AUGUST 7th.

News from Sherbrooke &
the National Road Championships

The road race is over for Masters (Mike and I).  We raced at 9am Saturday with the temperature starting at about 23C and ending up at 29C by the end of event.

Reid's Race (Masters  40 - 49)
My race had the current world champion, Olav Stana from BC riding in it.   There field had about 55 riders in it.  There were a lot of ON & QU riders in it, and it seems also all other provinces as well.  I rode in the pack for the most part hoping to conserve energy for the  6 climbs leading to the finish line of the 6 lap event. 

The group stayed together for the most part aside from individuals and small groups being spit out the back on the climb each lap.  The race started on lap 4 with Stana hammering off the front on the climb.  The pack held together after Stana left as no one had the resolve to chase him.  On the 5th time up the climb the pace picked up although I felt in control.  I had to grab water from the Ontario team coach in the feed area as I lost my one full bottle on a very rough railway crossing on lap 3.

The final lap was hot both in terms of the pace and action.  A group of 4 got away at the base of the climb and then 2 more a third of the way through the climb.  In retrospect I missed my opportunity as I was strong enough to be in either of these groups.   I turned out the strongest climber and easily won the bunch sprint for 8th or 9th.

Mike's Race (Masters 30  - 39)
Mike's race was one lap longer with a larger field of 75 or so.  The pace was moderate for most of the race and Mike got away on lap 6 of 7 with 4 other riders.   They developed a 20 second lead but the QU riders were baked and didn't want to pull so Mike did most of the work.  They were caught at the base of the last climb by the chase pack and Mike hung with them to the end but had nothing at the end with an uphill finish. 

Doug Taylor's Race (Masters 50 - 59)
Doug's race was 5 laps of the same course.  Doug hadn't been racing much and hung with the main group for the first 2 laps.  He got dropped then found 2 QU riders to ride with.  They dropped out after lap 3 and Doug rode the last 2 laps on his own.   I saw the winners at the awards ceremony and they looked lean and mean.

Crit
Submitted by Reid Carter, June 24, 1999

Mike and I rode the road race course on Thursday.  It's a 14.1 km loop about 35km from here near Magog/Mt Orford.  Any name that contains Mt usually means hills.  There are hills 7km up .1km  flat then 7km down.  Actually there is more than 100m of flat but not much  more.  We rode the day is was 34C -- warm, very warm.  The finish is a 3km climb to the line.

Today I rode the crit 1km X 40 laps.  It was a points race format with sprints for points every 5th lap which is a great format for me.  I sat in for the first 10 laps, moved into the top 6 riders of 50 for the lap 15 sprint feeling good.  There was a 130 degree off camber corner 400 m from the finish and we decided to play bowling on bicycles.  I didn't but 5 or 6 guys went down and I had to stop to avoid the pile up.   I could have taken a free lap and rejoined the pack.  I decided that I liked my skin far to much and choose to retire.  Many others did as well.  The riding had been really rough up to then with bumping, blocking and really poor lines through the corners.  All masters were together meaning lots of 30 years with older rider like me. The pace was manageable however.

We watched the men's open race with Walton, Annaud, and Mike Barry of Team Saturn.  A Radio Energy rider won the race with Barry in 2nd. The Winnipeg guys we race with didn't have good days.

Tomorrow is the road race at 9am.  It will be an interesting day.
 

Time Trials
Submitted by Reid Carter, June 24, 1999

We rode the time trial yesterday 30km.  Very hilly, some wind and very hot. Temp was 30 - 32C and humidity was very high.  We were very dehydrated after our warm up and ride.  Mike was 7th and I was 8th in our age groups. We were both satisfied with our results.  I am racing the crit on Fri. and we both race the road race Sat. on a challenging rolling course 7 X 13km laps.  There are some wild down hills and lots of gradual climbs with a few   300m long stretches at 7-9%.

We stayed to watch all the top women and men race the time trial.  Eric
Wohlburg won the men's and Clara Hughs upset Linda Jackson.  The speeds that Wohlburg and Brian Walton rode the time trial at were amazing.

Visit the Tim Hortons National Road Championships website

Other members of the club should consider going on these trip. You can successfully compete!!! And have FUN!!!

Manitoba Cycling Race

Carter finished 5th over all and was the 2nd master to finish in the hill top sprint finish in the 115km race.  Grzelewski finished 8th over all, out of forty racers including the Manitoba senior provincial team.

Note to TBCC members:

There was some confusion for us as we approached the finish. We had started in a different place than where we finished. With what I thought was 500m left Mike, Marion Psyzek (former Polish National team) and I were about 60m clear of the chasing pack of the twenty or so riders that were left. Several hard attacks had blown the main pack of 40 riders apart in the last 8km. It turned out that there was 1500m left and the pack pulled us back in. Marion knew where the finish was and wasn't pulling through. Neither Mike nor I had a lot left for the sprint after that effort. It was a painful finish having dead slow legs.

The average pace was 35 - 36kph with attacks coming off at about 50kph.  Team tactics made the race interesting. All the power came out to close the gaps whenever some one dangerous got away.  The course was rolling similar to Lakeshore Drive. Everyone thought they were Pantani and would hammer the smallest rise.

The riding was a little on the hairy side as the road was very rough. Some veteran broke a Spinergy in the last 5k in a pothole. There were some mountain bikers.

Submitted by: Reid Carter