I had a good weekend at Coronation!

This is the third year I have done it, first year I got a flat and came in around 2:06, last year I was about 2:02. I set out to try and get under the two hour mark. It was a gorgeous day… sunny and not too hot, not too cold. I love coronation for the participation it brings. experienced triathletes on $5,000 machines and first timers on beach cruisers. It’s got a very enjoyable, inclusive feel to it. Also, there is free Subway at the end. Or maybe its $90 subway cause that was the entry fee. Regardless, it tastes pretty good.
I was seeded as the first of six swimmers in my heat, so I was pleased that I could swim “my race” and not get caught up in the middle of the chaos that is often a pool swim. I was hoping for a sub 20:00 in the pool.  So I hop in and focus on setting some good technique and rhythm. Well, that lasted about 20 metres and the woman behind me started slapping my feet with each stroke. So much for that strategy. I stopped for a second at the end and let her go by, but I was determined to keep up. It was probably good that she did. It gave me some incentive and someone to chase. I quickly felt my form and calm “technique focus” fade away into a thrashing mess, and by about 600 metres, she had gained about 20m on me. I managed to keep that pace though and finished at about 19:30, so was pleased with that. I also put my shoes on in transition faster than her so I felt vindicated.

The bike felt really good. I think the early season road racing helped! The uphill sections I was able to maintain a faster pace than I had in the past and my recovery time was good enough that I could really push pretty hard on the uphill and recover a bit on the ride down Groat Road. I finished in about 49 minutes, but that includes both transitions. My Garmin said 44, but the way coronation works is you pass over a strip coming out of the pool and then not again until you start on the run. A bit imprecise, but its the same for everyone.

The run, is my achilles heel, or arthritic knee, if you will. Years of skiing and numerous surgeries have made me a candidate for early knee replacement. I was trying to maintain about a 5:30 pace, but actually ended up at just over 39 minutes, which is around a 5:00 pace. To be fully honest, my garmin read 7.6 km, so I’m wondering if the course was a little shy of the 8 km promised. No matter, a few advil later and the run was done!

Duncan, adhering to the posted speed limit, and being paced by his son at the 2012 Coronation Triathlon

Overall time was 1:48:18, so well under my goal and my best time at Coronation by about 14 minutes. I finished 10th in my age group, 66 overall…..All in all, very pleased with the race. Then I had Subway.  Full Results here.

Joe takes 1st place in sport. Jan breaks a crank. Derek needs a new chain.

This past weekend I represented the Fiera Race Team at the Velocity stage race. For everyone who doesn’t know what a stage race is, it consists of multiple races (or stages) and at the end the rider who has the fastest accumulated time over all stages wins the general classification (GC).

The Velocity stage race consists of a 10 km Individual Time Trial (ITT), a Road Race, and a Criterium (Crit). The distance/duration of the RR/Crit depends on the racing category. There are 5 racing categories grouping people with similar abilities. The difference between a road race and a criterium is that the latter is a fast paced race on a short course (~ 1km) with lots of corners, accelerations and quite some action.

Here are the details for my races:

1)   Time Trial:

I went into the time trial with no expectations since I haven’t spent a lot of time on the bike this winter, and I know Cat 3 is pretty competitive. My goal was to pace myself evenly and keep some grains for the last 3 km. It worked quite nicely and I felt good all the way through. On the final km, I was even able to add some speed and after I crossed the finish I was happy with the result and how I felt. Eventually, it turned out to be the second fastest time in my category, which was great, but at the same time I felt the pressure was on me.

2)   Road Race

Going in second place into the road race (the first guy was only a few seconds faster) I decided to play it safe, wait for my chance and do one big attack with about 5 km to go. That was the plan. I really didn’t have any backup plan this time and was wondering whether this will work out. After the race started, I felt really miserable, mentally. I needed to pee after about 10km (only 100km left) and it was freezing. I was ready to pull over and quit the race. But of course I cannot just quit because it’s cold and I have to pee. How embarrassing would that be?? [And what kind of race report would it make?] Instead, I tried to focus all my negative energy towards my tires and was hoping for a flat – but it never happened. What was really interesting is that I didn’t pay attention to what happened during the race – instead I was just cycling somewhere near the back and was chatting with myself. Something, I usually do during an Ironman because it gets boring at some point and it helps to make the time go by quicker. On our last lap however, I heard the commissaire yelling that the breakaway has 4 minutes on us. “BREAKAWAY??? I didn’t know there was a breakaway!!!”. Great, finally in a road race there was breakaway with 3 people, 4 minutes ahead on the last lap and I am chatting with myself. I asked another rider and he told me they went off quite early in the race. Then I knew these guys must have been really suffering by now. So, actually I was happy again not to be in the breakaway. Anyway, I woke up, reminded myself there was a plan to execute and I felt good again. There were so many possibilities to attack on the last lap but I restrained myself and decided to give 100% exactly where I successfully broke away 2 years ago. I reached the spot, accelerated from the middle of the back and played the only card I had. I was really hammering it for the first minute and I realized I would soon have to slow down a little or I would blow up. I quickly turned around to see whether my attack was successful or not. I couldn’t see anyone close and went on cruise control. Then my inner voice wanted to chat again, but this time I told it I was busy and ignored it. It was actually kind of funny and I had to smile a bit. After the final turn I saw that I still had some distance between the peloton and me. But I kept on pedalling as hard as I could. Two years ago, I was in the same situation and it looked good after the turn but then, I just barely made into the finish in the end. So, even though I couldn’t see anyone after the turn, I kept on pushing the pedals hard. Then I saw the 2 km sign and another flash back from 2 years ago reminded me how long it still is to the finish and how much it hurt. Finally, the 500 m sign, I could see the red pylon now and was aiming for it. I also passed the third guy from the breakaway, which I absolutely didn’t realize until after the race. About 50m before the finish I turned around and knew I was safe and enjoyed crossing the finish line.

After the road race I was still 2^nd in the GC and somewhere around 25 seconds behind Jeff Perron and somewhere around 15 seconds ahead of Craig Fraser.

I was very happy with the result but was certain I couldn’t really gain more than 25 sec on Jeff in the Crit. So, my main goal was to make sure Craig wouldn’t pass me in the GC.

3)   Criterium

I slept very well that night and arrived early and relaxed at the Alberta Research Park. I was quite nervous. Crits always make me nervous because they require a lot of skill and chances to crash out are high. But what shall I do now? I calmed myself down and reminded myself to ride safe and only make sure to stay ahead of Craig and take 2^nd place home. I did a quick warm-up and shortly after we were lining up at the start line. I got a good spot right in first line. The commissaire blew his whistle and we were off. Samuel Beaudoin was leading the pack for the first lap and we kept the speed high. I always tried to give all I had on the head/cross wind section around the lake to make it difficult and soon enough the pack split. I felt really good and my legs were amazing. I couldn’t believe it. It was 40 min of fun. I enjoyed every minute because I know it can also be quite the opposite! I was also able sprint for third place during the prime lap and won one bonus second. Hooray!!! I kept on turning around and I couldn’t see the main field. I did realize though that Jeff wasn’t in the lead group and I was wondering what the time difference would be. Then we got the bell for the last lap and the group sped up again and slowed down shortly afterwards. Since I knew I wouldn’t have a chance in the sprint, I tried again to pull away in the head wind section without success. Finally, the sprint was on and I finished 8^th. It was a very great race!! And then to make it even better our group had a gap of ~28 sec which was enough for me to win the GC with 4 seconds ahead of Jeff.

Thanks to everyone for cheering, Jan and Lenka for giving us their car and of course Sanja for her amazing support!

Next Stop: Pigeon Lake! And if my calculation is correct it will be in Cat 1/2 J

Like Bikes? Like Movies? Live in Edmonton? 2nd Annual Bike Reel Short Film Fest. Tomorrow! bit.ly/KJYCHn

—
Dan Riskin (@riskindan) May 08, 2012

What more proof do you need that this is going to be the coolest thing happening in Edmonton Wednesday night?

A night of bicycle-themed fun is rolling into Metro Cinema on Wednesday with the second annual Bike Reel Short Film Fest.

The evening will consist of a series of short films from around the world centred on bicycle culture and its benefits as a mode of transportation, appealing to both bike lovers and film-aficionados in the process.

Read the whole article here.

For all the details, check out the Bike Reel website.

Stefan wins cat 3 GC!!

Cat 4 RR results.

Cat 3 RR results.

Cat 1/2 results.