Tripleshot Cycling

I let Gav fill in the details .... Btw, Gavin, you better practice your smile for the next time on the podium

MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSE!!!!!!!

Way to go Moose! I propose we add these to our next gear order...

http://www.google.ca/imgres...

freakin YEAH

all Moose all the time. I cant wait for the full report

Thanks everyone for the cheers and support today - much appreciated!

I have to say I'm still a bit shell-shocked by it all, if you can't already tell by the podium pics!

Don't even know what to say about the race - it was pretty short and fast and over before I even knew it. Started out with a strong attack by Roland right from the gun - I choked on the team attack attempt again, but slid in to second and throttled back the pace to try and give Roland a chance to get away. But alas, I soon was over taken and the group reeled him back in a few laps. After than I just tried to stay right near the front with Dylan, who rode very strong as well today.

Shawn also had a good race today - he seemed to get trapped at the back as we lined up for start, but mid to late race he came to the front and started to really drive the pace hard. I actually think that was pretty critical to the race, as that seemed to be right when we shelled a whack of riders and thinned out the bunch. It really helped to string out the field and make the corners more manageable.

But it came back together a bit in the final laps - and the last few were a bit dicey as everyone jockeyed for position. The last lap was especially chaotic, and I came around the final corner in about 5th I think. Thankfully I managed to take a really hard tight line and carry my speed into the sprint, and powered through to the line.

I was so surprised though that I gave the one-arm salute on the line - a bit of a mistake in hindsight. Note for next time - make damn sure you've won BEFORE the salute. Second place was a photo finish and I almost lost because of it.

But an awesome day no doubt and congratulations to all the Tripleshotters for a kick-ass day of racing! Rita had a fantastic race with a 5th place finish in a very strong field, and Ryan had a great Cat 3 race and finished right in the mix of the lead group (6th I think?). Also hats off to a stellar Oak Bay High team that kicked some butt today too - podium sweep in the senior boy's race, and Bo had the best finish celebration I've ever seen! I have a feeling they're going to be breathing down our necks soon enough!

Congrats everyone on a great day of racing!

What a fantastic finish of a long racing weekend. I had so much fun today at my first Bastion Square event and it was so cool to wear baby blue and argyle I cheered so much that I sound like I've smoked a pack of cigarettes. It was great to see baby blue leading the Cat 4/Citizen pack on numerous laps. First Roland, then Gavin, then Shawn. During the first few laps, I was wondering if Shawn was cautious in his first crit, tired from the RR or just waiting for his moment. It turned out to be the latter and it was very cool to see him migrating from the very back to the very front. Our usual Sunday riders reeled in just in time for Gavin's finish and it was exhilarating to see Gavin's win and to have almost 20 team members screaming their heads off.

Next was my race, the Cat 4/Citizen women. There were 9 of us. I wanted to take second row at the start line, but Roland and Wayne Walker insisted that I should take the front spot on the very inside. I did as I was told and after the countdown I was clipped in immediately and thought, oh my, I may as well shoot off and give it a go. So I led the first lap with a bit of a gap, which felt pretty good, but I knew that it wouldn't last. I settled in behind the first 3 ladies in the second lap. The four of us broke away after a few laps and it went quite well until it was a prime lap. The three others sprinted for the prime and I made a crucial mistake there. I thought, I don't have a chance of outsprinting them anyway so I may as well save my reserves. Well, the 3 had formed a gap and didn't slow down as much as I had hoped for after the sprint and that was it. I was off the group. Soon afterwards, Katie Cross (kudos to her for doing all 3 races) came by and we agreed to work together. We did 1 lap pull at a time and that worked really well. Then, with 3 laps to go, Rhonda, the eventual winner lapped us. I jumped on her wheel and clung on to it until the end. Katie was right behind me. On the sprint to the finish line, Katie overtook me and I just didn't have the power to get into that 4th place. Marcy Bennett, who's been out with us a couple of times came 3rd (great job!)

One thing I thought I did better than all others was cornering, thanks to Lister's session last Thursday. Everybody I saw, including Rhonda didn't go wide enough before the turn and they had to take some of their speed out before the corner. I didn't master the crash corner elegantly every time, but I had a few that felt really good. The last lap when I was just behind Rhonda I had more speed than her coming out of the corner, which I thought was a pretty good indicator that I was doing it kind of right. That was pleasing. Thanks Lister for your time and effort!

One other really cool thing about today's event was the Timbits challenge. There were, I think, 150 kids out, starting at the age of 5 with all kinds of mini bikes with baskets, streamers and training wheels. They did a lap together with Ryder Hesjedal, Alison Syder, Erinne Willock and some other pros and it was just so much fun watching them. There were 1 or 2 mini-Tripleshotters too, which was very cute.

A huge thanks goes to the volunteers of today - Jen and Sarah marshalled (any TSers I missed?) and Katie who sat at the prizes tent for the whole day and couldn't watch any of the races properly. Katie organised all kinds of things, one of which was a raffle I entered. Well, that paid off, as I won one of the two prizes, namely a commuter bike. Not that I need it, but I was very happy about nevertheless.

What a great day at Bastion Square and a nice finish to the Super Bobby weekend series!

Congrats to ALL the racers today - there were kids, both big & small, decked out in baby blue for every single race this morning! It was so exciting to watch that I never left corner 4 for 4 hours! Great to see lots more TSers stop by with either bikes or kids in tow to cheer everyone on.

Sarah and I got "promoted" to Corner 1 for the men's & women's elite races, and I highly recommend this as a great way to get a front row seat to the action! Thanks to Sarah, as volunteering today was that much better having a partner in crime to do crowd control at the crosswalks with. She's also an expert on setting up snow fencing, and has a quick draw with her zap straps!

Congrats TripleShot all around for everybody who came out this weekend and put in the effort to race, volunteer, and/or cheer!

Great work today Gavin! I was super pumped when I heard the announcer call your name at the end.

I was tardy getting to the start line so I ended up at the back. Not the end of the world, but I didn't get clipped in right away when it started so I ended up behind everyone very quickly. I could hear the motorcycle behind me and I knew I was going to be in trouble if I didn't take some quick action.

After a couple of laps hanging on to the back I managed to start working my way up. There's such a small window of opportunity on a course like that to sprint, before it all slows down again heading into the corners.

I don't even remember how, but all of a sudden I passed everyone on Fort Street and found myself out on front. Coincidentally that was heading into a prime lap, and I remember thinking that I could take it if I kept it up. Unfortunately I burnt out when turning back onto Fort from Wharf and I started getting passed. I was pretty tired by that point and the pace seemed to have picked up and I wasn't able to get back near the front.

All in all, it was a really fun race and a good cap to the weekend. It was good experience and I'm looking forward to doing some more crits later this summer.

One little cautionary tale: never take your eyes off the road, even when going slowly during the warm up! Before the start I was riding beside James Cameron and I looked over at him for a moment while chatting. At that exact time a young rider (around age 12) who was ahead of me and to the left decided to turn 90 degrees to get off the course. I ran right into him and went down, landing on my wrist and hip. I thought I was in for a nasty sprain, but crisis averted.

Thanks to everyone who came out to marshal and cheer! I heard a few people yelling at me from the sidelines, which definitely helped keep me motivated when I was working hard to get up front.

My favorite part about Gavin's win was his doctor's advice on racing Sunday after having surgery Friday. If you're dumb enough to race, then go ahead and do so. Gavin agreed with him.

NICE one, Gavin!!! Your finish and the podium shots say it all. You make me even prouder to wear the baby blues.

I love how Miss Teen Vancouver Island only has eyes for your studly bandage. "Never mind those two hip dudes in jeans... that guy won, AND he's got a booboo!"

Hearty congrats to everyone who rode ...

My Bastion Square didn't go as well. I started in my favorite spot, front row inside. I went for it right from the gun, opening a decent sized gap on the first lap. I was hoping a few would come with but none did. I was caught by a few guys on lap 2 or 3 and then it all came back together shortly after. Due to a hard race the day before and a hard attack of the start I was having trouble staying near the front of the pack, and I started drifting backwards.

On lap 15 the commissaire pulled me and 2 or 3 other rides from the race, mistakenly thinking we were down a lap. I pulled off, but the others protested and got put back in the race. I wasn't really aware of what was going on so I didn't get back into the race.

Gavin (and of course everyone else) congrats on a great week end. Love the finish photo--just a little pumped???

Here is some video Jamie Cameron shot from the race with a camera mounted on his seat post pointing backwards.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa-zKmlDnX0

Thanks for sharing, Roland. That just made my lunch-hour. In HD no less. Hope he posts the rest of the race...

Highlights:

5:18 Roland
7:12 Dylan
8:13 Moose
9:07 Moose almost takes out an idiot photographer!

Disappointing to see the streets virtually free of spectators.. I guess until it's back for a few years, there won't be a huge public turnout.

That video was super cool!!, and Rolf that was the first race of the day @ 8:30, by noon when the cat 1/2 men raced the sidelines were pretty full.

Just getting my voice back today from all the screaming I was doing on sunday, The mens cat 4 race was great, Roland jumping off to a quick lead, and Shawn clawing his way from off the back to the front of the pack was great to watch, Dylan and Gav seemed to stay right near the front of the pack until the finish were Gav just outpowered the rest of those 105 lbs riders. Rita also had a great race, the highlight of that race was talking to her right afterwards, I could tell that she gave absolutely everything she had, she was looking like she was about to lose her breakfast. But race of the day in my mind has to go to the 2 1/2shotters, the high school race was great, a herculean like effort from Adam after a crash and being down almost a 1/2 lap, sprinting 2 laps straight not only catching top lead group but taking second place. And lets not forget about Bow, great victory salute at the finish line.

http://duanebc.smugmug.com/Sports/Camer ... 9618_EHgwj

It was a very inspirational day of biking, now I just need to clean all the black Sooke road grime off my bike and get ready for tomorrow morning.

From a newbie perspective (and the first time I'd ever seen the Bastion Square GP) what a cool event! Didn't get down there soon enough to see the Cat 4 races (sorry!! ), but caught the tail end of the high school races and the elites. And after watching all that, I cannot wait to start racing!!

Congrats to all TSers, and thanks for the motivation and inspiration!

http://duanebc.smugmug.com/Sports/Camer ... 4563_KvksC

The idiot photographer was heard to whisper after the cyclists went by "God, that was a stupid thing to do".