2014 Trackfest I

(Write up by Jen Gerth)  This weekend I headed over to Victoria to race the omnium event at the velodrome there. The omnium consists of 6 races over 2 days and I’ll be racing two omniums in Japan during the first two weeks of July, so this was a good tune up. 

Someone got too much sun!

With not a lot of riders in each category, but a lot of categories represented, my race was combined into a 15 rider A women/B men/C men/Master men field. I was determined to race hard all weekend to figure out where my fitness was at and I succeeded. Track racing is quite technical and I made some mistakes, but managed to place in the top 5 overall in the mass start events. Claire Cameron and Mical Dyck were on fire as well and provided fierce competition. In the end, I only placed as the first woman in one event with Claire taking the other five and had too many thirds to Mical’s seconds, so I landed on the third step of the podium. But I couldn’t have conceded to two better competitors and gained a lot of confidence for Japanese racing. 

How I started my day.

I also got to relax in between races at a fabulous B&B overlooking the ocean. I think the fact that I got to pick a teacup for my morning tea from any of the 500 in the house gave me an added edge.

June Fat Camp 2014

We took our friends from Stuckylife and Funeral Cycling to play in the mountains of Lillooet.  

Leaving town on Day 1

Day 1 turnaround.  Sadly, no ice wall climbers this time.

Land of the 80kph downhill followed by the 10kph uphill.  Endlessly repeated.

Berryjuice recovering.

Beer stash.  Getting beer cold trumps getting out of kit.

Skinny dogs were chilling.  And Jens was with us... in ink anyhow.

Chillooet.

Assholes plotting.

Rolling out on Day 2

 En route to gravel.

The local store.

Enumcrawl 2014

The kids headed south over the long wknd for some zoom zoom in what is one of the fastest Stage Race wknds in Washington.  Sara finished up her run in Cat 3 (now off to the big leagues!) with a strong GC win.  But it gets better.  They race with the Cat 1/2 women and she won the tough Mud Mtn RR outright in a sprint from a select group.  Zoom zoom indeed.

As usual, Jen Gerth was helping her out and watching her back, especially in the crash filled, technical crit that featured a heavy downpour for the women.  Sadly, there was much sliding about for a good portion of the field.  Jen finished up 11th overall.

Cory finished his wknd this year in 16th overall.  Much better than last year.  Consider that demon stomped...

Oh, and BC racing is fine, at least talent-wise, as BC riders won the GC Overall in Men's and Women's Cat 1/2 and Cat 3.  We beat each other up good round these parts.

Cat 3 RR podium (photo courtesy of my incredibly shitty phone)

Cat 3 Final GC podium

Racing simplified:

Ride hard and give it everything.

 Enjoy the benefits.

Check out Whistler's Will Routley at this year's T of California as he holds off Boonen and company to take the Points and KoM jersey's.  Smart and hard work rewarded.  

T-Bird RR

In beautiful spring conditions, Cory was third and Sara was tied(?) for first woman in a combined A/B field.  Chessa took a break from silly running to be the top woman in the C group.

Yay, everybody is a winner.

BC Premier Road Series

After 2 of 5 events Sara is in the leader's jersey for the BC Premier Road Series and Jen Gerth is in third.  Next up is the Provincials weekend in Victoria.  To be continued...

Walla Walla 2014

The kids went down and wrecked havoc in Onion town.  

Sara won her TT, was second in her crit and won her RR for a commanding 12 min GC win in the Cat 3 women.  The Cat 3's raced with the Cat 1/2 women but the results were separated, otherwise, she would have been 4th overall in 1/2.  Savvy veteran Jen Gerth helped the rookie out, especially in the fast crit where she was 5th and finished 9th overall in Cat 3.

Sara in the leader's jersey for Women's Cat 3

Ryan and Cory were disappointed that the first RR was cancelled but still ended up getting Cory into 7th overall in the Cat 3 men after a hard fought 3rd place RR finish.

Full results here.  Lotsa Canadian kids beating up south of the border.  Nice.

Cory in the TT.  Photo by Chris Shepley.