When I started racing bikes, I started racing on the track. I was still a bike messenger, most days working on a fixed-gear track bicycle out in the streets, and a few friends and I made the jump to do our Learn to Ride program together at the Burnaby Velodrome. I started racing track on Friday nights, and I wouldn't start racing on the road until the following summer.
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Another year of a superb sunny week of some of the fastest racing in North America came to town. BC Superweek is our time to shine as we are a local team and these are HUGE opportunities to really get your name out there!
Coming half way through BC Superweek, the Global Relay Gastown Grand Prix gets everyone fired up for an exciting day of racing. It doesn’t matter that you already have three days of racing in your legs – this is a big one!
First of all I can't begin to express how grateful I was to race for the Canadian National Team for the Tour De Beauce UCI 2.2. Thanks to Trek Red Truck p / b Mosaic Homes for all their support and getting me to where I am today.The Tour De Beauce is one of the hardest pro stage races in North America, six hard stages in five days in the hilly, bumpy, and unforgiving roads of the Beauce region of Quebec.
The Robert Cameron Cycling Series, also known as the Victoria Bike Festival, is the only time that most of us get the pleasure of racing on the island all season. Although the format of the race has changed a little in recent years, this season saw it go back to the Dallas Road TT on Friday evening, the incredibly hilly Metchosin Road Race on Sunday, and a criterium around the BC Legislature on Sunday which, given its location, was also rather fittingly the BC Provincial Championships.
The weekend of racing at the Mutual of Enumclaw Stage race kicked off Saturday morning with a flat and fast 10.5km “Merckx” style time trial. The weather was less then cooperative and proceeded to try to drown the riders on course by just raining harder. Luckily the whole team came prepared with Kyle and Dylan both getting in the top five on the stage at 3rd and 5th respectively.
A full Squad of Trek Red Truck guys was set to crush the 2016 Tour De Bloom featuring Brendan, Christian, Craig, Dylan, Geordie, Ty, Mike, and myself. Leavenworth Road Race. 100 km’s of breakaway is a good way to describe this stage. In the first 10 km or so Michael, Dylan, and myself got into a large breakaway of 10 riders.
I'm not going to lie. I was nervous as all hell heading into the Redlands Cycling Classic. Going into April I thought I was better prepared for a season of racing with North America's best talent on two wheels. I put in the work my coach prescribed, I had rested, when I raced in Vancouver's Spring Series I raced both patiently and hard, I had big goals and I wanted more than anything to accomplish them.
As a first year U23 joining the North American pro peloton for the first time, time cuts are always in the back of your mind. Although you want to think about racing to win or get a good placement, evading the time cut quickly becomes your number one concern.
California has been absolutely phenomenal so far. With a pretty successful spring series season I had high hopes of finishing the 2016 Redlands Bicycle Classic. My fitness was all there and things were looking good. Unfortunately the last spring series for me was a long rainy day, which ultimately led to me being off the bike for 11 days with a cold.
Day five of the Redlands Bicycle Classic was the infamous Sunset loop Road Race. After four solid days of racing there were some tired legs in the peleton but for me I felt pretty fresh and ready go.
80,000 screaming, drinking, and jeering fans. 80,000. Within my three months in Europe, I’ve been to a lot of big ‘cross races where spectators were lined shoulder to shoulder around the entire course, but this was at a whole new level.
Trek Red Truck Racing Team is pleased to announce their 2016 roster. Their high performance program is focused on developing young cyclists on and off the bike. TRT wants to build off of last year's successes which saw six team members race on the World Stage (World Juniors, World Championships, Pan Am Championships). Other 2015 highlights included taking multiple podiums at the Sea Otter Classic, National and Provincial championships and team captain, Denise Ramsden, winning the prestigious women’s Gastown Grand Prix. Just as importantly, TRT contributed over $5,000 in scholarships to team riders pursuing post-secondary education.
Once at the race it’s always fun finding the right street to drive down to get to team alley. Of course we got this horribly wrong, pleading with the officials to move barriers as we were stuck on a street dead ending onto the crit course. With the Cat 3 race starting only the ninja-esques back up skills of Geordie saved us. We show parked the van and set up with time to spare.
Sunday morning at 7:30, usually the last thing I'd be up early inflating my tires for is suffering for 30 minutes straight up a mountain. In August every year though, local club Glotman Simpson Cycling puts on a fundraising challenge race, The Cypress Hillclimb Challenge, to raise money for Pancreatic Cancer Research. So last week Craig and I found ourselves up while the air was still cool suiting up to head up the mountain.
Racing BC Superweek is always a highlight of any BC racer's year. Racing with giant crowds in your hometown areas is amazing, having almost the entire Vancouver cycling community out to watch these big crits makes you feel the weight BC and Vancouver racing carries, and getting to throw ourselves in with the 'Big Boys' of North American crit and road racing is a chance to show off our sponsors and ourselves as athletes. That being said, it goes without saying that Superweek is a showcase for our team.
Race reports often seem to contain a lot of "rah rah, go team!" mentality and miss out on the nuances that make cycling the beautiful sport that it is. We sometime joke that to win a bike race you just need to push on the pedals harder than everyone else. There's an element of truth in that, but it captures only a tiny essence of the complex mixture of attributes needed to be a good criterium racer.
The last race in the Tour de Delta is the UCI road race around the suburbs of Tsawassen. This year the course had changed, leaving a few parties confused, but ended up making it more exciting for the spectators as they were able to see the racers pass by the start/finish twice a lap.
Gastown is the biggest race of the year for the Trek - Red Truck team sponsors, and is a key event for most of the riders, allowing them to showcase their sport in front of a hometown crowd of friends, family, and sponsors.
I came into this season with a few goals on my list of races this year. The provincial road race being one of particular importance to me. Really though this race was a carry on of my targets from last year.