Issue 08/27                                                                             July 2, 2008

UPCOMING EVENTS

July 2 DATE CHANGE - Spring Criterium Series Race #8, finale - 6:30PM - Morgan's Point

July 6 - Capital G Time Trial Series - 7:30AM - Harrington Sound

July 7-11 - BBA Junior Cycling Camp (see below)

July 12 - Summer MTB Series - 5:00PM - Clearwater Dirt Race Track

July 12 - Jr. Caribbean Cycling Championships Time Trial - Curacao

July 13 - Jr. Caribbean Cycling Championships Road Race - Curacao

July 13 - Capital G Time Trial Series - 7:30AM - Bacardi

July 19 - Summer MTB Series - 5:00PM  - Arboretum

July 20 - Capital G Time Trial Series - 7:30AM - Shelly Bay

July 27 - Summer MTB Series - 5:00PM - Arboretum

CHELSEA AND SOME PADEGA GO FOR 24 HOURS

Apparently his early pleas for another teammate were answered in time for the big race so Chelsea and Mike Padega (AKA the Not So Handsome Padega, according to brother Dave) did battle in the deep woods of Canada.  Or somewhere not in Bermuda.  Whatever. Want more?  Here's Mike's spin on the event:

Hi Peter: I don't know if I can adequately describe the event for you but shall try.

The 24 Hours of Summer Solstice is North America's largest 24 hour bike race with over 2100 racers. The race is hosted by the guys at Chico Racing (who are also the organizers for all the Ontario Cup mountain bike events) and so was a top notch, well organized event. This was the 11th year in a row for the race. They also organize a 24 hour race in August called the Hot August Nights Race ( August 23,24) and this year have introduced a 3 day stage race called Crank The Shield (Sept. 19-22) , which will cover close to 300 km of single-track. I have attached the Chico Racing website to the email - hopefully it may inspire some of Bermuda's other riders to make the trip up.

The venue for the race is in the Albion Hills Conservation Area - and so camping was the order of the day. Our site was quite close to the start/finish area and provided enough space to get comfy. A couple of pints on Friday night were required to properly "carbo-load" . A team meeting held Saturday morning resulted in Chelsea being elected our lead off rider (the election went like this - "Hey he sounds different than us - he should go first") Being a good sport Chelsea agreed to throw himself into the mass start. The weather Sat. morning was a bit overcast with some drizzle, but by race time the sun was out and it looked to be a glorious day for racing. The mass start at this race is a lot of fun to watch, when the clock strikes noon about 600-700 racers take off sprinting for the holeshot. The course is structured so that there is an open and grassy uphill start lap that serves to spread out the field before it hits the single-track. Once into the woods the Albion Hills area provides some great single-track mountain biking. The soil is a mix of clay and sand with lots of twisting and turning and short steep climbs as it weaves through the forest. Occasionally the single-track would open up to double track ATV trails to allow passing, although all the racers were really good at making room for you to pass in the single-track if you wanted to.

And pass Chelsea must have, because he pulled off a great opening lap time coming in at about 60 minutes for the 17-18 km (approx 11 miles) loop. As I stated in my last email we were all impressed with his times on the big Scott! The race continued with the other 4 riders all taking their turns at churning out our laps. The weather held up until the evening - about midnight the thunderstorms that had been skirting the area hit us .The race organizers were close to stopping riders from leaving the start area until the storms passed, but the race went on and the lightning stayed away though the rain really started hammering down. The trails became quite slick, especially in the first half of the lap which had more clay soil and alot of roots to contend with. The night laps slowed everybody down a bit but we were pleasantly surprised to see we were in forth at the half way mark in the race.Riding in the rain with the light strapped to your head in the wee hours of the morning is not most peoples idea of fun (myself included) but we hung tough and after two night laps each and maybe two hours sleep each the sun was up and we were in second spot. The morning sunshine seemed to lift everybody's spirits and quicken lap times and though legs were getting pretty crampy I think we all could sense that the finish line was getting closer. The final laps of the day were tough ones but we knew we were solidly in second with no chance of catching the first place guys so we all decided to ride a little bit conservative and play it safe.

We were all up at the start/finish line (beer in hand of course) to cheer our last rider on as he came home at about noon on Sunday.. A brief awards ceremony followed and it felt good to stand in front of the crowd (in the rain again) and collect a little bit of ribbon and tin in the form of a second place medal.

I think Chelsea had a good time - in the way that painful things can be a good time- and he certainly did an awesome job on the big bike in difficult conditions. I would highly recommend the race to any and all riders in Bermuda, maybe next year we could manage an even larger BDA presence.

Cheers, keep riding
Mike Padega

SUMMER CYCLE CAMP SIGN-UP

The BBA's cycling camp for juniors starts next Monday and runs July 7 - 11 at Southside.  The group will be run by Jason Schisler and two two other coaches from Vision Quest Coaching and advance registration will be required.  The registration form is available HERE and should be completed and returned to one of the BBA boxes at Winners Edge, Bicycle Works or Sportseller immediately.  Please note that participants will need to be on a road bike.

If you think you can help then contact Jeff Amaral at either jeff@conrads.bm or 535-8623.

RACING MATTERS

MORGAN'S POINT CRIT TONIGHT

Crit racing at Morgan's Point continues tonight at 6:30.  Last one of the series and final road race until September 7th. Quick, grab your bike and get out to Southampton!  Ferry leaves at 6:00PM.

TIME TRIALS RESUME

John Whale and his band of merry men and women are back for more time trials.  Harrington Sound is the test this Sunday with the first rider off at 7:30AM.  Get there early to sign up.  Volunteers would be greatly appreciated.  Check out the fancy series logo!  Thanks to sponsor Capital G.

Picture of the week

OK, this is Chelsea week.  Not only does he get to go off the island for a little extreme racing but he followed it up with "the perfect family vaction".  Ask him for the details.

If you want to submit a picture or two for the next newsletter then please forward the image to newsletter@bermudabicycle.org.