Arizona Video Clips

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A few video clips from my first couple rides in Arizona. Short clips are from a ride up and over Usery pass and back into town. Longer clips are from an out and back on Apache Trail to end of the pavement and a bit of gravel. Enjoy...

-Charlie

Tour of the Catskills

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This years Tour of the Catskills adventure could likely be described as our most civilized implementation ever. Thanks to Greyburns' organization, we had a big comfy house to stay in over the weekend. We had a hot tub, nice deck with a BBQ, lots of space to veg out, and even a foosball table!

We were rollin as a big crew, which included Me, Andrew, Gerald, Sam, JRoc, Nigel, and Duncan, with his newly minted Passport on his first trip to the US.

First up was the stage one 12mile time trial. After we rolled into Hunter to pick up our race numbers, we had some time to fuel up and pin on numbers, with Nigel coming up with the most novel number pinning approach.  The shakedown from the ITT was that I finished up 4th, just off the podium (doh!), Andrew finished a couple minutes behind me, and the rest of the gang spread out through the bottom half of the riders.

Next up was a 90km stage taking in a couple really tough climbs, including the infamous Airport Road Climb, with pitches upwards of 20%. About 5km before starting the first climb of the day, my rear tire punctured. Crap! Andrew rallied the troops, and en masse, the team stopped for me like we were pros. Duncan gave me his rear wheel, and we got going again, chasing as a team to try to catch the pack. Unfortunately, we ran out of road before we hit the first climb, and when we hit the climb we saw the carnage of what the climb had done. Groups spread out all over the road, with the leaders out of sight.

Andrew and I spent the rest of the stage chasing, not giving up, and in the end kept the gap to the winners pretty reasonable, at five-and-a-half minutes. The rest of the group survived the stage, with Gerald and Sam riding together and passing dropped riders, and Duncan grovelling home, being over-geared on the spare wheel he had received from neutral support. Nevertheless, he was in good spirits, having done his part for the team.

The dinner that night probably would have had PETA banging down our doors if they knew what was going on. Ribs, chicken, burgers were on the menu....I'm sure there were some carbs in there somewhere!?!? Oh yeah, JRoc had made a delicious pasta salad. After pigging out like cavemen, it was time for a long night of chillin', watching episode after episode of Gold Rush.

After the finish of road race numero one, and having been scared by the steep climbs, we had made our way to the bike shop down the road from the start/finish to grab some new cassettes with easier gears to make sure we weren't totally screwed for the next day's crazy finishing climb, Devil's Kitchen.

The second road race saw Nigel and I go off the front early. After flatting the day before I was keen to try something crazy to make up lost time. Nigel had been directed off course the day before and was keen to make amends for that. We found ourselves at the front of the bunch about 10km in. Nigel ask if I wanted to go. I nodded, he accelerated, and with a hard push we got ourselves a gap.

For the next 10km or so, Nigel and I worked together to build our gap, which got out to a maximum of 45 seconds. After awhile Nigel found his legs hurting, his gears skipping and encouraged me to continue on without him. I made it over the top of the first KOM solo, but the long descent off of it allowed the group to get back to me.

In the pack I started my recovery mode. There I found the rest of the guys, who were also in conserve mode in anticipation of the final climb. Andrew was always well placed near the front of the bunch. And Sam, Nigel, and Duncan were all looking comfortable sitting in the wheels. Unfortunately our team was not without any mechanical troubles this day, as Gerald had a mishap that was causing havoc with his front derailleur; not an acceptable situation when touring the Catskills.

On to the final climb, and Andrew's conservation strategy began to pay off. The rest of the guys climbed past me as I began to pay for my earlier efforts, having not had the prescribed dose of hero biscuits that morning. Andrew hung tough near the front of the race going over the top, put himself into a good position for the sprint, and took out a 6th place on the stage, which is an awesome result on such a challenging parcours.

Once I finally dragged my carcass over the climb, Duncan paced me to the finish. I was lucky to have his wheel to follow. But we weren't out of challenges yet. Over the top, a storm started, the temperature dropped, and rain and hail came falling down on us. Not fun. Gerald made his way to the finish solo, having suffered an early mechanical. We made our way back to the house to warm-up and celebrate another Catskills wrapped up.

Luckily, Greyburns' wisdom paid dividends this year, as he booked our accommodations for an extra night. So there was no need to pack up and drive home after finishing the brutal stage. Not only that, we could have a civilized brunch the next morning before heading home.  

A very well executed Tour of the Catskills! Thanks to the crew for all the fun. See you all there next year. 

2013 Provincial Road Race Championships

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By Charlie: 

The Provincial Road Race Championships were held on Sunday July 28th, hosted by Spinsanity Cycles in the Holland Marsh area. The course was a challenging 12km circuit with a long climb that crested only a few hundred meters from the finish. 

Greg and I headed down to Cambray on Saturday to spend the night at my folk's place, before heading to the race the next day. After a civilized Saturday BBQ dinner and a relaxed Sunday morning with lots of coffee and bagels, we headed off to the race for our 2pm start with plenty of good wishes for a good race.

Once we were close to the race, we stopped for another bathroom break, and grabbed a couple of espressos....double shots at that. In hindsight this extra dose of caffeine may have been a mistake, but at the time we thought it was a stroke of genius...mostly for the java deliciousness than the extra kick.

Signed in, kitted up and on the start line, off we went with 108km of racing ahead of us. Our Master A field was a relatively small one, but I expected that those who showed up to have some legs. And I was right. Greg and I went in with a two-pronged strategy, that I would seek out the breaks, and he would get my assistance in the sprint if it came down to a group gallop for the line. 

Trying to set the tone of the race, I pushed the pace on the climb the first time up, and made a couple of attacks early on throughout the first 2 laps. This strategy worked, as it brought out the riders who wanted to get out front. On the 3rd lap, Peter Mogg of Team T1c London Honda-Village went off on a solo break. Given the strength he showed to hang out there on his own for a whole lap, I thought he would make a good partner in a break.

The next time up the climb, Greg set a hard tempo, making some legs hurt and stringing out the field. I got a sense that it was a good time to attempt to bridge to Peter, as he was still hanging tough out front. As we crested the climb I attacked out of the pack, and soloed across.

Once I made it across, I went to the front for a few km to establish the gap, and let Pete recover a bit from his solo efforts. Not long after we starting working together, doing equal work in the wind, and keeping the pace high. For the first couple laps of our break, the pack was organized in their chase, and kept our gap around 1 to 2 minutes. After that, our next time checks were 3, and then 5 minutes. It was clear that the battle for the Provincial Champions jersey would be between us.

Despite our large gap, we kept up our efforts all the way to the end.  I was keen not to show much weakness, despite the feeling that my left hamstring was ready to cramp up. Little did I know, Greg was suffering from cramping too, and we attributed our cramping to our over-indulgence in our black gold.

Knowing I was a bit vulnerable, my strategy was to feign strength to avoid being attacked, and then bring the race down to a sprint, as the sprint was a bit downhill off of an overpass over the 400 hwy. Having made it to the bottom of the climb, Pete was expecting me to attack. I took the front position briefly to keep up appearances, but then let off to let Pete lead. He made some strong accelerations on the climb, and I had to ride carefully to stay close but not cramp my leg.

Over the top of the climb, we played some cat and mouse, as we jockeyed for position, coming almost to a standstill at times. But I was sure to keep the back position so I could get the jump in the sprint. Into the last 200 meters, and Peter opened up the sprint. Off the slight downhill of the overpass, I accelerated past for the win. It was just enough, as right after the finish my left hammy locked up in a cramp. Job done and a Provincial Championship won!

Thanks to Greg for a fun road trip! He kept his name on the finishers list with a 10th place. And kudos to Pete Mogg for a long breakaway and a good battle!

 

Coupe des Ameriques

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By Charlie:

Participated in the Masters stage race "Coupe des Ameriques" in Sutton, Quebec from July 5th to 7th. Pretty awesome race courses, with great organization and volunteers.

Hill climb in torrential rain on Friday evening, followed by morning time trial and afternoon circuit race on Saturday afternoon. Then it all wrapped up with a 108km road race finishing up the climb to the Sutton ski area. Finished up 8th overall after hanging tough on the climbs and doing a decent time trial. Check out the pics!

Mississippi Mills Grand Prix

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The team rode in the Mississippi Mils Grand Prix, held from June 7th to June 9th. The race was hosted by Ride with Rendall, and it consisted of four stages: a Friday evening road race, Saturday morning time trial, Saturday afternoon criterium, and a final 170km road race on Sunday. 

We had a big crew participating, both on the bikes and as support. On the start line were Doug, Andrew, Greg B, Gerald, Marc, myself (Charlie), and a guest rider, Brandon Spencer (Mt. Borah/Minerva Design Cycling Team). As support, we had Hans as DS, whose insight and enthusiasm was invaluable all weekend. And on Sunday, Duncan joined Hans in the team car to help pass bottles, advice, and tend to mechanicals.

As per the team plan, Gerald and Brandon followed moves early in the Friday road race, ensuring the team didn't miss out on any critical breaks. Doug escaped in a 3 man move just after an intermediate sprint. The lull in pace was enough for the 3 riders to get away, and never be seen until after the finish. Behind, Charlie bridged to a dangerous chase group, policing the move to ensure Doug gained as much time as possible.

The time trial the next morning saw good rides from everyone on the team. Doug rode a strong time trial to keep himself up in the overall standing, putting himself into 2nd place overall going into the afternoon criterium.

The criterium, which took place in Almonte, consisted of a 9 corner circuit, with an uphill rise to the finish; a challenging course to say the least. The Stevens team were keen to take advantage of the technical circuit, and went on the offensive right away, putting two guys into a breakaway that would eventually lap the field. As a team, we were on the ropes for most of this one, but came out relatively unscathed, with Doug only dropping one spot on GC due to the Stevens' breakaway.

For the Sunday road race, we went into the race with a similar game plan to Friday's road race. Be attentive early, watch for moves, but not be too aggressive ourselves. With Doug sitting 3rd overall, there was minimal responsibility on the team's shoulders to chase moves. Mid-race saw the team come to the front to close down a move by a Stevens rider, who threatened Doug's position. But we dodged a bullet with that one, as the rider out front suffered a flat bringing him back into the pack, and we were able to call our guys off the front.

However, on the last lap, another dangerous move went away, threatening both the leader's jersey of Aaron Fillion, as well as Doug's 3rd spot. I went to the front and closed the gap significantly. Unfortunately, this allowed a teammate of the one of the breakaway riders to join the move out front. Brandon and I joined forces with Aaron, to chase the move, but with an extra rider to power the break, and only 20km left of the race, we never managed to bring back the escapees.

After the final shakedown, Doug finished up an awesome 4th overall, while I clung to the pack after my chase efforts to hang on to a top-ten overall in 9th. It was an awesome team effort from all the guys. The small things really contributed a lot, like Andrew and Greg bringing up bottles, Duncan and Hans providing race status, and Brandon staying at the front to follow small moves so Doug didn't have to. I'd say we saw some of the best racing by the team at this one.

Thanks goes out to Ride with Rendall for hosting a great event. I think we'll see another contingent of Nine2FivePros at Mississippi Mills next year!

Sam Scores a Podium at Niagara Classic

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Newest member of the team, Sam O'Donnell scored a podium on the weekend in the E4 race at the Niagara Classic road race. ​He managed to take 2nd place in the bunch sprint. Here's a report from Sam on how things went down:

Sam in the 2nd spot on the podium.

For the short period of time that I've been racing the Niagara classic has been one of my favourite races. The course had some changes this year from the previous editions: the start/finish is now located on Metler drive. So, on the last lap, instead of finishing on the hill, you take a left hand corner about half-way down Effingham dr before the steep part of the climb. About 500m after that corner was the finish. Right after the corner was a slight downhill of 2-3% or so, and then a ramp of 2-4% for 400m. 

On the first lap a guy rode away, caught the M3's and tried to pass them. It was pretty funny when the group decided to bring him back in the second lap and you could see him sitting at the front of the M3 pack! 

After we caught and passed the M3's (which entailed a bit of confusion), the pace of the E4 pack slowed down quite a bit, and the next lap or so we were caught by the M3's. It was pretty hilarious. Everyone was getting worked up about it and a couple of the guys from our category thought it would be a good time to launch an offensive move! Of course they were called back by the commissaries and we were told to separate the groups, etc. 

Throughout the race, someone would drive the pace over the top of the climb and I would follow, and put in a few pulls at the bottom of the descent. But, there was no real break away, just people being dropped. I never really felt like I was in difficulty in this race for an extended period of time. I would certainly be feeling it over the top of the climb, but other than that I felt good. Though, the final 2 or 3 km were pretty hard, of course...

On the final time up the climb (last lap), the pace was driven by the eventual winner. I of course followed, 2 wheels back, and on the backside of the course we had about 9 guys. A rotation was started but it seemed kind of half-hearted (I was far from feeling like I was doing a TT effort). More riders latched on and eventually the rotation stopped. I went onto the front through the S corner and for the last 6-7km really focused on positioning and marking the guys in the race I knew would be looking to win. 

Through the twisty downhill I stayed pretty close to the front, but I was a little far back (7-10th) when we went through the corner at the bottom I stayed on the yellow line side and moved up to about 5th wheel or so and stayed behind the guy I marked at the Lake of Bays (I had a chat with him earlier, jokingly, about getting a good leadout from him this time... He said he'd be going for it so he'd be a good one to follow!) he ended up winning this race. We went pretty hard up the little ramp after the 2nd last corner; a guy attacked up it but didn't get much of a gap. I held my position and shortly before the final corner someone jumped (he finished 4th), the guy who won followed, and I followed him. We went through the corner and I lost the wheel in front pretty badly... About 2-3 bike lengths opened up. I chased and chased. The guy who jumped first faded, and the guy behind him looked back and then sprinted by him. I passed the guy who jumped first and kept sprinting but couldn't close the gap on the winner. Finished a couple bike lengths behind him.

Here's a nice video of the finish from the Beaches Cycling Club:

Lake of Bays Road Race

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Last weekend I headed down to Huntsville for the Lake of Bays Road Race, organized by Bruce Bird of the Wheels of Bloor club. I was looking forward to riding a new course, and one that on paper looked pretty epic, with the course being made up of a large loop on both open highways and more windy back roads.

Before making it to the race though, I stayed at my folk's place in Cambray so I would only have to travel a couple hours to the race on Sunday morning. After a smooth drive down highway 7, I made it to Cambray where my Dad was putting the finishing touches on a bike tune-up in the shop. After he finished up in the shop we headed out for a bit of a spin to work out the kinks after my long drive and his long day in the shop.​

Sunday morning I woke to coolish temperatures. On my way to Huntsville the weather got worse and worse, with snow and hail coming down. And despite the sun showing itself here and there before my race started, the snow and hail were around all day, making for a very tough race.

​The first lap of my race was ridden pretty aggressively, and with 170km on the menu, I was riding conservatively on the wheels, as my goal was just to finish to get lots of racing miles in the legs. After a lap however, I was sufficiently frozen and decided to call it a day to avoid any long term repercussions. However, with the large course loop, one circuit still made for 95k of racing, so I was happy to get some hard miles in my legs, and also to be part of a race that was ridden in such epic conditions.

Inside the resort, those that abandoned created what looked like a refugee camp, as they wrapped themselves in blankets trying to thaw out while sharing stories of their day.

For those that finished, regardless of place, kudos to them! And kudos to Bruce for organizing such a cool event. I'm looking forward to returning to Lake of Bays to race again, but hopefully in more reasonable conditions.​

​Newcomer to the team, Sam 0'Donnell rode in the Elite 4 race, and here's a report on how things went in his race:

"Lake of Bays Road Race E4. 

Last Sunday was the inaugural Lake of Bays Road Race. I'd been looking forward to this one for awhile given that it features a longer than normal course and some nice changes in elevation. I left my house early on Sunday for the drive down to the race and went through many patches of rain and sun. About half way through the drive the weather was looking up, but once entering Huntsville it was clear that it would be wet for at least some of the race. At the start line it was about 3c with wet pavement, snow, rain, and strong wind. I was shivering just standing there, it was FREEZING. Pace was easy as we started out. I lined up right at the front. Knowing that the roads would be sketchy I didn't want to take any chances. The first 20km featured tight roads with some fairly big elevation changes. It was ridden at a fairly quick pace. Often the pack went single file as someone would drive it on, and everyone would be content to follow. There were a couple longer rolling climbs and some quick descents. I wanted to stay at the front for one descent in particular because there was a seriously messed up section of pavement on it right before a sweeping corner. I managed to enter that section 3rd, so that was nice. Still hit a big bump that sent my bike shaking, but no problems.

Middle part of the course was on rolling hwy with open sight lines. Roads were dry at this point, which was nice. A three man break went shortly after we hit this section, and one or two of the guys in it had a teammate back in the bunch. There was a very strong head/crosswind. It was kind of tense for a bit when a chase group of 4 or 5 broke off the front, and I was in the back group. I was pretty annoyed that I missed it. I helped do some work to bring it back together (not a ton though, by any means), and eventually it was groupo compacto at around 40km in or so. After that it got really slow. I guess most people figured there was no reason to work without a break up the road, and no one attacked. I feel that most were tired from the earlier efforts. It started snowing again at that point... 

When we came to around 60km in or so it started hailing. At that point we turned onto some tighter roads and started making our way back North. Pace would get driven up on the short climbs, and then it would ease off on the descents and flats. Started to rain heavily around then too. We made another turn onto 'North Portage rd' which featured very tight, tree-lined road and lots of changes in elevation. The road was completely soaked, and it was raining. People kept attacking, and the pace was high. Made for some really awesome riding! I just kept following and took the odd pull, didn't do any attacking myself per my plan of waiting for the final climb at 6km to go or sprinting. My glasses started to fog up on the climbs, and I had a tough time getting them off my face and into a pocket. Finally, I was able to toss them into the front of my jacket going over the top of a hill.

Eventually we came back to the 8km finishing leg (it was the same piece of road that we used to get onto the main loop around the Lake of Bays) with about 10-12 guys left. Lost some valuable positions in the left hand corner onto the section, and I made some mistakes positioning on the climbs and kept getting caught behind a big guy who couldn't climb very well... I made it over the climbs near front each time though. After the last sizable climb I moved to the back of the group to mark a guy who I thought would be a good wheel to follow. That was a mistake. An attack went about 3-4km away from the finish right before a descent (last few kms were mostly downhill). A gap opened up in front of the guy I was following and I chased. I told the guy I thought he'd be good to follow between gasps as I went around him and we had a bit of a laugh (I know him from other races). Eventually the group that was in front slowed and I caught on the back. The last km was f-king hard. There was the original attacker up the road, a group of 4 behind him, and a very small gap from them to me and two other guys. I tried to close the gap for a bit, the other guys pulled through, and I went to the back. As we got over the last little ramp before 300m to go I came around one side, the second guy in the line in front of me went on the other. We passed the guy who was pulling but I didn't have enough to hold the other guy off.  

Ended up 7th out of 27 starters. All in all a great race, though a little cold." 

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Tour of the Dragons

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Andrew, Gerald, and I went down to Bennington, Vermont on the weekend for Tour of the Dragons senior 3 race. Joining us on the adventure was Brandon Spencer, an up and coming under-23 rider from the Kawartha's, who rode in the Pro/1/2. It was pretty cool race; nice courses and nice weather were in store for us.

Although the courses weren't without their surprises, including several dirt sections in both the circuit race and the road race. We probably shouldn't have been surprised given that the same organizer puts on the infamous Tour of the Battenkill.

​I surprised myself with the group sprint win in the circuit race. It was a downhill run-in to the sprint, which suits my spin. Tried to breakaway but the group wasn't having any of it, so I figured I may as well give the sprint a go. For my win I got a blueberry pie, which served as good dessert that evening and breakfast the next morning.

​The Saturday afternoon time trial wasn't all that straightforward, rolling with lots of turns. A reconnoissance would've been prudent, but I made do with the course as it came at me, and pulled off a 6th place on the stage to move into 5th overall.

​The road race was pretty and brutal. Pretty because that area is lush with green mountains and awesome descents. But brutal with several climbs, some of them entirely dirt, and most of them with really steep pitches to make the race hard. Those steep parts had me come unglued several times, but thanks to Andrew's domestique work I managed to make contact with the group each time to maintain the 5th overall. Always nice racing in that area, and even better coming home with a result.

​After the road race was all wrapped up, the GPS had us take the scenic way home, and with the customary stop at McDonald's, another race weekend road trip was officially deemed a success!

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2013 Tour of the Battenkill

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Gerald, Greyburns, JRoc, and Charlie made the trip down to Saratoga Springs, New York for the annual Tour of the Battenkill, which takes place in Cambridge, New York. After a few hours in the car, the gang decided to work out the kinks with a post-drive spin.

When we were done riding it was time to eat, and the decision of where to eat was an easy one, with a BBQ place just across the street from the Best Western. And what a BBQ place it was! After (over) indulging on BBQ we headed back to the hotel to veg-out, probably in a similar manner to cavemen after they had a brontosaurus feast. It all worked out though, as our start times dictated that we hit the hay early.

​In the morning we went to the the trusty Starbucks for our mandatory caffeine hit, a bit of smoothie, and a few pastries for some carbs. After we each got our shot in the dark, we piled back in the car to make the short trip over to Cambridge.

​Andrew, Gerald, and Charlie participated in the Masters 30+ race, while Janine decided to enter the Gran Fondo event. As per usual, the Masters 30+ race started pretty easy on the rollout to the first covered bridge. After that the pace quickly increased as we entered the first dirt section. On each climb, the group hammered hard, while in between the climbs and the dirt sections the pace mainly settled down. The slowing of pace allowed a break of 3 to formulate, and those riders wouldn't be seen again until after the finish. Kudos to their panache!

Gerald found the intensity a bit too hot, as he's currently got more of a diesel engine. He was gapped off the group after about one-third of the course covered. Andrew was hanging tough over the first few climbs, but found himself under-geared with his new compact crank and no 11 cog. He made a valiant chase after finding himself tailed off on a descent, and after a 10k chase he made contact with the group again. But unfortunately his making it back to the pack happened just as we hit one of the most severe dirt climbs. Charlie heard a quick hello from Greyburns, and then an even quicker farewell, as Andrew paid the price for his chase effort.

Charlie meanwhile made use of the course itinerary sheet Andrew had prepared to ensure he was in good position for the start of the climbs, and hung tough with the front of the pack over the steep gravel hills.​ After a group split off the front of the pack in one of the last dirt sections, Charlie found himself in a chase group with little horsepower, and protective teammates of riders up front. Sensing it was time to take matters into his own hands, he broke away from the group exiting a corner onto some pavement and went into solo mode with 15km to go. With 3km to go, Charlie made contact with a straggler from the leaders, and was caught by a chaser, but managed to take on his two companions in the sprint for 8th. Top-10 goal achieved!

Janine rode steady through her Gran Fondo, using her 'cross bike to navigate the hilly dirt sections. A big group caught her with 3km to go, but she was in no mood to give up places at the end. She lead out the group sprint and took it all the way to the line, not knowing at the time how much that sprint would pay off. After washing up and grabbing some food and a cold one at the expo, Janine was surprised when she was called up to the podium for the 3rd spot. Rewarded with a commemorative jug of chocolate milk, it was official, Battenkill 2013 was a success!

​Thanks to Brown's Brewing Company, who are celebrating their 20th year, for their delicious beers they were serving at the Battenkill Expo post-race! The bitter is so good!

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