Team Time Trial

Thought it was time to put in an entry. 'Bout three weeks ago, two fgbc members, along with two outsiders entered a team time trial event at Birds Hill Park. The ride was billed as a funt, come as you are event, but it was anything but that. Chris and I, along with my brother Tim and our friend Cam entered as a team of single speed riders (because as you know, you only need one). We decided on the glorious moniker of 'single white males' as our team name and preceded to get ready for the race. Suddnely there was call for a bike check - what the hell? So we all lined up with our bikes and proceeded to get them checked out; I passed, Chris passed, Tim passed (we don't know how because he had the ugliest frankenbike there), but Cam did not pass. Seems like you had to be riding a road bike (ladeeda) for this event. The cause of this may have a been the other single speed fixed gear team who was busy laying down rubber prior to the start of the race (one of the neat things about fixed gear bikes is you can lay down the longest skid marks with this type of bike). Any ways, the roadie in charge of the race took exception to guys having fun and made everyone pass a bike check before they could race. Since some of them did not have brakes on their bikes they were deemed unworhty of participating in a fun team trial. Alas, Cam was also caught up in this Mcarthy inquisition because his bike did not have drop handlebars. Lucky for us I had brought another bike along (I borrowed my friends single speed) but it was too big for Cam. So what do you do - like any good single speed biker you canabalize; off came Gord's handlebars and on they went on to Cam's bike. The only problem was we were running out of time, but a little frantic work got us to the line 30 seconds before we had to start our race (okay - the brakes looked like they worked on Cam's bike but they didn't; hey, you when you only have so much time, somethings got to give). Solid team work allowed us to finish 5th out 7 teams and only 20 seconds out of fourth. All in all a good showing.

Other news - the rumors are true, Vic is riding clipless; the man is going hard core.

Bad Form?

It appears that Floyd was not able to retain the good form he showed in the Tour over the past month. He came in today with a large group that finished 7.52 behind the stage winner, and now sits in 92nd place at 9.33 back. It may be that he's a little distracted by the need to find a team to ride for next year. It was recently announced that Phonak has given its top riders permission to look to other teams as its future is somewhat uncertain. We at FGBC should consider ourselves fortunate that we can count on rock-solid certainty from year to year. Not having to worry about the future viability of the klub allows us to put all our energy into riding.

Floyd's Vuelta

Floyd didn't have the best start to the Vuelta (Tour of Spain) yesterday. Finished 46th in the prologue time trial, 36 seconds back. Lost a little more time today, but basically finished with the pack, and now sits at 1:31 behind the leader, Brad McGee. Let's hope he finds his legs before too long, or else he might find himself in a supporting role for one of the many Spaniards on the team. Michael Barry, the Canadian who rides for Discovery, is also in the race. He fared a little better, finishing 29th in the prologue (29 seconds back).

Here's Floyd going hard in the prologue. He just looks like a Menno--like a younger Gord Zerbe in lycra, not to mention an alien from some 70s sitcom, with that funky helmet.

Rider Down

It seems James had an incident of sorts with a car this past week. The details are a still a bit hazy, but the general story is that a car pulled out in front of him on Portage, broadsided him, and sent him flying. He's okay. Just a few scrapes on his leg. And the bike is relatively unscathed too. But it sounds like the car sustained some damage on the hood. He suggests better defensive driving on his part may have helped to avoid the situation. And he promises that next time he'll wear a helmet. Cars are the enemy. Be careful out there.

Did the Muddy Waters ride yesterday. It's a fun event. 50k 100k and 160k options and 150 or so riders. I did the 100k route, but cycled to the start and back to get my 160k in. I think next year we should descend en masse and introduce the Winnipeg cycling community to FGBC. Word is starting to trickle out and people are curious, but there still seems to be a lot uncertainty regarding the whole phenomenon.

Spring Ride Pics

I finally have a few pictures from the Spring Ride. Now comes the hard part. This little exercise of posting them has seemingly stretched my intellectual capacities to the near breaking point. Either that or they've long ago been broken and this is feeling in my brain is just a painful aftershock. In any case, here they are. The President looking in fine form. Johnny S conquering the steppes, in a picture that doesn't come close to doing justice to how fucking hard they are. As the picture of Aiden's shin can attest.

In another interesting development, I spoke to one of the dudes from Northern Soul Wilderness Adventures this morning. He lives just down the street. They do canoe trips all over the province. I asked him if he ever considered doing something bike-related and he said they'd love to explore some possibilities. So I said we should get together and chat about it sometime and he agreed. Now we can see which gets further: this or Penner's conversation with the dude from Brannigans.