Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Provincial Cross - Brian Kullman Memorial - Calgary

Speed Theory Club put on Provincial cross champs in Calgary. The course was designed by Keith Bayley who sets trademark courses for good technical fun. (awesome photos courtesy R. Haskell)
Location was in the McKay schoolyard tucked underneath the colourful children's hospital with great views of the Edworthy Park hillside. Small but hearty turn-out for a spectacular warm autumn day. The winds made sure to pick up just in time for the Women's start.
Two dismounts for most riders that couldn't power up a hugely steep incline and the other was a long staircase. I was able to attack the stairs 2-steps/1-step. The height-advantaged men racers went 2x2 impressively fast. After a few swooping sections, the sandpit was all of 5 feet in length at the base of an off-camber steep descent. Easy to plough thru.
It was impressive to watch the men power up the steep incline cleanly, or battle each other when they toppled over each other!
Off the start (I am still shocked at how fast we go) I attempted to hang onto cross specialist Pepper's wheel for all of 400m(?). Fortunately, all the corners were wide and swooping so passing wasn't a concern.
I was breathing so hard thinking it must be due to my two past sleepless nights spending time with my cat recovering from surgery (kept bumping into the walls with the conehead!). I could see Shantel and Bridget very close behind and realized we all had similar positions from races past.














After two breathless loops, I chilled at a pace I could breathe and work the technical sections well. Once thru the long grassy straight sections, it was a fun fun course with full-on action!

nice legs shot! photo - R. Haskell

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Beans 'n' Barley Cross - Calgary

First race was the Sport/Citizen race with alot of first time riders including -Dilbert-. The course had nice swoopy sections, with little technical spots, one set of barriers, a couple dismounts and some open fast spots.
stolen photo from United Cycle blogsite - thanks!
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Dilbert raced in flat pedals with work shoes i.e. not clipped in! Dogbert barked commands the whole time. It wasn't easy with Dilbert's big head all mushed into the cute flower helmet and his pants falling down. Dilbert looked pretty unravelled by the end. His pocket protector and 4 coloured pens stayed intact! The inserted Sportiva spikes in the shoes helped for the hike-a-bike uphills... with even more hills to climb than normal with loss of power of not being clipped in. It was awesome he didn't get lapped! and wasn't last. It helped to have a few downhill bikers in the race.
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Proof that Dilbert raced!
Officially Dilbert has no last name. Entered him with his cartoon creator's last name Adams.
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Unknowingly, Darcy got into the role of cyclocross racer support as I had 20 minutes to switch pedals on my bike, unzip-tie Dogbert from my cables --carefully--, and get into my race gear. Darcy had previous experience being my support for a Sea2summit adventure race so was used to my short chirpy commands. Thanks bud!
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With the adrenaline rush of adventure racing transitions, I was super pumped for my race. Off the start I was glued to Mical's wheel. It was quite fun to hang and tuck behind from the wind.
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Mical's Shadow
photo - Darcy Reynard
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Shantel descending into singletrack with the blinding sun
photo - Darcy Reynard
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Witch Alana powering with the hat in the wind
photo - Darcy Reynard
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Skeleton Mical
photo - Darcy Reynard
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Marg just hanging on
photo - Darcy Reynard
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Into my 3rd lap, I was overly aggressive on the fast mountainbike-like descent cornering hard on grass and leaves and almost had a nice washout. Saved it... then almost washed out on the other side... saved it... caught up to Mical and laughed. Moments later, I had a huge energy depletion... that was too close of a call... and got gapped. Chilled, rested up then put another effort into catching back up to Mical. All in all, lots of fun!
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Annie, Marg, Mical, Shantel
photo - United Cycle blogsite

Roving Race Announcer

Dilbert blending in with the fans enjoying the chili and hanging out at the firepit