Tripleshot Cycling

There was a large turn out for this race (I'd guess 15-20 racers in A and B), though not so much from TS. In B, Kevin, John, Hugh and I carried the team colours. In A we had Bruce, Ryan, Roland, Dylan and Peter. Al, Brad and Mike L. were there to for support. Apologies if I missed someone. The course layout is great, but the suface sucks. Russ Hays did a fine job of setting things up. Holes were marked with chalk and there was a motorcycle leading the A's. Marshalls did a great job of stopping traffic on Happy Valley Road for us.

It seemed like a long ride out. I don't have an odo, but the total mileage for the evening must have been high. There were about 20 people at the switch bridge. Lot's of racers from the host club including Emile de R. who ran away with this race last time out.

A large A pack headed up the road, and after a timed delay, off went the B's. Oh, I almost forgot. There was also a C race and TS was represneted there too. Lister and several others (very sorry for not knowing your names) lined up behind us. Within two laps the lead A's came past. Those two, as Emile remarked later, are in a different categorie (one was a Red Truck guy, the other was way fast too). The pelton pasted us several laps later, some A's yelling for the B's to move over. Given the condition of the shoulder, this didn't go as smoothly as they'd have liked. I must have missed the two leaders passing for a second time, because when a group of three came by (Andrew McCartney, Bruce and Dylan) later in the race I had the wrong idea that they were the new leaders. By this time the B pace had picked up, and we swallowed up this 3-man chase group and rode together for the last three or four laps. I'll note that they weren't sitting in, but on occassion couldn't help but find themsleves among the large B peloton. I'll let someone else finish the A race report.

The B race for me was just like last Sunday: Joel Taylor at the front and John Taylor at the back with about three laps to go. Kevin worked hard at the front to stop Joel from getting away.

Roland said before the race that if you want to win, you have to be in the front four at the last turn. On the climb toward the bell, I made my way up to about position six or seven This put me next to Kevin for the last lap charge. On the second last corner Kevin was forced to adjust his line. Annoying when you give people who are charging up the inside room to get through a corner and then they push you wide on the way out. This openned a hole for me. I ran down the last straight behind the blond guy from the Vegan team while Kevin had to work to get back on the train. I was able to pass several guys (one was Lionel I think) on the way up the hill for second place. Jason, who rode with us on Tuesday (but had an AviaWest kit last night) won by about 5 meters. Kelly, Kevin's rival for the overall lead was 4th I think and Kevin around 7th. I didn't talk to Hugh or the other John afterwards, so I don't know how it went for them.

Thanks to Mike for the entry fee loan and to Ryan for the CO2 on the way home.

JT

In the c race, from 3shot there was me, Duncan and Lister, as well as two pro city kids, and a few grownups. It was a good race, with a break about twoish? Laps in, and they managed to stay away for the entire race, and they ended up getting about a two minute gap on me, lister and one of the pro city kids, and we were stuck chasing for most of the race. But it was a lot of fun.

Many thanks to Russ Hays for hosting an excellent race all season despite what at times has been violent opposition from some of the community. I like this course a lot and hope we can still use it in years to come. Its profile is selective enough and yet not so much so that it entirely favours the climbers. In other words it's my kind of course.

It was a beautiful evening and the first time I can recall riding a VCL event this year where I wasn't cold at some point during the evening. However, I do recall looking behind me at the start line and remarking that Alex Hui was shivering. Although there are many hill climbs and TTs remaining, this was the last mass start event of the VCL season and thus my last chance of the year to finally dial in my strategy for this course. Admittedly, life events have gotten in the way of my doing many of the VCL races but I still wanted to get a top 5 result as my form is still pretty good. It was not to be.

Unfortunately, I once again managed to get squeezed to the back on the last corner despite a concerted push to remain within 3 riders of the front all through the last lap. Apparently I still have a lot to learn about positioning. I kept picking the wrong wheel and would have to wedge through holes that did not exist to get back in place. But again there I was: last corner behind the three who laid on the brakes and then a sprint from last position. While I find my lack of results frustrating, I have to say that I still love racing.

I remained at or near the front of the race without pushing myself hard, which kinda makes my poor finish even more frustrating. However, from past experience I learned to be right on the front as we overtook the 'B's and 'C's. Breaks (or chase groups in this case) often seem to make good use of these of opportunities to create gaps that hold. Last night several very strong riders (including Flounder and Bruce) found themselves gapped because of the chaos that occurred at these points.

I love racing in this community and yet I still haven't figured out why the 'A's seem to race fairly negatively, especially when there's a break to catch. Out of 20 talented riders it always seems that only four or five are interested in organizing a concerted effort to chase. On top of this, it appears teams think blocking for their teammates in breaks is necessary. I think blocking chase groups in these races is simply annoying and pointless at our level. Given the superior strength of the riders who are unusually up the road, allowing a fair chase might make for better, funner racing and arguably won't impact the overall result. Last night Curtis and Tyler had, what, about 1' 45" on the rest of us by lap 13? And that was without anyone actively blocking. I also have to say I am more than a little perplexed by the behaviour of some of our junior riders (esp. those that recently returned from Belgium *cough*) who seem to consider attacking the chase group (only to be caught half a lap later) tactically sound. I hope they learn sooner rather than later that if you want to get anywhere in these events, if not in the sport as a whole, you need to make allies. You can't do it all by yourself. And you'll get yelled at less. 'Nuff said.

R

Here are my b race stats, ignore the heart rate data I am not spinning up to 240.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/102460758

I managed to hang with the pack for the first 9 laps. I decided to keep going once I was dropped because I did not feel that bad, I just could not go that fast. I rode two laps on my own and the last one with John.

It was fun especially taking the corners when you are out in front, I hate using the brakes it seems like such a waste and it is amazing how fast you can go through the turn when there is no one in the way. This is absolutely the the opposite way I feel about flying into a turn on my mountain bike, both wheels locked up in full drift hoping for the tires to hook up in time to make it around whatever is in the way.

It was great to see you out Lister.

John you missed Bruno in the b race.

Brian thanks for the family cheering section.

Good fun,
Hugh

yes thanks for cheering brian! although i hadn't recognized you with the hat on after the second lap from when i saw you. That was a fast race after seeing hugh's stats i'm glad i was able to keep up for as long as i did.

+1

I am sorry I neglected to mention earlier that yours and the kids' cheers made the race much more enjoyable. Thank you, Brian

R

This was the race where everything went wrong.

I was felling strong and attacking the from the pack, but at the point where we passed the c's I was seriously gaped out and couldn't chase back on, fortunately Bruce and Andrew decided to join me and we could minimize the gap as much as possible.

Now this is where I start to complain. When the A chase group lapped the b's rather than neutralizing, they chased onto our wheels, the problem was while Bruce Andrew and I were working ourselves into the ground, the b's were able to get a free ride, until they decided to get ambitious and pass us, only to slow down again let us continue to do the work. I found this dangerous, and un-sportsmanlike. The passed group should neutralize for a sizable distance until the passing group is free and clear, this idea of getting a free ride works only if all the competitors are in the same race, this isn't the case. When the b's came around it was chaos, there was pushing, and whenever I would accelerate to the front to try and break free, they would hop on my wheel and enjoy the free pull.

Fortunately it was the same 3 people who would go for this free ride everytime, and none of them were Tripleshot, so that was good to see.

Duncan Grant, TS member but sporting his Oak Bay High jersey, won the C race, in a field of 8. He rode away from the field on the second lap with a pretty strong masters rider Jeff of Vic Wheelers. I found out afterwards he's been doing secret training, riding Mt Doug 4 or 5 times, 3 times a week!

David Brown was fourth, after a race long chase with me and Isaac from Aviawest.

Well done boys!