*Happy days everyone. *
*A full long holiday weekend for the team with Greg taking on a 24 hr race
solo & some of the roadies starting the Niagara Classic Omnium 2 day race in
Pelham & Hamilton.*

*Quite a bit of reading, but here's the haps…*

"May 21-22 WOW 24hr Mtb race report by Greg

I had a frustrating race and the first one that I didn't finish. The first
lap I was in 6th overall at about 6km when I
took a wrong turn (someone ahead had gone through the course tape showing
the turn) causing me and a few others to do
another 3km. The second lap the chain suck started that was to plague me the
rest of my race. The chain got jammed so
bad that I had to break and reassemble the chain. I was feeling fairly
strong so I tried to stay out of my granny gear
as much as possible even though there was 1100 feet of climbing per lap. On
my 11th lap around midnight I dropped into
my granny and the chain jammed badly and broke. I fixed it again and
finished the 11th lap for about 140k, but my racing
spirit was broken. I had the race mechanic, Jim Best, look at my bike. He
was unable to make adjustments to stop the
problem. Thought it might be because of mismatched set of rings and/or the
granny gear teeth being too thick. Mike of
WOW offered me his single speed but I was too bummed out to race anymore so
packed up and headed home around 4am.

I'm looking forward to getting my bike fixed and next weekend on May 28th
having a great solo race at Chico's 8hr at
Mansfield.

Special thanks to Phil at Cyclepath for last week fixing my rear cluster and
also replacing my rear derailler (which
broke on the club thursday night ride), Dave Campbell for loaning me his
lights and crossmax wheels, and Ken Kuschei for
loaning me his lights.

Greg"

*And a few stories from the Niagara road races…*

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*Brad had a great weekend with a great 11th in the Effingham race and fine
10th place overall.*

"... so without the flare of some others, here is my quick recap of the
weekend ...

Sunday the RR at Pelham, avec monsieur l'Effingham... Frankie, Geoff and I
set off with the Master B/C group for 7 laps of a 12+ k loop that included
the lap-sapping climb we have all come to embrace and cherish ... pre-race
discussion/vote settled on 7 instead of 8 laps (though I heard a voice or 2
delicately requesting 3 laps) ... the race itself settles into surviving the
climb, though a secondary purpose this year included the intention to make
sure Hamish Gordon didn't get off anywhere ... in fact Dave Viney slinked
away after climb #5 (?) I think, and no one immediately paid much attention
and this Vet C with thousands of Ks in his legs made it stick... good ride
for him! The ORT gents Franki, Geoff, and Le P) after warming up the engines
remained in a healthy forward position and climbed well... Frankie was very
impressive in managing any 'hilly' reservations he retained from last year,
and was never in any trouble ... Geoff excelled as usual, only forgetting to
sprint the final climb, expecting to do another tour... (he had obviously
voted for the 8 laps)... I got a decent position for the final climb and
managed to get across the line in 11th ... couldn't have gone much faster
than that on the day, but still an improvement over last year.

Today (Monday) the Crit in downtown Hamilton, and though we feared la
pluie, we raced in good conditions ... the Senior 3 race went before us and
I saw Dave standing over his bike at the side of the road... not a good sign
as he had just crashed his new wheels, but he looked like he had survived OK
... the Master B race eventually got started, and there was a nasty crash on
the same corner as Dave had hit as Mark Polsinelli and another tested the
barrier ... the ORT mates navigated safely through the length of the race...
our sweet speedster Frankie riding shotgun (top 5) for most of the race,
Geoff and I managing resources and awaiting a final shot ... So I have a few
things to learn in these critts ... with 3 corners to go I am riding in the
top 10-12 ... tucked nicely behind Mirek Mazur ... thinking sweet thoughts
of a free ride up several places behind the big man and then a final all out
for maybe a top 10 ... that was about all I was up to this day ... and then
Mirek eases off the throttle, a gap forms and there is a scramble of bodies
moving up ... shucks! as they say ... I still think I was in the top 15 or
so... but we overtook, for the 2nd time, a slower moving pack of riders
right at the finish and I think the commissaires were going to have a
helluva time sorting that out... Shirley and I did not stay around long
enough to find out ... on verra ...

I had a terrific weekend... my daughter had gone camping with some friends,
so Shirley and I could hang out at the races a bit ... she honestly has a
decent time at these things... the SCC guys do a fantastic job... and I
think our 'B' team is starting to form some momentum... I get the feelng
there will more to come ...

... thanks to our man-man Chris McCart for the team support on Sunday ... "

*I think (I hope!) that's meant to be "main man", Brad.*

*Francois had a similar story too…*

"What an awesome weekend; the weather was better than expected and we had
two fast and interesting races.

Sunday's race DID see me in some trouble after the first feeding where I
allowed a gap to open at the top of Sailors only to then have to chase back
for half of a lap; caught back on in time to recover a bit before another
punishing climb. With the fast descent following the climb, this is NOT the
place to be hesitant or nonchalant as a 10-metre gap quickly turns into the
painful view of a shrinking pack speeding away. This was the first time that
I actually made it to the end of THIS race with the front group. Now if I
can just figure out how to most efficiently climb the darn thing; standing
from the bottom doesn't work for me so the right combination of sitting,
gradually down-shifting and then standing for the crest should do it for
next time.

Had a great time at Monday's Hamilton crit, which has three fast corners
and one small bump that certainly contributed to the attrition rate. I had
decided to race from the front, which I managed to do following a fast
start; it's funny how much easier things are when you don't have to use your
brakes at each corner and just coast through. At one point mid-race we
caught up to this pretty big group of riders so I start wondering who are
these guys; are they running two races in one? I even turned around to
verify that I wasn't in some kind of break without knowing it, duh (things
were going well though). Turns out there had been a split in the pack and
this was just more of us. After riding what I thought was a pretty good
race, and with 5 laps to go, it's like everyone turns it up a notch and
wants to go to the front (or maybe it was me turning it down a notch).
Anyway, I find myself closer to the back and having to work hard to move
back up; no easy task this close to the end. Maybe it was a lapse of
concentration or just a bit of power missing but I would love to redo the
race. Two laps later, there was the crash that Brad mentioned when the guys
were going for a $50 prime. From that point on, I eased up and just rode in
with the pack. Willie and his buddies did a great job of organizing the race
once again this year and the free chicken-on-a-bun after the race on Sunday
was a welcome touch. Thanks again Chris and Karen, your support was
priceless."

*Francois was 23rd on Sunday and 17th overall.*

*Geoff was just in behind Brad on Sunday's final climb in 13th. Unfortunately
he was under the impression that there was one more lap to go, so he still
had some gas in the tank left unused. He finished the weekend 13th overall.*

*Dave was also racing in the morning start on Sunday in the Sen 3 ranks. His
impressions…*

"First of all, a huge thanks to Chris for coming and supporting Sunday.
Thank you sooo much dude!! And not just for the water bottles, it really
made a difference having someone on the side yelling instructions and
support, very cool!!! .

Okay, quick weekend race recap:

Day 1, road race, all went pretty well. The only mistake I can see that I
made was not knowing until 1 minute before the gun that there wasn't any
feeding for the first 4 laps. Unfortunately I only had 3/4 of a bottle at
that point so I found myself trying to conserve fluids for the first 1:15hrs
- never a good idea! However, once Chris got me a fresh bottle on the 5th
lap I pumped in the fluids and immediately started to feel better. As in
every Sen III race this year, there was a crash, this time blocking the
entire road with no way around and I found myself in a front wheel reverse
wheelie trying to stop and avoid the mess, which I was able to do yet again
without going down. The final climb is where it all happened and
unfortunately the best I could muster up was 13th. Great day for racing,
good race.

Day 2 - crit: I felt surprising strong considering the suffer-fest on the
previous day and was out off the front from the go. Made a couple of break
attempts on the first two laps and actually opened up a 200m gap with 2
others but the pack got very serious and picked us up again. The race was
very fast with average speeds approx 42km/hr which caused a huge amount of
riders to get lapped and pulled. By the last lap we were down to about 20 on
the course and I was about 8th or 9th coming into the last corner of the
bell lap. As we were ripping through the corner the rider right in front of
me lost it badly and went down very hard into the barriers. I hit the brakes
hard and leaned the bike as far over as possible to swerve right and I think
I would have made it except both my front and back tubulars rolled off the
wheels and once I was on the rims I was done like dinner. As for the guy
behind me, he didn't seem the have much luck controlling the crash and he
went down very hard on his face. Both the other guys were pretty messed up
and were being attended to by ambulance personal so I guess I was pretty
lucky to just walk away. Aside from a huge bruise on my ass, some missing
skin, and 2" of swelling, I should be good to go again in a few days. As for
my new Italian steed, she made out very well with just a bit of road rash on
the bartape, seat, pedal, and one rim - and for that I am grateful. And the
shorts, those new Nalini shorts, wow. I expected them to be garbage but
aside from a couple of small holes which are being stitched up right now,
they survived too! Not bad!!

I am looking forward to having company in the Sen III field and hopefully
Jeff Ferguson will be joining me shortly!!

Good job to all who raced this weekend and a very respectable finish all
around for the Oakvile Race Team. I have to say that I have heard from a few
different sources of how the Oakville team this year is earning quite a bit
of respect in the pack - very cool to see boys!! I think Sutton could be
VERY interesting. Let's keep it up!!!

Cheers,

Dave"

*So, Dave rode a great race on Sunday, always right up at the front, even
up the climb, rarely out of position from what I saw, but some unfortunate
luck on Monday. So after his solid 13th, a DNF for the overall - that's
racing.*

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*Until next time.*

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*Chris.*

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