Speed Theory race.

I'd like to say thanks to Carol who was our Cat 1/2 Road race commissaire, you were awesome out there and everybody knows it today. And Jim Smith, surprisingly you didn't gather the usual mob of haters like you always do at every event you're involved in. Perhaps it was all of us laughing at you while your brand new VW was broken down in ACME that allotted you some forgivance. I thought you made a rare call not to DQ that Crit racer who recieved mechanical assistance from a spectator ? But whatever, maybe it was peer pressure.

It was a windy weekend that started with Severe Thunderstorm warnings in the Calgary area on Friday night. Followed with severe results of said storm; a local calgarian got trapped in his car on a flooding street, and when he tried to get away from the swamped car he was swept underneath it, to be pinned underwater and died despite brave rescue by others. Else wear around the city the hail downpour plugged street drains and then the extra heavy deluge of rain caused some really bad flooding.
..
Saturday morning near ACME Alberta, featured no such evidence of the storm the night before that left many peoples gardens flattened to mush, mine and Kailees included. But with hopeful dreams of riding bikes in the Provincial Time Trial Championships, part of the Speed Theory sponsored Jason Lappiere Memorial Speedfest race weekend, our race bags were certainly accompanied with rain gear and coats. But the clouds cleared up around 9am and only a hard steady N, NW wind and blue skys were left over.

I was really surprised to see there was no bike check, at the Provincial Championships ? Relieved however, because although I make every attempt to ensure my Time Trial bike is 'UCI' legal for this 'bike specific event', the constant rule changes by the organization have made it very difficult to maintain a bike that has certain geometry, has specific sizes for parts, and ratios comparing those parts to others... lengths, widths, and bends. How does the weekend warrior manage ? TT bikes or triathlon/ TT bikes are very event specific bikes, and are otherwise Event specific only to TT or TRI. .. a very expensive event to be competitive in for Category 1/2's because if you want to be a competent Stage or Omnium race participant, you must have a TT bike.

In my Category there were at least fifteen serious Time Trial'ers who were there to Jam the 3 Event Speedfest Omnium.

I have an older (5 yrs old) bike, that is Triathlon specific. So the problem with my Quintana ROO is the seat tube makes it nearly impossible to have a saddle/ saddle tip that is 5cm or more behind the bottom bracket center line, so I use a saddle that is shaped so irregular (SHORT) that after riding on it I feel.. uh. ya. can you say violated ?

Anyways, no bike check, sweet ! There was one ABA Official who was helping out with accurate starting times, ( A paid job ) and Scott GC from ST was doing the bike hold. So I was really lucky that I got to race overall, seen as how my bike would never pass a real UCI bike check, due to the aerobars i had on. I didn't actually know my bike was again illegal until I was at the race I had already paid for, :( when one of the local coaches pionts out my Bikes faults in detail ).

Luckily I place 4th. And no, my bike was not illegal in anyway that gave it an advantage that's for sure. Also Kailee goes out Eddy Merxc style with no aero equipment, and shes only one of four girls. Ya, one of four, in Womans A. She does well, works hard just to complete her first Omnium event and places 4th of 4 :) and we go home with sore butts.

This same afternoon later in the day (after the drive home a shower and a nap) / and after the 40km Time Trial event, are the Speedfest Criteriums. Racing with exceptional access, in downtown Calgary, around the city block that encompasses the SHAW building. Also one of the only city cycling contests that features a childrens race.
One young guy (maybe 4 ?) showed up with his racing number still on his bike from last years race ! It was never removed. awesome.

.. I offered to assist Mike Godfrey on the Oakley Trailer again, and do Microphone Assassin MC duties up until I was to get ready for my Crit race. The views from the trailer were pretty great with a near full block radius view, and I still owe some racer guy 20$ after I was forced to pony up my own Prime prize to get some action outta those lowly Cat 4 racers.

Our Cat 1/2 field was totally stacked with all kinds of awesome sprinter champ racers. I would be lucky just to finish with the same time as the big guys like Cody and MarMac, and I did, winning 2nd on the line. There was only 1 crash in our race and luckily nobody else got hurt, but that one bad dip in the asphalt on the corner One was a force to be reckoned with.

It was fun crit with a fast pace and I even won a Prime, yet to be recieved ? :0 Also I saw that Kailee and Jenn got popped off the group in the Girls A/B combined, Kailee couldn't clip in or something and missed the initial attack by Katie Curtis. but both finished in one piece and Kailee won a Prime !

So off to the road race now Sunday Morning, and I was sitting 2nd in GC Omnium, and Kailee was still placed as the only Womans A Omnium, 1st no less as the ONLY GIRL. She was excited to be that one and only person who would probably earn one of the awesome Speed Theory Trophies. Although somewhat an ironic and rather sad statistic we both agreed.
One and only Woman A ??? to complete the Omnium. .. . Alberta Bicycle Association. huh .

This is where things go from awesome, to smells like that dead skunk on the side of the Time Trial race course. The Road Race officiating was deplorable in several instances.

Lets make this clear, from a Racers stand point. A centerline violation is :

• A rider crosses the Solid painted yellow center line meridian, with intent to separate from the peloton, and accelerate past other riders in efforts to gain race position. This would mean crossing a solid road marking and breaking not only race rules but the Highway Traffic Act. As well, possibly endangering yourself and others in the process.







• Due to winds, riders 'echelon' in a pattern favorable to drafting the rider ahead or beside them. Thus trailing in the direction of the prevailing wind. Riders Everywhere know that if you echelon over to the yellow line, and then are crossing over it into oncomign traffic, as a repeat offender, struggling to hang on to the person you are drafting... you could be Disqualified. Understood. You don't have to hit a car head on more than once to learn your lesson do you ?








• I recall Pete Toth from Edmonton in the Banff Bikefest 1A race two years ago attacking wayyyy over the yellow line... yes, DSQ, and rightfully so.

In Alberta, the Center line Rule is important because its always windy in some direction or another. So for safety Reasons, Center line Rule is a mandatory and required rule for Road Racing. In Alberta we are lucky enough to gain access to roads where the Laws of the Province still apply, this means riding on the right side of the road. So it is important for riders to adhere to this standard, since race officials can pull rank on blatant offenders, we all know this.

Road Race Officials, 'certified' under the umbrella of the UCI, will ride along in a follow vehicle as passengers, and ensure that the rules of the race are adhered to. Each category, usually, will have one driver and one commissaire follow car.

So Kailee gets Disqualified out of her event for a 'Centerline Violation'. On a road with no actual painted line, no shoulders, basically a two lane country roadway, of course we all know what the middle of the road is. She says she wasn't blatantly over, yet learned a harsh lesson that basically brought her to some tears and dashed away her hopes of coming away from the weekend with a good memory and an even better result for her Team, 1st in Omnium. At this same time other categories are racing out there, myself included, and we were all quite aware that it was a desolate country road with very little traffic. However, yes it was windy.

Our Commissaire and the driver (The real handsome Rob) acted like this : Responsible. If riders were near violation, the Vehicle would drive up, honk and or let you know you were about to make a mistake. And yes, riders in our group were warned. I didn't particularly see any flagrant violations but obviously we are intelligent individuals and we're not going to ride on the wrong side of an open road anyways. Why would you .. in addition to possible infraction of the Rules. There was no need to DSQ anybody that I saw. We paid damn good money to come out and do this event, and the last thing we were going to do is deliberately take ourselves out of a race ?

So as far as I know, Kailee who was the one and only Womans A participant who signed up, Paid 105 dollars, and came out with a smile to compete in the Omnium 3 event series. Was disqualified, she says ( I agree) was a Blatantly poor call. Other riders knew it too. Embarassing and disrespectful to not only the athletes, but the race Organizer too. As noted, Trevor Williams.

Nice work race official ! An event that can't even attract more than five woman, let alone one and only one, and the Alberta Bicycle Association representative disqualifies her. Do you agree ? or do you not agree ?

ME: Thats a really great move dipshit. Way to think through your own agenda and look at the big picture. Lets just hope next year there are NO WOMAN racing, let alone ONE. I have to wonder if the Speed Theory President was even able to award ONE WOMANS TROPHY AT ALL ??? !!

I didn't mean to yell at Jim Smith, but I was at a loss for comprehension on how many other people were also Disqualified on this day. On a quiet country road, near back country Bergen Alberta.... As per my buddy Joel.

Now lets recognize Joel for a second. Joel and his partners company, 'the Niklas Group' , sponsored from their pockets this year, several thousand dollars to the Tour de Bowness, 10th Annual, 3 event race weekend. And last year they donated no less than several thousand in cash as well as 2 one week stays in Mexico as prizes ! Not only has Joel and his Niklas Group started a new and impressive riding team and club, they hired professional coaches to assist in developement with these ambitious new cyclists. I mean these guys deliver ! They Sponsor, they volunteer, they offer teaching for cycling, they bring their families too, and yes they compete.

So Joel breaks his chain while near the front of his race. He sort of veers in surprise but no less pulls off to the left of his race group as he decelerates at a rapid pace. With safety in mind, as the peloton roll past him, he's done from the race possibly ? needing something ? But no matter what, the ABA Official pulls up and yells at him, "your disqualified ". rather than, " whats up ? do you have a flat ? do you need help ?" /// no, " YOU'RE DISQUALIFIED. " IE: you paid some good money to participate, took an entire day off from your company to compete, drove out to the remote part of Alberta to enjoy yourself with your team, you brought some family out to volunteer... and in the end your name gets wiped off the Results page ? as if you don't exist.

Out of obvious surprise and dismay over his chain problem, he then gets insulted by a clueless race official who has no idea as to what has actually gone on here. He doesn't even ask, or show any concern, just a display and abuse of power. Sorry you broke your chain bud ! And sorry you didn't get to use harsh words on that jerk. I wouldn't have been so composed.

Good thing our Race license and entry fees go to these people wages, for 'facilitating and officiating'.

It seems to me that events like the Gran Fondo's, the Trans Rockies, the 24 Hour mountain bike and the Ride to Conquer cancer are doing a much better job at bringing more youth and vitality into cycling, while the ABA just tends to continually pedal backwards. I see the trend that has been occurring the last 10 years, in fact I've been a part of it. Long since are the days when the ABA was the only choice for people who wish to test themselves and actually try a recreational yet still competitive bike race. The numbers prove it, the race starts prove it, the feelings and 'talk-abouts' of the races are changing. And if the Alberta Bicycle Association doesn't take a long hard look at its morals, its ethics, and its mission statement... i foresee rebellion from Organizers who are having it 'up to here' with the blue t-shirt clad power hungry detached people who are essentially taking a recreational weekend for weeeknds warriors and ruining it with poor decisions. Organizers will one day exclude the ABA for all reasons other than race insurance, races will go the way in europe as how the ASO operates, and its already happening. We ( the organizers of races) will be excluding you in the future, if things don't change.

: } I understand the 'need' to develop athletes under the guise of the UCI for interests of National and International competitions, especially when many great Canadians do go to the World Stage in our Sport, a small few.

So what about the ethics of participation ? Rather than thoughtless regulation.

Sorry to hear about all the DSQ's yesterday, perhaps some of you genuinely earned it, but I know Two people who certainly did not. And rather than all the good, these two people regularly do for their sports and respective categories, this last weekend they're left with a nasty and awful taste in their mouth, from Officials with the ABA.

thats my rant.