mosquitoes kept their distance and seemed to forgo their evening snack
to allow the time honoured tradition of Wednesday night racing by
unusually dressed homo sapiens.
The profile meant there was some early climbing portions served within
1Km and again at 4km the biggest chunk of about 3+km, however, the crest
was at 8.5 km and you lost elevation but undulation was served
continuously until a final 50+m of elevation gain on a roller at less
than 2km to the finish.
We were able to watch the odd thunderstorm cell skirting Calgary to the
North as the riders rolled, climbed and hammered with purpose under
cloudless skies and the odd patches of tractor tire mud spat out onto
our pristine asphalt ribbon at around the 12 KM mark. As our TT ribbon
cut through prime farm land we had to expect the odd rural nuance in
typical fashion just minutes before the riders were due to hammer
through at 50KM. However, the flavour of rural road racing was easily
consumed and all racer's kept the goal in sight or as soon as it
appeared at 17.6km, stopwatch & clip board in hand, as we waited for the
unmistakable roar of carbon disk or perhaps an inspired Eddy impersonator.
Split between Eddy style and Aero, actually 6 Aero and 5 EM ....but for
one of our rider's with only aero bars but no disc wheel seemed to
be....well not Eddy enough!
However, nothing blocked the progress of Paul Rosenberg riding Aero
style with the fastest overall time of 26:57 for the 17.6km jaunt. The
Eddy's were trying to make a point that sometimes a more traditional
approach
can produce equally impressive horsepower. Antoine Gendre proved this by
getting the fastest Eddy time of 28:11 and second overall on the night.
Shawna Donaldson, our lone female rider, who proved that you can still
retain
the right to be called "one of the boys" (tongue firmly in cheek) by
turning up and pushing a competitive time and your limits over any
terrain that is thrown down for you.
The finish was on a slight downhill grade off of a small roller and
meant the racer's had the challenge of powering at high cadence so to
not fall into the trap of letting the terrain offer a respite in the
last 150 meters (Yeah right!).
Many thanks to the racer's and the helping hands at the start line and
finish line. I apologize for not remembering the name of the young lady
giving us a useful third set of hands at the start and finish.
Jeff Bell. & Willy VanSevenant
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