Bacon Buffet

Yet another strong showing for Cyclemeisters in the third race of the ABA XC circuit in Stony Plain. We arrived Sunday morning to find several teammates (Amy, Gabor, Alistair) had spent a chilly night on the farm. A short pre-ride confirmed that the winding leaf-littered singletrack was left damp and very grippy, with the exception of a few rooty uphills.

At 11am, the novices and sports were sent off uphill, then through a prologue lap including the first trip up the ‘Houffalize’ climb.  Sport Men Cyclemeister Alistair Hill went for the aerodynamical advantage and rode to a respectable 14th place with his shirt tucked into his bib shorts. In Novice Men, Niels van Ommeren claimed 7th and Emanuel Lys grabbed 13th.

The youth categories rode a shortened lap, big props to the Cyclemeisters here as the young ladies  and gents made up half of the starting field and captured a handful of podium spots.

The Elite men race ended similar to last week with Mr. Bain claiming riding to victory with a comfortable 2min+ margin. Gabor and David Gonda grabbed 4th and 5th.

Perhaps last week’s Perogy XC was a good learning experience for the Expert riders as there were far fewer mechanicals and wrong turns. Brian Robinson rode away from the pack early on for his first place, Rob Haine missed a turn but came zipping by shortly thereafter to claim a well-deserved 3rd place. Ryan Correy and yours truly were not far behind in 5th and 6th.

The ladies made us look good with Katy claiming “first place after Pepper” in Elite, and Amy Barnett taking the Expert Women win with a phenomenal gap.

For a report of the Trans Stony, read Gabor’s post here: http://blog.wiseracer.com/?p=759

Pictures are here: http://bikealberta.com/?p=1948

Results posted here: http://bikealberta.com/?p=1936

See you at the Giver8er!