The 2008 mountain bike racing season has finally started, and the Rocky Mountain - K Capital Source Racing Team p/b Different Bikes is out on the road (and in the dirt) competing at local and national events across Canada.
The Rocky Mountain racing team is an elite mountain bike and road racing team based in Vancouver, British Columbia, the focal point of competitive cycling in Canada, and one of the premier cycling destinations in the world. After finishing off a third successful season, the Rocky Mountain racing team is already preparing for 2008 with a schedule of mountain bike and road events throughout Canada and the US Pacific Northwest.
The Rocky Mountain team is comprised of a group of riders who individually have all raced in the top professional cycling circuits in North America, but have come together to form one of the premier regional cycling teams in Western Canada. The team includes former Canadian National Team members, national champions and provincial champions in both road and mountain bike, providing a broad spectrum of expertise and racing experience.
2008 Rocky Mountain - K Capital Source presented by Different Bikes Team Roster:
Stefan Widmer
Matt Green
Mike Hunter
Andreas Hestler
Marty Lazarski
Thomas Skinner
Kevin Calhoun
Sean Dawson
Keith Stark
Don “Jojo†Buscombe
Tim McDermott
Our 2008 team would not be possible without the generous support of the following sponsors:
Rocky Mountain Bicycles, K Capital Source, Different Bikes, Race Face components, Honey Stinger nutrition bars and gels, Ultima Replenisher, Planet Foods, Bell helmets, Fox Racing shocks, Mavic wheels, Genuine Innovations inflators, WTB saddles and tires, Sockguy socks, Crankbrothers pedals, Conform’able Footbeds, Kicking Horse coffee, North Shore Massage Therapy and Sugoi clothing.
Keep your eyes peeled for the men in black at Canada’s premier cycling events including: BC Bike Race, Trans Rockies Challenge, Canada Cup National Series, BC Cup road and mountain bike races, Test of Metal, Cheakamus Challenge and BC Superweek just to name a few.
Stay tuned for regular race updates on the Differnt Bikes forum.
The Canada Cup National Mountain Bike Series began on May 17th in Bromont Quebec, and the Rocky Mountain - K Capital Source p/b Different Bikes racing team, started things off with some great early season results against a very competitive field.
The Elite men’s race was won by Raphael Gagne (Rocky Mountain National Team), with our regional team members Marty Lazarski in 5th, Stefan Widmer with a person best of 6th, and Matt Green in 18th. Congratulations guys, and best of luck in the next few races on your eastern tour!
OK so we are a little behind in posting some of our early season results, but I’m going to try and get everyone caught up on what the team has be doing.
On April 19th the North Shore Mountain Bike Association held the first event of the annual Ripper series on Mount Fromme. This event always has a great atmosphere, but this year was even more fun because of the fresh snow on the ground! The traditional format is a team event, with one person climbing and one person decending, although there has also been a “solo” category for the last few years.
This year, team riders Kevin Calhoun and Jonny Rockall (the birthday boy) teamed up to contest the relay, and Mike Hunter did the solo race. Kevin was the first climber to make it up to the relay hand-off point at the top of Pipeline, with Mike about 30 seconds behind him. (at this point it should be noted that Kevin was on his XC race bike, but Mike was on his Slayer). Kev handed off to J-Roc who put is old pro-DH racer skills to work and quickly ripped down to the finish. Mike took a breather, dropped the saddle on the Slayer, and then carefully picked his away down the trail like a true XC geek. In the end Kev and Jonny won the relay and Mike won the solo race, and there was a great follow party that night at Bella Candella.
May 14th was the first race of the Sea to Sky Mountain Bike Series situated in the forests of Brackendale, just west of Alice Lake. The series also includes the infamous Test of Metal and the Gearjammer, which are two of the most epic races one-day races around.
Unlike the the other two races in the series, the Orecrusher is a traditonal lapped XC race. The course is a mix a tight technical sigle-track and double-track with very little climbing. But while that may sound easy, the lack of climbing also mean very little descending, and hence very little rest time! It is basically full gas for the entire race.
In the 6-lap Elite Mens race, Marty ended up second after being out sprinted by local power-house Neil Kindree (Kona), with Kevin in 3rd. Mike won the 5-lap Master’s race with a 16 second gap over Trevor Hopkins from Team Whistler.
May 24th was the second Canada Cup National Series race, and the Rocky Mountain - K Capital Source p/b Different Bikes team had another great weekend of racing. Stefan Widmer continued his success with an excellent 5th place, and first career Canada Cup podium placing! Congrat’s Stef! Marty had a few mechanical issues but still managed to finish 9th, and Greener was 19th.
While the “kids” were back east ripping it up at the Canada Cup, the rest of the mountain bikers, including Kev, Mike and Tom headed up to Merritt for the first BC Cup race of the year. Known as the Cow Trail Classic, the race was an excellent mix of single track climbs and fast swoopy descents that make you grin, despite the suffering.
Tom came in 2nd in the Pro/Elite race and Kev, the Birthday Boy, celebrated his 29th year on the planet by finishing 3rd. Mike the sandbagger won the Vets (Master 30-39) race.
Next up is the BC Championships (aka the Rat Race) on May 31st. Hopefully we can bring home a couple of jerseys!
Team Different Bikes in Alberta kicked off the season with an 8-hour MTB relay race on June 1 in Calgary. Racing in the mixed, 4-person category, Matthew, Martha, Jared and Dan decided to ride their single speed bikes to increase the fun-factor - it worked! Team DB won their category and the men’s 4-person category, but more importantly had a super fun time on the twisty, up-and-down course at Canada Olympic Park. Many thanks to the support crew (Bobbi, Joshua, Aaron and Lily) and compliments to our friends at Dead Goat Racing for putting on a superb event.
May 31, 2008 Race Report: This year the annual Sunshine Coast Rat Race was the host of the 2008 BC Provincial Marathon XC Championships, and Team Rocky Mountain - Different Bikes had a great turn out. Kevin, Tom and Mike were out as usual, but local favourite Matt Green was back from his Canada Cup adventures, and even Andreas Hestler decided that this would be a good place to start his 2008 season. In the end, the team did everything but win the overall, (that honour went to Kona Wold Cup rider and other local hero Kris Sneddon) with Matt in 2nd, Dre 3rd, Tom 5th, and Kevin and Mike coming in together for 6th and 7th. Mike’s result was good enough to win the Master 30-39 provincial championship, and the coveted BC champ jersey.
Back east, Marty and Stefan were continuing their Canada Cup campaign with the race #3 in Hardwood Hills, Ontario. Marty finished a season-best 2nd, and Stefan repeated his 5th place from last week, resulting in 2 podium spots for the Rocky Mountain-Different Bikes team. Congratulations guys.
June 7, 2008 Race Report: Last Saturday was the Junk Yard Dog XC race in South Surrey, which this year was BC Cup event #2. The course consist of almost 100% single-track with no real climbs, so while fun, it doesn’t provide a whole lot of passing opportunities. In the elite men’s race Kev finished 4th and Tom was 5th, giving Kev the overall lead in the BC Cup series. Mike won the Master’s race, and retained the overall lead in that BC Cup series too.
Next week… the Test of Metal! It should be a full Rocky Mountain-Differnt Bikes team turnout, and with Neal Kindree out for knee surgery, the race is wide open.
OK so while we may have been a little tardy in filing race reports over the last few weeks, the Rocky Mountain-K Capital Source pb Different Bikes team has been busy competing in a variety of provincial and national levels events.
June 14 was the annual Test of Metal, and with ideal racing conditions and a stellar field, everyone was confident that a new course was record would be set. Fresh off the european World Cups, Rocky Mountain’s Max Plaxton won the race, shattering the old record with a time of 2:39. But close on his heels were Marty and Stef, in second and third (also faster than the old record), for a Rocky Mountain podium sweep! The rest of the team also had great results with Kevin in 6th, Matt 9th, and Dre in 10th.
Canada Cup#5: June 30. So after suffering through a generally wet and cold month, the last week of June turned into a scorcher. Just in time for the Canada Cup in Kamloops, where riders were treated to temperatures into the low 40’s, and a dusty course without a tree or any other form of shade in sight. Despite the tough conditions, Marty won the race, and Stef came second, with the result putting Marty into the Canada Cup series leader’s jersey with only one more race to go. Things didn’t go as well for Mike and Kev. The Master’s race went off at 11AM, and Mike built comfortable lead and then settled in for what looked like an easy win. Unfortunately, about 5 minutes from then end of the race (and all of the last lap climbing complete), Mike collapsed from heat exhaustion, and woke some time later on a stretcher getting carted off to the Kamloops hospital for 5 litres of IV saline (and no “win”). The elite race started soon after, and on the first lap, and while sitting in a solid top 10 position, Kevin noticed some local punks running off with Mike’s bike (which had been left out in the sticks where I keeld over). Kevin, being the selfless guys he is, and the team captain, abandoned his race (they technically DSQ him for leaving the course) and chased down the punks and got Mike’s bike back. Anyway, enough of that… Kev then tracked Mike down at the hospital, and patiently waited for 6 hours while I was cooled off and rehyrdated. So special thanks, and good trail karma to Kev!
July 5th - Canada Cup #6, Canmore: Marty was 2nd, Stefan was 3rd, Matt was 12th, and Tom finished 23rd. A great way to end the series, with marty ending up 2nd overall and Stefan 3rd. Full race report from Stefan, below.
Canmore happened this weekend in considerably nicer temperatures then we faced last week in Kamloops. The course, one of the best on the circuit, was considerably more difficult with much more climbing compared to last week.
The race started out with an 8-9 minute sustained, steep climb right off the bat. From the gun, Heemskerk (sneaky Dutchmen who finished 3rd at Kamloops) took off and quickly established a significant gap. Behind him, there was a group of 5-6 riders keeping an even tempo, trying to limit our early losses to him. Knowing that he is a fast started, I decided not to follow him thinking he would not be able to hold the pace for too long. Coming through after the first lap (of 4) we learnt that Heemskerk had already built himself a lead of over 1 minute. This took me by surprise as I went to the front and quickened the pace a bit. This trimmed our chase group down to 3 of us; Lazarski, (teammate and current CC leader) Gagne and Myself. For the next two laps, I sat on the front of the group for the majority of the time setting the pace. I was feeling comfortable and keeping a steady pace, regretting not having tried to follow Heemskerk off the start. Setting a pace within a group is quite tricky, as you want to push hard enough to try and close the gap to the leader, but at the same time, if you are doing the majority of the work, you don’t want to dig too deep, making yourself vulnerable to counter attacks by the others in your group. So for laps 2 & 3, I set the pace at a level that I was comfortable at. Unfortunately this did not allow us to close the gap to Heemskerk as we kept hovering behind him by just over a minute… Come the fourth lap, Marty Lazarski took charged and upped the tempo significantly. Now I was taken up to my max, being right on the rivet of holding his wheel and popping out the back. I stuck it out for the first major climb, then he laid down some serious rubber in the singletrack to drop both myself and Gagne. Not being able to follow him, I started to get really aware of what Gagne was doing behind me. I quickly took down the speed letting myself recover a bit better as I was afraid that he would sit on my wheel until the end and jump me before the line. I would have been quite upset after having done the majority of the work in the group for the first 3 laps, to have them both take me before the finish. I confronted Gagne about it and tried to have him take the lead up the last major climb to allow my legs to recover a bit better, but after he said that he was on the rivet and was barely hanging on, I kept it steady until the last kilometer where I put in a bit of an effort and pulled away from him. 3rd place it was. Not totally thrilled by how the race went but at the same time 3rd place is a great result! This final result secured my 3rd place overall in the Canada Cup series, where I was able to get into the top 5 in four out of the five races! A huge improvement over last years best individual result of 8th and an overall placing of 9th.
July 13th - BC Cup #4, Cardiac Classic, Burnaby Mtn. What can I say? Great course, well organised, and excellent weather. The post race press release tells the story…on Cyclingnews.com, no less!
First-year event West Coast Racing’s Cardiac Classic’s cross country was held at Burnaby Mountain in British Columbia. Stefan Widmer (Rocky Mtn- K Capital Source) and Joanna Harrington won the elite men’s and women’s races.
Many of BC’s fastest women came out to play with Dawn Berg of Oak Bay Bikes / Everti handily scooping up the first lap hill climb cash prime for pros, before bringing home a second place overall finish on the day behind Aussie Harrington.
“It was very hard,” said Berg. “They were tough climbs on a very hot day. The downhill was also fantastic. It was nice and technical, which made you stay focused and it left you with some adrenaline if you took things too fast!”
The Island Racing Club’s Joele Guynup, who wound up her day two positions back from Berg after an epic battle with Melanie Vaughan of Steed Cycles. Vaughan eventually claimed the final spot on the elite women’s podium with a scant one second lead.
Stefan Widmer of Rocky Mountain - K Capital Source p/b Different Bikes brought home the biggest haul of the day in the elite men’s race, first nailing down hill climb cash prime and then executing an intelligently managed effort to hold off a stern challenge from Colin Kerr of Different Bikes and collect the lion’s share of the cash prize purse, too.
Kerr held tough throughout what became a two-an battle with Widmer, who recently concluded a breakthrough campaign that saw him finish third in the 2008 Canada Cup national mountain bike series. Widmer’s team-mate Kevin Calhoun rounded out the podium.
“The race was really tough,” said Widmer. “A ton of climbing and some challenging descending.” His synopsis of the course was a common theme on this day, as the course designers had laid out a devastating challenge which put the pro men through 5,300 feet of cumulative elevation gain and loss over the relatively short distance of 31km, including the leg-breaking one time climb from the staging area to start the event which rose up in the form of a sheer wall over 1,000 feet high replete with soul-sucking gradients, finally cresting the top of Burnaby Mountain at the prime line.
“I went off the front at the start of the race to ensure that I would get the hill climb prime, but then Colin quickly got back on my wheel in the singletrack,” said Widmer. “In fact, in the next two laps, Colin and I would climb together but he would continually ride the descents quicker then me putting a good 10-15 seconds into me each lap which I would have to make up at the start of the next climb. Knowing this, I pulled away on the last lap at the top of Cardiac Hill ensuring that I would get a gap on him and enter the singletrack first. After that, I kept it steady on the last climb and brought home my first ever BC Cup win.”
Mike Hunter, BC Cup series leader for Master 30-39 men, was in the thick of the day’s most closely contended race, locked in a seesaw battle with Graham Cocksedge, decided only on the course’s final short paved uphill burst by a 1 second sprint finish margin in Hunter’s favour. “On the technical sections I could usually get a little gap on him, and then I would take it easy on the climb and he would catch back up,” said Hunter. “On the last lap, I had a little bigger gap through Dead Moped, and figured that I was home free, but Graham chased hard and caught me in the final singletrack before the finish line.”
Sunshine Coast Cycling’s junior program showed its merit with Katherine Short and Sebastian Sleep easily maintaining control over the top junior categories, pumping out crackling lap times that would have been competitive even in the senior pro races.
Citizen racers Ashleigh Gold and Dmitri Paulakos took the unique cash primes for the citizen hill climb for the women and men respectively.
“With a first time event you can never be sure what numbers to expect, and we’ve got a tough slot sandwiched in between some other big races around the country, but we set out with a goal to be creative in ways to make it a great day for everyone involved and then simply let the event grow itself year over year,” said non-profit West Coast Racing’s club president Michael Tunnah.
July 19th, Mountain Bike Nationals: Mt. St. Anne, QC. The team had another great showing at Nationals, with 3 riders in the top 15 at MSA. Marty was 6th, Stef fixed a flat but still managed to 8th, and Matt came in 15th. For Marty and Stef, the race was also an opportunity to get the course dialed in for the big World Cup race the following weekend.
That same day, the Mike and Kev were racing at BC Cup #5 at Bear Mountain. Bear is a super, old-school technical XC race, with steep shoots and drops, that can be challenging on a race bike at full seat height. While the once notorious difficult climb has been significantly shortened, the the race is tough, and tends to keep may racers away. In the Master’s race Mike got an early lead and held it for the win, thereby clinching the overall BC Cup series, with one more race still to go (Mt Washington).In the Elite race, Kev started strong, but was feeling the effects of too much work, too much riding, and too little rest, and ended up packing it in early, for first time this year. Fomer National Champ, and local hero, Ricky Federeau easily won the race, with a solid second for Different Bike’s own Colin Kerr. Colin has been steadily improved all year, and now leads the BC Cup series for Elite Men, with one race to go.
July 26th - GearJammer: Squamish. I still have no idea why so many people go crazy for the Test of Metal, when they can experience better Squamish trails with 600 fewer people in the annual Gearjammer. The course is shorter, and is probably a little harder, but has way more single track. Different Bike’s team rider Colin Kerr continued his success with his first career win, with Matt “Dingo” Ryan in 2nd, and Rocky Mountain-K Capital Source riders Matt in 3rd and Kev in 4th. Great rides from the guys, and congrats to Colin on his first big win.
