The weather was perfect for the final race of the season. 16 riders came out to collect double points and secure their place in the standing.

The pace started out calm with two neutral laps and picked up sharply with Janna Gillick and Chris Cameron quickly moving to the front. No one was getting left behind however and the pack remained close for the first 7 laps. On Lap 8 Nathan Walsh jumped to the front easily taking the first prime and earning a Whitesails bomber. Two laps later Kevin Park (mistaking the bells from the spectators for a second prime) went off the front gaining a ten second lead while the rest of the pack let him dangle off the front. On Lap 13 the pack had caught up to Kevin and this time Taylor Kernovich thought he heard bells attacking off the front and putting in an impressive one minute twenty nine second lap. On lap 17 the “Official” bell was rung for the second prime and Nathan Walsh again jumped off the front, this time followed closely by Jaymi Dumper who attempted to use the momentum to go off the front and breakaway from the pack. The main bunch led by Janna Gillick quickly reeled him in again and the pace settled back down. On lap 27 I prepared to ring the bell for the next prime but an ambulance passed the course with lights and sirens. Not knowing what was happening the racers self neutralized and I held off ringing the bell to make sure all was clear. When I finally did ring the bell for the Prime, Sean Lunney in his first crit of the season put in a tremendous effort but was caught at the line by John Vanderveen. John then carried through and reminded us all why he deserved to win the National Masters Time trial earlier this month with a solo breakaway for 9 laps. After the pack caught up to him on Lap 37 the pace settled down once again as riders positioned themselves for the final sprint where Kevin Park narrowly edged out Iain Hay followed closely by James Sage. With that second place finish Iain Hay was able to secure the series overall win followed by James in second place.

Final Results

Series Standings

As always thanks go out to our volunteers marshalling the corners. Without them these events simply couldn’t happen. Thanks also go out to Menno Jongsma of Aquarius Marine for sponsoring this series and the City of Nanaimo who not only allows to close the road every week but this year also printed up signs to notify road users 24/7.

Up next for riders still looking to get experience with bunch racing is the Victoria Cycling League Windsor Park Criterium on Sunday June 30. Ability based racing format with A/B/C categories. C race is at 8:30, B race at 9:15 and A race at 10:30

More information here — https://victoriacyclingleague.wordpress.com/course-locations/windsor-park/

Next week will be the start of our Hill climb series.

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.