnanaimo), Kiyo Salon and Day Spa (@houseofkiyo), Frontrunners (@frontrunnersnanaimo), Superstore, Swethaus (@theswethaus) and Omtown Yoga (@omtownyoga).

See you Sunday!

- Janna, Lorrie & Kiyomi