tour de victoria

[jeremy]

well that was...... fun??

[jj12]

wet but fun, feet were soggy for awhile there...

[Roland]

wtf?

1 16:04 44.8 Jamie Cameron Victoria
2 16:05 44.8 Ryder Hesjedal Victoria

http://www.racedaytiming.ca/2011tourdevicmunns.html
http://www.racedaytiming.ca/2011tourdev ... front.html

I was in Cordova Bay blowing my vuvuzela, but not too loudly, didn't want to annoy the neighbors. I don't think anybody noticed.

[jj12]

I saw you at the last second roland was laughing my head off thanks for the support out there!!

[Lister Farrar]

c'mon guys, details, stories, triumphs, tragedies, screw-ups, wanna hear em all. Cooped up inside today.

L

[Roland]

c'mon guys, details, stories, triumphs, tragedies, screw-ups, wanna hear em all. Cooped up inside today.

I took my folding chair and parked myself at the corner of Cordova Bay Rd and Agate Lane. I was going to be out there for a while so I had to pace myself. Things got off to a bad start when a crow got into my backpack and stole my sandwich. I still had two oranges, a bag of chips and donut, so I figured I'd be ok. Things then went from bad to worse as I realized it sat in some chocolate from my muffin and had made a mess of my pants.

Soon the riders started arriving. 90km riders first, then the 140km a few minutes behind. There were a few lead groups of 20-30 riders each, but after that it was mostly small groups of 5 or less. I patted a few dogs, talked to some locals. Then things went from worse to worsest, the battery in my iPhone died. I could no longer follow the Tour de Victoria on twitter. That, combined with a bit of rain, made me wonder if I would survive. I abandoned my post to use the facilities in a nearby restaurant, the owner complained that the Tour was affecting his business and his cooks couldn't make it to work. I thanked him and quickly returned to my post. I don't think my absence was noted. I resumed my Vuvuzela duties, honking at anybody in argyle.

The stream of riders had now dwindled, so I returned my orange vest to the zone marshal and I headed for home. I'm proud to say there were zero incidents in my zone.

[EricS]

wtf?

1 16:04 44.8 Jamie Cameron Victoria
2 16:05 44.8 Ryder Hesjedal Victoria

http://www.racedaytiming.ca/2011tourdevicmunns.html
http://www.racedaytiming.ca/2011tourdev ... front.html

So, I take it the "12 km time trial" was at the beginning of the 140?

And the Munn's road hill climb:
1 7:32 28.7 Ryder Hesjedal Victoria
2 8:46 24.6 Jamie Cameron Victoria
Nice to see I'm not the only one who likes to ride that hill at 29km/h just to get it over with.

Great race report Roland! Sorry about the hardships suffered, but you will return stronger. Say in about 30 minutes at Clover Point? I'm on my way...

Eric

[Lister Farrar]

c'mon guys, details, stories, triumphs, tragedies, screw-ups, wanna hear em all. Cooped up inside today.

I took my folding chair and parked myself at the corner of Cordova Bay Rd and Agate Lane. I was going to be out there for a while so I had to pace myself. Things got off to a bad start when a crow got into my backpack and stole my sandwich. I still had two oranges, a bag of chips and donut, so I figured I'd be ok. Things then went from bad to worse as I realized it sat in some chocolate from my muffin and had made a mess of my pants.

Soon the riders started arriving. 90km riders first, then the 140km a few minutes behind. There were a few lead groups of 20-30 riders each, but after that it was mostly small groups of 5 or less. I patted a few dogs, talked to some locals. Then things went from worse to worsest, the battery in my iPhone died. I could no longer follow the Tour de Victoria on twitter. That, combined with a bit of rain, made me wonder if I would survive. I abandoned my post to use the facilities in a nearby restaurant, the owner complained that the Tour was affecting his business and his cooks couldn't make it to work. I thanked him and quickly returned to my post. I don't think my absence was noted. I resumed my Vuvuzela duties, honking at anybody in argyle.

The stream of riders had now dwindled, so I returned my orange vest to the zone marshal and I headed for home. I'm proud to say there were zero incidents in my zone.

I did ask for it. Thanks Roland. Thanks for marshaling too.

how was traffic control there? One lane or full road?

[barton bourassa]

It was and stormy night, I mean day! The weather started kind of clear but cool. We dwadled along Craigflower and the old Island Highway the screamed down the road to the Lagoon, raced along the flats, turned right and speed was almost instantaneously reduced to about 12 K/Hr as we climbed back up again just to reach the flats and then scream down the hill to the gravel pit. Lots of riders around at that point. It was not until we got onto Kangaroo Road that things started to stretch out a lot with smaller groups here and there. When we got back into Colwood things go very confusing with strange paths and riding on different sections of the Goose with the flag people standing there, one hand on the stop sign the other in their pocket as we yelled at them to try to find out which way to go! Rather bizarre at over 30 K and hour!

Then we hit Prospect Lake Road and the real fun began as we started the climb up to the top Munn's Road. I must say things were pretty uneventful as far as mishaps and crashes were concerned. I did see one guy on the side to the road looking forlornly at a broken pedal! I saw one fellow being attended to in the bushes at one of the sharp turns on Durrance then up to and down Willis Pt. That was pretty cool in the old arrow bars!

But joy of joys the clouds covered the skies and so as not to disappoint all of the out of town cyclists it began to pour down upon us! As we all know it is so much fun to ride in the rain at high speed within a foot of the fenderless wheel in front of you in the pouring rain.

The neat thing about this ride is every time I got dropped by one group another came by within about 10 minutes for me to tuck in and hang on again! I managed to meet many riders this way! It just seemed that we were going so fast! My legs were just shredded by the time I hit Ash that I got dropped again and rode in no man's land for about 15 minutes when a group came by and I heard a voice from heaven say "Barton, jump in! This is a good one!" Thanks Dave S! It was indeed a good one an the last one to. I made it to the finish line with this group.

It is amazing the energy I got from that final group. I thought I was completely done! I managed to hang on to them up King George and all the way thru! Just so much fun! My wife was so happy to see me standing and in one piece when I got home. And so was I!

Looking forward to next year!

Congrats to all Triple Shotters out there today!

[Kevin F]

I had a great ride. I think the best thought for me was.."I have no f'@#$ing business being here." followed by " lets make the best of this" and yes I was on Ryder's back wheel at the start of the 12kms TT And I do have trouble calling it a TT since I was getting sucked along really well. For the record, Moose is smother wheel to follow . Everything was going great as I rode in 3rd and 4th position one and 2 back from Ryder until King George. (roughly 8kms) I kind of new what was coming. Ryder hopped out of the saddle and maintained 40kms up the hill, I dropped to 30ish, started to see stars and decided it was best to close my eyes and pedal as hard as I could to get over the second ramp up. When I opened my eyes a swarm of 10 guys had blown by me and were giving chase to Ryder and Jamie and one other who had taken off. I didn't sit up but I was near death so I just kept on it as best I could. 3 guys caught me turning left on Cresent. There we traded pulls to the finish. We finished 50 seconds behind Ryder and Jamie. Will I ever be able to say this again.."finished 50 seconds behind Ryder"..maybe if we walk to the grocery store together! What a treat!

41 10:11 21.2 Kevin Ford Victoria on the hill climb
16 16:58 42.4 Kevin Ford Victoria on the 'TT'

Thanks to all the volunteers and TSers supporting the ride

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/88604701 doh I forgot to turn it on for the first 9kms!

[jj12]

It was a good one, i have never been (at the beginning) with so many riders, intense! The first 50km i managed to keep with Kevin once i hit munn road and all the climbs i fell back... Those climbs are interesting to say the least! Once i was dropped by one group i'd get picked by another but managed to stay with a group until Sidney By that time my feet were so drenched it was brutal and i was cramping at lochside and i thought that it might of been the end for me but i dug in and shook it out I didnt bother stopping at any of the rest stops but at the 120 k mark just around ash i took a pee break at mtdoug which was smart...lol. I was contemplating getting another pair of shoes by my house on ash but decided against it. I saw jeff at that point which was the first tser i saw in awhile filling up his water bottle with some coke a cola then ran into dave s and Barton just before the timed upland gates so i just decided to go with everything i had left until the end. I was picked up by Bart and a bunch of other people riding which was good cause i was pretty done by then, but since it was the end i forgot about the pain. Now comes the Dallas road tt should be funny.

[Kevin F]

Another TT? Your a crazy man John! Go for it!

[jeremy]

Well all in all it was a good day, although I wish I would had worn my rain/winter gear instead of shorts.
Like it was said before we stayed neutral until we got to the lagoon then the group really started to break up, some of those climbs in metchosin really did a number on me, and before I knew it on the top of kangaroo hill I got passed by the lantern rouge, which was probably the best thing to motivate me to pick it up. back onto the flats on happy valley rd. I was able to open it up abit, and had to swerve in and out of the motorcycles and cars to get back into the "race".
One highlight for me was when I was trying to get through the case cars, i got stuck behind a police suv who was taking up more than his fair share of the road, i tried a couple of times to get around him but he wasn't giving me any room, then I saw an opening and jumped for it, halfway through passing him he put me into the gravel, so I banged on the side of the cop car and kinda yelled "watch where your f'ing going" and the cop actually was very apologetic (I don't think I'll ever get to do that to a cop car again, without ending up in hancuffs )
Back ahead of the support cars I opened it up, I think I passed about 50 people, then skipped the rest area and headed to the climbs. All this TTing kinda wore me out so I wussed out and took the prospect lake rd option ,this cut 11km off and all of the hills, after that I spent time with different groups of riders down wallace etc.
Continuing to skip the rest zone really helped me gain time in the group. ended up riding from ash to king george with Adam Kreek, having someone to chat with really helps to take your mind off aching muscles.
Unfortuantly I lost my timing chip somewhere along the road so I don't really know any of my stats, I think I was around 5 1/2 - 6 for the day.
It was fun, but I'm not sure if I would do this one again, It's pretty much our saturday ride but it cost me $160 to do it.
Thanks to everyone who stood around all day to stop traffic for us.

[Marcus]

Well I am quite happy that I decided to register and ride at the last minute. It was great to be part of the largest and first cycling event of its kind in Victoria even thought it cost money and I've ridden all the roads, but not the cycle paths in Colwood, before. Thanks Dave for making me think about the ride in this way. I was also quite surprised and delighted to see so many spectators cheering the riders on and quite a number of fairly lumpy older riders tackling the 90 km course. Events like this must surely build awareness of cycling as an activity or mode of transport or sport that all able bodied and some not so able bodied people can enjoy for a lifetime. Hopefully it's even bigger next year.

As for my ride, the low light was definitely flatting in Sidney in the rain. My hands got cold fast and my glasses were foggy and useless so I didn't even try to hurry. Instead I ate the bar that came with the entry bag while I switched the tube. When I discovered the CO2 cartridge that I had was empty I flagged down a fellow who kindly stopped and lent me his pump which was set up for presta valves but it was a style I hadn't seen before and my brain was cold by this time so we switched it to schroeder and back to presta when I realized my second error. By this time, 20 minutes had passed, and I was getting chilled and a bit annoyed when as good fortune would have it John Dower came along. That was definitley a high light. So I hopped back in the saddle without sitting on any chocolate and John and I rode the rest of the route together. I was working hard trying to stay warm up until Mount Doug when the sun came out and I started to run out of energy. Moving time was 4:42 and my Garmin says the route is 136.5 km.

[wonger]

I thoroughly enjoyed the day. A bunch of us met in Cook St. Village and made all the right noises about staying together and working together, but with that many people in a bunch for the first 20 km, it's pretty hard to keep it together. As someone else said, it took us to Kangaroo Rd or so to start to thin out. It was a rolling closure for the first 10k, but the lead car didn't seem to pick up it's pace for the next 10k, so the big amoeba rolled along for a while.

For the first part I seemed to be around a few tripleshotters whenever I looked around. Climbing up Lombard Drive Louise was right beside me, then as we headed onto Kangaroo Brian S. came by so I thought "there's a wheel I can follow", and so I did. For about the next 120k. Brian had a great ride. Every time he got half a chance he would take the pace up and get a line working. It was awesome. There ended up being about six to twelve of us that basically worked together at different point the whole way. We would split up a bit on a climb or a decent but eventually that diesel would come rolling by and off we'd go again.

One of the best parts of the whole ride for me was the descent down Lindholm road - what a blast! You can just rocket down that thing. I got to the bottom and Louise was saying "I love that hill. Are there any bugs in my teeth?" A good way to check if you're enjoying the descent!

We connected with the 90k riders at Burnside road and what struck me was what Marcus was saying about how great it was to see so many people of different ages and abilities out doing their thing. We had a few interesting moments trying to get by a few of them but all in all it went pretty smoothly. Munn road was not as bad as I thought and Millstream Lake road was really beautiful. A gorgeous place and a nice smooth road to boot. And out there in the middle of nowhere were all these people sitting in lawn chairs at the end of their driveways cheering. I was thinking they were saying "Hey honey - bring the kids out here and check out all the crazy people!" Either that or it was all the spandex.

When we hit West Saanich road the rain started. That kinda sucked, but it didn't slow things down much. I lost Brian for a while when he was putting on his rain jacket, but sure enough - insert train sound effect - he comes steaming by a little while later. When we were going through Sidney it was absolutely dumping rain on us. I started out a bit light on the clothes so I was well and truly cold by then. After that it was just keep working to get to the end. Caught up to Dave, rode with Barton for a while, saw John-Fabien and kept it going. It felt great to finish with cramps starting to take over and not having a lot left. Brian had us at 4:13 overall time. I was 134 on the Munn climb and 116 on the TT timing. Looking forward to N2V and the Whistler Gran Fondo.

[4827north]

Nice ride..enjoyed staying near a few others like Geoff and Brian, until about 2/3 up Munns my lower back started in spasm,and for the next 70km I was doing my best imitation of Kevin Livingston to block out the pain. I got close at one point on Wallace of catching back with Geoff an Brian, but we never got there. I was with a large group of yellow/grey jerseys, but we never closed. From the turn onto West Saanich to the finish I pretty much soloed, trying to do everything short of getting off to ease the back pain. I stuck it out and crossed the finish at 4h32m. I was happy with that all things considered.

I was often very inspired by the older, and I mean very old, riders out there just doing it.

Time to kick my stretching/yoga/core work up a notch to rid me of this seemingly chronic pain once and for all.

[Brian S]

Well that was fun. Thanks for the kind words Geoff--the group that evolved worked very well for an impromptu peleton. I was just trying to keep up with 'bugs in her teeth' Louise, who goes just as fast in her tri bars on the flats as she does downhill. It was a great event, and cruising over Munns--Durrance with the road closed well worth the price of admission. The food at the end (included) was sooo much better than Whistler. And its all about the food (and coffee), right?
Although not the climber I used to be, the attached is now my hill secret training technique. Load up a trailer with food for 6 for a week end and go ride the gulf islands.

[wonger]

Photo summary of my day...

[barton bourassa]

Great photo of the two of you Geoff and Brian! Sure do wish I could have stuck with you!

Barton.

[spearson]

This was Deb's first 140K, first bike race, and first event in full TS kit. This was her goal event for the spring, and we did lots of our long training "together". Our long trainer rides this winter would see the two of us sweating side by side for 3 hrs before I would change and go on a 20K run, then do an hour of yoga, then clean up under my bike, then break out the computer and start browsing the TS website before she'd finally call the workouts at 6 hours. Lining up at the start I was cautiously confident, she was very anxious but with the brim of her TS cap pulled way down she looked cool as a cucumber.

We started out and were amazed by the speed at which people were blowing past us up the old island highway. Some obviously had either arrived late or had seeded themselves poorly, but others were riding past us like they were being chased by the four horsemen. It wasn't until Lagoon Rd that people realized that the front half of this "ride" was going to be a little faster than they had anticipated. The hill was an explosion of overextended riders suffering, panting, wobbling, and pushing. Deb lightened her gear, smiled at me, then powered up over and through the shrapnel, cresting the hill without ever popping out of the saddle.

Along Happy Valley Rd, as we chatted side by side, a nice older gentleman came and took a bit of a rest in Deb's draft. 10K later we suggested that he might like to take a pull. He informed us that he was quite comfortable where he was and that this pace was excellent. We went full gas for a K and finally managed to shake him off our wheel. When we did slow back into our rhythm, he then rode past us looking pleasantly refreshed before settling in behind someone else further up the road. Not that it mattered, but he popped and we passed him after King George and never saw him again.

We got to ride for a few sections with some friends that we trained with over the winter, traded pulls for a time with Jeremy, and were complimented on our kit by several out of towners.

120 or 140? It was hardly a question and Deb made the left turn. Jeremy left us yelling "you'll do great Deb, you're strong on the hills". The lantern rouge kissed us at one point as it drove past people unable to keep 20K an hour up Munn and along the rollers of Millstream Lake. A few forced stops (mechanical and fire truck) didn't help and I officially fell behind the lanterne rouge once (I really have to learn how to change gears) but at that point the Ross Durance downhill section was in sight and we started to put time and riders in between us and the dreaded sweep vehicles. The rain hit us along Ross Durance and the descent down Willis chilled us to the bone. Little was said for the next 20K and I knew that if the rain persisted that we might be in trouble, under-dressed and unprepared.

I decided to use the porta potty at Cordova Bay school and Deb conversely decided that she wasn't stopping. The combination of muddy flooring, cycling shoes, and someone's choice to eyeball rather than use a ruler and a level was almost disastrous. Now with veins full of adrenaline and some time to make up it was time for the Simon Pearson invitational individual pursuit. Props to my only fan Roland who, though suffering himself, managed the energy to cheer me on. I finally caught Deb as she crested Ash road. She was still looking fresh, I was looking for a lung transplant.

From that point it was just the regular TS Friday ride. Piece of cake, only we almost missed a few of the not-on-the-Friday-route turns. We cruised in over an hour ahead of the dreaded lantern, got showered and fed, changed into some clean TS kit and headed out to help at the TT. There is nothing better than watching people suffering over 6K content in the knowledge that your legs are on fire and that participation would be impossible.

My only complaint was that Deb beat me in both the hill climb and the TT when we rode both sections side by side. This is the sort of error that happens when Sylvan isn't involved.

Early bird pricing is up for 2012 registration. Actually, the price is the same $150 but they offer a no-tee option for $120. The later start date will be nice too with hopefully a few more ascents of the dreaded climb possible before the event.