Kicking Horse Cup, Golden BC

Hill Climb

Mass start hill climb in Golden BC!
Considered a Master's race, however all men started together. We left Golden and crossed the bridge and it was on! 13km Cat 2 climb! Ouch. I let a dozen guys go right at the base of the first climb, and rode w/ Thomas for most of the way up, hoping for guys to drop off.
Didn't really happen, only caught a couple guys.
Finished 5th in my age group.
Here's a nice pic of the final rise to the finish! http://instagram.com/p/cSpywhK-H3/

Australian Pursuit Master's Road Race

"As per BC Masters Association rules, the Australian Pursuit Road Race starts with 70 year olds first, 6 minutes to 60 yr olds, 5 mins to 50 yr olds, 4 mins to 40 yr olds, 3 mins to 30 yr olds. Women will race with men, 15 yrs their senior."
Sounds simple enough. Except for the 1000m elevation, largely accumulated in two long climbs.
It was a 30 km needle-shaped course, which we lapped twice. The first lap was spritely, with several attacks, but none stuck. It did dwindle down the pack, especially up the first long climb.

Managed to hang on to the selection of 10 guys, including 2 juniors. We saw the 40 year olds split apart and I think that inspired our group to catch them. 2nd time up that long climb, and our selection broke apart. I was in the 3rd group of about 3 guys at the top, and the group in front had caught a big group of 40 year olds. We would catch a few more stragglers on the long descent to the finish. Going into the final 700m I launched my depleted sprint. Finished 5th in my age group, 7th overall.
Pretty pleased considering the amount of elevation concentration in the last 2 rides!

Results

Rundle Mountain Omnium

Prologue 

4.2 km time trial on the Nordic Centre ski roller path.

Pre-ride would have helped because of it's technical nature. Nonetheless, I felt I rode it much better than last year. In fact, I knocked 20 seconds off my time from last year. Finished 11 or 12th in Cat 3.

Criterium

Fast pace the entire race. I counted 2 laps out of 25 that I would consider recovery laps. Very difficult to move up when it's going full tilt the whole time. Spent most of the race mid-pack, which meant I suffered from the elastic snapping effect constantly. Like last year, I ended up further back than I wanted going into the final lap and did not put myself in a position for the final sprint. Finished 12th.

Provincial Road Race

Woke up sore, and tired, but decided most people would be feeling this way. Imagined a break could form, so I stayed near the front. 
At the first end-of-lap turn around, I was ready to pounce. As luck would have it, Bryon H. laid his bike down in front of me, so I detoured on the gravel but stayed in it. A small split in the pack had formed and I fought to get in it. Some of the big names were in, so I thought we had a good chance to escape on the downhill. One name missing was Barrie, however, and I think he dragged the peloton back in contact. 
That first lap and a half was fast, I think 41kmph. We slowed down each lap thereafter, and I spent most of the race at or near the front. 
On the final ascent to the finish I hung on as hard as I could. Lost Barrie's wheel in a brief regrouping before the final kicker, then buried myself up to the finish line. Ended up 9th. Not too displeased considering the profile of this course.

Stampede Masters Provincial Road Race

First off, had a great long warm-up with Barrie, only to realize we went out to far and I might risk missing my start time. So I haul ass back to the car and realize Mike had locked it; With all my bottles and nutrition inside :( I scramble together a couple bottles of water and a banana and off I go to the start line. Make it just on time. Half a lap into the race I hear a whirring sound. My rear brake had become dislodged! I take it off and ride over to the feed zone. Wrench back together and off I go. Solo. Two laps later my rear tire goes flat. Teammate Adam lends me his rear wheel in the feed zone and off I go! Fourth lap I decided to pack it up and watch my race come to a sprint finish. No contest this year :(

June 2013 & Canada Day Criterium

Finally it is starting to feel like summer in Alberta, and race season is in full swing.
Between Wednesday Night Series, Midweek Mayhem Criteriums, Banff BikeFest, Devon Grand Prix Stage Race, I've made up for all the cancelled/rained out races of past months!

Despite mostly racing on the weekends, I was able to break the 1,000 kms on the bike. Will help to maintain my fitness for August races.

Stats:

• Bike: 23 rides, 1,001 kms, 33.5 hours, 9k meters elevation
• Run: 1 run! 11km, just over an hour. (That's 4 runs in the last 2 months! Kind of sad)

Canada Day Provincial Criterium

Great course with wide corners. This was a points race, with top 4 positions in intermediate sprints getting 5,3,2,1 points, every 4 laps. I got 4th in the first sprint, made it just outside the points in the 2nd. Then a break of 2 got away, with the majority team PRW represented in the break (so no chasing it down). Bici and PRW had leadouts for the remaining 2 points so kept missing out.
Decided the only chance was to take off with a guy from United after a prime and stayed away until the next prime. Won that sprint so got a couple more pts.
No contest in next sprint, then came in 4th in final sprint, after the 2 breakaways.
Official results say I came in 6th.
Here's a short clip of my sprint out of that chase/break group: