.

Monday, July 30, 2012

Super Week for Super Women

Hey Gals,

I just signed up for all the events for Super Week and I didn't see a single other STC woman there.  This will be a great opportunity for anyone looking to start racing  ... why? Here are five reasons not to chicken out:

1) You won't have to race against the pros - the crazy strong women will be in a different category!
2) Big prize money
3) The courses are awesome
4) Our club is putting it on!
5) We get to race as a team at the best event of the year

Okay, that's my pitch.  Oh, and if you aren't pregnant you don't have an excuse.  :)
It would be awesome if we could have a team presence out there.

-Jennifer

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Time to make your friends promise they are bringing their kids!

These will be distributed to a lot of places downtown!

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Proof your team mates were at the Tour!

Darcy has been combing the TV coverage for the last 3 days and let me know when we show up on the TV coverage. I got a hold of the HD version and took some stills. Proof !

Here I am about 6.5km to the Summit of the Tourmalet just a few km after Voeckler had successfully dropped the current Polka-Dot jersey. I didn't have to wait long until one of my heros mashed the pedals by me telling his legs to Shut Up!

The shot of Darcy is a little less clear, but who else would keep their helmet on? So that is proof enough.

Darcy beside Voeckler and Feillu
What are they doing looking left? I am on the right ?!?!

Monday, July 23, 2012

Volunteering for the dB Performance Jason Lapierre Memorial

Team, I have created the positions needed for volunteering for our big race. This software really saves me time, since I can communicate with all volunteers easily after they sign up.

Please go to this website and peruse the positions required to make our race another huge success.

Remember, you can sign up on multiple days and in some cases you can sign up for multiple positions on the same day (example:  course prep & marshal).  You can sign up friends and family, but ensure you use an email and phone number that I can get in touch with them.

There are lots of positions that you can sign up for and still race.

The most stressful positions for me to ensure get filled are the car and driver volunteers for the road race. If we can get those sorted soon, that would be great.


.

Also, ensure that all your kids and all your neighbour's kids and all their school friends are coming down for the Kid's Event and bringing their parents to watch !  Please copy and paste this web address into a mass email to all your family friends with kids under 12 and tell them to be there!
http://albertacyclingsuperweek.com/kids-race/   This race was extremely fun for all the kids involved last year and it would be cool to see it grow. Remember, it is free and crazy fun for the kids involved. 

.

Race numbers are in !!

The time is coming !!

Alberta Cycling Super Week is fast approaching.

I will have the volunteer link up and running very soon, thanks to all those who have emailed me already!
The numbers are high quality and will last no problem for the events.

Get pumped, get extremely pumped!


Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Pump up the Volume, or not.

Saturday looks like a great morning for a ride, and with Super Week looming on the horizon this seems like a good time to put in a nice long ride. Two options.

1) I'm leaving from Eau Claire at 6:00 AM and heading out to Bragg Creek, medium no-drop pace with an ETA of 8:00, time for a quick cuppa. There we will meet up with the folks choosing option 2.

2) Meet at the coffee shop in Bragg at 8:00. Roll out to the end of 66 and back 90 mins to 2hrs again medium pace, a few throw downs but overall NO DROPS. If enough riders show we can split into a few groups but personally I won't be drilling it.

I will be riding back to Calgary from Bragg Creek after another shot of caffeine at about a 2 hr pace. Please come out and enjoy. This ride is also posted in the forum (where it belongs) please post a reply there if you would like to come.

Dave H

Trev on the Tourmalet

Just got word that Trev is hanging out with a bunch of "great French Dudes" between 7 & 9km from the summit of the Tourmalet. He has promised that he will get on TV, so watch for him this morning as you watch the tour live and make sure you PVR the stage a) it's gonna be huge and b) it would be awesome to have "The Doctor" on tape in full tour "luggan mode"

Monday, July 16, 2012

They start race cyclists early here. Make sure to watch Wednesday during the Tourmalet!


I am pretty happy I had my rear camera on when a local youngster passed us on the ascent of a Col two days ago. That wasn't surprising as we kind of expected that here, but the awesome thing was 'The Look' the little dude shot Darcy as he passed. I just kept my head down so I am not sure if I was given the same stare.



We caught up with this little guy in a Cafe later in the day and of course the first thing we did was pick up his bike to try to find some excuse as to his speed. It weighed about the same as Marilyn's Honda Fit, so that wasn't it.

Tomorrow Darcy is riding in cut off jean shorts, thinking it must be the secret to European speed for sure.

Make sure to be watching Wednesday's stage on the Tourmalet!!  We will be there and we WILL get on TV this year. We are trying to convince Harley to completely paint himself red and white and run beside the cyclists for as long as possible.

Also, we were in Limoux for yesterday's Stage 14 start. We got to look closely at most of the Pro's bikes. I was interested in seeing the gear set up they had prepared for that 3.5km section of crazyness. Every rear cassette we looked at had an 11-28 on it. I didn't see any compact cranks, but judging by Wiggens' cadence, he was running something smaller. Also, to give people an idea of how fast they did that section; I did it in 21min and Sagan, Gilbert, Casar, and Sanchez did it in 15min ?!?!

Trev


Saturday, July 14, 2012

Stage 14 Limoux to Foix... crazy 3.5km section!

Team, yesterday we rode the last half of Stage 14 (July 15th stage). We went over the Port de Lers, which is hard, then descended into Massat and started going up the next climb. I thought it would be fun for everyone to get a sense of two very different 'Cat1' climbs.

The Port de Lers is 11.5km and is a typical tough climb. Very similar to Apex (8-10%) in several sections with some Anarchist (6 - 7%) thrown in which allowed us to catch our breath. It is what you would think of as a brutal climb and one that would hurt intensely to race.

We then started the climb out of Massat. On the Stage profile, it says the next climb is 9.3km at an average of 7.9%. That isn't the whole story. It is interesting that cyclists like us watching from Canada read that, and think, 'That is a tough, but doable climb'. But here is the real story:

The climb out of Massat is extremely tame for just over 6km, probably between 3 - 5%. Nothing steep in there at all. The riders will then veer left off the main road and onto a road as wide as the pathways in Fishcreek Park. They can be skinny road because the grade is 18% ?!?!  Yes, that is not a typo ?!?!  Our entire group hit it like a bird hitting a window. I have a 39/25 gear ratio here and was standing the entire time, mashing my gears, willing myself to keep moving. It was CRAZY!!

Make sure to watch this climb tomorrow!!  To give you an idea, I think I was going 8km/hr on a lot of it, and the cycling coach I am here learning under said the racers will do it tomorrow between 15-20km/hr ?!?!?  HOLY COW !

Watch it for sure!

Trev

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Road, Mountain Bike and Cycle-cross Races in Golden, BC

Hello all,

Please visit http://www.kickinghorsecup.com/ to check out some new races for the 2012 season:

  • July 28/29: hill climb and road race
  • August 4: mountain bike enduro
  • September 1/2: Kicking Horse Cross and Double Cross races
I met the organizer of these races last summer at the Jason Lapierre Road Race - Mike and Aleks Macklem. If you are looking for more opportunities to race, it sounds like these will be lots of fun!

Volunteer

Can anyone come out to COP for a half hour tonight to volunteer? Just one will do. 6:45 to 7:30. Thanks.

Monday, July 9, 2012

Note to self...

If you don't want to race with the elite men at Provincials, then make sure to read the ABA registration sign-up instructions more carefully.  Got an email on Saturday from the ABA - the day before Provincial Masters - to inform me that because of how I had registered at the beginning of the season I was not going to be able to race in my age category.  Instead I had to race with the elite men.  Let me just say that 122km of racing with Cat 1/2 guys and U30s (for the record I am O40) in 30 degree weather is a lot different than 100km with guys of the same vintage and more less same calibre.  Wouldn't have made it to the finish line without the hard work of Marc Enter (STC), John Rilett (TCR) and Keith Batstone (RMCC).  Thanks guys and congrats on your results!

Elite Men 122 km Road Race Mass Start  5 Laps  
PL # Name Club Time Diff.
1 175 Robin Clegg Rundle Mountain Cycling Club 3:23:45.1  
2 466 Evan Bayer Aerobic Power Haus 3:23:45.2 +0.1
3 116 Eric Jensen Rundle Mountain Cycling Club 3:23:46.5 +1.3
4 398 Tyson Smith Rundle Mountain Cycling Club 3:23:55.1 +10.0
5 427 Matthew Joss Speed Theory Cycling 3:38:40.0 +14:54.8
6 379 Ryan Campbell Bicisport 3:45:08.0 +21:22.9
DNF 170 James Mollison ProCity Racing *** ***
DNF 319 Ben Bschaden Edmonton Road & Track Club *** ***
DNF 465 Patrick Brick Redbike *** ***
DNF 482 Stephen Andrichuk Cyclemeisters/Bow Cycle *** ***
DNF 607 Lampros Antoniou Speed Theory Cycling *** ***
DNS 112 Andrew Cullingham Synergy Racing *** ***

Friday, July 6, 2012

WNS Alley Cat July 11

Posted over on the WNS blog are details on next weeks "timed training ride" at COP. Let me know what you think. One volunteer should do it to help with the timing. Pre-registration requested so we don't look too organized at the start line.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Weeklong Canadian UCI stage race to debut in 2013


http://velonews.competitor.com/2012/07/news/weeklong-canadian-uci-stage-race-to-debut-in-2013_227607

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Thursday Night Ride - Dan is away

Everyone,

I will not be able to ride tomorrow night. Sorry for the late notice. Taking the kids away for the weekend to see extended family in Saskatchewan.

Have a great training weekend and good luck to Michael Godfrey racing in Edmonton, ride like hell dude!

Dan

Alberta Cycling Super Week website LIVE !

The website dedicated to Alberta's best 10 day period (not the Calgary Stampede) is LIVE. Special thanks to Thomas for putting all three club's information into one tidy, good looking package.

Visit the Alberta Cycling Super Week's website and register today!

.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

STC welcomes new title sponsor to the Jason Lapierre Memorial!

STC is proud to announce dB Performance has joined with our team to be the title sponsor of the Jason Lapierre Memorial Stage Race!


dB Performance is a Calgary-based software company that provides advanced Wi-Fi roaming connectivity for smartphones and other mobile devices. dB Performance enables a reliable and secure Wi-Fi connection for your device at home, office and public hotspot locations.

This is great news at the right time as we're starting to lock in several of the financial obligations associated with hosting such a high profile event. Thank you dB Performance.

Our race is now known as the dB Performance Jason Lapierre Memorial.


The dB Performance Jason Lapierre Memorial is also the last 3 stages of the 8-stage Alberta Cycling Super Week Stage Race. This race involves 3 clubs working together to provide Western Canadian (and Northwestern American) cyclists something truly special.

Monday, July 2, 2012

Great White North Half Ironman July 1st, 2012

Not to clutter our cycling website with Tri stuff, but quite a few teammates headed up to Stoney Plain on the weekend to take part in Western Canada's largest half Ironman, the Great White North Half Ironman.

Michael Waldhuber, Fast Legs Frank Woolstencroft, Mike 'Shiv' Healy, Tanya Saloman, Wendy Kimmel, Cheryl Oga, Tessa Pagalilauan, me and team mate alumi Kyle and Kelly Marcotte.

Chris Hooper, and Jared were there cheering, which was great.

I'll try to get a few shots of the cycling portion, but they would have been tough to take in the rain, high winds, and occasional hail storm. It was a wet affair and no jaunts to any harbours like Darryl's tri, but we did get to swim in a lake completely composed of Canadian Goose poop, which was perfect since it was July 1st!

.


Sunday, July 1, 2012

Epic Dartmouth

This is a new race. They are building an excellent triathlon. You can pick from three races: Aquaman is an Ironman swim followed by an Ironman bike, Epic is an Ironman swim, Ironman bike, half-marathon, Iron is a full Ironman. The family Parry are starting a 2 week vacation, so the Aquaman was a great Ironman training day.  The swim was held in Lake Banook, water temperature was 20 degrees - everyone who raced Wasa needs to be jealous of that. The bike went out toward the Stanfield airport and then wound it's way toward Musquoidobit Harbour. That's right, Musquoidobit Harbour. Be jealous of that too.  I had my usual 1:10 Ironman swim, and a leisurely 6 minute transition. Training day. The bike started fast, and I started passing people straight away. I passed 24 people by the halfway point (90 km), made the turn and discovered what an offshore wind is, but I was in 5th place overall! Training day. The way back was less eventful, but away harder. I managed to get by 1 more person with 40 km to go, but my feet were on fire and my legs were fried. I followed one more guy in, varying from about 50 to 400 m back. Until. With about 2 km to go I decided to spend the rest of my energy, passed Denis and yelled Let's Go. I didn't look back. There were 3 bikes in transition when I finished. Two were from teams, so I can let that go. One was in my rack. Bummer. And yet ... The results have me in first place. FIRST PLACE! Yes, it's a small race, and yes, I got beaten by two dudes from teams. Maybe you weren't reading closely enough. FIRST PLACE! Training day. So awesome.

Full Calendar