Monday, May 29, 2006

Weekend: Riding & Racing

As the rain poured down Sunday morning, I wished I could snuggle into bed- a ride was the last thing on my mind. As I headed down the hill in the drizzle, I had no idea what to expect. Needless to say, I was surprised to find a group of cyclists waiting at the front gate and amazed as this group grew to 18 riders, including three young passengers.

We rolled away from TAS and the rain stopped. For the next two hours, not a drop fell from the sky. Cyclists took the hill at varying paces; I was surprised how quickly everyone made it up. I was particularly impressed with the Earley Clan, complete with running commentary from the boys on the hook-a-bikes...

Helen's Coffee wasn't open due to the questionable weather, but a small group continued back to the Starbucks at the Palace Museum. We all agreed that we will have to arrange another ascent in August.


A small selection of the riders after coffee.


Saturday was a great day of racing out at Fulong. The 55 km course snaked along the coast at a controlled pace before ascending 10 km to the mountain above Jyoufen. After a quick drop back to the valley, the ride meandered back to Fulong before finishing on a wicked 2.5 km clim to the finish.

The pack of 409 cyclists was dominated by Team Columbus riders. Craig Johns, fresh off his recent triathlon victories, proved why he is the dominant rider on the tri circuit by finishing a very impressive 7th place, just behind the Elite Category riders. He took out first in the M25 division. Luke took 2nd in M20, just behind Craig. Leon blasted up the hill to finish 17th and 2nd in M40. Maximus Reedus finished just behind Leon in 3rd in M40 and Peter rounded out the top 6 in M40. Henry had one of his best races, finishing 5th in M30. Eric, Yamada, and Barry also placed in their divisions. In her first race, Kate earned the 3rd spot on the podium. All in all, the Team Columbus results were strong enough to earn 2nd in the team competition- impressive!


Speedy Reedy



The Captain Ascends


Full results are available here:

Overall
Age group

If you take a look at the times from the race, you will see that you don't need to be super fast to compete. Consider coming out to a race in the fall...

I depart for my summer holidays on Thursday, so I probably won't be publishing much to the blog until then. Please remember, though, that anyone is welcome to post using email.

See you in the fall!

Bill

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