Head wind, tail wind, head wind, tail wind; that was the story of last night’s time trial. The temperature however, was just about perfect. Fifteen riders turned up to test themselves over the full 40 km. That’s over an hour’s riding flat out for most of us.

The only rider to break the one hour barrier with James Sage who finished in 59:33.5. The fastest woman was Janna Gillick (again riding Mercx style) who finished in 1:06:45.0. Congrats also to Matthys Redelinghuys who set a new course PB despite the breezy conditions.

Thanks, as usual, to Patrick for keeping everything running so smoothly.

Next week we’re riding a super-fast 20 km one-way TT starting at the far end of Nanaimo River Road. It’ll be time to get aero!

Last night was the penultimate Aquarius Marine Crit of 2019.

The race started with several early attacks but no-one was able to get too far up the road.

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Early on in the race there were two prime laps, with Eric Rush and James Grant both taking home bottles from White Sails Brewing.

After the second prime, the pace settled down for a while until John Vanderveen went off the front. He looked to be getting away with ten laps remaining but clipped a pedal in a turn and broke his cleat.

The next rider to go off the front was Brett Whitehead but he was reeled in with two laps to go.

Ultimately, Iain Hay got the win, extending his lead by another two points from James Sage to an insurmountable 13 points. Third place is still up for grabs with eight point separating Eric Rush and Kevin Park, both of Riverway Dental Racing.

Thanks to our volunteers:

Larry Dicker
Brad Temple
Mary-Jo Mace
Laura Mace
Veronika Lam
Nicole Burns
and Chrissy

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It was a warm and breezy evening last night out on Nanaimo River Road. The wind made for a tough outbound leg. There was a great mix of riders and equipment, from a full-on TT set-up to a straight handle bar hybrid; one of the great things about time-trialling is that you’re only competing against your previous time. Having said that, someone still has to be fastest. The fastest man was James Sage with a time of 21:27.4. The fastest women was Janna Gillick, who was riding Merckx-style (i.e. on a regular road bike, without aero bars) with a time of 24:04.1.

Next weeks time trial is a chance to test yourself over 40km.

In other news…

The Aquarius Marine Criterium Series is getting into it’s final stages. With two races left to go, 11 points separate the leader, Iain Hay from James Sage in second. Check out the rest of the standings here.

As you may have seen on our Facebook page, coming up on Sunday is the next round of the Victoria Cycling League at Vancouver Island Motorsport Circuit. As well as the usual A, B and C races, there’s also a race for club riders. For full details click here.

Just a reminder that we are still looking for volunteers for tomorrow nights Criterium.

So if you’re not hitting the hill climb workout on Harewood Mines Road at 6:30 swing on by Industrial Paint and Plastics for some action packed racing.

Please sign up here to let us know who’s coming out to help.

As well if you’re interested in coming out to our 20km Timetrial on Thursday please sign up here with your estimated time to help us build the start list.

For some of us the weekend started off with a damp 40km time trial on Thursday evening. Typically our 40km distances see a lower than average turn out. Combined with the wet weather I was quite surprised to have 12 riders out to challenge themselves. While the weather held off and only rained at the finish line for a short bit while the riders were all out on course the road itself was quite wet with everyone finishing soaked through. While most of us found it challenging to maintain our pace on the second lap two riders managed to increase their speed with Lee and Nadia both knocking more than twenty seconds off their second splits.

Full results here

Series standings here

Saturday morning saw our first of many MIVA Diva rides with 20 riders getting out and stretching their legs.

Sunday morning saw the annual Westwood Lake Triathlon. If anyone knows where results can be found be please post them in the MIVA group.

Sunday also saw racers taking to the beautiful roads around Cherry Point. New to Nanaimo Craig Gibson took first place followed by Liam Sullivan in the B Race. In the youth Category Jack Mace took third place against some tough youngsters from around the island.

Cherry Point Results

In upcoming events Tuesday night we have our regularly scheduled Aquarius Marine Crit. As usual we will be looking for marshalls to help out on the corners.

Crit Volunteer Sign up

Tuesday will also be the first Hill climb training ride of the MIVA Divas meeting down on Maxey road at 6:30pm

Thursday May will be a 20km time trial on Nanaimo River Road. Please pre-register with your estimated times to help build the start list.

Other upcoming events to keep in mind

Wednesday May 22 Track racing at the Victoria Velodrome as part of the Victoria Cycling Leagues race schedule

June 2 - Cowichan Valley Sue Wells Ride for ALS —This ride is organized by Cycle Therapy Bikes and is graciously and generously sponsored by the Red Arrow Brewing Company. In fact the ride will finish up at the Red Arrow Brewing Company where every participant will be provided with a ticket for the fantastic BBQ (Hamburger or Chicken Burger or Vege Burger plus two salads!) prepared by Just Jakes. Every participant gets their choice of a glass of Red Arrow beer or a glass of cider or a glass of wine!