Willis Point
Posted: Sun Sep 19, 2010 10:15 pm
The results haven't been posted, so this short report (that was my initial intention) lacks details. It's a great course, as far as hill climbs go. No traffic, smooth surface, steep sections and a couple of flats for recovery. Attendance was good - almost 20 racers. The steepest section is right at the start, which is good, because you can power through it and then try to recover on the flat 200 m up the road. After that 50 m flat the main climb begins. Several curves conceal the extent of it - it's like the ride over to Island View beach. Imagine you get to the turn at the top and then find another identical climb. Then that happens two more times. A few rollers at the end and you're done. Last year it took me 8 min and 5 seconds. I did it in exactly the same time this year. Strange, but good because last weekend, at Mt. Doug, I was a fair bit slower than 2009. 8:05 was the fourth fastest time in B today. Adam and Stephane both arrived in under 8 minutes - well done guys. Chad Gottfried from AviaWest beat all of us with a low 7 min time. I didn't note Ian's time, but he wasn't far behind me. Jen was there too. Sorry, don't know her time either, but I do know it was good enough for her to maintain 2nd overall. Fantastic. Adam, as we know from last week, had top spot in B sewn up even before todays race.
Chad's ten points for the win put him one point ahead of me and in second overall. This was, in fact, an accident, but it's fine with me. Chad's been racing A recently and didn't expect to have his result marked in the B column. The party at the end was fun - got to meet Stephane's family, among others. In fact, I discovered that he's Monsieur Tran (taught my daughter in Willows French Immersion). There were more people than last year, so it's growing. In case you need some incentive, there was more swag than there were attendees. Many non-racers went home with goodies. A nice way to end the season.
A quick summary note: A bunch of us moved to A after the first race this year. One of the motivations for that was to encourage other people in the club to come out and race. I think that worked very well, even though some of us discovered we were really B+'s, not quite A's. Adam (obviously) Alec, Ian, Sylvan, Stephane, Matteo, Bryan, Hugh, Steve, (and no doubt a name or two I've neglected to mention) were first timers that became regulars who frequently finished in the top 10 of the B pack. Really cool. The other exciting fall out from that move to A was the fact that we all now know what it takes to be competitive in A: Just keep up with Josh, Shawn, and Gavin and Peter. That's not meant as a joke. Before we (I suppose I should really just speak for myself), I didn't know what the next level was. Now it's there for everyone to see, three or four days a week. It's like having fast big brothers there to help us gage our own winter training. Also great that TS racing is venturing far and wide (provincials, etc.).
JT
Chad's ten points for the win put him one point ahead of me and in second overall. This was, in fact, an accident, but it's fine with me. Chad's been racing A recently and didn't expect to have his result marked in the B column. The party at the end was fun - got to meet Stephane's family, among others. In fact, I discovered that he's Monsieur Tran (taught my daughter in Willows French Immersion). There were more people than last year, so it's growing. In case you need some incentive, there was more swag than there were attendees. Many non-racers went home with goodies. A nice way to end the season.
A quick summary note: A bunch of us moved to A after the first race this year. One of the motivations for that was to encourage other people in the club to come out and race. I think that worked very well, even though some of us discovered we were really B+'s, not quite A's. Adam (obviously) Alec, Ian, Sylvan, Stephane, Matteo, Bryan, Hugh, Steve, (and no doubt a name or two I've neglected to mention) were first timers that became regulars who frequently finished in the top 10 of the B pack. Really cool. The other exciting fall out from that move to A was the fact that we all now know what it takes to be competitive in A: Just keep up with Josh, Shawn, and Gavin and Peter. That's not meant as a joke. Before we (I suppose I should really just speak for myself), I didn't know what the next level was. Now it's there for everyone to see, three or four days a week. It's like having fast big brothers there to help us gage our own winter training. Also great that TS racing is venturing far and wide (provincials, etc.).
JT
.