Thursday, August 19, 2010

Video Artistry

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiBYiF0pRRk

Check it out. Huge props to Bryon Howard for putting this little gem together. You can write the Genie committee c/o the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television at 49 Ontario Street, Suite 501, Toronto, Ontario. M5A 2V1. Seriously, very cool and thanks again for putting it up. You've got me thinking about next year already.

... The Ultimate Countdown ...

What a year. We had 89 unique riders come out for one or more of the evenings, and more volunteers than I can shake a golf club at. A few flat tires, one handlebar doa, but no real incidents or close calls. Most of the damage has been limited to legs and dignity. Of note, Willy Vansevenant made 13 of the four races this year and reigns as the best participant while Tom Kenney, Karel Bergmann, Brad Barron, and Shawna with a w made it out to 12 events. But now for the final results....

After tallying it all up and adjusting for the category moves, we've put it all together. Congrats in Category A to Carlos Bonilla for pulling out a 12 point win over hard charging Rick Courtney who edged 'Mr Cat 3' Harley Borlee by just 2 points.



Category B saw Tom Kenney leg it out in 12 events to best Karel Bergmann who did move up from the Cs after the first series and is surly one of the most improved races of the year. Third is no slouch in Dale Hildebrand who bested quite a few of the usual suspects.



And finally, the Cs were close and well contested with Clarence Poon road racing his way to just a four point win over Brad Barron and 14 points over Willy Vansevenant.


It was such a well contested series and really neat to watch it develop as names moved up and down the standings. Steady seems to really get it done. Anyway, that's a wrap for the series and we'll all bow down before the winners sometime in late September at out wrap up party.

... Well, that was quite cool ...

... what a great evening of racing. Let me start of by saying how much fun it was to help out with and to watch the racing not only last night but all season long. Last night was perfect weather, great scenery and a fitting way to end the series for 2010.
Now on to the eagerly awaited results. The number crunchers have poured over the results, added the seconds, and carried the ones to put it all together.
The As were truly locked in mortal battle. Back and forth and back again. In the end it was Jared Green prevailing with a win in the road race that made the difference ahead of Cody Godlonton who finsehed overall just 6 seconds back. Third was Stuart Black who lurked in the first two events and brought home a win in the final TT. Watch out for that kid. And in fourth just behind was the prologue winner Joel Goralski.
In the B category, consistency paid off for Callum Galbraith as wins in the prologue and TT put him ahead of another steady rider in Karel Bergmann. Third just 10 seconds behind Karel was Tom Kenney ahead of Mike Hoang who triumphed in the road race. Of note, Dale Hildebrand was right in the mix until he managed to actually tear his handlebar in half with his effort. I'm not sure what he eats but I could use some of that raw power.
In the Cs, prologue winner Mike Harrington suffered a terminal flat tire and called it a day so it was up to Willy Vansevenant to steadily plug away (and win the final TT by 19 seconds),ekeing out a 14 second win over Carl Lepointe with road race winner Clarence Poon coming in third.

All in all, it was a great evening and huge props to our fearless volunteers, Bill Harvey, super volunteer Darlene and her daughter Shaughny, Ania Bergmann, and Marshall Netherwood qho all helped at corners and the finished getting the places and times right. Thanks again.
That's a wrap for 2010 as far as the racing goes but not the end of the story. We'll be holding a little wrap-up evening sometime around the third week of September where we'll invite one and all to come out, celebrate, and distribute a little loot to the winners. See ya then.

Monday, August 16, 2010

The end of times ...

... or at least the end of the Wednesday Night Series for 2010. This Wednesday (super Wednesday) it will all come down to one night, three races, one champion. 6:30 at the Priddis meeting spot (22 and 22X) we'll try and get started early as we've got lots to sort out, scores to settle, and legs to hurt.
View Larger Map
It's a micro stage race. We'll start with a ~2km prologue to get warmed up and set the stage for the night. Short, sweet, and just a little taste of what's to come.

View Millarville Prologue in a larger map
The big event is the road race where we'll tear around our Millarville course for just one lap (29km) where time is of the essence.
***sorry, no map. Bill Gates hates me.***
Finally, we'll cap it all off with the race of truth, a 9km time trial back to the meeting spot where the times will be summed, the champions determined, and the glory will be endless.

View Millarville TT in a larger map

We'll use a sum of the times from the three events to crown the champion and for the overall, there will be bonus points awarded (3-2-1) for each of the events. Time to play for all the marbles.
I'll need at least a couple of volunteers for this as we're going to try and get a pile of racing done in a relatively short evening. The weather looks spectacular as usual so it should make for an amazing evening.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Go go Gadget quads ...

... and the records were pounded into submission. Not one of them, all of them and not by a single assailant but by many. A veritable gang of perps. Capitilizing on the great conditions and dodging the mother of all thunderstorms (passing safely to the West) 27 usual suspects showed up to get some racing in at the penultimate race of our 2010 Wednesday Night Series. With points and prizes on the line there was a little incentive to just give 'er and the racers did. I suspect pretty much everyone was looking at a PB and in each category new records were set with 9 total racers besting the old times across the categories.
In the As it was Frank Wolstencroft nipped by 2 seconds by Jared Green, our new record holder on the Woodland course. That's about 2 Wheeties worth in my books. Rick Courtney broke the record early and hung on for third a few seconds behind. Tom Kenney settled his argument with himself and cruised to a new record for the Bs. Karel Bergmann and Rob Armstrong also bested the old record for second and third respectively. Brad Barron did get those last two Wheeties in and edged Carl by 2 seconds for a new course record for the Cs. Mike Harrington was also under the old record for third.

Many thanks to those that came out and especially to uber-Volunteer Darlene for helping to get the race off without a hitch. Next week will be our ever popular micro stage race at the Priddis meeting spot (Hwy22 and 22x). Prologue, road race, time trial in one maniacal evening. I have updated the points and it looks like there is a lot to ride for. Each stage has bonus points for the top three so nothing is impossible. Well, some things are impossible but who really wants to see Tom Cruise in high heels and a lab coat riding a flaming shark in rollerskates down Fifth Avenue while irate Panamanian accountants pelt him with gravy boats.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Pack some heat ...

... we're gunnin' for the record.
Considering the horsepower that we've seen at the Wednesday Night Series races in the last couple of years and the straight forward nature of the course we feel that the course records for the Woodland TT simply will not do. Given that it's August and legs are in shape and the weather conditions look almost ideal, we're offering not only bonus points, but special prizes for whomever can set a new course record in their cateogory.

The Hall of Fame
Category A Jim Janzen, Bicisport 22:29 (2010)
Category B Jay Rankin, Speed Theory 24:38 (2010)
Category C Clarence Poon, Crankamsters 26:30 (2010)
Willy VanSevenant, Highwood 26:30 (2009)

Setup is regular TT so bring the full on gear, I'll leave my measuring tape and calipers at home and all you have to do is lay it all down. This Wednesday the 11th at the Woodland Meeting Spot.
The Woodland meeting spot is located at the junction of Woodland road and highway 1A just west of Bearspaw and before Lochend Road. There is a side road there (Twp Rd 255) off of Woodland where we'll set up. Ample parking is available along 255 and on Nagway road just to the east off Bearspaw Road. And of course, you could always ride out to the site from Calgary. Please try and spread the parking out so that everybody isn't all parked at the same spot in order to keep things low key with respect to the local population.

View Directions to Twp Rd 262 in a larger map
The course starts just west of Woodland Road and heads west along 1A towards Cochrane. After a few kilometres and just before you start to head down the hill into Cochrane we turn right on to Big Hill Road, around the corner and straight north on Range Road 40. A short time thereafter another right turn onto Twp Road 262 heads you back eastwards towards the finish about a kilometre before you get to Lochend road. It's a short ride back to the start from there.

View Directions to Twp Rd 262 in a larger map
As always I'd love to have a few volunteers to keep things safe and orderly so bring a friend, spouse, legal representative, parole officer, or golf buddy. We'll start shortly after 6:30 and I'll run 30s intervals to keep things moving. See ya then.

I'm back and the accounting is done...

Series II wrapped up while I was away so after sifting through the results and making a few adjustments here and there we've tabulated the final standings.

For the As, consistent high finishes allowed Carlos Bonilla to run away with it, followed by Harley Borlee and Trev Williams of Speed Theory who made the most of their appearances. Props to Cody Godlonton of Highwood and Dominic Jutras for rounding out the top five.

In the tight B contest, Karel Bergmann of C4 edged out Tom Kenney by a single point with Paul Rosenberg just behind in third. Andrew Paul and Kailee Boyle finished fourth and fifth respectively.

A lookback at TT results was needed for the Cs to resolve the points tie between Willy VanSevenant and Clarence Poon in the C division with Clarence just literally edging Willy out for the win. Andy Hill just topped Shawna Donaldson and Mark Perry for the rest of the top five spots.


I have also done the mathemagics on the third series as we're at the halfway point (4 races) and I've updated the standing at the right of the page. I have yet to finalize the details for the final stage but as we've done before, bonus points are definitely on line. This week will also include bonus points for record times so bring it on Wednesday.






Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Wednesday Night Construction

An unexpected road construction job could not spoil the fun tonight. A contingency plan for the race was quickly put together and with help from our excellent volunteers – Darlene, Shawna, Darryl and Fast Legs Frank, we were able to run a safe and “fun” (as long as you were a volunteer) race. The A and B group still managed about 2000 feet and the C about 1000 feet of climbing. Tom registered 11% grade at some point. One of the locals pointed out we should not be too far away from our vehicles because of the cougars but I think he was just trying to discourage the city slickers in carbon and spandex from frequenting his playground. It was a perfect evening for racing. Tanya showed up in her Provincial jersey - very nice.

A
1 Carlos Bonilla
2 Rick Courtney
3 Joel Goralski
4 Jared Green
5 Jeff Bell
6 Cody Godlonton - flat

B
1 Dale Hildebrand
2 Callum Galbraith
3 Tom Kenny
4 Andrew Paul
5 Tanya Hopping

C
1 Karl Bergman
2 Carl Lepointe
3 Mike Hoang*
4 Willy VanSevenant
5 Lev Krivitsky
6 Brad Barron
7 Clarence Poon - flat

*started with the A group.

Monday, August 2, 2010

Aug 4 - Something a Little Different

We are doing a 16 km road course loop just south of Highway 22X. It is on quiet rural roads and each lap has 1000 feet of climbing, some of the hills are really steep. The best part - 1 mile of gravel, uphill! I'm thinking 2 or 3 laps for the A and B and one lap for the C group. The C group will avoid the gravel section.

Make sure your bike is in good condition, the downhills are fast.

The gravel section is just north of Township Road 220 on the map and cuts across to shorten the loop a little. The start/finish is same place as the hillclimb in May and some of the loop is on Road to Nepal, but the best stuff is west of there on the quiet roads. I will run the loop clockwise with all right turns.

As for parking - Highway 22X and 37th Street is ok, also there is a little parking near the start/finish. Or ride from town if you can. The start/finish is shown on the map. Go south on 37th Street till you hit Township Road 221, take a right and go past Highway 773 (Road to Nepal) about 1 km. I'll need 2 or 3 volunteers as well.



View WNS Aug 4 in a larger map