Wilmington-Whiteface 100K MTB

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Pics and video from the Wilmington-Whiteface 100K MTB enduro, featuring Janine, Charlie, Gerald, and Hans.


Clarence Rockland Classic

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Clarence-Rockland was some rock'em sock 'em bike racing. Gravel roads, rough tarmac, windy, and fast. Check out the wicked pics below thanks to Zara: https://www.flickr.com/photos/retrospark

We had a good Nine2FivePro turnout for a beauty day in the saddle. Jake, Hans, Warren, Doug, Greyburns, Gerald, Michael, Jeff...oh man I'm sure I'm going to forget somebody. But kudos to all who came out to rock Rockland.

Here's links to some of the Nine2FivePro highlights:

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Tour of the Battenkill 2015

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Another yearly pilgrimage to Battenkill. It was a sunny day, which was nice since the organizers had a new course for us to take on. Still taking on much of the same roads, but with a few changes. Unsurprisingly, the pictures don't seem to have much to do with bikes. Oh well....BBQ...yum.

The racing was hard like usual. Early break went in the Senior 2 race, and not quite confident to ride all day in a break Charlie and Andrew chilled out in the pack. Gerald rode the Master 40 race with a couple heroes breaking away, flatting, and then breaking away. Gmon rode in a group and made it to the finish still smiling.

Then it was time for gnom gnoms and to replenish our morale.

Calabogie Classic '15

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Darrell had a rough go at Calabogie this year, getting involved in a crash early on and attempting a brief chase. But his trip to the Calabogie Speedway wasn't all for naught. He took a bunch of pics while he was there.

It was a good day out for the team. Greg rocked a top-10 in the Elite race with a good sprint and grabbed 7th place. Graham Page rode around comfy in the Elite 3 race. Caroline had her best pack race thanks to all the hard work she put in throughout the winter. He ride there was a sign of even better things to come.

Charlie wimped out with his sore legs from racing Tour of the Battenkill the day before.

Day 3: National Track Championships

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Day 3 of Track Nationals included a 1km time trial for me, while Hans raced in the Master B Scratch Race and Points Race. My time trial brought to light my lack of starting power; not a huge surprise, but definitely a huge room for improvement. It is a tall ask to get all your effort out over such a short race. There is a big mental game to it.

I had a good warm-up, and was psyched to race it and in the end I posted a time of 1:08. Pretty bad time compared to the rest of the field, but a benchmark nonetheless to work from. A key takeaway is the need to work on standing acceleration all around the banking. With more time on the track my comfort level with this will improve. The kilo wrapped up my racing for the weekend, but I still got on the track for the open training sessions to get more track time in.

Hans had a program of the Master B Scratch Race and Points Race. He took a different tactical approach to both races, going on the attack in the Scratch Race from a long way out. It was a valiant effort, but there wasn't quite enough hesitation behind for him to go the distance. In the points race he was more conservative, looking comfortable in the bunch despite the accelerations, and he finished off the race in the bunch, pretty pumped with his race and looking forward to more.


Track Nationals Pursuit Gallery

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Friend and ace photographer Brian McFadzen caught a few picks from my pursuit effort on Day 2. This was the first time I rode with a double-disc setup. Yes, it is awesome. The photos turned out really nice, and on top of that they provide a good bit of info to analyze in order to adjust my position for improved aerodynamics. This race was also the first time I used the starting gate. It's no biggie. 

-Charlie


Day 2: 2014 National Track Championships

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Day 2 at the National Track Championships began with two heats of qualification for the men's Omnium. I did not manage to qualify for more pain. So my menu of pain includes only the individual pursuit and the kilo (1 kilometre time trial) as those events, while included in the Omnium competition, are also their own National Championship events.

The individual pursuit was also included on Day 2, so after a long break from the running of the Omnium qualification, I got kitted up again to warm-up in preparation for the individual pursuit; 16 laps of the 250meter track, or 4km as fast as you can go. Given this is my first foray into track racing (since '97), I took a conservative approach with regards to my goals and aimed for an average speed of 47km/hr.

Trackside, I had Anthony giving me an indication of how on schedule I was. Initially I started slow, which was part of the plan, and then gradually ramped up the speed. Once I received indication that I was 5 seconds ahead of schedule, I made to sure to conserve some gas for the last few laps, as it is a common mistake in pursuit racing to overcook your effort to early. Overall, the strategy paid off, and I finished off the race a few seconds ahead of schedule with a time of 5:01.

Afterwards I felt like I could have gone faster, and this was a good chance to set a benchmark from which to work from. I'm excited to see what I can get out of myself if I dedicate some time to pursuit specific training, and get more track time to practice riding pursuit efforts. But for now, there is still one more race to do this weekend. The kilometre time trial! Not really an event that suits me, but I'll give it my best go.

-Charlie

Day 1: 2014 National Track Championships

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Day 1 at the National Track Championships worked out well for Nine2FivePro. After an early start from the Nations Capital, Hans had a smooth drive down to Milton in time to get some training laps in on the newly minted velodrome. He had his oldie goldie track bike, a Hugh Porter whipping around the banking like it was old hat.

Anthony, Kyle, and myself had driven down the day previous, and so only had to get some breakfast and then head over to the track. After arriving at the velodrome, we stood in line to get our accreditation, basically hall passes to get to the infield.

Once on the infield, the first order of business was testing my pursuit bike setup, one to get used to riding the banking in the aero-position, and two, to figure out the gearing. After a few laps I was comfy riding in the tuck position, and put in a few fast laps using a 52x13 (or 105.2 inches in trackie-speak). It's a big gear, but the feeling is I should be able to roll it for the 4km pursuit, and going to a smaller gear will result in a cadence that is too high. Time will tell whether this logic runs true. One thing is certain about the pursuit however; it's going to hurt.

Before that however, I have to qualify just to get into the Omnium event, as there are 30 riders registered, and the track has a limit of 24 racers at a time. So, as if six races weren't enough, they are being front-loaded with 2 heats of qualification points races including 15 riders, where 3 riders from each heat will not move on to compete in the full Omnium. No pressure. And what a thing to qualify for...."Hey Mom, I qualified!"....."For what son!?"....."More pain!"...."Congratulations???..."

Anthony was as helpful as ever getting bikes setup and taking care of logistics. He got the details at the managers meeting after the training session to keep us riders in the know. And his son Kyle was on the infield, being his inquisitive self, a good reminder to take in the experience, and really appreciate how cool it is that Ontario now has a World Class Indoor Velodrome! What!!!???

But there is still racing to do, so on that note, it's time to shut down for the night to recharge the batteries for tomorrow's racing.

-Charlie