Wild Ride

This just in from team Graller HQ. "the rock" Schaller has been spotted having a lazy week in the lead up to this killer do or die race.She assures this reporter that she did a lot of calisthenics this Monday (pre canada day) night. On the books for Canada day (tomorrow) is an epic spider lake ride-backwards and forwards! Unfortunately, the team coach, RG, has been boring this racer all night long with a series of snoozer movies. On the screen now is a documentary about the Nazi film maker Gretchen Burger Meister or some such nonsense. Seriously though. This weekend will separate the girls from the men. Hopefully, "the rock" will fall somewhere in there, closer to the man side but without the attributes. Stay tuned for a mid week training update.

This just in, The Young Gun just scored a top-ten at Road Nationals!

Our Young Gun

Yo, what it is? Chops up in'iss. Last time I saw a streak this long I was dragging a broken body across the McKay bridge. Thats right, CSD continued it's winning streak for another weekend at the Links XC outside of Kentville. Like Martin Austin on a job, the course was likewise a heart-stopper. Lamb and Burgess made sure to rev up their vocal cords in a most obnoxious manner, due mainly to the presence of expert racers in the newly blended category of expert-elite. They needed to learn what was up. A painfully hungover Lamb took off and led into the opening downhill section, where about 8 little dirt jumps presented. The pack sessioned and enjoyed. With most still hiding out in the rail cars of the CSD pain train we drove onwards into the lap, maintaining a controlled pace until the young howitzer L'espy took charge and brought a new dimension of aggression to the fresh course. He powered the remaining group of Austin, Burgess, and Lamb until the end of the 4th lap, when Lamb, utilizing a tactic he recently learned from Frank Lucas, finally squeezed past an on-course obstinate cow and with a burst of torque straight out of Tokyo Drift, vanished from the sight of the group. L'espy powered on to easily claim 2nd place, with Martin and Burgess battling the remainder of the race to finish in that order. CSD's Graller family also held it down with Enid taking 2nd place in expert women and Randall also finishing strong slightly behind the front runners.

Afterwards we caravaned to Vicky's seafood restaurant in Kentville, but alas, they had no liquor license. We quickly gathered our wits and let the bass out all the way to Paddy's Pub. Randy worked on his Gaelic pronunciation and Chops complained about the damp patio. L'esperance discussed high school romancing. Dexter Van Dam sat in awe of our brash and uninhibited convo.

With relief that our bikes remained up top we hit the 101 for the final endurance test of the day. Chops nearly killed off a few team members before he took to holding his fatigued head out the window with every new song that was played. Much thanks to Eastern Environmental for gassin' up da dub, by the way. Next up for the crew will be the Graller 'all you can drink' event this saturday night, followed by the Upper Clements XC on July 6th.

Chops-OUT!

Riverport

Another race by the water, this time just outside of Lunenburg. A race for the sprinters if there ever was one in Nova Scotia. We rode the typical 140km in 3:45, averaging a respectable 37.5km/h especially given the modest pack size (we might have had a dozen on the start line). It was a pleasant 20º with light winds as we rolled off at noon (Al Huebach is such a sensible man). The guns fired quickly at first with CSD/Apogee-Kuota riders Geoff and Garrett trading a few attacks to get the legs warmed up. Why not, really. Most of us were happy to sit behind these two for the first lap (which was a faster 38km/h) or so, but there was still participation from all parties involved (Hub Cycle, Bicycles Plus, Sea Level Cycling, and Cyclesmith).

The peloton cruised in its entirety for three and a half laps, with GOT and Garrett picking up all three primes. The fourth time up Grimm Road (aptly named, a not-too-steep-but-none-too-shallow climb that always represents the breaking point of the race) Garrett, Geoff, Justin Theriault, Lorenzo, L'Esperence attacked, with Eli quickly following the move from mid-pack. We six put our heads down for 20km or so until the group was well in arrears. Lap five saw another couple of attacks on the climbs, but nothing stuck. As it turns out some legs were in fact weaker than their stong veneer depicted; unfortunately this façade was only discovered well after the final sprint, when things were sort of already wrapped up. The group rolled to the line, Eli made the mistake of pulling though in the second-to-last corner and was forced to lead the sprint, wherein G-Money took first, Theriault second, and Lorenzo third. CSD again dominated the race with 4 of 6 in the break and finishing with top honours and every prime in the race.

The A-K boys are headed back to Quebexico for le Coupe de paix and then Road Nationals. We get a bit of a break on the East Coast, allowing riders to get a second peak in time for the Wentworth RR on 13 July. Yeah, or something. I think we'll just have to organize some brutal Sunday group rides. Or race mountain bikes.

Lobster-fest

Last Sunday 8 June was the annual road race in Yarmouth, affably referred to as the Lobsta' Crawl. CSD had a full crew representing on the start line, from the young "Wunderkid" L'Esperence, hard-man JB, and Eli "Quadz" to members G-Money McLeod and GOT, both who were contractually obliged to roll in their Apogee-Kuota kits. The race rolled out with foggy skies and a fairly content pack. GOT attacked quickly to start the warm up, the pack rolled for another few kilometres and then the race-winning break of G-Money, Wunderkid, Kris Barr, and race organiser Jimmie Atwood took off. The rest of the Senior 1/2/3 pack went for a nice three hour tour of the Yarmouth countryside in what turned out to be a historically very unlikely sunny afternoon. Various attacks and short-lived solos were had from this group of ten, but in the end we rolled as a pack 'till the line.

G-Money shocked and awed us all (no, not really) by riding hard and eventually riding the rest of the break off his wheel and taking first place. The two rides of the race were no doubt done by Barr who was 57s behind first, and the Wunderkid who as a Junior in his first Elite road race hung on to round out the podium.

Pain was had, legs were tenderised, lessons were taught and learned, and lobster chowder was eaten. It was a good day.