August 8/01 4:24 am - Shep Report, Guadeloupe, Boucle, Hamilton Midweek

Posted by Editor on 08/8/01
 

Shep Report

It's not often one gets the opportunity to race at home and have the race be ever so important to the season. Not only were the Tim Horton Canadian championships key to world's selection but also my mental state was being put to the test. I had accomplished some serious training over the past 11 days (as had my fellow competitors) so this would be a true test of where we were at. Although there were some complaints about the mud, we were lucky the rain softened, then eliminated the braking bumps that marred the course the previous week.

Off the front Miles tore up the first climb with Rollie, Ryder, Shamoe, Kabusher, Dre and I in tow. The first loop consisted of a 5 minutes climb checked by a twisting medium speed single track descent that featured water, roots, drop-offs, and tight corners. Next straight up a two minute wall back down some fast single track, round a short rolly section to the base . . . up the ski hill again for a seven minute climb that ends in a few switchs across a muddy slope, then down a steep fast technical descent (with the above attributes) to start another lap on the inner short technical climb. Damn some mastermind must have made this course . . . he he he. (Ed. Note: He is referring to himself, of course)

Chad fell off the pace on the first loop as Ryder hammered out of the saddle and attacked with reckless abandon. Abandon he did after the first lap due to ton of training during the week and that morning! Rollie and Shamoe pulled the front starting the next lap well Dre took in tow . . . Kabush and I rotated in pursuit but could not close the gap to the front runners. Wedge, the one armed cod fisherman (still riding with a broken wrist) sat another 20 sec back with Matt T. We caught Dre towards the end of the second and he became part of the rotation but at this point the leaders had bumped up the gap to 45 secs. Shamoe stayed glued to Rollie's v8 as the two "non pre-riders" slowly dialed the course.

Towards the end of the third lap Dre's shifting took a turn for the worse (it had been grinding all day) while Kabush chose to anger the local loggers by hugging a tree. I sneaked by and pressed the descent to see what kind of a gap I could get. Managed to put in 15 seconds while Shamoe began to fall off the hard pace. I chased hard through the fourth and onto the last lap but Roland was no where in sight. Shamoe feeling the effects of his morning 30km hillclimb from the valley slowed and came within my grasp. With a couple hundred yards left in the last climb I had no hope barring mechanical as he was holding an 8sec lead up the climb. Boom! His shifting backfired on the last muddy pitch and I squeaked by for a second place. Kabush continued his chase and finished in 4th keeping the gear missing Hestler in 5th. Riding in no man's land all day was Canda Cup leader Toulouse in 6th and Miles in 7th. At the finish Roland had 1:45 on me, the Canadian champ jersey, world cup series lead, NORBA short and long series lead and let's see anything else!


Tour de la Guadeloupe

Josh Hall (Team Canada) lost the leader's jersey after yesterday's stage and has dropped out of the top-5.


Grande Boucle Feminine - France

Stage 3 - August 7: Barbotan les Thermes - Bergerac, 141.7 km

1 Gabriella Pregnolato (Ita) Gas Sport Team 3:27:03
2 Olga Slioussareva (Rus) Carpe Diem Itera at 0:01
3 Regina Schleicher (Ger) Michela Fanini Record Rox
4 Yvonne Brunen (Ned) Farm Frites/USA
5 Judith Arndt (Ger) Junkers-Noja
6 Rosa Maria Bravo Soba (Esp) Bik Toscany Sport
7 Ghita Beltman (Ned) Bik Toscany Sport
8 Magali Le Floch (Fra) CA Mantes-La-Ville
9 Iryna Chuzhynova (Ukr) Edilsavino
10 Francesca Castrucci (Ita) Aliverti Mixed

48 Cybil DiGuistini (Can) CA Mantes-La-Villem all s.t.

Stage 4 - Bergerac to La Rochefoucauld 121 km

1 Yvonne Brunen (Ned) Farm Frites/USA 3:28:01
2 Chantal Beltman (Ned) Bik Toscany Sport
3 Mari Holden (USA) Alfa Lum R.S.M.
4 Rasa Polikeviciute (Ltu) Acca Due-O H.P Lorena
5 Zinaida Stahurskaia (Blr) Gas Sport Team all s.t.
6 Bettina Schoke (Ger) Junkers-Noja 2:00
7 Olga Slioussareva (Rus) Carpe Diem Itera 2:53
8 Regina Schleicher (Ger) Michela Fanini Record Rox
9 Judith Arndt (Ger) Junkers-Noja
10 Gitana Gruodyte (Ltu) Aliverti Mixed

30 Cybil DiGuistini (Can) CA Mantes-La-Ville all s.t.

GC

1 Joane Somarriba Arrola (Esp) Alfa Lum R.S.M. 11:03:37
2 Zinaida Stahurskaia (Blr) Gas Sport Team at 0:50
3 Rasa Polikeviciute (Ltu) Acca Due-O H.P Lorena 1:23
4 Fabiana Luperini (Ita) Edilsavino 2:14
5 Alessandra Cappellotto (Ita) Gas Sport Team 2:37
6 Jeannie Longo Ciprelli (Fra) Swam-Slovakia s.t.
7 Marianna Lorenzoni (Ita) Aliverti Mixed 3:47
8 Teodora Ruano Sanchon (Esp) Junkers-Noja 4:09
9 Mari Holden (USA) Alfa Lum R.S.M. 4:37
10 Judith Arndt (Ger) Junkers-Noja 4:58

28 Cybil DiGuistini (Can) CA Mantes-La-Ville 10.56


Hamilton Cycling Club Tuesday Night Crit Series
Courtesy Sandra Cheskey

August 7th, 2001

So far we've had a total of 115 participants in the Hamilton Cycling Club's Tuesday Night Criterium Training Ride. The ride consists of 36 laps of the course, which totals about 40 kilometres, and the registration fee is $2.00 per week. It's great training, hot competition and fun, too . . . and we always go to Tim Horton's after. Come on out and join us!

Tonight (August 7th), we had 29 riders. It was an extremely hot evening that saw the father/son team of MIREK and PETER MAZUR break away from the pack to win the race handily. What a great finish, guys!

1. With 24 laps to go, we awarded a $5.00 prime to PAUL REGO.

2. With 12 laps to go, we awarded a 3-point prime which was won by MICHAEL MOORE this week.

The finishing order for August 7th was:

1st Mirek Mazur
2nd Peter Mazur
3rd Michael Moore
4th Paul Rego
5th Piers Davidge

The OVERALL STANDINGS as of August 7th are:

1st Michael Moore 43 points
2nd Brendan Duff 42 points
3rd Mirek Mazur 41 points
4th Jason Valenti 38 points
5th Greg Cavanagh 29 points

Each week points are awarded thus:

1st 6 points
2nd 5 points
3rd 4 points
4th 3 points
5th 2 points
participation 1 point
prime with 12 laps to go 3 points

We'll award prizes at the end of the summer!


Happy Birthday To...

Sebastien Paradis (yesterday).