ERTC Weekly Update - Week of September 26

ERTC Weekly Update - Week of September 26

Aight, let’s crush this out real quick! Lots to say this week. Weather was beautiful, picture perfect, albeit a little cold on Tuesday Thursday, but that didn’t stop some intrepid souls to continue riding! Huge ERTC presence at the cross race on Wednesday (I lost count) along with ERTC absolutely killing it this weekend in Cross! Big ups to (in no particular order) – Buzz Desmarais, Martin Tolton, Liann Cameron, Brandon Langille, Scott Klarenback, Alex Inglis, Carson Kerr, Jakob Claffey, Drew Malcolm, Graham Watts, and Greg Nicholson for flying our colours and making us proud! Sunday was also the Roger’s Harvest Ride which saw some ERTC roadies show up instead of tackling the cross race and was a solid push! Everyone wish Terra, our former clothing manager, a speedy recovery, as she took quite a spill and suffered multiple fractures in her cheek and eye area.

ERTC Weekly Update - Week of September 19


Aren’t the fall colours just great?! While fall means the season is ending soon, it’s definitely the prettiest season to ride in, that special smell, the colours, the cool wind…anyways. ERTC made a great showing at the MEC fondo with about 8 of us braving the sudden drop in forecasted temps, and the rain to ride 100-160km! The women's ride out in Elk Island was also a success, with 11 brave ladies slogging through the wind and the rain for what will be a ride to be remembered!

ERTC Weekly Update - Week of September 12

Aaaaaaaaaaand I’m back to typing these things, expect the usual long-windedness to get to any sort of point. I can’t comment on how the rides were for the last 3 weeks because I haven’t been riding them, and unfortunately it’ll probably be another 3-4 weeks before I do. But fear not, ERTC rides until the snow flies! Lots of stuff to go through this week so let’s get into it. Cross is in full swing so be sure to come out to our cross practice rides on Tuedays and Midweek Cross Races on Wednesdays! Message me if you want a discount code to register. Late season Cross Race Licenses are now available for $75 from the ABA.

ERTC Weekly Update - September 5

So, Albert is still not able to type much with his broken collarbone. Your guest writer this week is clothing manager and web guy. Forgive me, I'm an IT guy, I rarely write anything but code! In the Albert tradition, I am writing this while drinking booze, albeit red wine and not beer.

Tour of Alberta - I'm sure many of us took in some or part (or all?) of the Tour Of Alberta.  We are really lucky to have pro cycling come to our province. I saw ERTC'ers at every major point on the course representing in the team colours! Woot! 

Velothon - I think we must have had 20-30+ ERTC riders participate.  Everyone seemed to have a blast despite the cool conditions. I heard it got pretty spicy at the front with Scott Klarenbach, Mitchell Thomas and Brandon Langille top 3 across the line (I hope I got that right!). Post race beers were had in the Churchhill Square beer garden for some celebration and sharing of war stories. 

Coming up (also check the schedule on the website):

Tuesday — Cross ride, meet at Wild Earth at 6!

Wednesday - Weekly cyclocross race at Argyle Park (check the FB for confirmation on location. Registration starts at 6. The pain begins at 7. Last week  120 showed up to race!

Saturday, September 10th, DV100 – The race/ride is definitely one of the biggest in Alberta with a bunch of racers showing up even though there are no points – it interferes with cross a little so it’s a tough choice, but definitely a great event! We have many racers confirmed for this already. http://dv100.ca

Saturday, September 17 - MEC Fondo. Ardrossan. 65K/105K/160K

http://events.mec.ca/event/116436/mec-edmonton-fall-century-ride

Sunday, September 25 - Rogers Harvest Ride. Ardrossan. 20K/60K/100K.

https://velocitycyclingclub.ca/events/rogers-harvest-ride/

Clothing Manager Note:

The weather is getting colder and the club has a limited selection of cold weather gear in stock.  We have leg warmers (1S, 4M, 4XL), vest (1L, 1XL), bib tights (2S, 2M, 2L), and winter jackets (1S, 1M, 2L, 1XL).  We also have various amounts of our summer gear as well.

Also, for next season, I have had a few people express interest in the aero road suits, which are skinsuits with pockets. They are slightly more money than bibs/jersey at $220, but are what all the pro guys are racing in these days. Ping me at clothing@ertc.org, so I can determine interest in putting in an order.

 

ERTC Weekly Update - August 29

When we last heard from him in his weekly missive, our president was confessing to being slightly inebriated as while writing. We are denied the gift of his literary genius this week. Alas, someone WITHOUT a broken collar bone takes over, temporarily.

 

Incidentally, it was gravity, and not the aforementioned mild inebriation, that brought our president into forceful contact with the ground. Speed and gravity, friends. Speed and gravity. Respect them.

 

And if you haven’t already, wish Albert a speedy recovery. Maybe beg him to recover in time to write next week’s newsletter, hmmm?

 

Here’s a wrap-up and look ahead:

 

The Merckx — 2 up TT was as epic as its title suggests, with teams going flat-out on our TT course, battling not for points, but for the sheer fun of it. Thanks to Jakob Claffey for dreaming this scheme up and to our volunteers for keeping track of time. Albert says he’s buying you each a case of beer!

 

The team was represented brilliantly in the subsequent ABA TTT on the weekend. Albert says he owes each of the racers some beer. Several beers, in fact.

 

Looking ahead.

 

Tuesday intervals are cancelled—the ride is now a ‘cross ride, meet at Wild Earth at 6.

 

Hey, cyclocross season is here! The weekly cyclocross races get underway this Wednesday at Capilano Park. Registration starts at 6. The pain begins at 7.

 

The Cross series runs every Wednesday until Oct. 5, alternating between Capilano and Argyle Park.

 

“The ERTC schedule has been fully updated to reflect the multitude of races we have coming up for cross – please take a look if you haven’t already. Tuesdays will be switching from intervals to Cross rides soon.”

 

Albert wrote that, last week. It is still true today. Here’s more of what he said last week and would have said this week:

 

Monday September 5th, UCI/WTC Velothon: Billed as “Feel like a Pro” for a day, it’s a 60/100KM “Gran Fondo” through closed Edmonton streets, using the same course the Pros will go through. It’s the first event of its kind in North America, and is sure to get spicy. We have two teams: one in the 100 km event and one in the 60 km event. For those of you who feel you can go all-out for 60 km, give it a go! If you’ve got more in the tank, sign on for the 100!  As a bonus afterwards, we can watch the pros do the very same course afterwards, and have a few brews doing it on a holiday Monday! http://tourofalberta.ca/velothonedmonton/

 

Sunday, September 10th, DV100 – The race/ride is definitely one of the biggest in Alberta with a bunch of racers showing up even though there are no points – it interferes with cross a little so it’s a tough choice, but definitely a great event! We have several racers confirmed for this already, and with a trip to Belize and $14000 on the line in prizing, it is sure to get real rowdy! http://dv100.ca/

 

Ride Changes:

 

Tuesday Intervals are cancelled now, replaced with a cross ride. Meet at 6 p.m. at Hawrelak. If you insist on intervals and want company, post something on the Facebook page. Misery loves company, right?

 

All other rides go as planned.

 

ERTC Weekly Update - Week of August 22

Another great week for ERTC, and just because the race season is over doesn’t mean our rides are over! We ride right up until the snow flies, and then switch our bikes and keep riding. Tuesday saw the women’s ride go off without a hitch, Wednesday was a great casual ride where we had some new faces, and a few beers, Thursday was another great hills night, where we are still welcoming more new members! Saturday’s 2-up TT was a stunning success as well, with over a dozen of us testing our bodies to the limit. We definitely hope to have more of these in the future over the course of the season so we can gauge how we are improving.

ERTC Weekly Update - Week of August 8

Quick and dirty update! Tuesday was canceled due to the races on the weekend but the rest rides went ahead, with Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday seeing great attendance and great weather! Cross season is almost here, so we will soon be switching Tuesday Intervals to a cross-based trail ride. Look at the schedule for more details, but I don’t think that this will be going ahead till the end of August.

ERTC Weekly Update - Week of August 1

Ok, a bit late this week due to the long weekend, and to top it all off, it’s gonna be really short! Tuesday saw about 10 people for laps at the research park despite the heavy duty weekend we all pulled! Thursday saw another huge group (about 15) tackle tons of hills despite the storm warnings (and we didn’t get rained on until after legislature!). This weekend was the final stage race of the season, the Bowness Stage Race, one of the hardest (if not the hardest) races of the calendar! Despite a strong ERTC showing (Erin, Robin, Graham, Matt, Liann, Brad, Brandon, Spencer, Tim, Scott, and myself) we all had so-so results. This is not a bad thing! Due to our extremely successful early season and the rash of upgrades that everyone got, we are now all perfectly settled into the categories that we are most competitive in, and know where to aim for next year! There are still several time trials left in the season, so the road season isn’t over just yet

ERTC Weekly Update - Week of July 25

Oh man, tons of things to talk about this week, where do I even begin?! Let’s just go in order. Our Tuesday ride was a beauty, with about half a dozen of us crushing out 4x5km intervals in beautiful weather. On Thursday we had around 2 dozen people, along with a special appearance by Joshua Krabbe, who showed up to remind us how fast he got in the mountains of Colorado! Saturday saw a surprisingly large group (over a dozen) despite the huge ride that we were to do on Sunday.

ERTC Weekly Update - Week of July 18th

A fantastic week for ERTC! All of the rides were well attended, despite the threat of rain, we managed to not hit any on most of them! Lots of stuff went on this week; I will get into them in a bit. Are you all excited for the Tour d’la Alberta?! We are going to have quite the group there, nearly 25% of all our registered members! We will be doing some photos and maybe some video so it would be great if you came out in your ERTC kit, but it’s by no means necessary. Your presence will be enough!

ERTC Weekly Update - Week of July 11

Good Morning!

This evening thunderstorm thing is really getting old… I guess that’s the price we paid for having a hot early spring! This week saw decent weather for our midweek rides, and our Saturday ride was very well attended by over 20 people! Sunday alas was canceled due to thunderstorms. Coming up quick is our time trial, so please sign up for volunteering, we still need lots! Remember to join our Facebook page for up to the minute updates on ride changes, cancellations, or other events. https://www.facebook.com/groups/2316916558/?fref=nf

ERTC Weekly Update - Week of July 4th

Alas, another week full of rain and thunderstorms… hope you all still managed to squeeze in some saddle time in between the storms! Our weekend rides still saw plenty of attendance, however a lot of us were racing at the weekend! Speaking of racing, this weekend was an amazing one for ERTC, with a member ending up on the podium in nearly every single event(!!) we contested! Congratulations to Suzie Poirier for earning her Cat4 upgrade, Matt Hewson for his Cat4 upgrade, and Robin for his Cat3 upgrade. Coming up quick is our time trial, so please sign up for volunteering, we still need lots! Remember to join our Facebook page for up to the minute updates on ride changes, cancellations, or other events. https://www.facebook.com/groups/2316916558/?fref=nf

ERTC Weekly Update - Week of June 27

Good Morning!

Totally late this week, was helping Brandon Langille move. He needed the help as he was tired from the weekend and winning the Category 3 Road Race in Canmore and upgrading to Category 2! This week saw decent attendance for the Thursday hill night, with 7(!!) brave souls climbing hills in the thunderstorms! This week is another busy one with 3 races on the coming weekend, with the the Canada Day Criterium, the PRW/ERTC Road Race, and the United Cycle Criterium. I want to highlight that we NEED NEED NEED volunteers for our 2 events, more details below. Remember to join our Facebook page for up to the minute updates on ride changes, cancellations, or other events! https://www.facebook.com/groups/2316916558/?fref=nf

ERTC Weekly Update - Week of June 20

It’s time for another edition of the weekly update! This week saw amazing weather and great attendance for all our rides, including the new route for the intervals, as well as the Saturday and Sunday rides, despite the club being pulled in different directions. Remember: There will always be people willing to ride, so please come out! Our weekend at the races was also quite successful with ERTC representation at The Highlandia Criterium and the Ghost of the Gravel, with Graham Watts earning his Category 4 upgrade! This weekend sees ERTC’s Race Team in Canmore for the Rundle Mountain Stage Race!

ERTC Weekly Update - Week of June 13

 

Good Morning!

A week hampered by rain on the weekend but still saw great attendance for our mid-week rides! Our club was pulled in a few directions this week, with some participants in the MS Bike Tour, some Racing in Kicking Horse Cup, and some choosing to brave the rain at home

ERTC Weekly Update (Week of June 6)

Last week in ERTC-land: Our Intervals and weekend rides saw decent attendance, with the sudden downpour on Thursday hampered the hills night. There was a little bit of confusion with the Devon Loop on Saturday but those are growing pains and will do away as everyone gains familiarity with the route and the turns. I'll go ahead and take this chance to say that we will endeavour to stay off the multi-use paths if there is a group larger than 10 if reasonable alternatives exist, for our safety and the safety of all other path users. ERTC was represented in the races in Calgary (The Jason LaPierre Memorial Cycling Weekend) this weekend by myself, Brandon Langille and Drew Malcolm, with Brandon Langille earning his upgrade into Category 3. Kicking Horse Cup is this weekend, which will see a decent amount of ERTC representation. Good luck to all our racers out there!

ERTC Weekly Update

Boom-shaka-laka-waka-haka(OK is that getting too much?) Yet another fantastic week for ERTC, which saw all of our regular rides with great attendance, including the weekend rides, despite the races going on! I can see our regular training rides making you all more confident, and faster on bicycles, even though you might not see it for yourself!

ERTC Weekly Update

This week’s weekly update is totally late – but hey it was a holiday Monday! Tuesday Intervals was a great success with the most people I’ve ever seen out on a Research Park session (10 I believe?) and it was a great session for learning how to corner at speed and increasing fitness.  Fortunately for the wildfires but unfortunate for us, it rained every day after that right up until Monday, forcing a lot of us to stay inside or go for a shower on our bicycles. Please check our website for the weather policy.

ERTC Weekly Update

ERTC Weekly Update

Another great week for ERTC, with amazing weather throughout the week! We had strong representation at the Velocity Stage this weekend, along with a staggering 13 ladies from our club and others joining us for our 2nd Annual “Broads on Bikes with Bison” Women’s Ride! 8 ladies went the full distance of 100km, with the remainder opting for the 50km route, and the winner of the jersey and shorts that Revolution Cycle donated to us was Erin Slemp, a rider joining us for this ride from another club. As for the races, a more detailed race report will be forthcoming, but I’d like to congratulate Brandon Langille on upgrading to Category 4, as well as Jakob Claffey and Spencer King on upgrading to Category 3.

ERTC Weekly Update

Good Morning!

Oh god, who let Albert write this week’s update?! Another great week for ERTC, which saw soaring temperatures for our midweek rides, the “graduation” of our Learn to Ride participants, and the most people I’ve ever seen on a Saturday in recent memory on our little jaunt to Devon and back. My personal highlight was the final spring series race. More on that later, with the race report.