With road season coming to an end in July, it made sense for me to put some gravel events on my calendar for the end of the summer. I had a feeling that I would enjoy the atmosphere and style of gravel racing, but little did I know how much fun and suffering could be had at the same time!
Viewing entries in
2022
Happy with my rides here in Tel Aviv at my second Junior Track World Championships. I rode the Team Pursuit, Individual Pursuit, and the Madison. Was looking for more with my 5th, 10th and 8th place but still overall a great experience with a great team. Looking forward to practicing my skills this winter with my Red Truck teammates.
I just returned home from a very successful Pan American Track Cycling Championships in Lima, Peru. I raced in six events: the Team Pursuit, stand-alone Scratch, stand-alone Elimination, Omnium, Madison, and stand-alone Points Race. I originally planned to race four events but due to a teammate getting COVID I took the start line in two additional events. I felt very fortunate to have so many opportunities to race and then apply my learnings into the next race.
This year, the Canadian Road National Championships were held in Edmonton for the first time since 2010. Having nationals a bit closer to home was an exciting prospect, as it meant the team could drive out and have our full set up with team trailer, tents, and trainers at each event.
The Agency Omnium started off this past weekend with a short and fast time trial prologue around the farmlands adjacent to the Victoria airport. The course, an exciting T shaped, pancake flat, 6km prologue that had four major pinch points including two U turns, as well as a few rouge dog walkers and the odd on course parallel parker.
After a successful weekend at road provincials, the team made its way to the Island for the return of the Agency Cycling Festival (formerly known as The Robert Cameron Law cycling series). Friday night’s time trial was a new course; located in North Saanich it was a hop, skip, and a jump from the ferry terminal.
The Milton Nations Cup was a special experience. Nothing can describe the feeling of pride in pulling on a maple leaf skinsuit. However, it was also a very tough experience. My event, the team pursuit, is 4km from a standing start with four riders at speeds over 62kph. The high speeds and close formation mean there is little room for error.
Red Truck Racing had a strong eight man squad to control the race with two key objectives: 1. To maintain the lead in the Agency Omnium for points awarded throughout the weekend (the criterium was the final race of a three day series) with Red Truck riders Daniel, and Alex Fraser-Maraun sitting first and second going into the final stage and, 2. To win the Provincial Championship available to the day’s winner of the criterium.
The first stage of Joe Martin was led with a lot of nervous energy and excitement. It was a particularly hot and windy day and we knew it was going to be a tough one. The women’s peloton rolled out just after noon for a grueling few hours.
The Waterville road race was the first stage of this year’s Tour de Bloom stage race. Typically this wildly windy 90km stage is the last of four. The morning of the race we drove up to the race which is sort of on a plateau above the valley and geared up in the cold.
And that’s a wrap with the Redlands Bicycle Classic, one of the hardest stage races in North America
It was a true pleasure to be back at Redlands Bicycle Classic. Generally speaking, when the teams competes this early in the season, most of us are flying in after a cold winter of training. This year, we were fortunate to have timing on our side, and as such, our Californian team camp began two weeks before the race, allowing us to acclimate to the heat.
This is just the start of our race season so we are so excited to build upon this. This week was very special for me and I cannot wait for what is ahead. I feel like I saw all the hard work I have been putting in this winter shine through this week. I am eager to get back on the race course with these girls in RED!!
Valley of the Sun was my first race weekend with Red Truck and stage race in a while. I was eagerly awaiting the racing and sunshine. Sunday morning was the final stage of the weekend, the downtown crit! The time trial and road race was done, and our tummies were filled with lasagna from the night before.
On a mild, if not overcast, day in Maple Ridge a strong team of Red Truck Racing’s finest lined up at the start of the Thornhill Circuit Race. The previous day Barry Lyster had promised sun, and so there was... sort of. Well, if not the presence of sun, at least the absence of rain. Still, a bite in the air meant the pre-race lathering of layer upon layer of embrocation until our legs gleamed so bright it was as if the sun was out.
While most of our teammates travelled home after Valley of the Sun and some warm weather training, a small but mighty part of the team stayed down south to race the Tucson Bicycle classic: a three day stage race around Tucson, Arizona.
The Valley of the Sun stage race in Phoenix Arizona was our first race of the year as a team together. For me, it was my first test of the year to see how the legs were going into the season. After a long winter mixed with lots of schoolwork in university, as well as quite a bit of time spent on the indoor velodrome, I was excited to get back on the road and do such a cool stage race in such a cool place.
There are many good reasons for a bunch of Canadians to be found in Phoenix, Arizona in February. After two years of little to no travel, neck deep into a seemingly endless grey west coast winter, a trip south was overdue. But the best reason of all to crowd into a house in the desert with eleven of your closest friends is for a bike race