Team Escape Velocity Cycling Club

[this post is courtesy our club president, fearless leader, and temporal representative of Sluggo, Gord Ross. I thought I'd put it up since it's a rainy Tuesday, which is the worst kind of Tuesday. -RjC]

First off, congratulations to all EV/dEVo members who braved the early starts, hard pace, and stiff
head-winds to ride the Westside Classic. I saw a lot of you out there riding, helping out, cheering or all three.

I wanted to do a quick recap for those that couldn't make it and recognize some of the amazing rides
that took place today. If you think I've missed someone, as I probably have, don't be shy in replying and
providing some much needed congrats.

* Masters Race

So it was a day made for Axel. A bit chilly, a strong wind, some good hills... and a pack that wanted to
watch each other rather than race. With 2 laps to go (or perhaps 3) I watched Axel off the front
with another rider, hammering up 10th Ave past the start/finish. By the end of the race, a chase
group had made it across and Axel had his hands full in the sprint. He came 2nd at the line in the
joint Masters A/B/C event. Bravo Axe!

* Cat 4 / Masters Women / Jr Women

So for someone that just started racing a month or so ago, Colleen Speck looked like a veteran today.
She broke away from the women's field with Barb Zimich and another rider in a 3 woman break,
taking second in the final sprint, and taking 1st place in the Women's Cat 4 category. An impressive
victory for Colleen and I'm sure the other women now officially have their eye on her as someone
to watch in the races. Whether they can keep up with her will be another story...

Camille Nonis flew the dEVo green in the race and came 2nd in the Jr Women's category, toughing it
out during the 1.5 hrs of the event and multiple times up the dreaded Camosun.

* Cat 4/5 Men

At one point I thought I might have missed a club ride, given the sea of red and black cruising
around UBC in the early morning. But no, it was the Men's 4/5 race. Dan, Mark, Brommers, Geert,
Ted, Colin, Andrew, Jak, and Philip were all at the line in this 75+ men's category (including such local
small-c celebrities as Rob Feenie and Brian Hill).

The pack was whittled down each lap and a strong group finished up on the last lap. A small group of
3 broke away up the last hill and EV strong-man Ted Martin got on the front and drilled it for the
last couple of KM, with big Brian "Geert" Postlethwaite in tow. After catching the group and selling
out for the cause, Ted managed to snag 4th in the bunch sprint, with Geert
taking a brilliant 2nd place.

As I watched Brian swing his big Specialized back and forth, I held my breath hoping that it would
stay together -- there was some serious wattage happening in that final sprint.

* Jr Men

Curt "the hurt" Jung, Jacob "the flying squirrel" Schwingboth, and Ben "more cowbell" Cowburn were
resplendent in green and black for the Jr Men's race. Jacob and Curt made the big split were up against
some fierce competition, including former dEVo riders Kevin Thorpe and Jason Manning. In the end, they just
missed the podium with a strong 4th and 5th place.

* Sr Women

Rachel Canning was riding in the Sr Women's race as a Cat 3 and finished in the second group, the
5th Cat 3 woman across the line. Kudos to Rachel for hanging in and riding strong for the over 2.5 hrs
of a tough and hard fought women's event with the 1/2's.

* Sr Men

I spoke with a few Cat 1/2 guys after the race and I had that feeling that a few of them would like
that race over again.

"That was flipping hard"
"I saw 42kmh up Camosun"
"Yeah, I haven't done a max effort like that in a while"
"I chased down Svein Tuft, that was right before the climb, and that was it."

and

"It was my race today."

EV fielded a big group today in the 1/2 race, including guest-stars David "I'd rather be bobsledding" Penner
and Ben "birthday boy" Jackson.

Andrew Kyle, as predicted by Cat 1/2 DS Jak New, was the early breakaway instigator with
ex-Symmetrics rider and now-yoga-guru Brandon Crichton. That lasted until about the 4th or 5th
lap when things got interesting. According to Owen Sturgess (who will confirm quantitatively just how
hard it was with his Powertap data from the day), "I was watching these yellow jerseys going everywhere and
I was mid pack with Tim, and I knew it. This was it. It was going to go. So I hauled Tim up the right side
and did this massive effort, Tim came around me, got on some Symmetrics wheels, and that was it."

Tim made the break, the winning break, which consisted of 5 Symmetrics riders, a couple Trek/Red-Truck,
and Alistair Howard of Kona/Adobe. It looked like that was it for the day. And it was.

Tim managed to sit on for a few laps, as Symmetrics seemed content doing the work, insinuating that
"you will be dealt with later on..." to the other break members.

And then, Tim flatted.

A new rear wheel and Tim spent a lap in no-man's land chasing hard, but to
no avail. He eventually rejoined the pack, which was now 4min back.

Some confusion at the start-finish, combined with Symmetrics being over 4min ahead, meant that Tim's
escape group which had formed just as the short-course started, didn't receive the bell lap -- the
pack was to be finished early to allow for the Symmetrics victory parade over the next 15 minutes.

And so, not knowing it was last lap, Tim crossed the line in 15th. And so goes bike racing some days.

Back in the field, props to Jonathan Page, Johnny Cheung, Guy Biggar, and Andrew for some solid
efforts. And bravo to Ben Jackson for a huge ride in the 3rd chase on the road for a good 100km or so,
suffering hard along side the 1/2 men -- Ben was a Cat 4 a couple of weeks ago, on paper mostly,
as today he showed his true form.

Also kudos to Paul Beard for surviving in the main field and being one of the 36 finishers.

And there you have it. The Westside wrap-up!

Big thanks to Jak New, Agnes, Brommers, and all the parents helping in the feed zone, wheel pit,
setting up the tents, taking them down (you too Austin Macdougall and Aiden - great comic relief).

Results and a few pics are at Canadian Cyclist, and Flickr looks to have a bunch of shots. Send more if you've got them.

Cheers and again congrats to everyone.