OBB-WHEELERS SATURDAY RIDE REPORT

[HDB]

A momentous moment indeed #pausenot

[JonB]

Note:
The Saturday ride reporter reserves the right to embellish, make up, exaggerate, and generally fabricate any material that goes into his report. That includes quotes, post race interviews, my performance, other riders' performance, the weather, what Trev was wearing that day, and pretty much anything else that may or may not have happened on the ride. Quotes for next weekend's ride report can be found here (Craig, Cody, or Henri, feel free to pick one out for me prior to next weekend): http://www.escapevelocity.bc.ca/sluggo

Enjoy!

[JonB]

March 2, 2013 OBB-Wheelers Saturday Group Ride Report
-Strade Bianche Edition-

Results:
1. SCOTTY MARTIN WITH THE HUGE WIN!!!! (OBB-WHEELERS)
2. Cody Canning (Trek Red Truck)
3. Craig Richey (Trek Red Truck)
4. Vegan Dave (Organic Athlete)
5. Jon B (OBB-WHEELERS)

Cloudy skies but mild temps greeted riders for the March 2, 2013 Strade Bianche Edition of the OBB Wheelers ride. Notably absent from the peleton was last week's champion, Henri De Boever (Trek Red Truck). The first moves started to come after the turnoff to the Airport when Craig Richey upped the pace in the cross wind and caught a few people off guard. As gaps emerged, several riders popped off the back but most were able to latch back on by the bottom of Panorama. Starting the Panorama climb it was Geoff Homer and Dan Varga (Opus) leading, followed closely by TSkin and Chopper Dan (OBB-Wheelers) and the TRT duo of Richey and Canning. As the climb ramped up the Opus duo started to increase the pace, until a seemingly effortless attack by the pair of TRT riders obliterated the group. By the top of the climb the TRT duo had 15 bike lengths, with Scotty Martin, Jon B, and Dan Varga chasing. This was quickly joined by TSkin and Geoff Homer and by the bottom of the Hill the TRT duo were caught. Behind, Chopper Dan,Trev, and Vegan Dave were leading the chase group which latched back on in central saanich. The Peleton seemed pretty spent after that effort and it was an easy pace from central saanich to interurban. TSkin succombed to an untimely flat on the observatory hill and going into interurban it was Dan Varga leading a group of ~10 riders. The pace ramped up but no one was willing to attack. Leading up to the finish it was Varga followed by Cody, Richey, Scotty, Vegan Dave, and Jon B. Cody was the first to launch and it looked like he would be taking another win for the city of champions until Scotty Martin put in a final kick to come around for the HUGE upset over the TRT boys. It was clearly an emotional win for Scotty who broke down in tears after crossing the finish line.

March 13 podium

FINAL CYCLING PIC.png (115.33KiB)Viewed 6028 times

[trevor]

Cody looks air brushed. And it's about time Scotty took a go in the sprint. He's been a caged tiger over the past months. I am amazed with his patience and awestruck with his power.
Well reported as usual Jon.

[Vegan Dave]

haha - hey everyone, this is awesome. =)

Great ride on Sat, TSS over 250 for me (for you power nerds) - that hurt. (To put it in context, i may have hit 260TSS in an OBB ride once or twice..)

First time my legs have really ached this year, thanks for the push!

Note that the chasing group after Pana was the White Russian (Anatoli), Trev, Parlee Mark and myself, and we tagged back at Stelly's. Trev put in a big effort during the chase, and just about popped us all. TOO MUCH POWAH!

And just a note for the future, it ought to be 'OrganicAthlete' with no spaces - thanks!!

PS - Pic from Sidney: https://twitter.com/VeganCyclist/status ... 2532954113

[Vegan Dave]

Hey gang - some peeps really turned the screws today!!

About 20 of us left Sidney, Land's End was pretty fast, carried on with the high pace towards the airport. Craig R was at the front turning onto the Airport road, and then put in a big dig. Fortunately i was on his wheels and got dragged along. Unfortunately for nearly everyone else, they were left behind!

If memory serves, it was Craig Logan, Cody, Chopper Dan and Tom that carried the pace to Panorama. Cody went back and picked up Megan, and surprisingly no one else tagged on to get towed back up to us..?!

Panorama was quite civil, Dan got to the front and held a firm pace. I was just about popped coming over the top, but stuck on..recovered, and was able to pull through again as we approached Saanichton. Things were pretty sane as we approached Interurban, but on the descent towards the lights, a truck with a big, wide trailer swerved into the bike lane, and it had this huge, exposed wheel, which must have been only inches behind Megan.......if it had clipped her, it would have been pretty awful.... =(

Decent run into the sprint, as we were cresting the roller after the corner, a car cruised by just faster than the pack, and i slid over to the draft, and suddenly i was ahead of the pack..! I backed off the car (not fair!) and the insanity of the idea flashed through my head, but i went with it and solo'd from the top of the crest! As i hit the final rollers, the legs weren't doing very good things, but kept it going... I managed to crest the final rollers, and was trying to put whatever i had left into the pedals.......but then Craig, Cody and Dan flew by in the final meters, and that was that. #KeepHopeAlive

I looked back, and one of Steve's juniors had tagged on, but can't really be '5th' since he wasn't there for most of the ride. I'm guessing Craig L or Dan was technically 5th.

King of the Overpass: unchallenged, c'est moi.

I think some peeps turned around, i carried on solo back around to the Uplands. 271TSS for the day - OUCH. Got an NP buster as well, 287w peak for 1hr. (My threshold when fit is ~275w...) Good sign for my fitness tho...things hopefully coming together.

Been meaning to create this segment, did it today: it's basically a 'full' loop for the group ride, if you circle back around by the Marina, will be interesting to see how this settles when it populates all the rides: http://app.strava.com/segments/3579924

Thanks for the workout, everyone! Have a great race tomorrow, i'll prolly be out limping on the mtb, sessioning the course for next weekend. =)

[chopperdan]

Saturday’s ride brought out a smaller crowd then usual due to Sunday’s Caleb Pike road race and Island Cup MTB race at Hartland dump. There was a larger group starting out from the OBB parking lot, but quite a few riders turned around early to save their legs.

We started out with beautiful clear skies and managed to skirt around the rain for almost the whole ride. The ride out to Sidney was a steady pace all the way to the rest stop. Battling Victoria’s ever-present continual head wind, we had a group of 10-or-so riders that worked together in a pace-line from Sidney, which included Craig Richey, Steph Roorda Cody Canning, Henry DeBoever, Megan Rathwell, Isaac LeBlanc, Mick Bryson and myself. Coming around the airport, I could tell that people were feeling the wind. Once we started the Panorama climb, I upped the pace a tad. After a few seconds with an effort, I looked back and saw that no one came with me and I was being hung out to dry. The group steadily reeled me in by the 4-way intersection and from there the pace was steady and consistent enough that a few people slipped off the back but no one was making any efforts to attack. Starting just after Panorama, the rain caught up with us. It only sprinkled lightly on us but the roads were getting wet so the pace mellowed. The ride ended with Cody, Henry, Megan, Issac, Craig and myself but there was no sprint at the end as it was wet and most of the group didn’t have fenders.

Shout out to Jon Benskin and Mick Bryson for representing us at Caleb Pike - Jon managed to pull out a 5th place in the A race. Trevor MacKenzie and Scotty Martin ran the show at today’s Island cup race where Scotty picked up a 5th place as well. Nicely done gentlemen!

[Vegan Dave]

Thanks for the update, i got soaked turning back from Mattick's with Scotty and Trev...haha The Island Cup was very fun, tho might have been more fun had i made it to the start line the same time as everyone else! =P

[Vegan Dave]

How did the ride finish? I got gapped by Lawrence before the airport left-turn, and i bridged up, but another surge was more than i could handle in that crosswind... Looks like you eased up a bit as i was dangling not too far behind, but you were well outta sight by the time i made it over Panorama..haha

Good job to those turning the screws!

[JonB]

March 24 results:
1. The unstoppable Scotty Martin (OBB-Wheelers)
2. Jon B. (OBB-Wheelers)
3. Chopper Dan (OBB-Wheelers)
4. Mick Bryson (OBB-Wheelers)
5. Geoff Robson (Stucky Life)

This report is a week late but from what I can remember the screws started to turn around the airport. Over the top of Panorama, it was Scotty, Jon B, and Correy Wallace off the front with chopper Dan and Geoff Robson chasing and slightly further back Mick. The rest of the group was pretty scattered. Dan and Geoff regrouped with the front three by Thrifty's in central saanich and Mick chased solo and managed to bridge back up by Stellys (impressive effort). The pace stayed pretty fresh along Wallace and up West Saanich. A few attacks along Interurban dropped Corey Wallace and Geoff Robson which left it an all OBB-Wheelers group coming into the finish. Dan lead it out followed by Jon B and Scotty. Jon B. kicked first but Scotty came around at the last second to get him by a tire width.

March 30th results:
1. Scotty "too hotty" Martin (OBB-Wheelers)
2. Alex "I would have won if I hadn't spent 5 hrs at the track yesterday" Hui (Pro City)
3. Tom "I would have won if we were on mountain bikes" Skinner (OBB-Wheelers)
4. IRC Tony (IRC)
5. Jon B. (OBB-Wheelers)

First no-leg warmer ride of the year today! We had a huge turnout in the A group ~25-30 riders at the ferries. Pace was brisk right away with T. Skin putting in a dig right off the bat to string out the group. The peleton stayed more or less together until the start of Panorama when chopper Dan took a flier and put ~20 bike lengths into the group. This was brought back by Jon B. after which an attack consisting of Scotty Martin, T Skin and a few pro city riders took off but were almost immediately stalled by a bus which allowed several others to get back on. Over the top a few riders were dropped and coming into central Saanich the group was down to ~15. The pace stayed fast through Wallace and West Saanich Rd and then onto Interurban. The group was largely still together coming into the bunch sprint when Scotty unleashed his signature explosive sprint to take the win over Alex Hui.