Tripleshot Cycling

Highlights: Being out on the town. It's been ages - Friday night was great despite waiting an hour for a sandwich and the Lamplighter Pub. The organization of the event. Package pick-up was very smooth. The race started on time. Amazingly, no issues at the start. We chased Lister as he maneuvered through traffic (bike traffic) and at no point were stuck in a slow moving herd. Upon arrival in Whistler they had 'space' blankets (those tin-foil jobs) for everyone. And, bikes were stored in a corral and they checked to make sure wrist band numbers match bike numbers when we left. Great security for what must have been a couple of million dollars worth of bicycles.

The race. Saying together didn't go quite as well as planned. Some of us rode fast from the start in an effort to get passed slower bikes before the Taylor Way climb. But not all. As mentioned, we chased Lister for the first 10 minutes. By the Upper Levels Highway, six of us formed a pace line. It was interrupted a fair bit, but it was a good way to keep Lister, me Alan, Hugh, Norm and Roland together.

There were a few other teams in the pack. TNA was one that seemed to ride at a similar pace.

Let me make this point clear right away: Alan beat me and I am sure it had nothing to do with his new Durace wheel set

I won't drag this out - It's been a long day: No rain. I very nice surprise. Super support from road-side fans. Road surface was super. 80 km went by way faster than I expected. The next 30 were tough but not deadly. That last ten (which was when Alan's group broke away from the one I was in) were really hard. I can't remember the last time I rode more than 80 km. My legs, shoulders and neck were done by km 110. I am grateful to another rider who wouldn't leave me. I gave him a water bottle and he returned the favour by forcing me to push/pull/hang-on for the final 10 km. The group I was in fell apart. In fact, one problem was that a lot of riders, while fit, didn;t seem to realize how important it was not to let gaps open. It happened all the time. Many of us found ourselves bridging short gaps over and over again. Having said that, I found that many people were also quite good at participating in pace lines. My final time isn't correct because they included me in the cat 3 start (10 minutes before I really crossed the start line). I think the corrected time will be about 3 hours 43 minutes. About 8 minutes slower than Alan, just in case you didn't get the point that Alan beat me when I wrote it above.

I'm keen to do this again next year.

JT

John,

Another Rolling Stone-worthy write-up!

If you guys rolled out with TNA, you were in good company. I have a friend in the club and rode with them a couple of times last month. On top of being probably the only other BC club to have white, baby blue and pink in their kit colour scheme, they ride Cypress every group ride..

Who is this Alan guy? Haha

http://www.rbcgranfondowhistler.com/index.htm

Results are posted.
There seems to be a problem with some of the timing chips, as I didn;t get a time, but I definitely finished (around 3:30).

Check out Shawn in the giro, 3:22, 8 minutes off the cat 1/2 winners. Freakin' awesome ride, man. Way to go.
Kudos to Bruce for riding the last 40K with an almost flat back tire, and still doing a 3:29.

That was the best organized bike race I have ever been to, hands down. The entire highway from downtown Vancouver to Whistler was coned off.
My race in the giro went pretty well. The pace was quite easy and slow for the first half, then out of squamish, the race started to pick up with the climb. The lead group of 10-12 or so went up the road, then a secondary split happened, and I found myself too far back in the pack to make the 2nd group. Shawn managed to be in the right spot and made the split there. Bruce and I were in the third group about 100-150 yards back from shawns group. I was feeling pretty strong climbing out of squamish, and got to the front to push the pace quite a few times, hoping we would start to reel in the gap to the 2nd group before the end of the climb.
Then at 90km, I got dropped from the group I was in for being stupid. I had run out of water before the 2nd feed zone, and was starting to feel like I was going to be in trouble before the end if i didn't get some. I reached out for a bottle, and got handed a whistler granfondo bag with a bottle and a clif bar in it. I fumbled with the bag for a second, trying to get the bottle out, then tried to put the strap on my shoulder so I could reach in and grab it. Right then, the strap broke, and the whole thing fell on the road. In a split second decision, I figured I really needed that water so I did a quick turnaround, grabbed the bottle, and started up again, now about 40-50 yards behind the group. I figured I could catch back on on the next climb, as I had been feeling pretty comfortable climbing. Unfortunately for me, the group attacked right out of the feed zone, and then the road turned downhill, and continued on with rolling flats for several km. I spent 10-15 minutes chasing as hard as I could with the group always about 100m ahead of me up the road. I remember having the thought "There you go, your race just ended because you made one stupid move" As the road continued to roll along without really climbing any more, finally I blew up, and gave up hope of getting back on. I rode solo for a long time before getting caught by the next group, which I jumped on the back of and tried to recover. I ended up finishing with them, around 3:30 or so.

My day ended with another 60km of riding back to squamish with my brother in law to meet our ride. I don't recommend that after 120km of racing. I was beat when I got home last night.

The gran fondo resultst are posted on their website in a really clumsy excel file.
http://www.rbcgranfondowhistler.com/GFW ... 0-0911.xls

I sorted them by Tripleshot so this is where our club members stand. Don't know what's up with Josh's time.

27 Shawn Courtney 3:22:24 24
90 Bruce Schlatter 3:28:07 46
34 Joshua Erickson 0:00:00 36
1481 Alan Cassels 3:36:14 47
4173 John Taylor 3:42:27 47
2309 Hugh Hart 3:54:33 48
3973 Brian Sinclair 3:52:09 51
2901 Quentin Liedtke 3:55:25 33
3540 Simon Pearson 4:04:01 34
3046 Norman Marcy 4:10:34 54
3666 Roland Rabien 4:28:29 33
4052 Dave Spiers 4:28:30 48
4538 Geoffrey Wong 4:28:32 45

My son wanted to know what "Gran Fondo" meant and I told him it was Italian for "Big Fun Ride!" (it is isn't it?). It was a hoot, and lots of hard work, but an incredibly memorable ride. It did include some worrisome moments when the large orange cones would jump in front of you as you're screaming down some hill and some guy's passing on the right. I saw a few guys crash into the cones. There were a lot of mishaps, and a few flats including Adam, Lister and Geoff. Hero of the day goes to Dave Spiers again who stopped to help everyone with their flats.
What kept me going fast was the feeling that Big Ring John Taylor would soon come from behind and zoom past in a streak of pink helmet and leave me like roadkill (as he usually does). I was pretty surprised that it didn't happen this time. After the race I was floating on a cloud of endorphins and gloating which tended to minimize the pain in my legs. All in all, a great day.

Very cool ride--all pretty grateful for the weather! Some pic's from one of the websites that linked from facebook. Follow the link and click on gran fondo.

From looking at the thumbnails, I could track the following images (page-#)
2-45, 2-49, 3-87 88 89, 3-97, 4-134, 5-162 5-173, 6-188, 6-189
http://www.bethshaw.ca/

And somehow the results lost Lister?? Or was he just a Fondo commando!

SPOILER ALERT: GRAND PRIX DE MONTREAL


Holy crap! Congrats TripleShotters!

Shawn: I can't wait to hear your report. That sounds like one hell of a ride.

And Josh: I really enjoyed your story of turning around. Ugh.

I just watched Ryder finish third in Montreal on my feet with my heart in my mouth. Reading your write-ups was just about as exciting.

You can see Bruce in photo #8 in that link above......I can see my helmet and arm in the back left of #13 as well.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lassochist/4979355779/
Check out this pic of the giro peloton crossing the bridge.

Looks like the group Bruce and I were riding with finished in 3:24:40, about 2:20 off of the group Shawn was in. Nice work to Victorians James Cameron who finished with the group Bruce and I were in, and to John Rogers, who finished with Shawn.
Bruce was telling me right after the race he made it to about 8km to go after riding 40km on his flat tubular before he finally fell off the pace. Impressive.

That was fun. Fun to be with TS folk, good people to ride with, good organization. But it coulda been funner if a few more things had gone right.

'Got all teenaged butterflies picking the gear to wear, futzing over the bike, eating and peeing, then peeing again. And I proved to myself no matter how long you do this, it's no guarantee against doing dumb things.

John's description of me 'leading' the early gains over the bridge is a bit exagerated. I just found the loose pack, downhill start, and heavy steel bike an irresistable incentive to start moving up. All the time I was thinking, 'must-not-over-do-it', and 'I wonder if the others are coming', and 'I feel guilty for leaving them' (but not actually looking to see). I heard it was definitely harder farther back, so full marks to Geoff and Hugh getting us on the road from the Burnaby Accent Inns in time to comfortably line-up behind the alta fondo people.

I had predicted it would be too fast up the early hills for a good last hour, but was wrong on that. The pace was quite sensible. And I didn't predict that making the right group would be so key. I thought the river of humanity would offer a wheel to move up or down, but the front groups split quite decisively.

Even more decisive was flatting. I watched several distinct groups 30-60 s+ apart pass as I changed the flat, with Dave Spiers help. Then we came upon Geoff shortly after and stopped to help him. Good thing too, as the presta adaptor to his CO2 inflator had gone missing and he was only equipped to pump up children's bikes and car tires. (Cool that a police officer stopped behind him to protect him from traffic; it was a point where the ride was in the left lane, but the shoulder was the safest place to fix a flat. He even stopped traffic to let us get rolling again.)

We got going well, and chased as hard as we could, caught literally hundred of riders, but we only seemed to catch people that couldn't or wouldn't work with us. My favourites were three guys from the same club on tri bikes who alternately rode three abreast, sprinted away from each other, or dropped their chains.

Dave, Geoff and I chased pretty hard until Squamish , where we stopped and filled bottles and pockets and started again. I had been the weakest on the hills up to that point, having to ask both Dave and Geoff to steady up on the hillls, but doing my bit on the flats and downhills.

So it was with surprise I turned around at the top of the climb out of squamish and couldn't see Geoff or Dave. Flat? Bonked? I was already growing small aliens under the skin of my thighs who twitched in protest if I overdid it. In my dE-loaded state, I decided to continue leap frogging riders until Geoff and Dave caught me, but it never happened. In the end I just fried myself, and found only two people that wanted to work in the last 10 km. It would have been way more fun to ride with Geoff and Dave and likely we all would have done better.

For next time, I'd place even more emphasis on the start, watch really carefully for splits and close or cross them early, and draft the pack for much further. It's not like the finishing time matters (well maybe a bit ) but it's the lack of collaboration I found weird. Guys would sprint up the hills past me, three hills in a row, then not even respond as I freewheeled past them on the downhill. Was there a king of the mountains competition I didn't know about? I think a fun option would be to really stick together, and see if we could get an age group contender onto the podium.

Kudos to Sean, Alan, John, Josh, Brian, Louise (3:52!), Norm, Hugh, Paul C, et al for really good rides by the sound of things. But Dave Spiers deserves the TS spirit of sport award for stopping for both Geoff and I. I vote we ride for Dave next year.

Coke - it's the real thing!

I'm never riding my bike without coke again. That stuff is magic, especially for those of us who trained for this ride by maxing out our training kms at about 90 and thinking that a loop on the Peninsula replicates the 2400 meters of uphill riding to Whistler gives you. It's just a little different.

My ride went okay. I confess to lying awake last night at 4:00 a.m. replaying the whole thing over in my head, thinking about all the ways I could have gone faster. Getting a flat 30K in didn't help. Thanks to Dave and Lister for stopping, but it was really clear at that point that this was a race and you're pretty much hooped if you lose your group. With the variety of skill levels out there it was pretty hard to get people to work together.

The pace off the start was pretty quick and we were in a good spot, so we pinned it down Georgia St chasing Lister through the bunch. John and Hugh came by so Brian and I jumped on their wheel, we picked up Lister and kept it together over the bridge and up Taylor Way. One of the things I noticed in the event was that there was just about every name for a team that you could imagine. "F*** Cancer", "Ranch Dogs", "Wheel Suckers", "Holey Shorts" etc. The cockiest one, if you'll excuse the pun, was "Johnny Stay Hard" - clearly a group pretty impressed with themselves. So as we rounded the corner off Marine Drive onto Taylor way, I confess I did get a chuckle out of watching three of these guys take each other out - pretty funny. One was heard to say a bit later "well I'm glad we got that out of the way".

The pace on the first section of highway was high for me, but I think I suffered from being too Canadian. It was really easy to get cut off, not be aggressive enough to hold your line or to follow the wrong wheel. I found gaps forming almost constantly and with 110 clicks to go, I didn't think working to close them was a smart thing to do, but I would change that plan next time around as our bunch got ahead of me. Once I realized I wasn't on a training ride, I started to pick up faster wheels and gain on the baby blue line about 100-150 meters away. Then I got a flat and that was pretty much it for hoping to stay with our group.

Dave, Lister and I worked hard through Squamish and made up a lot of ground. If I suddenly shout "on your left!" on Tuesday morning it'll be because I haven't broken the habit from yesterday yet. We had a quick stop in Squamish to fill bottles and grab a banana and we were off again. Lister gapped us a bit, I dropped my chain and we never saw him again. We picked up Roland who exploded with maybe 40k to go and rode the rest of the way together. I felt pretty strong for the last 30 or 40k (thanks coke!) and had fun pulling, which I don't think I have said before. Roland said that it was the most he'd ever suffered on a bike - if you take into account that he is the king of the pointless attack, that is saying a lot. Dave, Roland and I kept it together and finished as a group of three.

Hilights for me included:
The chase from where I got a flat all the way through Squamish, hammering the downhills in Lister's wake, especially when there was about a foot between the pylons and the rumble strips and disaster was inches away.
The many super high speed, twisty downhills.
Reliving the experience with everyone all afternoon and through dinner.
The ride through East Van from the hotel to the start line. Seven of us in the pitch black and I think we saw one scooter on our route.
The fantastic traffic control. I didn't think once that traffic was an issue. When I pulled over to fix my flat a cop stopped behind me, covering me with his car, and waved traffic to slow down. Then he stopped traffic so we could get up to speed and rejoin the ride.
Learning a tonne about racing my bike.
The weather - not a drop of rain and actually some sun along the way. Nice and cool - perfect temp for riding.
Tripleshot finishing as the 8th place team out of 67 in our group.

It was a great ride and one that I will definately do again next year. As a "founding rider" I can register for next year as early as Monday and I fully intend to do so. I can't shake the feeling of being disappointed with my time, so that's probably a good way to go into next year. Registration opens on September 20th for anyone who wasn't in it this year. It's an event that should be a real priority for our club -it's perfect for us.

One of the highest TS finishes of the day went to Louise Proulx. 3:52:11 - 4th in her age category.

A lot of my brain cells expired on that long and twisty road so my thoughts about the race have been in total disarray. But I'll do my best to put them in some kind of logical order.

I've never been that nervous going into a race before. Usually I'll feel anxious in the hours leading up to an event, but this time it started at least a week before and a couple of times I found myself thinking, "What the hell? Am I actually going to do this?" There were so many scary unknowns for me: the looming threat of biting cold and driving rain, slick and twisty descents, riding farther than I'm used to with the 1/2/3s, running out of food and water, etc.

Of course, I only worried about all of that because I wanted to do well, which I guess is a good approach to racing. I'm delighted to say that all my fears never really materialized (especially the rain part!).

In the start chute Bruce, Josh and I were positioned about mid-pack. Once we started rolling I kept remembering, "If you're not moving up, you're moving back." I ended up being right near the front of the pack by the end of Stanley Park and going over the Lion's Gate Bridge, but others started passing me on the descent.

The first hour or so of the ride seemed pretty mellow, actually. I remember wondering when the race was going to start and wanting the opportunity to hammer (be careful what you wish for). I fell back through the pack more than I should have during this time, but I caught myself and started working my way back up again.

I think it was around Britannia Beach that the pace picked up and the pack split apart on the climb out of it (I'm really unfamiliar with the route though, so I could be wrong). I know it was a big hill though, and I was in a good position and feeling strong so I kept a good pace climbing and passed some guys.

My memory is fuzzy at this point, but I knew I was in the second group and there was one ahead of us. I was surprised Josh and Bruce weren't with me and I wondered if they were in the lead group. My group worked together pretty well in a paceline and we caught the lead group in Squamish (this is bittersweet: it means they put eight minutes on us in only the last 60 km!). In the ride through Squamish I happened to be at the front of the paceline as we passed all the cheering spectators at the medio start line, which was kind of thrilling.

The lead group broke away from us again shortly after Squamish. Simon from IRC and John Rogers (now in Pro City kit) were in my group, plus one or two Trek Red Truck guys. We reached the second feed zone and I was low on fluids and feeling pretty desperate. Thankfully, Alex Hui was there and he handed me a bag. I pulled the water out, chucked my MEC bottle and rejoiced. Alex, I owe you big time.

From Squamish out I remember lots of hills, and cursing silently every time the road climbed ahead of us. I was surprised that there were still descents, but I was grateful for every bit of rest. The paceline was still intact and around the 100 km mark I really, really wanted the thing to be over. Fortunately my ego wouldn't allow me to fall off at this point so I carried on in the march of death.

The pace picked up with a few kilometres to go and four guys got away for a bit but we reeled them back in. I think everyone was feeling pretty ragged. I felt fine aerobically but my legs were totally shattered - very different from a TT or Mt. Seymour but just as much overall pain. I think next year I need to get more distance in at a race pace.

We rounded the last corner and I was surprised at how close the finish line was. I gave it everything I had and passed a couple of guys, but much of the group crossed the line ahead of me. I was so elated to be finished, but I could barely walk after I got off my bike. Now that I'm safe and warm in my home I wish I had gone harder to get in a better position for the last corner, but it probably wasn't physically possible at the time. Overall I'm really happy with how my race went. I was sorry to hear about the difficulties Josh and Bruce faced, as I honestly thought we would finish together.

As a passenger in the drive home from Whistler yesterday, I was blown away at how much scenery I missed and the grade and length of the hills. It honestly didn't seem as intimidating on the bike for some reason - I'm glad I didn't know what I was getting myself into.

I was really impressed with the organization of the race. $200 was pretty steep but I think they gave us our money's worth. I'm sorry I missed the group socializing in tinfoil blankets afterward. I really enjoyed reading everyone's reports and great work to everyone who participated.

As a side note: I rode in to the start with the Accent Inns crew on the Dunsmuir Viaduct that I've read so much about in the Vancouver newspapers. It was pretty sweet! All those whining drivers should get out of their cars and try it.

TL;DR: The race was great and hurt a ton.

PS: A big thank you to Dave Spiers for letting me use his race wheels. It's going to be hard giving them back...

My Garmin details for anyone who's interested: http://connect.garmin.com/player/48808601

The heart rate monitor contacts at the beginning were dry so the data are inaccurate for the first bit.

shawnc wrote: "If you're not moving up, you're moving back."

Great line. And good advice.
The corollory might be, do it in the easy parts.

The paceline was still intact and around the 100 km mark

Oooh, I'm so jealous!

I felt fine aerobically but my legs were totally shattered - very different from a TT or Mt. Seymour but just as much overall pain. I think next year I need to get more distance in at a race pace.

Ditto here. Notice how the runner/tri boys and girls all had good rides? I think they appreciate this more than us hard core paceliners.

Great report. Thanks.

I'm sorry to keep lurking here. But did this guy do the Gran Fondo on a unicycle???

http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/ ... ze=620x400

It's from this article in the Sun: http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/ ... story.html

The results are up for the teams. TripleShot finished an impressive 8th! http://www.rbcgranfondowhistler.com/201 ... esults.pdf

shawnc wrote:I'm sorry to keep lurking here. But did this guy do the Gran Fondo on a unicycle???

Yes, Simon talked to him at the finish. He said the descents were terrifying. I think his time was around 5 hours.

Way to go everyone....and a special congrats to one of our new Superstar Triplshots...Louise in about 3:52 or closer 3:47 by her time.

First off all ,thanks to Simon and Louise for stopping at the Subway in Squamish and giving me and, a friend Dwain, half their cycling clothes as we rode from Whistler to Horsshoe bay, 106km in the rain on Sunday, and got our ferry to Nanaimo with 3 minutes to spare. We saw about 12 other riders, Half of them with flats or other problems...such as 'very wet and cold' . Luckily , we made it with no flats or collisions with rocks, wood or car parts .I guess I may be Rando Material!

Sounds like a few problems with results. On my bike computer I did 4:19:34 ,I only stopped for about 30 seconds at one aid station after Squamish, but either way I am not on results. Was it all just a dream? Check out some amazing fotos on WGF site on facebook .

My friend, and someone a lot of the triathlon community knows, JOHN BOTELHO, had a serious crash into a concrete barrier after hitting a metal drain[as far as we know] at about 20km mark. He is in Lions gate Hospital in intensive care in an induced coma. My friend talked to his wife Sun. a.m. and they told her we wouldn't know anything else until Monday or later.

It was amazing finishing and seeing the other baby blue argyles around ,exchanging war stories, hugs and handshakes. A club road trip is always good for getting to know team mates and having alot of fun. Thanks guys and Louise. Triple Shot Rocks! pc

shawnc wrote:I'm sorry to keep lurking here. But did this guy do the Gran Fondo on a unicycle???

http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/ ... ze=620x400

It's from this article in the Sun: http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/ ... story.html

There was also at least one guy on a handcycle. Imagine that leg feeling...in your arms? Ack.