Nine2FivePro.com Cycling Team

On the same day as Battenkill, many of the other team riders were competing closer to home at the Clarence-Rockland-Classic, another Roubaix-style event, with a lot of gravel roads. The theme of the day was team work, as Warren flatted early in the race. Andrew was right there to give him a front wheel, figuring the Rockland course wasn’t going to be his cup of tea. This display of teamwork paid off in a big way as Warren went on to take a podium spot with a 3rd place.

Honourable mention goes to Hans, who took a tumble on the gravel, but managed to get across the line with some help from some teammates looking after him to pace him to the finish.

After making the trip to Battenkill in 2010 and getting seriously slaughtered in the first 10km (Gerald with a flat, and Charlie with bad legs), Gerald and Charlie decided (over beers) that they would make the trip to Battenkill again this year for a rematch. Also making the trip was new recruit to the team, Derek Hardinge.

The late start of the race meant that they could have a relaxing morning drinking coffee, eating bagels, and watching Paris-Roubaix. And after sufficiently being inspired by Johan Van Summeren’s solo win in the Roubaix velodrome, the guy’s packed up the car and went off to the race.

The weather forecast for race day had called for rain, but the cycling gods smiled on the Battenkill participants with warm sun and reasonably warm temps. A nice way to ride off the first start line of the year.

This year the guys decided to forgo the Pro/1 event, and take their chances in the Senior 2 race. Not that there’s that much difference in the race; just a bit shorter, but still a long event for the S2’s at 84miles. Off the start line it was pretty relaxed for a couple km, but with the first dirt road section on the schedule within the first 10km, it wasn’t long until the battle for position began.

Figuring he was gonna be on a dirt road soon anyways, Charlie rode up the gravel at the side of the road to grab a front position before the first dirt road section. Derek situated himself at the front of the race, as he would for most of the race, while Gerald was sitting in the pack.

The steep climbs and the aggressive pace saw the pack split early. With his legs not quite ready for the intensity, Gerald found himself in a chase group, riding hard, and getting the Battenkill experience he was robbed of last year when he double flatted in the first dirt section.

Charlie rode a race of survival, clinging onto the pack for as long as possible on the steep gravel climbs, and rallying his fellow dropped riders each time to work together to get back onto the pack when they found themselves split off. This was a challenging game of back-of-the-pack-yo-yoing that eventually saw the elastic snap after hanging in for just over 100k. Being hardheaded, Charlie toiled on with the sole focus of crossing the finish line. After a long hard ride, he finally made it.

While Charlie grovelled at the back, Derek was riding well at the front all day. Having recently spent a few weeks down in California, he had good form, and he put his fitness to good use over the up-and-down course that suited him. Late in the race, Derek took the opportunity to go with some attacks, but none managed to stick. In the end, one rider managed to win solo, while the main pack duked it out for 2nd in the field sprint.

Derek still had enough left in the tank to contest the sprint, positioning himself near the front on the approach to the right-hand turn before the pothole riddled finishing straight. In the field sprint he was able to take 5th place, for 6th overall. Simply an awesome result considering the size and calibre of the field, and the challenging course. Congrats Derek!

Early in the week the one and only rainy day arrived. Some of the team members chose to just chill at the house, while others took the opportunity to head in to Greenville for the annual visit to the Hincapie shop and trip to the Blue Ridge Brewing Co. on Main Street.

The day of rest fell at an opportune time, as the first few outdoor rides of the season had accumulated some fatigue in the legs. So the rest allowed the riders to recover a bit so at to make the most of the rest of the training week. And make the most of it they did.

Following the rainy day, Doug, Gerald, and Charlie set out for some adventure, having found some sinuous roads that looked rather interesting on a map. Joining them for this ride were Louise, Doug’s wife, and Janine, Charlie’s partner in crime. After investigating the roads that looked so interesting on the map, they realized that those roads were much more suited to mountain biking than road, so an alternative plan was hatched.

They headed in the direction of Rocky Bottom, which required the ascent of a climb about 5km in length, with many switchbacks. The descent on the other side took them down into Rocky Bottom, and they continued their way into North Carolina.

The guy’s noticed an interesting climb along the way and decided to make a detour to check it out, telling the ladies the way and to continue on, and that they would catch up. After finding another interesting climb the guy’s started a casual pace figuring they would easily catch back up. But after several km the guy’s hadn’t caught them yet and began to wonder whether they had missed a turn. So they turned on the gas hoping they would catch them up sooner, but not believing the ladies could have taken that much time out of them.

After a bit of tempo, it was decided Gerald would head back to see if he could find them, and Doug and Charlie would continue on at TT pace to catch them up sooner. Eventually Doug and Charlie got around a bend in the road and the ladies were in sight. Seems they had ambitions to go on a long breakaway! Doug turned around and began chasing Gerald, and so eventually a regrouping happened, no harm done, and no one off course.

Eventually they looped their way up the backside of Caesar’s Head, and made the switchback descent of the front side of Caesar’s, and then back to the house, for a total ride distance of 90km. It was a wicked day in the saddle…lots of hills, lots of sun, and a few stories. A special kudos goes out to Louise for tackling this epic ride, despite a bit of knee pain giving her some issues. Way to go Louise!

A few of the team members made the trip down to South Carolina for a March break training camp. They stayed in the area just outside of Pickens, close to mountains and calm roads. The area is a common destination for many Ontario teams, including the provincial development squad, which we passed numerous times during the week while out on rides.

Gerald, Doug, Brendan, Charlie, and Ryan all made it down to the area for a great week of training. Ryan was down there as part

Gerald enjoying warm sunshine the morning of his first day in Carolina after a 16 hour drive.

of the Coach Chris group staying at Table Rock State Park, while the others were staying at a house rented on a local golf course.

Except for a single rainy day, the rest of the week was sunny and warm, providing great training days. Early in the week the group made their first ascent up Caesars Head. Caesars is an

At the top of Caesars Head

awesome climb, consisting of 6 miles of mainly gradual climbing around 8% grade. It’s an ideal climb for training as it’s not so severe that you are forced to kill yourself all the way up (provided you brought proper gears), but it’s tough enough that if you push yourself there’s not way you’re going home without getting a decent threshold workout in.

With his father being the organizer of the event, and not willing to miss out on the epic adventure that this journey through the Kawartha’s provides, Charlie was super keen to take to the start of the “Kawartha Rube-eh?”. Always an enthusiastic road trippin’ buddy, Gerald came along for the adventure. Having recently revived his old Thin Blue Line mountain bike back to life, he wasted no time putting his beast of a bike to the test.

In Paris-Roubaix tradition, Charlie kisses the Kawartha Rube-Eh? Rock Trophy

The riders were greeted Saturday morning with chilly temperatures, but the sun was shining brightly, making it a tricky decision whether to rely only on hot sauce to provide warmth on the legs, or whether to throw an extra layer on the legs in the form of knee or leg warmers. Gerald went with the extra layer in the form of some knee warmers, as his training had been rather sporadic lately, and he was looking at this event more as a tour than a competitive event. Charlie on the other hand had had the winners rock trophy on his mind all year, and only put the hot sauce on his legs, intending to put on a show on home soil.

The race rolled out around 10am, beginning with a surprisingly quick “neutral” start through downtown Fenelon Falls. With the racers having made their way to the other side of town under escort, the flag was dropped and the race was on. Quickly onto back roads, the initial third of the race was made up primarily of paved as well as gravel/dirt back roads. A few early attacks were attempted, keeping the pace high. It was under this early pressure where Gerald, who was riding some really beefy tires, decided to drop off to ride his own tempo. However, the group remained relatively intact until the first rail trail section.

Onto the rail trail, and the pace picked up significantly. With this section of rail trail being particularly loose gravel, those who had gambled on narrower tires struggled to keep pace with those who had fitted more aggressive tread. The variety of the course was reflected in the variety of equipment seen on the start line, as each of the riders made a gamble on where they would be at an advantage, and where they were willing to pay the price in less than ideal conditions for their particular setup.

After exiting the rail trail, the riders were back onto paved roads briefly, for a little bit of respite before entering a trail section in the forest. It was during this paved section where Charlie took some time to stand up to take a few pedal strokes out of the saddle to loosen up after the hard effort over the rail trail. In his motion to stand up however, Charlie pulled his foot out of his egg beater pedals, bashing his knee (the one he had previous broken!!!) into his handlebars. A bit of panic set in, as the pain was a lot to handle, and the knee cap is now highly sensitive to any impacts. Soon after the riders entered the forest to take on the first trail section, and Charlie put the pain aside, focusing instead on keeping the gap to those pushing the pace as small as possible. This trail section created a front group of 5, but with gaps between each of the front runners.

Out of this trail section and onto some smooth pavement, Charlie found an ally to set to chasing the leaders who were now in sight out on the open road. Working bit and bit, they took turns at the front, eventually closing to the leaders. With the front group of 5 reunited again, an easier pace was made for a brief period while the riders took on some food and drink. However, the rest period wouldn’t last long, as the riders were soon into the forest again, with an extremely steep rocky climb greeting the riders at the entrance to the trail. Again the pace was pushed, and each of the riders used all their force and concentration simply to keep momentum, as a mid-hill re-start just simply wasn’t happening if forced to stop.

Upon exiting this latest section of trail, which had been a “rocky” affair for all the riders, Charlie again found himself slightly behind two leaders. Not only that, but the effort had taken its toll on Charlie’s weaker left leg, so Charlie sat up to negotiate a truce with lefty in order to avoid a full-on leg cramp, and to allow another rider to re-join him. Charlie’s new ally took to the front to begin making a chase, allowing Charlie a bit more time to relax and have a word with his legs in the same fashion as pro Jens Voigt: “Shut Up Legs!!!”.

Meanwhile, Gerald had run into his own difficulties, having broken his chain 15km from the finish. Always a trooper, he began the long hike back to town. However, a local rube was nice enough to stop by and offer him a ride, which Gerald was more than happy to accept, having had enough adventure, he wasn’t too keen on hike-a-bikin’ it all the way back to town.

With some coaxing, Charlie’s left leg made a recovery, and he went to the front to bring up the pace in order to close the gap to the leaders. Soon after

Charlie on the top step at the Kawartha Rube-Eh?

they entered the next forest section, which provided a lot of mud and big puddles for the riders to negotiate. Again, Charlie struggled through the trail section, working to keep the gap to the leaders small enough that he could close it on the more open sections. Out of this last trail section, and onto the rail trail for the run-in back to town, Charlie turned on the gas, having enough left in the tank to close to a single rider in third spot, and then keep on trucking to the two leaders. Once Charlie made contact with the two leaders, he took a brief rest to take in some drink, but then cranked up the pace, and with a home town win and winners rock trophy on his mind, opened a gap in his bid to be the first across the line.

With a gap established, Charlie was confident that he could hold it, but he wasn’t out of the water yet. A rattling noise from the front of his machine, and Charlie looked down to discover that a broken spoke was flailing around loose as the wheel spun at speed.

Having been on relatively smooth rail trail for awhile, the spoke must have broken earlier in the event on one of the more challenging sections, but took until later in the race to shake loose from the spoke nipple with the rattling making the problem more obvious. Not willing to pull over, Charlie kept on pedaling away, hoping the broken spoke wouldn’t become a major issue.

He made it to the final climb, which when he crested would leave only 1km to the finish. This climb was so steep, that it forced the riders off their bikes to run it. Having run the hill, Charlie took a quick moment to bend his broken spoke out of the way, so his run in to the finish through town would be smooth sailing. Having overcome another obstacle in the event, Charlie came in to finish, winning the Kawartha Rube-Eh? in front of a hometown crowd, finishing off his 2010 cycling season with a victory.

Our trooper of the year, Adam Freed, made a trip to Vermont on Labour Day Weekend to take part in the Green Mountain Stage Race. Having had a tough time at the Fitchburg-Longsjo, he kept on trucking, and signed up for this epic adventure in the beautiful Green Mountains. Here’s his story…

“After my experience racing in Cat 3 at the Fitchburg-Longsjo stage race in July, I decided to drop down to Cat 4 for the 10th Green Mountain Stage Race in Sugarbush Vermont.  Given the five tiered licensing system in the States, it seemed like Cat 4 would be closer to my level even though I race S3 in Ontario and Quebec. So with a solid couple of months of hill training under my belt and some much needed rest, I headed down for the GMSR with my wife, Michelle Gauthier, who races for 7th Groove/ReForm Fitness and her teammate Jessica Lloy.  We shared a condo close to the races with Cynthia Nelson from Ride with Rendall, her husband Kevin who was there in a supporting role and Nathan Underwood, also of Rendall.

Stage one was historically a mass start hill climb, but in the past few years has become a time trial.  In order to level the playing field to a degree, the race organizers do not allow TT bikes or any sort of aero bars or clip-ons.  TT helmets, skin suits and disc/deep-dish wheels are allowed.  Totaling just south of 10km, the first third of the TT was a steady climb, followed by a flat part and then a slow downhill until a steep dip was reached with the last 200m or so being a sharp climb to the finish.  I struggled to find my pacing, and without power readings, I relied on heart rate, cadence and speed.  HR was up, but just couldn’t stay too fast and with a finish of just over 18 minutes, I was not sitting too well.  It was a little faster than I had expected based on last year’s times, but it turned out that everyone was benefitting from a tailwind.

Adam using a neutral support bike in the final crit stage of GMSR

Stage two was the circuit race, but it was really more like a standard road race, as we did 2 ¾ loops of the course for an 84km day.  There would be two King of the Mountains and two hot spot sprints before the finish.  My goal for the day was to go for at least one of the sprints and finish in or close to the pack.  The start was neutral to the top of the hill and then we had about 20km until the first sprint.  I started strong, staying in the first 15 most of the way to the sprint and then with one km to go I moved up.  There was a small break for the sprint and I was a little slow on the hammer, but went for it anyhow.  I passed a few guys at about 200m, but ended up crossing the line 5th with only the top four getting points.  Oh well, at least I gave it a good go.  The pack counterattacked up a short climb right after the sprint, but I held in and thought I had recovered when we got to the first KOM.  I ended up getting dropped, but worked really well with about a dozen other guys and we managed to catch back on.  Again thinking I had recovered enough, I decided to go for the second sprint, but with about 200m to go I was sitting around 7th and didn’t feel any more power in the legs, so I sat up and dropped back into the pack.  Turns out I burned my last match on that sprint attempt and after getting dropped again on the KOM, I worked with two other guys and almost caught back on again, but still managed to finish only 3 minutes behind the pack – mission accomplished.

Stage three was the killer mountain stage.  A slight change in route shortened it from 120km to 112km, but I was told that difficulty wise, it was about the same.  There was a 10km neutral start, an early sprint, then a big KOM, a smaller KOM and the finish on the infamous App Gap climb.  An early break stayed away until the end of first KOM, so I didn’t get a chance to go for the sprint points again, as I had hoped.  Speaking with the guy in the yellow jersey at one point, who was not in the break, he figured that he would have no problem because it was a long race with lots of climbing.  He didn’t finish the day with the yellow jersey.  The first climb at Middlebury hit and I managed it pretty well, hitting the peak around mid-pack, three minutes behind the leaders.  Sitting where I was, I would have been able to catch back on, but I negotiated the first downhill turn terribly and ended up in the ditch.  70km/h to 0, but miraculously came out unharmed, but unfortunately I would find out after the stage that I had cracked my top tube.   After shaking off the effects of making such close friends with the grassy knoll, I got back on the bike and caught four other guys in my category.  They were all riding the bus, but with no one else in sight, I decided it would be best to take a steady pace with some other racers than to try to get further ahead on my own.  The rest of the way was not too bad at our pace, although my rear derailleur hanger was quite bent, so if I wasn’t careful with my shifting, I could easily drop my chain into my rear wheel.  Finally, App Gap came and after a few winding and climbing kms, the last 200m literally hit like a brick wall both in terms of the winds and the 20% grade.  Grinding away in my 39/25 (I didn’t have a compact crank or a 27 or 28 like most guys there); I finally finished and felt like I was going to pass out.  Just about 30min back of the leaders, but not bad given what happened.

After being advised not to race the stage four crit with my cracked frame, I was able to borrow a bike from SRAM Neutral Support.  It would have been nice to have an hour or so to get used to it, but as they only had one 54cm frame (Specialized Pro SL with SRAM Red groupset and Zipp 303s), I had to wait until the race prior to mine was almost over.  The crit was a 6-corner technical challenge in downtown Burlington, VT which was actually an hour away from the other races.  The race had a neutral start for about ¾ of a lap, but everyone was fighting hard to get to the front.  It took me about ten minutes to really get used to the bike and unfortunately, you don’t get that luxury in a crit, so I found myself in a group of five or six guys struggling to hang on.  We pushed hard to catch the back of the peloton, but with 10 of 25 laps to go, the race officials pulled us off the course.  We had completed enough laps to get a finish time and stay in the GC.

I ended up 50th out of 79 starters, but if the crash hadn’t happen in stage three, I probably would have been 15-20 minutes faster and may have stayed in the crit until the end.  That time would have put me in the top 40.  It was a much different experience than the one I had at Fitchburg and now I’m looking forward to giving cyclocross a try and getting a new bike for next year.”

Britannia Park hosted the season opener for the 2010 Eastern Ontario Cyclo-cross Series. Nine2FivePro.com had six riders on the start line for the event. Marc, Warren, Duncan, and Doug were all seasoned returnees having raced the ‘cross series for the past few years, while Adam lined up for his first experience of the slick, muddy world that is cyclo-cross. Each of them participated in the ‘A’ level event, with Chris Olson representing the team in the ‘B’ event.

Doug navigates one of the main turns

In true ‘cross fashion, the weather was overcast and dreary, with a bit of off and on rain. This forced the riders to dig within themselves to boost up their own morale for racing. Strong performances were seen from all the guys, especially Doug, whose strong late season form continues, allowing him to take 5th position.

Meanwhile, in the opening ‘B’ race, which had a whopping 141 starters, Chris Olson had a strong

Adam making his way up a run-up

performance to take 3rd place behind John Gee (Ride with Rendall) and Colin Funk (J & J Cycle).

The ‘A’ race had 78 starters, giving the guys plenty of competition to duke it out with on the twisty, slippery course around Britannia Park. Included in all that competition was former National Cyclo-cross Champion, Greg Reain (Ride with Rendall), who showed his ‘cross class to take 7th position.

Duncan remounting after a barrier

Duncan was keen to get his ‘cross on, and probably had the sickest steed of all out on the course. His ‘cross bike hails from Belgium, a nation absolutely mad about cyclo-cross. His Ridley X-Fire took him to a 16th place position.

Marc 'crossin it up

Marc managed to take a top-20 placing, coming in 19th for a strong finish. In fact, apart from our new Cyclo-cross recruit, Adam, all the guys finished within the top-20. Meanwhile, Adam had a good time in is first ‘cross racing experience, and encouraged by his teammates plans to attend more of the series’.

The next race is a two-person madison event, also taking place at Britannia park, where Adam will team up with Warren, tag-teaming, taking turns around the same course they took on as individuals the previous weekend.

Warren Starting On The Front

Warren had a good showing, encouraged by his little Nine2FivePro.com fan, Kate, he managed to take 12th place. Boosted after his performance at the Queens Park Grand Prix, and the fact that he recently became engaged, Warren took a front-line starting position, and had a consistent race finishing at the front and looking forward to the rest of the series.

Marc & Warren, with Warren's little Nine2FivePro fan Kate

A big shout-out of THANKS goes to Bob Woods, who organizes the Cyclo-cross series. His hard work gives those with a passion for cyclo-cross to get dirty, have some fun, and find new challenges on the bike.

Not only that, but the spectator friendly courses allow friends, family, and supporters to get out, ring some cowbells, and cheer on their favorite cyclo-crosser.

On September 19th, the Queens Park GP experienced a revival, as riders took to the start of the short oval criterium course. In the Men’s Pro/Am Invitational, the Nine2FivePro.com Cycling Team lined up against Pro Tour riders Michael Barry of Team Sky, and Ryder Hesjedal of Team Garmin/Transitions, who placed 7th at the Tour de France this year. The buzz of spectators and fans around Ryder at the start was great to see, as it signals the growing interest in cycling that Ryder’s recent success has sparked. You can check out the sportsnet.ca coverage here.

Doug and Marc thru a turn

The race was an 80km criterium, but on an oval course, meaning the speed was going to stay. On the start line for the team were Doug, Marc, Warren, Charlie, Grahame P, Graham Shrive, and guest rider Jason Valenti.

The field was made up of around 60 riders, from strong teams such as Jet Fuel, Spidertech and Louis Garneau-Club Chaussures. These teams, combined with the Pro Tour presence of Ryder and Michael Barry would result in an aggressive race.

Given the high speed circuit on which the race was taking place, most predicted the race would come down to a bunch sprint. However, the constant attacking, especially that of Hesjedal, resulted in a group of 6 splitting off the front around half-way through the race.

Sensing the dangerous move, Barry made a strong bid to bridge to the leaders, taking 5 riders with him including Nine2FivePro.com’s Warren MacDonald. This created a front breakaway group of 12. With most of the teams being represented, this was to be the move of the race.

Up front, the breakaway group was composed of 4 riders from Spidertech, Hesjedal and Barry, 2 riders from Louis Garneau-Club Chassures, Daniele

Warren in the break behind Ryder Hesjedal

Defranceshi (Jet Fuel), Thomas Devisscher (Ride with Rendell), Alex Bhogal (Mazur Coaching), and our representative in the break, strong man Warren MacDonald. With all this horsepower up front, the break quickly gained 40seconds on the pack.

Back in the pack, riders from the Darkhorse Flyers team mounted a chase, having failed to put a rider in the lead group. This chase kept the gap to the breakaway around 40seconds for a number of laps. However, the strength up front in the breakaway was too much and eventually the gap went out to over a minute.

With the pace being forced by Spidertech riders, the break split into two groups. Warren was in the 2nd breakaway group, working hard alongside Michael Barry to regain contact with the front 5. However, Hesjedal was sure to push the pace to make sure his group of 5 remained off the front.

Grahame Plaunt riding in the main field

With the break riding such a strong pace, the race officials had the main group finish with 7laps still to go. In the field sprint, guest rider Jason Valenti was our top finisher, taking 3rd place in the bunch sprint, for 15th place overall. The rest of the team rolled in to finish in the main group, enjoying the support of the large and enthusiastic crowd.

Meanwhile, in the race for the win, after following several of Ryder’s attacks throughout the last 2 laps, Jeff Schiller from the Louis Garneau-Club Chassures team made his own bid for victory, sealing the deal and having enough time to make an emphatic victory salute in front of the large crowd gathered to watch the finish.

Kevin Lacombe took 2nd place, while Ryder slipped onto the podium in 3rd, having had to take up a lot of responsibility in the race to chase and attack on his own against strong teams. Warren came in 11th position, finishing with the second breakaway group, and happy to have had such a strong showing.

More pictures from Queens Park:

Charlie near the front of the bunch

Warren finishing his pull at the front

Nine2Fivers hanging out in the field

Winner Schiller watching for moves

Charlie setting pace

Andrew has been over in Europe for a few weeks now, participating in a study on the effects of altitude on elite cyclist. He lined up for a tough, hilly road race over in the French Alps. You can read all about his race here, and you can catch up on all his European adventures on his Nine2FivePro.com blog HTFU.

Graham Shrive represented the team at the Ontario Criterium Championship in Windsor on September 5th. Often riding the Mississauga mid-week criterium, Graham is well suited to fast courses, and the Windsor course did not disappoint in the speed department. The event was an 80km criterium around a 1.7km circuit with 4 corners and wide roads, which allowed the riders to carry their speed through the turns. This resulted in an average speed of 51.6km/hr, meaning the event took just over an hour and a half.

Realizing the speed was too high for him to compete in the bunch sprint, Graham dedicated himself to setting up his friend Jason Valenti, who has a strong finishing kick and was riding for the Brampton Cycling Club. Graham rounded up Jason with 3 laps to go in order to bring Jason to front to give him a good position from which to start his sprint. Their teamwork paid off as Jason managed to grab a top-10 finish, while Graham rolled in comfortably in the bunch for 20th spot. Nice work!