Happy Spring everyone. Welcome to the new season of the Oakville Race Team.

2005 Oakville Race Team members are:

Greg Andre-Barrett
Geoff Banner
Dave Campbell
François Faust
Jeff Ferguson
Ian Fisher
Chris McCart
Brad Nickorick
John Sandre
Gary Scully

All of us are eager for what the new season will bring. I don't need
to remind everyone what a long and miserable winter we've just had.
Sufficed to say, we're glad it's over and can come out of our basement
torture trainer chambers and feel the warmer wind and daylight on our
faces again. In fact, our first two road races were cancelled due to
weather and the first MTB race was a postponed a week, so it's time.

This past weekend the stars were in full alignment and the team got
off the ground for the first time this year.

Greg includes his thoughts from the 1st MTB race of the year – and the 1st WIN!

The Uxbridge Icebreaker, April 10th

"1st in the long course 50+ age category and reasonable placing
overall. As the race's name indicates there was a good
mixture of ice (managed to keep the rubber down), snow (a couple of
long sections of running), and mud. But the
conditions were slightly better than last year."
Oh, yes. We will take that as a first race for the year. Thanks for
opening the account Greg!!

And some of the road racers were at Mosport for the opener. Here are the goods;

First up, François...
"Glad to say that after three attempts I finally finished
with the pack at what I consider to be one of the tough races in Ontario (18
laps, 1100 metres of climbing; great gadget this Polar HRM). I started to
cramp up a bit at the 12th lap but managed to hold off full-blown cramps
until the end. It gets better every year so, at this rate, I should get on
the podium within 4-5 years."

Brad…
"Not a lot to report from this guy ... Vet B race had a good pace,
solid climbing pace ... lots of riders, and my fears that a lot of the
top Vet Bs would move to other categories was unfounded ... there is
going to be some great Vet B racing this season ... I hung in the
group and finished in the top 25 I believe, was not a player in the
race ... season opener ... good to see the gang. I was riding near to
Geoff for the last couple of laps, and on the last lap sprint he gets
ready to hammer and out drops his left crank!! ... I don't know what
he's been eating ... never seen that before ... maybe those Bounty
candy bars... "

After reading what Brad had said about Geoff's luck, I asked Geoff for
comment and if he was riding his new Red Cinelli, which looks fast
standing still. The "red rocket" as I call it.

Geoff…
"Well on Sunday it was the "red lemon"...the thing was unraveling beneath
me, kilo by kilo. First hint of problems came going up the climb to the
finish. Halfway through the race I decided to give the small ring a try and
the thing derailed so, the only resistance was air. Somebody yells out
"chain off" however I had enough momentum and I managed to rail it back
again and replied with a "chain on". Approx three laps later I decided again
to shift down and this time the thing lets go with a forceful whiplash
sending the chain in a 360 degree loop hanging off my rear pulley, so
shifting back on in this case was impossible. As I jumped off the lemon and
reached back to unravel one of the race support technicians asked if I
needed a push.. I managed to reply "yes" in amongst a hail of obscenities
directed at the lemon. Got going again and at this time the pelo was just
over the brow of the hill and I put the head down and gave chase gaining
contact a half lap later...if you leave these pursuits too long you may as
well kiss the pelo good bye. So every thing seemed fine and dandy again but
little did I realize what final betrayal the lemon had in store. The last
lap things were bunching up just prior to the final climb but I managed to
maintain good position and did a fairly normal climb still feeling fairly
fresh for this time of year but not very confident of my fitness ( I have a
about 350 Kilo's of road miles YTD ) but still managed to crest the hill in
about top 15 ...so I start giving it fairly hard and the lemon decides enough
is enough and responds with a decisive left crank releasing blow. I managed
to stay upright with my left foot dangling in the breeze and drifting to a
stop some 300 meters from the finish. Coasted back and retrieved the crank
threw the lemon in the car and finished off the day by reporting
a "DNF" to the commie to forgo a $5.00 fine."

Dave…
"At the start yesterday between the juniors and Sen ''s there would
have been 200 riders - it was a massive start. The pace was very fast
and I'm guessing that within the first few laps we lost over half the
field (average speed at race end = 39km/h). I felt ok but for some
reason the legs didn't have any jump in them and felt a bit sluggish
all day. I was usually in the top 15 for most of the day and took my
turn up front for a couple of the climbs etc. The last lap was the
crazy part where there were 4 serious crashes all at different points.
The one 400m from the finish was right in front of me which had me on
my brakes and swerving hard to the outside to miss it which pulled me
back in the field for the finish. At the finish there would have been
about 60 left in the main group (no one could get away, it was too
fast) and I just couldn't seem to get into a decent position for the
sprint and ended up about 16th. However, at the end of the day I have
to say that it was a wild rush and I loved every minute of it!!"

So the results for our somewhat reduced ranks:
Brad Nickorick – 25th, Vet B
Francois Faust - 50th, Vet B
Gary Scully – DNF
Geoff Banner – DNF (brutal luck, huh?)
Dave Campbell – 32ND Sen3.

Not too much on the teams agenda until May. So, it's back to training
for some, ramping up the intensity for others and continuing on the
path for all of us.

Till next time.
Ciao,
Chris.