June 5/01 10:35 am - Hardwood Chat, Mississauga Midweek, Redden Report

Posted by Editor on 06/5/01
 

Hardwood Chat Session

Canadian Cyclist will be working with Hardwood Hills on Saturday to present a chat session and cross-country course pre-ride with the pros. Chrissy Redden (Subaru-Gary Fisher), Seamus McGrath (Haro-Lee Dungarees) and Andreas Hestler (Rocky Mountain) will be participating in an open forum question and answer session at 11:30 am (moderated by CC). Following the session the pros will lead groups of riders around the cross-country circuit at noon. This event is open to all participants.

Note: for our readers who can not attend the chat session, we will be taking questions later in the week that we will ask during the session and then post on our site.


Hardwood Registration...

Will be closing at 8:00 pm EDT on Thursday, June 7th.


La Bicicletta Midweek Novice Series 2001

Sponsors: Schwinn Canada, Trillium Foundation, City of Mississauga
Event # 6, 01-05-04. Hershey Centre 37.4 km (avg:35.8 km/h)
Conditions: Cool, Cloudy 15 deg C. wind: N 8 km/h

1. Monir Taha 3 1:02:40
2. Dave Oryzlo - MBRC 3 st.
3. Jerome Samson - U of T 3 st.
4. Morty Bryce - D'Ornellas 3 st.
5. Lorne Cunliffe MA st.
6. Chris Firek - Vickie Cakes 3 st.
7. Steve Varga 3 st.
8. Stuart McKay - Gears 3 st.
9. Gary Hirsch - Pavan MD st.
10.Steve Head 3 st.

Primes:
1) Jerome Samson 2) Stuart McKay 3) Monir Taha
1) John Sharpe 2) Domenic Rocca 3) Peter Penman
36 Starters - 36 Finishers

Season Standings to date:
1. Monir Taha - 52 pts.
2. Jerome Samson/Stuart McKay - 41 pts.
4. Lorne Cunliffe/Steve Head - 25 pts.
6. Dan Zucconi - 24 pts.

Last week's leader Monir Taha managed to finally a win a race in the series after numerous high placings and extend his lead in the series standings.

Thanks to Rider coaches Pierre Perrin, Aubrey Bryce, Ann Turrin, Marcel Zierfuss and to Peter and Kit McCaffery and Peter Hurley for help with putting on the race. Thanks to Sponsors La Bicicletta and Schwinn Canada for prizes and continued support and the riders for making this a great event and for help gathering pylons after the race.

Next Monday before the race (6:30 pm) veteran rider Aubrey Bryce will host a short clinic on criterium racing for riders who wish to develop their cornering speed and pack riding skills. Come early to take advantage of this special opportunity.

Remember: Riders who have raced four times or more are required to join an OCA-affiliated club for insurance purposes. Riders may choose to join the Midweek Club, membership fee $10.


Redden Big Bear Report

Chrissy Redden (Subaru-Gary Fisher) has sent in a team report after Big Bear (Norba National Series #1).

The first race of the American Mountain Bike Series came to the mountains of Southern California over the weekend. Racers from all over the world gathered to test their skills and fitness at the 7200ft venue. The cross-country course was the same as years past, with a long fire-road climb to the apex of the mountain, then a fast, dusty descent bringing the riders back through the expo area. The women did 2 laps of the 12 km course while the men did 3 laps making their race a short 36 km. After competing in the cross-country race on Friday, the racers had just about 24 hours to recover before competing in the much anticipated, spectator-friendly short course. This track was a fast 500 meters in length and the competitors did an adrenaline packed 25 minute sprint. The crowd and (most of) the racers love this event for its sheer gut-busting, oxygen-deprived, pain-induced aspects.

Day 1

The Subaru/Gary Fisher Team lined up its 4 cyclists on Friday for the inaugural cross-country event. Mary Grigson, who won this event last year, and Chrissy Redden competed in the 80-strong Pro Women's division. Being a shorter than average race the pace went out fairly quickly up the first 5km ascent. Very early on, Alison Dunlap (Team GT) took the lead. Mary found herself in the first chase group of 4 women and Chrissy found herself in the 2nd chase group of 5 women. Going into the 2nd and final climb, Mary gradually reeled in Dunlap, attacked at the top of the climb and mastered the descent to win the race in 1 hr 28 minutes! Chrissy managed to make up a little ground and finished just out of the top five in 7th.

Following the women's race, Pavel Cherkasov and Ryder Hesjedal got under way for their 3 lap race. Off the start an early lead group of 5 established itself with both the Subaru/Gary Fisher team-mates present. Halfway through the hot 30deg C race, Kirk Molday attacked and managed to gap the rest of the lead group giving himself an advantage of 30 seconds. But at the same time, Ryder suffered a broken chain and had to stop and fix it.

The final descent saw Pavel in a "Canadian Sandwich", the trio of Roland Green (Trek/VW), Pavel and Seamus McGrath (Team Haro) raced for 2nd. Kirk Molday came across the line first with a good gap, Roland 2nd, Pavel claimed 3rd place, Seamus 4th and Ryder managed to gain one more position and steal the remaining spot on the podium, 5th.

Day 2:

Luckily for the thousands of spectators and racers, the temperature on Saturday was slightly cooler. Racing began at 3pm with 60 women lining up. The pace was blistering fast. An early lead group formed. Mary was content to sit in, while her team-mate Chrissy tried to bridge up after a poor start. But the attacks from Jimena Florit (RLX Polo Sport) and Dunlap were too strong and constant for Redden to get back in. She eventually finished in the top ten, whereas Mary, trying to keep the pace steady, finished again on the podium.

The men went off at 3:30 pm. The spectators couldn't believe the pace and the excitement of all the lead changes. Both Ryder and Pavel established themselves as the boys not to be played with. The constant attacking and counterattacking whittled the field down very quickly! On the "bell" lap Seamus took the lead and it looked like he would take the win, but a motivated Ryder passed his Canadian team-mate on the final descent and came across the line 1st. Pavel, supporting his team-mate, also landed himself on the podium.