Race the Ridge stage race
April 25-26, 2009

Women’s Race,
Jessica Hannah

The races this weekend went really well for Total Restoration Cycling Team.  Alison Testroete, Marni Hambleton, Gillian Moody and I were racing together for the Maple Ridge Stage Race. The weather was great all weekend, even a bit of sunburn on Sunday.
 
The road race was on Saturday, 70km in distance.  The team wanted to start riding aggressively 2 laps into the race.  Marni initiated our first attack, I countered, Alison countered me and got a break established with 2 other girls. Steph Roorda, a former teammate of mine now riding for Jazz Apple,  was still in the pack and the one to watch this weekend, so we had Gill, our climber watching her.  On the 3rd lap Gillian skidded down the fast chicane and crashed at the bottom. I don't think I have ever seen anyone get back on their bike as fast as she did!  She was back in the pack, but Steph was up the road trying to bridge the gap to the lead pack. Marni made sure Gillian was up and unhurt and I chased Steph for half a lap. Once I caught her we were not too far off bridging up to the break. 

Once in the break, Alison and I tried to counter attack each other with 2 laps to go but couldn't establish anything.  So with 3k to go, I went as hard as I could, keeping up the tempo, got Alison around the corner and she came around me and won the uphill sprint for the road race. Steph was 2nd.  I was 5th, Gill 6th. At the end of the day we had a stage win and two of us in contention for the overall GC. 

The time trial was flat and pretty fast. Alison was third. I was fourth, which moved me into 3rd place in the GC, Alison second in the GC.  The criterium later in the day was for the mountain bikers. There was a 900m section of gravel and a sketchy descent off the dyke for some, a few others seemed to be having fun, namely Evan!  

We went into the crit wanting to be aggressive and try to move Alison up in GC and defend my third place which was just one second over fourth. All four of us road really well together, covering attacks and making attacks.  Marni was solo near the end of the race.  Our team won both primes, taking some precious time bonuses away from Steph, but she caught us on the finish line. Alison was second, I was third.  We held on to our GC positions and had another good race in the crit. We made the race exciting.  It was a fun weekend of racing and good teamwork.

Men’s Race,
Tim Sherstobitoff

On the Men’s side of things, the weekend was an aggressive race against the top teams in BC. This was the first weekend the entire Men’s Team was racing together, the first race of the season for Trevor. The Men put some great tactics to the test, working for the strongest rider of the day and getting the results to show for it.

In the road race an early break defined the day. A group of 11 riders broke free of the pack, with Chris and Owen included. This was a good move with all teams represented in the break. In the chase pack riders were attacking trying to bridge to the break while it was still close, with the TR riders covering moves until eventually the peleton slowed pace and the break was gone. Within the break Owen and Chris were on the attack, following moves or trying to whittle down the group. With 40 km to go Chris escaped with 2 other riders, Jamie Sparling and Dave Vukets of Trek-Red Truck. Despite being outnumbered, the 3 finished together, where Chris was just edged out by Jamie at the line, finishing 2nd. Owen finished a few minutes back in a small group for 7th. I finished 8th, close behind Owen from a late chase group that went off the peleton, and the main peleton was a minute behind me with Dan and Jeff.

With the flat TT Sunday morning, all each rider could do was go as hard as they could from the start and try to put in their best time. Owen, who has been Time Trialing strong this year, put in a great effort to place 5th, 24 seconds off the leaders time of 20 minutes. Chris was slightly off pace in his TT, but his lead from the road race was enough for him to sit 3rd in GC. Both Dan and Jeff also had strong TT’s, finishing just over a minute behind the leader.

Going into the Crit, the top 3 GC spots were pretty much solidified. But Owen who was sitting in 7th, was 3 seconds away from 5th. He would need to get time bonuses from the primes or finish top 3, but due to the fast, sketchy nature of this crit it was a difficult feat. From the beginning of the race it was apparent that Evan was feeling good, real good, and nailing the sketchy gravel corner faster than anyone else. On the final gravel dyke section Dan had Evan on his wheel, and 500m before the final gravel corner he ramped up the pace, leading Evan out perfectly. Evan cut the inside corner hard carrying his speed onto the pavement and had a huge gap to sprint for the win. Dan carried enough speed for 2nd, and I was able to sprint into 3rd, a TR sweep!

The Day ended with Chris up on the Podium for 3rd GC, and Owen closely behind in 7th. An awesome weekend racing with the Team.