The trials and tribulations of BC Champs.

Ah Victoria.....again. This was my third trip of the year to Victoria to race and it defiantly had its moments. At least this time I'm happy to say my car survived the trip. I have to say I like the idea of the Champs being on Westshore Velodrome as its outside. I like Burnaby Velodrome, I consider it my second home, but being out in the sun is nice, and I like how racing can play out on a 333m track. 333meter being the old UCI / Olympic standard.

Friday morning the three of us, Eddie Reid, Rachel Canning and myself met up in Ladner and then headed towards the ferry. I banked on a 10 am sailing but didn't bother making a reservation as racing didn't start until 5 that afternoon. Paid at the gate, parked and headed for a coffee. Little did I know we actually made the 9 sailing until I was being paged to return to my car as I was holding up the boat! oops! Sorry for being that guy. We attacked the buffet breakfast and by the time we finished it was time to drive off. After farting around the Juan de Fuca area for a bit we got ourselves at the track along with the rest of the Burnaby riders and got things going. First order of the weekend: team sprint.

Eddie and I were originally supposed to ride with Scott Mulder as one last race before National Champs in 2 weeks. Scott ended up at a family holiday so we had no middle rider. At the track we made it known we needed a rider to fill in. We ended up with Alex Amiri, a young jr. Being his first team sprint we made it easy on him. Start has hard as you can, and make sure you move out of the way at the first pylon. We'll worry about the rest of it. Eddie rode in second spot and myself in third. We ended up timing the first exchange perfectly. We rushed in fairly hard but extended it into a longer acceleration to minimize any fade while Ed was getting closer to the 666m mark. I left a bit of a gap and then did a similar rush in and accel. Id like to say it was painless, but it wasn't. Just because I got to ride 2/3rds of a kilo in a draft doesn't make it easy. The end result was my lap being the fastest lap of the night and we had won by almost 2 seconds. That effort alone in the last lap was a good indicator of my training so far. I buried myself hard and didn't fade much. I was seeing stars and ready to puke for a bit after that one. I see big things coming from Alex. He continued to kick ass in his category all weekend too. Great job guys!

The next day was a bit of a gong show. Mix ups between the commissars and organizers meant that we sat around alot. More than normal. Way more. First off the bat we rode our 200m qualifiers. I set the fastest time and was quite pleased with my time. I geared the bike for what I would ride at nationals, witch was a bit bigger than this track needs for how fast its not.  Not long after our 200 was the keirin qualifier, originally schedules as a one and done ride but because of a few last second entries was turned into 2 qualifiers, and a repacharge feeding the final.  I won my qualifier conservatively and basically sat around for 2 hours. After lunch we rode the 1/8th round ride of sprints. At this point I figured we'd be on and off our bikes racing with no hiccup's until late afternoon, early evening. Nope. After the 1/8 round ride, or as I call it "the just get it over with ride" we sat around until almost 5, on and off the bikes to keep warm, not knowing when we were actually going to ride because of constant schedule changes. Eventually the updated the schedule so that the keirin final and the remainder of the sprinting and the kilo would be on the Sunday. After a quick protest the schedule was re written again so that we would ride the keirin final that night.

In the keirin final was a big heat. Mainly enduro's I knew that the sprint would more than likely go early. I sat into third wheel behind the motor no issue and waited to see what happened. I knew quickly when there was an attempt to box me in. When the motor pulled very quickly some riders came off the back and turned it into a prolonged accelerating swarm of wasps. Emile tried to take a flyer, as Soon as he was past me I sat onto him and waited. Akuna on the front saw it and reacted naturally. When he reacted I knew that if he got any gap it would be impossible to get around Emile and then around the 2 riders below and in front of us so I made the move. I shot past Emile and then closed the door on him with no hesitation quickly doing the same to Kylen. Not the cleanest racing, but its not a game of checkers, Its racing. At that point we just dropped into the last lap where I held off and then banked on a late accel. Mid turn I saw Akuna's wheel come up beside mine and I slayed on the gas to try and hold him off. It ended up being a drag race to the line but he had the speed to get around me and win by a wheel. Bitter end to a great race, but at least it was a great race. Kylen was the only one I was really worried about. He's raced track alot longer than I have and naturally is very fast. He's also been closet training I think. With that race done it was time to get out of there, have a quick dip in the lake to cool off and then get some food! We stayed with my friends Matt and Cindy Glen in Victoria this weekend. We had one hell of a good pizza feast and neither of us could keep our eyes open past 9:30 witch is kinda sad. Bed time.

Now that was one of the best sleeps Ive had all year! Hot dam. Considering the amount of time we spent in the heat yesterday and the amount of kilometers I rode on the rollers alone I actually felt kinda good. Too bad the weather was gloomy. All though it didn't rain at all it looked like it might try, and it was defiantly alot cooler. Saturday I didn't hesitate to ride without an under shirt, today I wish I had an electrical heated one on!

First ride of the day was the 1/4 finals against Julian Base. We meet again! Last year we met in the same ride only it was 30 degrees out not 13. I rode easy and won with only enough effort to stay in the front. Onto the semi's, a ride I will never let myself forget for being a moron.

A big supprise this weekend was that 2 of my longest friends came to watch some of the action. Cam has been a great friend since I was new to downhill racing way back in the day, Terry is also one of my best friends, and one of 3 people I would trust to work on my bikes. We grew up at races together! He and his girlfriend were in town visiting from Toronto. It was great to see them all again! I hope I get a chance to hang out once more before they head home again. Its the one tough part about being a transplant to BC. I left alot of friends back in the old country.

In the Semi's I rode against Mike Rothengater. An enduro, a rodie, a pursuiter, the guy that sits around the track pretending to work all day long. Hes fast yes, but shouldn't have been a threat considering how I'm going. In the first lap I just tagged along for the ride. In the second lap he started to pick things up and turn it into a race. I layed off several bikes and joined in the fun when he jumped. I'm not sure if it was an example of how to use poor judgment, or how to let confidence get the best of you but I sure as hell should have re considered when I would make my move and rush in. Defiantly left that one a bit to late! Even with my power and speed leaving it until the exit of turn 4, probably not the best idea Ive ever had. At the line it was close but even with a dodgy throw it at least half a wheel I lost by. I laughed right away at how stupid I was and now looked. Before everyone assumes I lost to a nobody I have to hand it to Mike, he's not slow and trains hard now and then. He capitalized on my bone headed mistake and I do give him a job well done for that. I can assure you Mike it wont happen again, and payback is always a bitch.

I've been relegated in my fair share of races. Somtimes its legit, somtimes its for riding a bit to much in the grey area of the rule book and somtimes its because the cheif commiciar really doesnt like me that day. Non of those times Ive lost a race because of a relegation felt as embarassing as making a stupid cocky mistake like that won. And I know that is a race that within the world of British Columbia cycling will go down in the history books in big fat Sharpe marker. Dammit.

In the opposite Semi final Eddie who was riding well today was against Cid Martinez. Cid's quick, Hes an Enduro also, but was a world class rider. He's not an easy person to race. He's still quick and he still knows how to ride like a South American. That may sounds like a racist comment, believe me in that I'm not being racist at all. I like Cid, hes a good guy and a good buddy. Anyone who's raced any one from South America knows what I'm talking about tho. Eddie wasn't quite able to make a pass at the line to win it. We all kinda joked at how the two enduro's were racing for gold and silver and the so called sprinters racing for bronze. Cid ended up being relegated for what was called forcing his opponent off the track. I saw what happened, no-one forced anyone any ware, Nor did Ed protest the move either after the fact. It was a bit of a strange one if you ask all of us. Cid was pissed non the less and I knew that I would be racing a very motivated and pissed South American for a bronze.

By the time the sprint finals started one hell of a wind picked up and it was trying to rain a bit. To add to the equation it was a head wind on the home stretch witch always makes things interesting. All though I was still pissed at myself for loosing in the Semi's I was defiantly out for redemption on poor Cid. In the first ride he took the pole position and I followed him along for a while until I decided to snap ahead of him and hold him high and slow. More or less to utilize my jump and accel. I matched Cid's jump while covering him and we basically dragged it out side by side well above the blue line only to drop into the pole lane entering turn 3. It was a very old school classic move to keep him high up track like that. And legal I might add.  He tried to take a run at me but I held him off well to the line.  In the second ride I lead out the race. He may not be a sprinter by blood but he's done enough of it over the years to know how to race. I tried to keep him low and slow but he knew how to get the pace up to suit him better. He made an attack going into the first turns witch I reacted to quickly dropping into the pole where I knew he would take a seat on the Jamie bus until it was time to make a jump. I made a big gamble again but this time thought it out better tho. I knew the wind on the home stretch was worse now and that I have more acceleration power than he does so to be a smart ass I let off the gas going down the back stretch while he was sat in my draft.  Just into turn 3 I jumped as hard as I humanly could in an effort to drop him. Onto the home strait he tried to pull out of the gap and draft to make a move but even admitted after in the wind couldn't. The gamble paid off! Granted it wasn't for Gold, it was better than 4th.

In the gold medal ride I hoped Eddie would stomp Mike. In the first ride Eddie played a similar move to what I did but he only made his move earlier, where I should have. He came up short at the line and now the pressure was on. Could an enduro win the BC sprint champs? In ride two Mike caught Eddie napping and took a leap of faith attack. He reacted but wasn't able to get into a decent draft until far too late. With all that said, Mike won the BC Champs, probably the last rider anyone would pick to do it. Its not many sprint tourneys where someone who qualified almost a second slower than the top qualifier wins. It was defiantly a good lesson taught today.

The last events on schedule for everyone was the pursuit finals and the kilo/500's. I opted not to bother with a Kilo as it wasn't listed as a championship event. I also learnt enough of how my training has gone in the team sprint that I didn't need to ride a kilo in the arctic temps and near rain.

We stayed over the extra night to see some old friends and to hang out with Bronze Medal Olympian Gillian Carlton and her Fiance who are good friends of mine. Mid next morning, after a pot of coffee and a good breakfast it was time to hit the ferry and return to Canada.....again.

Well, the tickets for Nationals are booked, gotta register in the next few days and then just get the final training in. Sounds easy but it wont be. Gotta go faster than ever, harder than ever, and probably puke harder than ever. I head to YVR early on the 9th and start my so called bus trip flight through Edmonton, Toronto, and then onto Moncton where I'll eventually end up at the hotel, new home of Cycling BC's track team absolutely smoked tired. haha.

Big thanks to my crazy boss at Velocity for letting me have an extra day off after the racing, Big thanks to Matt and Cindy for not only letting Ed and I crash their place but coming out and spending all Saturday and Sunday at the track with us and mega shout out and thanks to Apex Wireless for their support this summer and friendship!

Parler tut suite!