February 4/14 11:39 am - News from the National Cycling Centre Hamilton

Posted by Editoress on 02/4/14
 

News from the National Cycling Centre Hamilton:

5 NCCH Athletes Receive Quest for Gold Funding for 2014 Season

[by David Ellis] Five NCCH riders have been selected for the 2014 Quest for Gold program run by the Ontario Cycling Association. National Cycling Centre Hamilton head coach Rick Lee said placing five riders in the Quest for Gold group of 16 shows the "strength of our program. We are proud of our riders and excited to take on 2014."

The five are: Jack Burke, 18, of Toronto; William Elliott, 18, of Barrie; Adam Jamieson, 17, of Horseshoe Valley; Saskia Kowalchuk, 19, of Hamilton, and Marie-Pierre Nadon, 17, of Timmins.

In 2013 each rider received just over $6,000.

The funding will help the NCCH athletes develop a plan to take their racing to the next level, said Brendan Arnold, who runs the OCA's Ontario High Performance Sports Initiative.The Centre's done a "solid job" in putting a number of riders on the list," he said.

"They're well represented in being some of Canada's up and coming athletes."

Ben Perry and Will Elliot take on the Poor College Kids RR

[by Ben Perry] The Poor College Kids Road Race was the first race of the 2014 season for Will and me. We were up early getting in a big feed and packing up all our stuff in preparation for the 140km race. The drive was a killer but beautiful. We spent half of it on the Pacific Coast Highway and the other half going over a mountain, crossing switch-backs and going through tunnels. We didn't have anyone to feed us until our buddy Eric Johnson was done his Cat 4 race which was going to be a problem in the heat.

I went off the front at the gun, it wasn't even an attack, I just rolled at about 35km/h and no one hopped on my wheel at first. Soon four riders had bridged up, a couple riders from Continental teams and another two locals from established amateur teams. We were riding well together and keeping a solid pace. I was surprised the peloton would let two pros into our move, especially because it included last year's winner, Tom Soloday from Optum.

After 70km we had a four minute lead and I was finally starting to get some feeds, but I was already thirsty and beginning to cramp, the damage was done. I was chugging back mix and continuing to roll through. Back in the peloton Will was playing the teammate card and followed a dangerous 3 man move with the eventual winner, but slid out and the race was over for him. On lap four of six my group broke with a reshuffle and I found my cramped body on the receiving end, falling back from the group of now 3 leaders. After about half a lap my group was scooped up by a groupo compacto and we were charging towards the leaders. Being essentially a dropped rider I just relaxed in the back of the group of about 10 chugging water and pounding back gels.

I felt I was recovered just enough with 7km to go at the base of a 4km climb to maybe make something out of this race. I followed the wheels to the top with only a descent to the finish. Now as it stood more than 6 riders were blown off on the climb and now four were just ahead of my group of three. The other two riders in my group didn't have the patience I did and didn't wait for me to pull.

I sat in and waited to use my momentum to fly by the first group that was 100m ahead, riding slowly and looking at each other waiting for someone else to make the pounce, forgetting we were coming in hot. I laid off the back of my trio a bit and charged into the draft, flew to the opposite side of the road, and smashed the pedals all the way up to and immediately past the front four. I was in immense pain as my legs were totally cramped. My calves were so tight I could only position my toes straight down, I was creeping along at best. I saw the line and fought as hard as I could but in the last ten metres two pros shot past me and I lost the race by a mere wheel.

Results

1 Tyler Magner (USA) Hincapie Sportswear Development Team
2 Thomas Soladay (USA) Team Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies
3 Benjamin Perry (Can) NCCH
4 Anthony Canevari (USA) Sharecare Cycling p/b WheelandSprocket.c
5 Christian Walker (USA) TIME - Velo Pasadena Team
6 Stathis Sakellariadis (USA) Big Orange Cycling
7 Stephen Leece (USA) Jamis Hagens Berman
8 Diego Binatena (USA) SKLZ-Swami's Development Elite Team
9 Erik Volotzky (USA)
10 Nicholas Castellano (USA) NCCF/ Team Specialized Juniors
11 Tyler Schwartz (USA)
12 Dustin Armstrong (USA) Serious Cycling
13 Alexander Ray (USA)
14 Ryan Schneider (USA) SoCalCycling.com / Craig Shelly
15 Michael Tunzi (USA) S2C/Primal
16 Erick Sobey (USA) SPY GIANT RIDE p/b MRI
17 Nathan Seaford (USA) SC Velo/InCycle Elite Men
18 Ian Moore (USA) Stage 17 Racing
19 Evan Stade (USA) SoCalCycling.com / Craig Shelly
20 Hunter Davis (USA) Bike Religion
21 Scott Lundy (USA) Serious Cycling
22 Taylor Vaccari (USA) SPY GIANT RIDE p/b MRI
23 Scot Ferguson (USA) Velo Reno P/B Tamarack Junction
24 Eric Oien (USA) Monster Media Junior Development
25 Michael Shein (USA) Team Rokform
26 Paul Vaccari (USA) SPY GIANT RIDE p/b MRI
27 Sam Warford (USA) Big Orange Cycling
28 Robert Angle (USA) Bike Religion
29 Tony Brady (USA) Incycle Racing p/b Full Circle
30 Kyle Torres (USA) Stage 17 Racing
31 Steven Salazar (USA) Bahati-WTR
32 Andrew Bosco (USA) SPY GIANT RIDE p/b MRI
33 Shawn Daurelio (USA) Bike Religion
34 Mackenzie Champlin (USA) Big Orange Cycling
35 Aaron Wise (USA) POC + Ritte
36 Tanner Robison (USA) LiVe Well p/b Bountiful Bicycle
37 Ryan Wei (USA) OTR Racing
38 Adam Kruse (USA) US Military Cycling Team
DNF Will Eliot (Can) NCCH