We had fourteen racers turn out tonight for the second last Crit of the season. We almost cancelled tonights crit as we only had two volunteers for the corners.  At the last minute Jesse Manner stepped up and stood on the corner of Meredith and Tulsa in Iain Hays flip-flops to allow the race to go on.  As thanks Jesse along with our other two marshalls, Graeme and Autumn, have all been entered into our Draw for some sweet prizes from our Sponsors.  Prizes like an Easton EC90 wheelset or a shiny new matching set of Helmet and Shoes from Arrowsmith bikes or some snazzy Sugoi wet weather gear from Coal City Cycles.

The pace started slow with two neutral laps to ease into the race for the benefit of our Junior riders like Max making his first appearance this year.  After that the pace jumped up sharply with lap times dropping from 2 min down to a minute 38 on our 1.1km course.

At ten laps in things got interesting with Iain Hay attacking off the front and gaining a 5second lead.  He held the pack off for two laps before being dragged back into the bunch.  Where he remained for another lap before flatting and having to abandon the race.

On Lap 17 the bell was rung for the prime which went Nathan Walsh from RDR with the Grant brothers, Mark and James, close behind him.  While the pack did get quite strung out after the prime, they quickly regrouped with no one looking to take advantage and attack as we quite often see.

On Lap 21 newcomer Harry Reddin attacked off the front opening up a ten second gap.  Sensing that he was no threat the rest of the riders let him sit out front in the wind by himself before slowly reeling him back in.

With 8 laps to go James Sage and Sean Lunney poured on the gas and with the help of Nathan Walsh opened up a sizeable lead pulling away a little further with each lap until they had a 20 second lead with four laps to go.  Realizing what was happening the main bunch started working together to try and reel them in.  With one lap to go the gap was back down to 4 seconds but by that time it was too late and the three riders were in the clear for a sprint finish which went to Nathan Walsh by less than half a wheel.

Thanks to all the riders for coming and thanks again to the volunteers who come out to make these races happen.

Full Results here

Next weeks race will be the final race of the season. Double points and double primes.  Come out and race or come out and cheer.  Either way Come out and have some fun.

What a fantastic night for the MIVA Rock City Cycles 15K Time Trial held on Grafton Road.  With almost no wind to battle and some freshly paved blacktop the 19 riders achieved some smoking fast times.

All the riders who did the first 15K TT on Grafton back in May achieved a personal best on the course tonight.

A whopping 14 PB's.

Congrats to:

Jack Mace

Mary-Jo Mace

Fabian Poulin

Tamara Zavarise

Al Shirley

Jamie Ollison

Lorrie Baildham

Patrick Burnham

Paul Connor

Stephen Mohan

Lee Zavarise

Iain Hay

Andrew Speed

James Sage

A prize (MIVA socks) went to Stephen Mohan  who's actual time was one second off his estimated time.  Sweet!

Top 3 men:  James Sage in 20:41, Andrew Speed 21:25 and Iain Hay in 22:02

Top 3 women:  Janna Gillick 22:35,  Lorrie Baildham 24:26 and Jamie Ollison in 25:56

See final results here: https://www.webscorer.com/race?raceid=141681

Hats off to the Arrowsmith Bike Club who volunteered to marshal at the intersections and keep us all safe and thanks to Patrick for his timing expertise.

The rain was threatening and we felt a few drops but it held off for the  MIVA/Rock City Cycles 40K Interclub challenge.  Unfortunately a few of the team riders could not make it so luckily others were able to step in for them.

The season of time trials were paying off in spades for some of the riders who came away with a PB on the course.

Congrats to:

Stephen Mohan

Mattys Rhedelinghuys

Gary Argyle

Paul Callow

 

One of the most difficult races to pace yourself the 40K TT.   Some riders were able to achieve a negative split where the 2nd 20K was faster than the first 20K. 

Way to go:

Erin Biddlecomb

Mattys Rhedelinghuys

Lee Zavarise

Fabian Poulin

For the men:

James the rocket Sage came close to his personal best with a time of 59:36  and he did it with an separated shoulder.  Talk about tough!  2nd was Stephen Mohan in 1:06 and in 3rd Mattys Rhedelinghuys in 1:07

For the women:

Lorrie Baildham was first with a time of 1:09,  2nd place was Jamie Ollson in 1:14 and Erin Biddlecomb in 1:20

 

Full results here: https://www.webscorer.com/race?raceid=140721

 

Thanks to Patrick for his amazing timing skills and race setup and to Steve Ollson for manning the turn around.

 

 

While the temperature dipped we lucked out as the dark clouds and rain stayed away for the MIVA/RCC 20K TT tonight.  Like an espisode of Stranger Things and the upside down we switched things up and ran the event "backwards" starting and ending at the far end near the yellow gate.  Unfortunately I think the looming rain kept a few riders away but a total of 12 hardy racers came out to try and beat their 20K times.

For the Men 

James Sage hammered out a  time of 28:50 followed by Devon Norris in 31:27 and Stephen Mohan in 32:32

For the Women 

Lorrie Baildham was first with a time of 34:18, followed by Jamie Ollson in 36:45 and Erin Biddlecomb in 40:36

Thanks to Steve Ollson who marshalled the turn around and Patrick for course setup and timing!

Check out the full results here: https://www.webscorer.com/race?raceid=139774

A small (by this years standards) turn out of 17 racers for tonights 15km time trial.  The weather didn't look promising as I could see rain around the top and back of Mount Benson before heading out to the start.  But as they say if you don't like the weather wait 5 minutes.  As riders started to arrive and warm up the sun came out and the road dried up.  Not bad considering Gary Argyle who showed up at five thirty reported getting soaked at the turn around during his pre-ride/warm up. A steady headwind slowed most riders on the way out to the turn tonight.  Fortunately though it remained steady and was a handy tailwind to balance the ride out.  Most riders though posted average or slightly slower than usual times as they burned more matches on the way out than usual.

Full Results are here

Thanks to Steve for manning the turn around, Matt for calling the start list and Jesse for holding at the start.

While you might blame the chance of rain for the small turnout it's more likely the plethora of events surrounding this week that has people at home relaxing.  Most notably the Robert Cameron Law Series this weekend in Victoria which is also the Canadian Nationals Masters championship race.

Good Luck to all our members racing this weekend.

Next weeks time trial will be 20km **Run Backwards**

That's right.  We will be starting at the far end of Nanaimo River road and turning around where we normally start.  Most of our regulars are very familiar with this course, with all its little or big climbs and know how to pace themselves accordingly.  This is going to be a chance to shake up the pace and see if putting the climb closer to the start finish will shake up the standings