Tripleshot Cycling

5 Tripleshot riders today. Ryan C, Paul C, Marcus, Al W and yours truly. Awesome day for racing, albeit windy on part of the course. The course was a 7 lap, 64 Km race. One could easily call this course "hilly", although not anything too extreme. There was a pretty good overall turnout for the last Masters race of the season. Ryan was awesome and posted the fastest overall time of the day. Perhaps Ryan will post a note to tell of his day. My day was off to a good fast start. I was one of 7 who made an early break. All was going well until lap 4 when I dropped a chain at the start of the big hill. Try as I may to get it back on, on the fly, I ended up having to dismount and fix the problem. A real "Andy Schleck" ing.... I solo TT'd for 2 laps then joined the 30's pair and worked with them for lap 7. Unofficially my time was 1:51. I don't know my placing but I suspect overall I was middle of the pack. I still love the compact crank in spite of the dropped chain. My fault and due to a momentary lack of concentration. Next up Mt. Baker hill climb next Sunday, then the BC Senior Games RR and Hill Climb up Island. Might see you Tuesday a.m. unless we are off to the ferry. Was great to see 5 Tripleshot riders today. Maybe next year there will be more interest from club riders to toe the line in these competitive and fun races. Cheers!

Barry

PS: I plan on proposing to add and under 30 division to the Masters races. Will keep you posted on the response. I agree with Shawn that there needs to be something for the under 30 crowd, which is the feeder group to Masters. Really a no brainer to me....

Nice work Tripleshotters!

These road races sound like a blast - like the VCL races except on longer courses and with fewer laps. I would come out if there were an under-30 division.

The course was definite hilly, with a couple of short, steep bumps about 2km from the start, and a longer one about 3km from the finish. I was in the 40's group with 8 or 9 others including Ryan, Steve Bachop and Aaron Dusseault (lambs to the slaughter comes to mind?).

As indicated by the race pics, the group continued to disintegrate and was reduced to 3 by the top climb near the finish.

http://duanebc.smugmug.com/Sports/BC-Ma ... fLcb3-A-LB

I was gone in the first 2km so settled in to a pace I thought I could hold for the remainder. Rode with another 40's guy for lap 2, hopped on to the 30's group for 1/2 of lap 3 and solo TT'd the remainder. I was hoping to avoid being lapped, but they got me early on lap 6, the upside being I could back off a bit and (as is the case with VCL races) I'd be doing one less lap.....

Bee in the helmet and associated sting in the last 1/2 of lap 6 left me with a pretty good headache, but I was almost done....or so I thought. As I came through the finish, I was greeted by Joe Gard ringing the one-to-go bell.

Likely finished somewhere in the bottom 1/2 of the field. Unofficial time was just over 2hrs (about 31km/h average).

[edit] Also, kudos to my fellow TS'ers for showing the colors, and to Ryan for the outstanding performance.

I concur with Barry that it was nice to see so many TSrs out on the course yesterday. I was up island camping from Friday and mistimed the return drive down from Parksville Sunday morning. I arrived with barely 1/2 an hour to go until race start. Hmmmm.... seems to be a bit of a bad habit I am falling into. Fortunately for me, the staggered Aussie pursuit format is somewhat forgiving of my poor planning. I think the 40s group was the second largest of the day but I confess I was a bit surprised at the relatively low overall attendance numbers as Joe and Kim Gard really have made this one of the best organized, best bang for your buck days on the masters racing calendar. The dinner served as part of the apres race package at the vineyard hall is fantastic. A real treat for hungry racers.

Despite my lack of pre-race warmup, I decided to fake it until my engine got running and by lap three of seven I knew I was going to have a good day. Steve Bachop and I rode tempo while Aaron Dusseault did his best to pitch in despite being sick. We held a decent pace (apparently about 39.8 k average) until we caught the 50s and 70s and then we gave it the stick. At that point I think I heard Aaron F-bomb as he went out the back door with leg cramps. After that Steve and I did our best to whittle down the numbers of the newly collected group. For the record, note from the photos on Duane Martindale's website that David Mercer was one of the few to hang on in the last 5 kms (see Al's post for the link). David is in his late 60s for cryin' out loud. I can only hope to be riding that well when my remaining hair turns white.

I timed my sprint well and took it at the line just ahead of Steve, who I don't think was having a stellar day. I have out-sprinted him before in a crit but he usually drops me like a bad habit on the hills.

After marshaling this race for the past two years, I was happy to get to race it for the first time. I think I'll be back next year for the ride, the food, and the people who make these events so welcoming. Chapeau.

Ryan

I'd like to know how you do so well without a warm-up. I didn't have time either (and don't really know what to do if I do) and I blew up trying to stay with the 50s for 5km. Fortunately, I regrouped by head and heart and managed to claw back a few riders (and almost 2 more) before the end of the race. At least my excuse for arriving late was good. My 93 year old mother who lives nearby wanted to see the race and it took a bit of time to load her into my van. So if you were wondering why an elderly woman was sitting in a wheelchair (she can walk) at the driveway entrance, that was my mother. She enjoyed seeing everyone race.