Newton Heights Apr 3

[JohnT]

I wasn't at Latoria but from the reports posted here, it sounds like it was fairly slow, like the Caleb Pike race the week before. That changed today. The B's started quickly and never really slowed down. There was a strong group from Triple Shot, but this is a course that limits team tactics. Typically you just hang on for as long as you can and then try to challenge whoever is nearby at the end. But, it was certainly nice to have familiar people around for pacing though.

The course was damp, but traction was OK - no accidents as far as I know. Amy from Oak Bay Bikes jumped the group early on and stayed away for many laps - very impressive. Kevin spent a fair bit of time at or near the front, partly because he had trouble shifting and had to climb in a higher gear than everyone else. Surprisingly, the B pack was didn't disintegrate. A few dropped off, but I think there were at least 12 still together on the last lap. Never seen that before. That included some strong women.

Half way through the penultimate lap Kevin was at the front. I was second but passed by a young Pro City rider on the way toward the bell. I shouted up to Kevin to stay on his wheel, but that's much easier said than done. This guy made a break and stayed ahead for the whole last lap and won. At the bottom of the hill, now halfway through the last lap, Kevin led the chase group and I was right behind him. The B's were strung out a little (Stephan had to do some bridging), but things bunched up a bit as we approached the final climb. Many riders passed me at this point including Steve, Greg and Stephan. I hoped I'd be able to sprint up the second part of the climb, but that didn't go so well. I might be in the top ten, we'll see (depends upon how many of those who went by were women). Steve and Greg represented the club well with top-five (or close to it) results.

I'm happy with the result because I haven't been on my bike since Caleb Pike two weeks ago. Next time I'll have more kick for the final climb.

JohnT

[AlW]

A few pics from today. Tried to get at least one shot of anyone in a Tripleshot jersey. Apologies if I missed anyone

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alwilhelm/ ... 296914937/

[JohnT]

Results are up: http://duanebc.com/raceresults2011/VCL% ... 4-3_11.htm

Joel Taylor? What's up with that!

I forgot to mention that Steve was at or near the front too for the whole race. Sorry Steve, I spent much time trying to hang with those bright blue tires (head down on the hills).

And, something that seems different this year compared to the past two or three is the number of riders associated with teams. Two years ago is was AviaWest and a few of us and a whole bunch of one-off jerseys. Today almost everyone (A and B groups) was with IRC, Trek, Triple Shot, Russ Hays, or Pro City. Could make for some interesting races later this season.

JohnT

[Marcus]

Nice photos Al. I just figured out that being off the back first provides the best opportunity for iso shots and you can't really tell from the photos who is going slow.

[steve]

For all of you who are contemplating racing Newton Heights but have never been out before, it was similar to a Sunday pace but much flatter.

For everyone else, there was a definite increase in speed at this race; IRC had a number of guys out and all the fast girls were out again. John, your right, virtually all racers have been club attached for all the races. I spent much of the race at the front end of the pack. I kept looking back thinking that we must be shelling people up that hill but there was still a substantial pack left at the last lap. That one break by the Oak Bay girl was certainly impressive and Stephan and Kevin both pushed the pace and tried to get away a couple of times.

By the 8th or 9th lap I really felt like I was close to redlining, having difficulty recovering on the descent. Just kept reminding myself that the pain would be over soon enough. I was tired enough that I rubbed against someone's rear wheel, thankfully it didn't put me down. We reached the bell lap and I heard Greg say "What does that mean" - I told him to go if he had anything left in him. As we started to descend with about 12 other riders from the hill climb, I looked back and a good gap had opened up. By the time we started the final climb, somehow everyone had come back together. I figure I was somewhere around 12th place and I saw Greg and Kevin make a move off the front. I thought one of them was going to take the race for sure. I put my head own and started sprinting as hard as I could as soon as we were 1/2 way up the first hill. I was in a world of hurt but was able to catch a couple of riders by the finish. I thought I had finished 8th but it turned out I was 9th, I could have sworn John Taylor was ahead of me.

Interesting to note that Andy Pitre, who won or came in second last year at Newton Heights on multiple occasions came in 10th.

Nice to have such a strong TSC showing, 8 riders again. With a little more experience, guys like Stephan, Kevin, Greg and Matt are going to dominate.

Steve

Steve

[shawnc]

I can't speak for the B group but the results need correcting for the A group. I emailed Duane so hopefully it will get sorted out soon.

[steve]

Hey Shawn,

Duane was looking for you after the race, I think they were unsure if you were a lap down.

Steve

[JohnT]

Duane uses his photos to check the results, so I would expect errors to be corrected. I can't remember whether I was ahead of, or behind Steve but I do remember watching Shawn sprinting past several people, including Ryan (who also had a great race), on the last lap.

I got the Oak Bay rider's name wrong above - it was Gillian who rode off the front on about lap three. She had no arm warmers and lots of goose bumps as she rode passed me - maybe the big effort was just to keep warm.

JohnT

[Josh.E]

Hey Shawn

edit: 8th place in the "A" race, hey?

Nice work man.

[JohnT]

new results link: http://duanebc.com/raceresults2011/VCL% ... 4_3_11.htm

[Stéphane Tran]

Once again it was great to see lots of Tripleshotters out and nice that the rain held off.
After not pushing myself that hard at Latoria last week, I wanted to gut myself in today's race regardless of outcome. This was a hard race for team tactics, but the pack stayed together for most of the laps. On the 2nd or 3rd lap I tried to push the pace to stretch things out a bit a make the other teams work hard. The result was that I was bagged only a 1/4 way into the race and never really felt good after that. In fact, I was in the pain zone for pretty much the rest of the race. I was running on empty but still tried to go hard off the front on the 2nd to last lap. I got gapped at the top of the last descent and was killing myself on the last lap trying to bridge back.
Well done Greg, Kevin and Steve for top-10 finishes in B and of course to Shawn (we all knew those first standings were messed) and Ryan for placing well in what looked like a hard, painful A race. Thanks Al for the photos. I'm glad no-one got a shot of me gasping for air and drooling all down my chin on the 2nd to last hill.
Hey Sylvan, where were you?

[Kevin F]

from my rookie perspective it was a bit hard to figure out any tactics other than 'hold on' and 'wow that skinny kid is fast A rider'...oops he was passing me for the lead and a break away...not like I think I could have caught him but I was kind of on auto pilot just getting over the climb. By the time I figured out John T had said 'close that down' or something to that affect I heard the bell for the last lap and remember I was in a race...it was too late. I tried to pull a bit down the back straight which was likely a sweet draft from the crew behind me and boom it was over. I was gassed for the last 50 meters. i was happy with a top ten.

Two most memorable for me ...

1.Marcus (maybe Al to?) likely did 60 kms BEFORE the race! Nice work!

2.On lap 9 to 10 I passed RH guy up the hill and he looked over suprised and said wow Triple Shot has done some riding over the winter. can't wait to get some team tactics together and stick to the other teams.
Cheers,

K

[sylvan]

Hey Sylvan, where were you?

Hungover on the other side of town.

[M.LeBlanc]

A pretty good showing by all TS'rs. I had no idea what to expect so the fact that I was able to hang on to the pack, albeit at the back, for the whole race except the last lap, where they were a good few hundred metres ahead, wasn't too bad. I'm definitely not a hill guy and that race sealed the deal on the idea that I could be. I knew I was going to be pleased with a finish but I thought for sure at some point I would've had some fuel to burn and try to make a break just to mess with everyone, fully knowing they would destroy me. It was great to see the TS jersey making a break attempt to split everyone up, just too bad it didn't pan out but a couple top 10's is nothing to hang our heads about.

Nice work guys, great photos Al.

Matt

[Kevin F]

OK, I looked through Duane's photos (nice photos Duane!) and I see our B class winner was 14 years old!

That's pretty cool for him!

...and I thought Adam was young.

[sylvan]

I got the Oak Bay rider's name wrong above - it was Gillian who rode off the front on about lap three.

She was reportedly also crushing dreams in the Interurban sprint on the Oak Bay ride on Saturday. After seeing your Bell helmet in race action for the first time with the new race kit in Duane's pics, gotta say it really is amazingly perfect.

[Alan]

For the record,they call this "Newton Heights" for a reason, as in, Newton's Laws of gravity were all in play, hills made to remind you of axiom that "a body in motion, tends to stay in motion unless acted upon by an outside force" like fricken gravity, maybe?. The humiliation-meter was redlining for middle-aged fat guys (like me) trying to climb hills with 14 year old ectomorphs. The main lesson for everyone? Next time you think it's a good idea to combine a la-de-da normal Sunday Tripleshot ride (complete with an Island-view hill thrown in for good measure) with a drop-in race entry at Newton Heights, give your head a shake. It only sounds good in theory.
I see the results have me finishing behind Plumber Dave, who I am almost sure that I beat, but not having his kinda bucks to bribe the race officials my humiliation is a permanent record with Duane's resuls showing me next to last. Marcus was the only other TS'er stupid enough to combine a Sunday ride with a Newtonian (your 'laws' suck) Pain Fest. Humiliation all around. When's the next one?

[Duane]

Alan, as the A riders will tell you, there was some confusion in the number of laps that people finished (John and Bruce normally get it right on Newton, so a bit of unusual problem for that course - big packs hiding lapped riders?) If you were in the same lap as Dave, and finished ahead of Dave and Shailie/Shannon let me know. Easy to correct.