Cycling & Track Racing, Vegan-Style!: OA Vic Duathlon and OBB Crit

Wow, super-busy weekend!

On Saturday was the First Annual OrganicAthlete Victoria Track and Trail Sprint Duathlon. Say that once fast. ;)

This is the first event organized by our group, and i thought it was tremendous success! The only low point was that there were very few participants, but otherwise it went smashingly. You can read my event report here. (No, i didn't race it, since it was a duathlon! Dave don't run. Or dance.) I did MC the event, which was pretty fun. There are also photos of the event from the first link.

Sunday had a race on my favorite crit course, OBB organized another Windsor Park crit. Can it be more perfect? It's just a few blocks from my house, has wonderful corners which you can generally pedal through, and is PANCAKE FLAT! Love it!!!

I hadn't ridden at all Saturday, so i wasn't feeling particularly spicy, but i got in with the A's, and rode a strong race. Sat in most of the time, about 20mins to go, there were some big attacks, and at the time i was a bit further back in the pack, so had to do some work to keep it together, and i stayed in. Felt good and strong, tho after that bigger efforts reminded me my breakfast was still in my stomach (why was the race so early!!)

I felt quite confident in the bunch, had no problems keeping whatever wheel i wanted, or taking a wheel. I guess those Keirins have helped in this respect. ;)

I was near the front almost the entire race - it's where i'd go if i were feeling tired, since there's very little yo-yoing there. I positioned myself well with 4 laps to go. With 2 to go, Emile shot off, and i smiled. I turned to Bob Cameron and said 'hey, he rode a 5'06 4km Pursuit yesterday', Bob cursed and picked up the pace. ;)

Emile thought he'd won the race, but we both missed that two riders (Hugh and Alistar) had snuck away when we were further back, and they were goooone. Still, a valiant effort on his part to get away and stay away. I finished 9th in the charging pack, sitting in and not sprinting, and 12th in the end. I believe there were close to 20 starters.

In the B race, Kevin and Gillian (OA Vic's newest racer!) rode very well! Last year Kevin had a very hard time with this course, but was totally in the pack this year. Same with Gill. They both finished strong, 5th for Gill and 7th for Kevin. (Technically 1st for Gill in the Women's field, and 6th for Kevin.) Nice riding!!

Hugh has a nice account of the race from the front. I should mention Don Gillmore started the race, but about halfway though had a technical with his chain. Needless to say, after this warm-up, he destroyed the competition in the BC Masters race in the afternoon.

Click here for all the photos i've collected, a few select ones below: