Tripleshot Cycling

TT Results are up: http://www.localride.ca/docs/RTR%20%271 ... esults.pdf

Strong rides from Peter, Adam, Ryan and Flounder.

The crit was cancelled however, I can't see why.

http://www.localride.ca/docs/RTR%20'11%203-4m.pdf

Results are up. Looks like everyone had a strong race. Adam and Ryan kicked some butt.

This race was by acclamation a key TS team event and it ended up being just that. While we weren’t able to ride the crit because of unrideable conditions, the remaining two events (TT and RR) were suitably epic. Now for the crit, when I use the word ‘unrideable’ I mean it was hailing and raining so hard there was no way we could have safely ridden the course. Having ridden and survived Roubaix this year, I think my gauge of unrideable is pretty reliable. In any case, 98% of the riders concurred on calling it due to conditions.

While the TT was raining and temperatures stayed in single digits, it was manageable because of the relative shortness of the event. The crit was just not going to happen but we ended up waiting about ½ an hour for the organizers to make the call. BY that time there was a lot of shivering blue skin in the field of 40 or so riders. The only other time I have been that cold in cycling gear was when I broke my winter bike out in Sooke near Gillespie in similar conditions and had to wait for a ride. That was in January.

I had a decent enough time in the TT but laboured a lot with heavy legs and never really felt ‘on’. In true TS style, we ended up closely spaced in time on the GC from 6th place down. Adam managed to dole out some justice and bested some key rivals in the bunch. Peter rocked the Equinox and managed a spectacular recovery from a near fall after hitting an unexpected dip in the road surface. There was so much rain it was hard to make out road surface detail through the puddles. I wish there was footage, though, as the damage to his bike shows he hit pretty hard. Flounder looked great on his new Cervelo TT steed. It was his first time on that bike and, I believe his first TT, so I am sure he held something back.

The road race course profile is what is popularly characterized as ‘rolling’ but that translates into a fair bit of climbing. Fortunately, this kind of profile seems to suit a rider like Adam to a T. He’s a strong rouleur, meaning he has a big engine and can do it all: TT, climb, churn out the watts on the flats all day, but most of all, sprint. The organizers had decided that because we had lost the chance for planned time bonuses in cancelled crit, the general classification (or GC), based on lowest overall elapsed time per rider, would be decided by time bonus sprints on six of the seven laps. The finishing stretch of the race is very much like Latoria, so we sprinted that profile each lap. The ‘primes’ were 5, 3, and 1 seconds for 1st, 2nd and 3rd placings. There would be no bonuses for the finish. This meant that the battle for the overall would be contested throughout the race. Adam handily took four of six firsts in these sprints.

I started a bit sluggish but felt better every lap and was soon comfortably at the front chasing down primes with Adam in the hunt for a higher GC. Now, I have to say, Adam is strong enough that he could easily be selfish and even egotistical, as many young riders run the risk of becoming when success comes fast. But our young gun is absolutely a gentleman. At one point, I think on lap four, I had the best line through the last corner and was on my way to taking a five second bonus. Number one on the GC was on Adam’s wheel and the three of us had a decent margin over the rest of the field, who often went into the corner over-geared for the hill. In one of those time dilation moments when everything seems to slow down, I could see Adam was holding back, as he could see I wanted the time bonus but number one was starting to move past him and a decision needed to happen. Adam asked: “should I take it?” I almost laughed out loud at the incongruity of the moment within the context of the battle for the line. Quickly, I realized the points would more useful to him than me as he was then in a position to make the podium. I called back “take it!” He did. I took the next placing ahead of number one.

On the last lap, we had two riders up the road who looked like they might stay away. Five of us put in an honest effort and reeled them back in the home stretch with about 500 meters to go. The inevitable swarm happened but Adam squeezed into position. I took some risks and also moved up. As we rounded the last corner I could see Adam had hit the afterburners and was away. I picked my way through the guys labouring in too big a gear and hammered in for a clean second, three or four bike lengths behind our young champ and perhaps two lengths ahead of the strung out field.

Great race, warmer and drier weather today, and solid teamwork made this a highlight of my season so far. I really enjoyed racing as a team for a change, meaning I can’t recall ever being part of an event where I really felt like I was part of an overall effort to get one of our guys on the podium. I am very impressed with Adam’s tactical sense, and his growing confidence. Similarly, I can’t say enough good things about Flounder, who worked like a dog at the front to keep the pace high on every climb. He eats up the learning opportunities and is quickly coming into a form that he’ll need to learn to play poker with so he can make sure other riders can’t see how strong he is.

I briefly talked to Peter and he did not seem happy with his race. Maybe he will elaborate on the forum about how it went.

R

TT: this was my first opportunity to use my new P2 and the bike performed beautifully, sadly as usual the mushy organic bit on top let it down. On the way out my glasses were so covered in rain i could barely make out the yellow line in front of me. The whole way out I was wondering where the turn around point was because the whole course looks the same, especially in the wet, I got to the turn around, made the slowest turn ever and hammered back. On the way back I felt like I was on fire, the metres cruised by. On the way back people seemed to be easy to pass too, at one point I came up on a group of 4 who were blockading the road and wouldn't move over, even after I called out, so I had to make a risky move on the right side, the only way I could get by. In the end I am not unimpressed with my time, but I know I could have gone faster, it was a good benchmark. Adam, Peter and Ryan did super well, we were all in the top 15 after the first stage.

Crit: cancelled due to rain and many near cases of hypothermia, myself included. It was awful, we were standing around for awhile and when we final moved to do a neutral lap I couldn't shift into my big ring, and could barely move around on the cassette.

Road race: This is where the fun begins, the course was best for roleur's so Ryan and Adam were right in their element, the climbs were quite selective enough for me to cause real damage to the pack. for the first lap I sat in, found my legs and got an idea for how the other riders were riding, from there I moved to the front where Tripleshot became a dominant force, with myself, Adam and Ryan doing most of the pace making, I was trying for 2 things, first off the split the pack on my favourite part of the course which was a tight right hand corner followed by a 2 part climb, so there I kept pulling through hoping to decrease the size of the field but a few times nobody went with me, leaving me lonely off the front until I came back to the group, unable to hold a solo break. aside from that I was trying the pull through Adam's pulls as quickly as possible, trying to save his legs, which are clearly powered by dynamite. This worked well, the finishing group was much smaller than the starting group. By the final lap I was completely gassed, nothing left so in the sprint the bunch pulled away and I had nothing left to give chase.

I really have to echo Ryan's comments about team. What an awesome weekend from that perspective. Also HUGE props to Ryan for his guidance and leadership. I had a pretty darn good experience as well. The TT went pretty good despite nearly coming off up by the turnaround. It was pretty cool to be walking around all puffed up thinking that I was in the top 10 on GC for the night!

The RR was a bit tough on me (as expected). 68km in 7 laps with 1168m of climbing. I wasnt expecting to finish in the bunch but really wished I could have made it longer than 2 laps! Then a small grupetto formed but only 3 guys were prepared to work (which sort of pissed me off). No problem if you are gassed but dont sit in and then motor up the hills leaving the rest of us to chase only to catch you to have you sit in again!

Anyway after a couple more laps one of the other guys who had been working took off on the finish hill and I chased him down and the two of us worked well together until the bell where he started to struggle so I carried on without him and then rolled through a couple more guys. I ended up 38th with 5 or so behind me and 17 guys DNFing.

In a weird way I was actually happy with my race but that I wasnt able to contribute to the Team!

Having said that I really thought it was an excellent experience. I really think all of the racers should look to see if there is an event like this that we can all commit to - it really is awesome (although my preference is something at the height of summer! I cant remember the last time I was that cold!)

Plawless wrote:I really think all of the racers should look to see if there is an event like this that we can all commit to

Mt Hood or Capital Stage Race?

I'm so stoked about everyone's results in this. Adam 3rd in the overall with Ryan in 5th and Dylan 10th. Adam and Ryan 1-2 in the road race. Ryan 6th overall in the TT right ahead of Adam in 7th. Peter in the top 10 in the TT. Dylan putting the hurt down on the field on the climb to soften them up for Adam's sprints to get the bonus seconds.
Tripleshot dominating provincial level cat 3.

Awesome work guys.
The time off the bike was needed for me, but I really wish I could have been there.

One thing it looks like we need to work on is standardizing what we put down for our team name on the sign up sheets. .
I vote for "Tripleshot Spinnakers" in all cases.

Josh.E wrote:... it looks like we need to work on ... standardizing what we put down for our team name on the sign up sheets. .
I vote for "Tripleshot Spinnakers" in all cases.

+1

R