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
This past weekend I lined up for the last race in the Vancouver Island gravel series, the Burnt Bridge Classic. I have done a lot of gravel riding up in the area of the race, but had never done a couple of the climbs in the direction that the race went.
I am returning home from Cali, Columbia after competing at the 2021 Cali Nations Cup where I raced the Team Pursuit, stand alone Elimination, and Madison. I‘m coming home happy and content but hungry for more as I prepare, to hopefully, represent Canada at World Championships in Roubaix, France.
After a couple solid weekends of road racing, I did a bike change and raced my gravel bike on the logging roads of Nanaimo. A little unconventional lead up to road nationals, but a bike race is a bike race, and they are few and far between these days! It was great to get in one more hard effort before flying off to nationals in a week.
In late June I headed off to California to get some solid training miles in the warm hills of Irvine and the surrounding areas. During the two weeks there, I was able to put some serious miles under my belt, as well as a couple of fiery group rides.
Cycling BC Provincials was set to be a great day for racing. With the smoke clearing out the night before, the weather was perfect for a fast day out. As Red Truck’s only junior athlete I had my work cut out for me
This past Sunday was the inaugural Tour de Concord, a criterium set in Metrotown in Burnaby. The event put on by Concord Pacific and Cycling BC brought big crowds, creating a great atmosphere to ride in. The course was fast and technical with lots of corners.
The last weekend of BC racing was set to be rowdy and rough with many of the local road racers showing up for some exciting gravel racing. Saturday's Rock the Ridge was a flat course with lots of rough gravel farm roads and loose dyke paths.
The inaugural Tour de Concord took place on a short, tight and technical 850 meter long course in the centre of Burnaby’s Metrotown. A tight right hander after the start/finish straight led onto a long back straight along Kingsway which proved to the best (and only) place to meaningfully move up before a highly technical series of corners ahead of the finish.
This past Sunday saw the return of the Provincial Championships in the Hatzic Valley. Thankfully the winds shifted, clearing the smoke out of the area, but making the undulating 18.5km loop hot and humid.
After a brief warm-up lap with the entire team, we were quite quickly off to the races. We had a neutral roll-out behind the moto until the top of the hill, but I don't think the driver realized how hard we were having to go.