CSD sweeps the podium at the Woolastook 5!

After acting out the Young Blood'z rendition of 'I smoke, I drank', CSD got up the morning of the race, roused the Walkman, ate a fat breakfast, and proceeded to take ownership of the field. The course was gloriously dry and fast, in fact the only difficulty that befell the crew was Martin's wheel de-tensioning. Chops- #1, Martin-#2, Sleepy -#3. Good times.

Tour de Dog Loop, Fredericton, NB

So, the race in Freddy went well for some, others not so great. It poured rain until Moncton on the drive up Saturday afternoon, which as we learned on the drive home was generally a good thing because it meant less bugs splattered on our bikes. We also had to deal with the screwd-upeddness that is the #2 Highway in New Brunswick and the fact that you have to drive 10km away from the highway before you see any kind of civilization. This resulted in us thinking there would be an exit for a major cross-road, finding there wasn't one, driving past Woolastook Park, and arriving an hour after we'd planned. This wasn't a problem because we didn't have anything to do, it was just more boring time in the car.

Seven o'clock Sunday morning saw 10º and sun, boding for a perfect day on the bike. After registration, warm-up, chatting with fellow Nova Scotians and known-New Brunswickers, the TT kicked off around 10:30am. It was a pretty steady 5.5km ascent, big-ringable, and then a hurtful ride back down the hill. Lazza, the old man, and Quadz from the senior field rode it hard-man style and felt the sting of Kris Barr's alien LAS TT helmet, the former being caught at the end of the course (1:00 down), the latter getting passed at a painfully early 4:40 of
17:00 or so. Despite having ridden well over the past couple of weeks this was an early warning of Quadz's weak edges (he admitted, post-race to feeling only about 75% when he woke up that morning, not feeling the courage in his legs, and having early-season pollen allergies acting up). On the other hand, Paul "Good Man" Goodyear rode to a solid second place in senior sport, also hard-manning it.

Recovery was quick and dirty with only an hour forty-five 'till the road race kicked off. Open male got knocked down from 6 to 5 laps, from 108k to 90k in the interests of finishing up a bit earlier and forcing the pace up so everyone suffered more. For those not familiar with the road course in Fredericton (or more accurately Nashwaak) it climbs for 5k, rolls flat for 5k, descends for 2k, and has a final flat 6k, or so. An early break went up the road on the first lap, consisting of Lorenzo, Adam Douthwright, Mike Davis (who later flatted, most unfortunately), and Stuart Wight (New Brunswick's up-and-coming). The rest of the group was either working with guys up the road, in a different category and didn't care, or were too shattered from a heroic TT effort to do anything but hang on to last wheel (Quadz fell into this last category). Fortunately once the lactic acid got flushed out things got better, some attacks and solid pulls got laid down, but the break still rose from 1:30 to 3:45 frighteningly fast. As it turns out the wily old fox did no work, so look to the legs of Wight and Douthwright for the work on this one. As the laps counted down the wind came up on the backside of the course, some thundershowers threatened and then fell briefly, but for the most part it was 20º and sunny—hot coming from 9º and cloud for the past two weeks. This took its toll on Quadz despite proper hydration this time around and the decision was made at the beginning of the fourth lap to abandon, just as the legs showed signs of locking up.

The open male race ended up with Lorenzo riding solo to the line, five minutes up on the field, an injured Douthwright coming in three minutes later (after a crash during an over-eager feed, but enough to get him a second overall), and Kris Barr winning the group sprint locking in his third overall.

In the senior sport category Goodyear was putting the hurt to the field, with only one other rider able to keep with him. Unfortunately this was the TT winner, so the goal of the day was to gap 20 seconds somewhere on the course and hold it to the line. Following some sage pre-race advice the first lap was ridden fairly chill, attacks were made up the climb on the second lap, and then again on the third lap. Unfortunately for the Good Man it came down to grabbing two seconds in the sprint, not enough to catapult him into first, but a stage win in the first race of the season is ample evidence of this young man's quickly-developing form.

This was my first time racing in New Brunswick, and if this was any representation of the level of event that is normally put on, it's worth the money for every Nova Scotian to go to one or two a year. We had TT results posted fifteen minutes after the last rider came in, and full RR and overall results up twenty minutes after the race. Awards were succinct, and generally there was a great vibe among all present for the day. Well done to everyone responsible.

Next weekend, Woolastook? We'll see how this one feels about another four-hour drive.

Well, hardly a "daily" but we're still getting into the swing of things. Training on the East coast has been rolling along. Lambchop is pounding in the miles and quickly coming into form. Quadz has started his taper into the race season, starting with the a TT/RR in Freddy this Sunday. He and the Good Man are CSD-Cervélo's offering to the race. They should hold down fairly well—a race report will be posted.

Team CSD-Kuota is rocking out in Québexico, pulling top-20s in TTs, a mere minute or two back of some pretty damn big boys. Crushing defeats will surely be doled out in a month's time come Nationals.

In other news one of the two team cars is now outfitted in full Yakima glory: four SprocketRockets now bless the roof of the Golf. Pics should be posted shortly, but we may wait until the second team car is kitted out. Race transportation will be available, though space is limited, reserve your spot today!

Yeah, so the big race went down the tubes. A personality clash of monumental proportions, and also an example of the survival of the fittest. We may have got shot up, but our man's the only one left standing.

Here's how we made the best of the situation and ran the 'hood in the absence of official competition:

As more and more riders gathered on the outskirts of Dartmouth, the stares from incredulous lay people became more and more frequent. Not even a Tim Hortons 4x4 could provide solace to a rider today, as a lethal mixture of talent from across the land gathered under a lucid sky. Andrew Lowery and the Atlantic Cycling Centre's own Craig De Gier waved the green flag as the 30-strong pack began its hostile takeover of Waverly Road. With the blow off valve on Craig's rotory engine going off like microwave popcorn, the 'race' was on.

The first accelerations of the day came with Team Apogee - Kuota's tag-team of Geoff O'tool and Garrett McLeod. The two riders traded back-to-back pulls upwards of 50km/h and applied a venerable cheese-grater to the shrinking peloton.
With a rhythm established the now single-file pack wound its way through Sackville and onto the #1 highway towards Rawdon. A steady pace of 35-40km/h was generally maintained, only punctuated by the harsh power delivery of Apogee-Kuota, "Hitman" Lamb, and the legendary Lorenzo.

The first regrouping was done at the intersection with the #14, and the group powered on to its scheduled store stop in Kennetcook. On the downhill into the village, the trio of GOT, GMC, and Vo2 unleashed a clear harbinger of the suffering to come. The perfect pavement, slight grade, and tailwind allowed the small break to maintain 50km/h, occasionally spinning out 11 tooth cogs at speeds of 75 km/h. This effort necessitated consumption of many real fruit gummies, snickers bars, and extreme quantities of coke. The locals looked on, no less shocked as we chilled at their corner store than I expect they'd be if ET fell from the sky onto its roof.

It was on the return journey home, up courthouse hill and down the Beaverbank road, that true efforts were made by the heavy hitters of the group. Early into Beaverbank splits were firmly established as the 20 degree heat, burning sun, and the dull ache of lactic acid made their presences known. A 'race' winning move of Lorenzo, L'esperance, GOT, GMC, Eli 'Quadz' Chiasson, and Lamb broke free over the first sizable roller and was never reeled in. L'esperance rode strongly all day, but nearly suffered cardiac arrest during one of Kuota-Apogee's attacks. Lamb was also dispatched at the whim of the Kuota riders and suffered solo behind the group for a while until he was caught by the chase group of Martin Austin, Tom Beezley, Man in Black (name unknown to the Press), and Espoir Laval/Quick Step rider (also unknown to the press). This group worked well together, hoping to catch a possibly dropped 'Quadz, but it was not to be as he ducked into a store just as the group was approaching him, in order to save face.

The winning three relished their victory as they cruised home at 42km/h along the Windsor Junction Cross Road, and decided the memorable, though somber, day should be honored by crossing the line together in solidarity, rather than sprinting for bragging rights at work.

Notable performances of the day include PEI Canada Games Coach, Andrew Scott, and his squad of talented up and comers. The crew was in town for other unspeakable reasons, but made the best of the situation and likely realized some much greater training gains, not to mention expanding their perception for suffering. Paul Goodyear also made himself known to the big guns, his new Soloist Team had been seen inflicting much pain locally, but today it proved itself far beyond the boarders of the HRM.
As an aside, Lamb was heard after the race exclaiming in the showers that he only rode as if he 'actually had fitness' because 'these new Mavic R-SYS wheels just feel so bloody quick!'

Cheeya!

Aiight, 'dis a gunna be dope yo!