I have, admittedly, been terrible at posting this month...I think I did this towards the end of mountain bike season as well--the racing and working fatigue tackles me and drags me away from the computer (and oh, the bike maintenance!). The last few weeks have been filled by bike makeovers from geared to single speed, then back to geared....but on some fancy new components from Shimano!
First off, the Surrey Bike Park BC Cup. This race was put on by Team Peninsula Cycles. The venue was relatively small, but they did an awesome job using all the space they could to make a twisty, off camber, technical race course with some of the best "flow" of the season--they even inadvertently added in flying softballs that were landing on the course from the adjoining bear league! This race was my best race of the year, I felt great from the whistle and rode a really technically sound race. Melanie Vaugn and I chased Kelly Jones for most of the race until finally I tried to bridge to Kelly. I didn't make it, but felt great about the ride! Drew battled it out with Kevin Calhoun until the final lap when he rode in for the win!
We booted it back to the ferry and home and, taking advantage of the workstands at Straight Up Cycles we transformed our bikes into Single Speeds to practice for Single Speed World Championships at the Fletcher's Farm Island Cup on Sunday (the next day). Drew decked his bike out with moustache bars and I kept mine traditional with drop bars and Shimano R600 brake levers.
The next day's race was held just outside of Parksville at a farm. The course is technical with a gross, peanut-buttery mud field, a mud hole that threatens to swallow your front wheel on every lap, and a creek crossing that, in years past, has been above BB height. Luckily this year the field was mostly rideable (but the switchback in it was slow and painful), the creek was just a trickle, and the sinkhole kept its hands off of my front wheel (though others were less lucky). Off the gun we ran up the field on the course, zigging and zagging....a Le Mans start--cyclists are typically not the prettiest runners out there. When I got to my bike, the fun began, I spun out anywhere that was flat or mild descent, and any climbs or mud (i.e. the whole course) were a grunt. The real fun was in the technical where I forced myself to ride obstacles faster than normal knowing that momentum was going to be my only friend in the game. Midway through the race, with a mud-covered face, I informed Drew how much I was suffering...but loving every minute of it. By the end of the race I came 4th against all the geared girls, but had a blast and learned a bit about my technical skill. Drew, per his usual, showed me up as he single-speeded his way to the finish in first place, comfortably in front of the rest of the geared guys.
I spent the rest of the week trying to recover my blown legs and back, and then on Friday we headed down to Portland for SSCXWC08. Saturday morning we rolled out of bed, got breakfast, and headed to the Chris King factory to meet for the time-trial qualifier for the race on Sunday--it was pouring rain! Once there we checked in, figured out our start times, and got ready to go. As we were riding to the ultra-secret TT course Drew and I started recognizing where we were...we had ridden there last March on our vacation in Portland. The course was a hill climb followed by a technical mountain bike-ish descent. The starts were 15 seconds apart, off my start I concentrated on the girl in front of me and reeled her in, over the 15 minute time trial I caught around 8 girls, some on the climb, some on the descent, and felt great...although the legs were burning! According to the results, I finished the time trial in 3rd behind Sue Butler and Emily VanMeter, but several race reports had me finishing up in 2nd, either one was a great way to start the weekend! Drew finished off the TT in 2nd to Kevin Hulick and Tyler Trace finished up in 14th.
That night we headed to the Vanilla Bicycles workshop, which is as tasteful as the bikes, simple, understated, but inviting. Walking around checking out all the well-spec'd bikes, Drew mentioned several times "I want one of these." After Vanilla we headed out on the town and ended up having a bowling competition at The Grand Central Lanes where they have great food and servers for every lane. Not a family-friendly venue, but great fun. Drew and Nick showed their skills while Tyler and I battled it out for 3rd place. Nick and Drew tied by the end of the night, with me settling into 3rd (seems to be a pattern). A bowl-off between Nick and Drew will be soon to come! (USGP's?)
The next day we lazed around and then headed to the race. It started off with a (I'm ripping this comparison off from someone else's blog...but it really is appropriate) Braveheart starting line of people 70 wide and 3 deep. The women were supposed to start 30 seconds after the men, but at the gun everyone went. After 50 feet it went from football-field wide to freight-elevator narrow and quickly (for those of us mid-pack) became a parade of sorts. I used my lack of height and sobriety to stealthily pick my way through the pack, over the barriers, onto my bike...then through the foam wall....yes, foam wall....we blew through that every lap hoping that there was no downed riders or small children on the other side. After a corner and a brief straight-away we were headed up a run-up with a triple barriers (I would hate these by the end) and, at the top, the Yakima windmill with 4 blades. The crowd controlled the blades and you had to time your run through the windmill perfectly or risk getting hit. Into a slippery off-camber corner, a straight-away, more mud, more off camber, and back to the beginning. The course was very different from anything we see in BC, but really fun and fast. My gearing was a little on the light side and I was spinning out all over the place, but was riding the muddy, off camber sections well. I rode just behind Sue Butler and Wendy Williams for the first 2 laps, but lost them on one of the straight-aways. I didn't get passed by another girl, but battled it out with a few different guys, some better at technical elements, some more fit/bigger gears. The results had me listed as 19th, but next to some girls I lapped...so I am guessing that in the confusion of people at the race, one of my laps got missed--but the race was all for fun!
After finishing I found out that Drew won--which means he gets his tattoo, the golden speedo, and a SpeedVagen frame from Vanilla. He gave a brief interview and geography lesson when he informed people that Canada "is a small republic above the U.S." and then retreated to congrats from the guys he was racing around.
I've posted pictures on my Facebook, but here is a link to one of the better collections from the weekend:
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