St. Adolphe... almost.

We've been having a little warmer than usual spring here in Manitoba, so the roads are clearing up quicker than normal. Nearly all the snow is gone. Yesterday was a nice, sunny +8 degrees Celsius out, so I took advantage of that and went for a ride south to go see how the roads were out to St. Adolphe. This is a very popular route, and one that I often head out on, it's a nice 30k ride if you leave from the perimeter highway, but can be stretched to 50k if I leave from home and add a little loop just past the town of St. Adolphe.

One reason why I wanted to head out that way was it follows the Red River, which is very high this time of year (not as high as last year when the roads were flooded out). As I came up to the turn to go over the river, I saw a barricade. So naturally I went through it and rode the very loose, and very rough gravel road up to the bridge.

I had to get off and walk a couple sections, so I took a couple more photo ops.

You can start to see the water level and ice on the river.

The geese are coming in already, and there was a herd of deer out in the field too.

And this is why this post it titled 'St. Adolphe... almost"

Last year the bridge was found to be unsafe to drive on as one of the support pillars had shifted.

I remember riding over it a couple days before it was discovered and thought the gaps in the expansion joints looked different than usual. I did forget about it by the time I got back home though. Hopefully the bridge is fixed soon as the residents have to drive a long ways out of their way to get over the river now.

Roller Race

Just a quick update. Went to the Belgium Club here in Winnipeg for a 2-up roller race last night. (Click here for short Demo video).

2 bikes are connected to the dial in the middle that measures how 'far' they've gone. It was a 500m timed race, so full on sprint from the start. My time was 23.96 seconds. Fastest time (that I know of) was 22.75 seconds (Nicely done Jeremy). I'll find out today how it all ended.

Had some fun. was good to see the bunch from the shop. I put up a respectable time, but didn't feel so hot afterwards so I withdrew.

Sponsored by Woodcock Cycleworks. Thanks!

Race report X2

Well, I've been a touch busy lately and have been neglecting my blog of cycling escapades.
To catch up, we had our second child (July 17th at 2:22 a.m.), another beautiful girl. Mom was a machine in the hospital. Natalie Ann Smith has been a great little baby, and Abby has been an amazing big sister.

A few weeks ago was the 5th race for the Olympia Wednesday Night MTB race series. Weather leading up to the race were... how do you say.... wet. The sun came out and dried up some of the track. I went out to the race, and they shortened the course taking out the really rooty sections (very slippery when wet) and some areas where there was just too much standing water. So it was short laps. I was feeling great at the start, and right from the whistle I got away from my group and never looked back. 2 laps later, I took the win. 3rd in a row. This clinched the series for me as it is based on the points accumulated on your best 4 races (3rd, 1st, 1st, 1st for me). I also had my personal photographer at the race (thanks Dad), and cheering section (mom and sister). Jess decided to stay home.

Shortly after finishing, big, dark, ugly clouds started to roll in. I packed up the bike and started home. It was quite a downpour.





Race # 6
To start off with excuses... I was coming off a week of not really having an appetite for... well, any food so my energy was probably a bit on the low side. I hadn't ridden much at all since the last race (I think I was on the road once), since I finished my exam Monday. So, going into it, I wasn't feeling terrific. I did a warm up lap and was having troubles finding a nice rhythm through the technical sections. Jess, Abby and Natalie came with me to the race and Grandma came to help out too (thank you!).
I lined up at the start, and just wasn't feeling great. So, I just started at the back (sometimes if I follow people for a bit, I get into a groove.... that didn't happen). I passed a couple of the slower riders and was keeping up with the others in my category. I passed one of the other riders while going through a very muddy section (he tried to ride it, I just hopped off and ran through).
That didn't last too long though. I was hitting trees with my shoulders, over steering and hitting the brakes more than I should have. He caught back up to me, so I pulled aside to let him go by and try to catch the others ahead of me (part of MTB racing is yielding to faster riders even if you're racing against them). He was soon out of sight.
After getting out of the technical sections, I turned it up and made up some time to only finish a minute back. I was just glad to be done and not be injured.

There was an award ceremony, where the winners of each category received a nice black hooded sweatshirt. I have a nice new sweater.

Next year, I'll be participating in the sport class (more competition, faster speeds, more laps and... more suffering). I had a great time this year and look foreward to it again.

There is a Time Trial coming up (road race where it's just you against the clock). I think I'm going to give it a try. Should be fun.