Lumber Cross 2011

Hey all,
The Trail Bicycles Eatmore Sprouts team had a great time at the Lumber Cross this past weekend. It was a great day for racing, the course was short, fast and technical. Results:
Beginner Men, James Grant 1st place, Mark Grant 3rd place.
Intermediate Men, Andrew Grant 3rd place, Glenn Wakeling 4th place, Nigel Ellsay 5th place.
Masters Men, Dave Damery 2nd place, Steve Grant 7th in 50+.
Expert Women, Amanda Wakeling 4th place.
Expert Men Jeff Beeston 16th place.
Thanks to all the sponsors for supporting the team!!!!!!!!!

Western Canada Summer Games from Team member Amanda Wakeling's point of view

http://www.youtube.com/user/AmanderJW?feature=mhee#p/a/u/0/tVKx7-1NDdg

http://harmonycrusade.blogspot.com/

Team members Andrew Brown and Amanda Wakeling riding around Cumberland this Saturday with Frank and his dog on helmet cam

http://www.youtube.com/user/AmanderJW?feature=mhee#p/a/u/0/XyAFR1lObP8

2011 BC Time Trial Championships

Hi All
Team Trail Bikes Eatmore Sprouts had an excellent time out at the 2011 BC TT Championships. With the juniors riding the middle 20km portion of the 40km TT; Mark Grant stormed the U13 in 36:14 to take the win by 3:19 over MIVA rider Brodie Haye.In the U15 class, James Grant took 3rd after the heat took its toll.

In the U17 class Andrew Grant powered to an excellent time of 29:33 to take the win with a 1:47 minute advantage over CVCC club members Thomas Andrew and Jake Van der Vliet.

In the U19 class Nigel Ellsay rocked out on the 40km course to take the win with a time of 57:06 and a 2:24 advantage over second place, with fellow CVCC member Jordan Duncan taking 3rd. Nigels winning time of 57:06 actually gives him the winning time for U23 category as well as 5th fastest time of the day!In the cat3 mens class Doug Merrick suffered on the course and finished in 1:02:41 to take 6th.

After the TT Nigel, Doug, Jordan, and Jeff Matell raced the 20km TTT on the same course to stop the clock in 29:36 to miss the podium by 37 seconds despite Nigel Riding with a broken rear shifter!

AJ in Alberta

Team Member Amanda Wakeling Just got back from racing XC Canadian Nationals in Canmore and an XC Canada Cup race in Edmonton.

Check out how her trip went by viewing her blog:

http://harmonycrusade.blogspot.com/2011/07/alberta.html

Ellsay at Junior TT Nationals

TB/ES team member Nigel Ellsay has just returned from the 2011 National Junior Road Championships in Burlington, Ontario. Ellsay had his best ever placing in the 22km TT event where he place 2nd to friend Alex Cataford of Team Ontario. Ellsay stopped the clock in a time of 29:08 just 22s behind Cataford and 35s ahead of 3rd place. Ellsay would like to thank Trail Bicycles for having his bike in perfect working order for the championships and would also like to thank teammates for helping him in preparation for the event.

Junior Mens 2011 TT Podium (Ellsay, Cataford, Patry)

Hornby Island Super D and Overall XC

This past weekend I raced the Hornby Island Super D, but unfortunately not the cross country due to a injured knee and cold. I got second overall in the Vancouver Island Cup Intermediate Men XC, which is pretty good considering that the points from the best six out of nine races are added up, and I was only able to make it to four. The Super D went really well as it was my first race of that kind. I placed third by less than four seconds in Intermediate Men and learned a lot! The course consisted of classic Hornby smoothness with a stretch of grass field at the end making for a fast enjoyable run.

Fraser

Fraser Ullstrom

Andrew Gower

Fraser Ullstrom

Good Luck Simon!!

Team Member Simon is on the National Development team.

"Packing the bike today, heading out tomorrow! Back in two weeks."

GOOD LUCK, HAVE FUN, SIMON!!!

Cardiac Classic, Burnaby

(above: Andrew Grant)

4 Trail Eatmore Team members represented at the Cardiac Classic BC cup this Sunday. 3 Grants and 1 Wakeling. Not many people showed up to race with but it was still a good day.

(above: A. Wakeling)

Andrew Grant took a 5th in u17 men. Younger Brother James Grant took a 4th in u15 men followed by his even littler brother Mark Grant taking 7th in the same category. Wakeling took an automatic win as she was the only one who showed up to race in the junior women's category.

(Above: Mark Grant)

Shout out to all the parents for their support at the race for us on the weekend!!

(Below: James Grant)

Below: Yay the Eatmore Sprouts Mobile (Wakeling)

-Amanda Wakeling

Hornby Island Island Cup Series Final

Yesterday I raced in the Island Cup Series Final on Hornby Island. With 1100 feet of climbing per lap and a fresh layer of nasty mud from the overnight and early morning torrential downpour, a fairly non-technical course turned into a race of attrition. I raced in the expert category and we had 3 laps of serious climbing to contend with. This ended up being the largest turnout for experts with over 40 expert racers on the start line. With the series lead tied for first place with David Huntley and Craig Gillett sharing the lead, this race would determine the series winner. Add to that mix, 5 factory riders from the lower mainland which upped the pace significantly. After the first lap, Stefan Widmer had an 8 minute lead over second place. In the end, Craig Gillett edged out David Huntley for the series points win coming in around 6th place with David 1 spot back. Stefan Widmer ended up winning by a significant margin. I was able to roll in around 12th place and had a really solid ride. This was an awesome event hosted by the Hornby Island community and my sons Carson and Luke came in 2nd and 3rd in the fun and entertaining kids race that took place as we raced. Luke managed to hang on to 3rd place despite having an early lead and ending up in a ditch.

David Damery

TB/ES in Europe?

Trail Bikes/Eatmore Sprouts team member Nigel Ellsay has been absent from North American racing this last month. Ellsay was competing and training in the heart of the road scene in Belgium, Holland and Germany from May 3rd to 30th with the Canadian National Junior Men’s Road Team. Let’s listen to what Ellsay had to say about his adventure...
Arriving in Tielt-Winge (“Ting-Wing”), Belgium was quite an experience for me. Having 2 new coaches, 5 new teammates/friends, overcoming jet-lag and trying to learn the way a country works can be quite difficult... Fortunately though, life goes on. I soon started to familiarize myself with Coaches Nat Faulkner, Matt Knight and athletes Alex Cataford (18yrs, Ottawa, Ontario), Oliver Delaney (18yrs, Montreal, Quebec), Simon Trivett (17yrs, Charlottetown, PEI), Ty Andrews (18yrs, Calgary, Alberta) and my good friend Jeff Doyle (18yrs, Victoria, BC).

We were all staying at the quaint CCA house in the center of Tielt-Winge. Tielt-Winge is located South-East of Brussels, in the Flemish are of Belgium and is a typical Belgian community with a grocer, bakery, pubs and an awesome deli.

After a few days of riding, learning some of the Belgian culture and eating plenty of yummy Belgian waffles, the weekend came and with all spring/summer weekends comes bike races! We were to experience our first 2 Belgian Kermises.

The first Kermis we rode started at 3pm (much more civilized that the usual 10am North-American start times) on a 10km course filled with small rolling hills, main roads and bike paths. At the start line we were greeted by 150 other juniors starring us down just as much as we were starring them down! This was going to be fun! A soon as the gun went off the winning break went off the line, and unfortunately for me I was 3rd row (of 25)! But we ended up with 2 boys in the break, well representing us and we finished up with a 6th place.

The second kermis we rode would turn out similar to this one.

The following weekend we headed over to Frankfurt, Germany for the 3-Ettapen Rundfhart a UCI 2.1 all juniors stage race. The first stage on the agenda was an 8km pan flat prologue. Regrettable for our team, we hadn’t bother bringing our TT bikes overseas, due to costs and we were forced to ride our road bikes with clip-on bars. After the TT I was sitting 66th overall, 1:05 behind the leader and 10 seconds behind Alex.

The next stage would turn out to be one of the most gruelling stages in my entire life; 110km’s of beautiful German Countryside filled with 2000m of climbing! I rode well and was dropped 1km from the final summit with Alex, unfortunately we were the first riders to reach the finish line from our team.

The following day turn out to be a rather boring day with all riders riding defensively, and the race finished with a bunch sprint

The final stage race on our hands was the 3 days of Axel Race in Axel, Holland. The racing in Holland would also prove to be the hardest racing I’ve ever. The reason for this, as any European racer would know, is because the flat terrains and wind in Holland combines for a whole lot of riding in the gutter.

The first stage had our first cobbles in it, with four 3km sections, and let me tell you cobbles can either make our break your race and for me and most other people these cobbles broke our races! During every cobbled section there would be a pile up of riders and riders would be all over the road finding the best line. Also, the entire race was in the gutter with 0 draft available to any riders, as the wind always felt like it was on our sides! After being dropped and chasing back through the caravan a couple times, I was finally dropped for good with fellow compatriot Alex.
The next day was a double day with a TT in the morning a road race in the evening. At the TT I rode well and placed similar the prologue in Germany, well down the results but still not too far off.

During the evening we started our 110 km road race, me recovering after having extreme stomach cramps all afternoon. Unfortunately for me after making the split in the first half of the race I was forced to retire due to more extreme stomach cramps. That would be the end of the stage race for me.

The next 2 weeks would be filled with trying to figure out my ailing health problems. Oddly enough I never found out what the problem was or what caused the awkward problems.
All in all I learned many things on my European trip, like how early you have to get to the start of a kermis to get a good placing on the line, how to live without mom for a month, I learned how to survive in Europe, how to race a European bike race and many other useful tools I couldn’t have learned through North American racing. I realize I still haven’t perfected all my new skills and still have a lot more to learn, but hey, everybody’s gotta start somewhere.

Vancouver Island Cup #8: Rumblefest

This past weekend I raced the Rumblefest XC in Port Alice and placed first in Intermediate Men by over 13 minutes. The course had about 1200 feet of climbing per lap and my category did three laps, so there was a fair bit of uphill, however the work was definitely worth the great ride down. Fortunately the rain held off, and the sun even came out, making good weather for the race making a good weekend even better.

Fraser

AJ out East

I was out east in QC and ON the last couple of weeks racing Canada Cups, check out my blog if you want to find out how my trip went http://harmonycrusade.blogspot.com/

-Amanda Wakeling

Tsolum River Road Race

This past weekend Andrew, James, and Mark raced in the 2nd Comox Cup race on the Tsolum River Road race course. The weather was perfect for racing:
sunny and about 20 degrees c. The A category was off first with a group of 16. Andrew raced in A and lasted most of the race with what was left of the pack(there were two crashes).
The B category was off next with a pack of 7 riders.
After 6 laps (62.2 km.), the race finished with a pack sprint. James took the sprint over Hugh Park and Rob Stabler.

In the C category, which consisted of 5 riders, Mark took the win and the prime over Ernie Klassen and Kia Van der Vliet.
Overall, it was a great day of racing, besides the two crashes.

Hammerfest XC- Andrew, James, & Mark

I also raced Intermediate at Hammerfest yesterday and placed 3rd, although I finished several minutes behind Fraser. I liked the course a lot even with all the climbing, and had fun. Unfortunately, on the first lap I crashed near the beginning of the descent, guess I just lost focus after all the climbing. I hit some loose shale around a corner and went down. The rest of the race went pretty well, and I managed to keep the rubber side down after that. James and Mark also raced in Beginner, Mark making his debut in the mountain bike world. They both raced solidly and James took 1st, Mark 2nd. They both had a couple incidents each of bouncing off trees and the like, but nothing major. I think it's safe to say that the Trail/Eatmore team made a good showing!

Andrew G.

Vancouver Island Cup #7: Hammerfest

Today I raced the Hammerfest XC in Errington. The course this year, along with the great weather made for a really fun time. The route had lots of single track climbing and descending, along with enough bumps that I managed to dent my rim. I placed second in Intermediate Men, one second behind the person who came first.

Fraser

Island Cup Downhill #1 Cumberland

The first 3 races of the Island Cup Downhill have been held over the last month with 2 Team members and sponsors racing. Andrew Gower ( Wedler Engineering ) and
Jeff Beeston( Trail Bicycles ) contested the first race held on the ever popular Dodge City Downhill course in Cumberland. Andrew was racing in the huge field of 59 intermediate men and finished mid pack with a decent run considering he had only been on his bike 3 times heading into the race. Jeff was racing in a stacked field of 60 experts including the current Pro mens and under 19 National Champions and the 3rd place finisher in Pro men not to mention people coming in from Alberta and Washington to race our local event!! Jeff was feeling good and had a great run and finshed on the podium in 3rd place and was super happy with being 4 seconds of the win. Thanks to all sponsors for there support!!

Wenatchee Valley Omnium

Last weekend the Grants travelled to Wenatchee, WA. for the Wenatchee Valley Omnium race. The weather was looking like it was going to hold up. Not surprising, since Wenatchee is known to have 300 days of sunshine. Unfortunately, on race morning the clouds broke apart, pouring down rain like never before (the flash floods caused evacuations). The TT was the first stage, with Mark and James racing first. At 8:00 Saturday morning, The two boys were off racing on the 5 mile long course (the shortened TT course). In the Youth C category, James had an average time trial, putting him in 5th place out of 12. Mark, in the Youth D category, had an exceptionally fast time trial, putting him in first in his field of 6 riders. Steve, in the Masters D category, had an average time on the full TT course, putting him in the middle of the pack. Andrew raced in the cat. 4 men, and his time trial, also on the full TT course, put him in the middle of the pack.

Later that day, the rain finally decided to hold up. In the Twilight Memorial Park criterium, Steve lasted two laps before being pulled (most Masters men on steroids!!). Andrew hung on for several laps before having breathing difficulties. In the Youth C/D category, James took a 6th place in the sprint after being in the chase group the whole race. Mark, who couldn't quite hold on to the older kids, took a 1st place finish in the Youth D category.

The next morning, after a refreshing sleep, the Grants woke up to hear that horrible rain pouring down again! Early in the morning, James and Mark were off again in the Youth C/D Road Race. As soon as the neutral roll-out ended, the leaders started pushing the pace. Soon, the fast pace broke the group apart, resulting in a four-man breakaway. James was in the breakaway with the top three riders in the youth C category. After chasing down numerous solo efforts, James won the race in the long uphill sprint. Mark was in a chase group with a few other Youth C riders, and beat them all to take a 5th place overall finish, and a 1st place finish in the Youth D category. Soon after, Steve left the cover of the tent and made his way to the start line. The course consisted of the full TT course, (out and back), then up an 11 kilometer climb with an average 15% grade. Then, after the climb, there was a treacherous 8km descent complete with road barriers and cliffs. Steve flatted part way up the climb while crossing a washout area. Andrew raced on the same course, and was dropped by the lead group with 1km of climbing left, and could not keep going after the cold and wet descent (you needed a freakin' snorkel just to breath!!). Probably the most challenging stage race we've ever done! Fifteen mile climb today up to Mount Rainier! Awesome descending!! Having a great time training in a new country! That's all for now, pics will be added later.

Race the Ridge

On May 6th, the Grant family headed to Maple Ridge for the Race the Ridge stage race. It was cold and wet on Saturday morning for the first stage, which was the time trial. James and Mark raced in the Youth category which was 10km., while Steve and Andrew raced in cat. 3/4 men. James and Mark placed well with times of 15:33 and 16:02. Steve and Andrew also did well with Steve getting a time of 37:56 and Andrew a time of 34:48 over a 21 km. course. James and Mark had the fastest times in Race the Ridge history for the Youth category.

On Saturday evening, the clouds opened and rain, hail and thunder began. This resulted in flooding on part of the crierium course. Steve and Andrew's race was cancelled, but after the course was modified, James and Mark's group was able to race. Mark broke away on the second lap, but was caught on the 8th lap. James, Mark and a local youth made up the lead group. In the sprint finish, Mark beat older brother James to take 2nd, behind the local rider.

Sunday morning dawned grey but dry. Setting off on a 10 km road course, the youth group was led out by a pro rider.

On the second lap,

James and Mark broke away up the

first hill with another rider and stayed away from the splintered pack behind them.

With about 300 meters to go, James and Mark sprinted, leaving the 3rd rider behind. James won the sprint and came 1st overall. Mark came 2nd overall. Finding the hilly course a challenge, Steve and Andrew were dropped early. Fortunately, they were both able to finish the 68 km race, with Steve finishing 3 minutes ahead of Andrew.

Race the Ridge was a fun experience and we are looking forward to racing again next year.

;-)

THE TEAM WISHES GOOD LUCK TO TEAM MEMBER NIGEL ELLSAY IN BELGIUM!!!!!

Snow to Surf and Dove Creek RR and Montreal

(Above: Simon Harrington Photo by Canadian Paralympic Committee)

Excellent weekend for road racing in the valley; in the Dove Creek Road Race Nigel Ellsay took 3rd after forming the first ever successful breakaway on the Dove Creek Circuit, big props to him. The day after in the Snow to Surf Nigel's Junior team took 6th overall, Jeff Beeston (top 8?), Doug Merrick in 11th, Dave Damery in top 20 (?), and Glenn Wakeling in 29th. Great rides by everyone!

Simon Harrington also had a successful TT & RR at Defi Sportif in Montreal! Less than 1 second shy of National Standard in the TT & 2nd in RR for cat H3, (8th?) overall

(Above: Nigel Ellsay Photo By a Duncan)

(Above: Dave Damery Photo by ? Duncan )

(Below: Jeff Beeston Photo by ? Duncan)

Sunshine Coaster

Team Members Amanda Wakeling and Andrew Grant headed over to the Sunshine Coaster xc mtb race on the weekend, with one of the great Team support Mom's Carmen Wakeling (Amanda's Mom) It was a good weekend with a course recon on Friday, the race on Saturday and a Junior group ride on Sunday.

(Photo by Joanna Duncan)

Jordan Duncan, a great Friend of the Teams and also a local Valley boy took a strong 5th place finish in the 15-18 Gangster male category with Team Member Andrew Grant 10 spots behind in 15th place. Team member Amanda Wakeling took a 2nd place finish in the 15-18 Gangster female category http://harmonycrusade.blogspot.com/

And no we didn't get up to any mischief ...

(Photo By Joanna Duncan)

-Amanda Wakeling

This last weekend Nigel Ellsay competed with the Cycling BC Juniors at the Tour of Walla Walla in rural South-Eastern Washington. It was the first time this year the juniors had competed together as a team and ended with big learning curves yet great results… Friday’s 42 mile road race proved to take a toll on all athletes, with many ending up leaving with hyperthermia. Fortunately, all the Cycling BC Juniors stayed out of trouble and finished well. Many athletes found themselves in short-lived breakaways, well representing the team. A little over halfway through, Nigel Ellsay found himself 2nd at the KOM sprint, gaining valuable time bonuses. After the KOM the race settled down for everyone except the boys in red and blue (of Cycling BC) as they kept hammering the field with attacks. Many team members found themselves in moves during this part of the race. But by 3km to go, at the bottom of the days major climb there remained 2 breakaway members charging 45 seconds ahead of the group. But not wanting to admit defeat, Jeff Doyle and Nigel Ellsay screamed up the mountain side to bring back the group. Unfortunately, though the boys could only bring back 1 of the breakaway members with the other finishing 10 seconds up. But with a good lead out, Adam de Vos managed to pull out a 6th place finish. Saturday morning’s race was a 9.2 mile TT loop, with flats, a 1 mile climb, 1.5 mile descent and a finale of flats. This course proved to be an excellent style for Nigel Ellsay, as he won the event by 11 seconds, putting him 42 precious seconds into the lead. Later that afternoon the athletes competed in a 40 minute downtown Walla Walla criterium. After sporting the yellow leader’s jersey to the starting line, Nigel and his teammates hurriedly clipped in and raced along the fast, windy downtown roads. After covering many breakaway attempts, all athletes ended up winning at least one prime each. But that wasn’t it for the boys in blue and red. With 3 laps to go teammates Jeff Doyle, Geordie Morrison and Nigel Ellsay all made strong pulls to keep at bay break-away attempts that might interfere with Adam de Vos’s leadout. Then in the final straightaway, Nigel Ellsay hammered along the outside bringing up de Vos to the grand finale. De Vos pulling out an exceptional 3rd place finish. After many ice baths the Cycling BC team lined up to the Sunday race course line still sporting the yellow leader’s jersey, and with the main goal to protect it at all costs. The hard course would suit the team, with 4 major climbs and 2 smaller hills. For the first two thirds of the race the Cycling BC team did everything possible to reel in breaks and have a person up the road. But by the last third of the race, Ellsay was by himself, besides a couple of cracked team members. With 40 kilometers to go everyone in the top 10 of GC seemed to instantly realize that they needed to be up the road and gain valuable time to move themselves up the GC list. Fortunately though, the furry of attacks only lasted up till 15 kilometers to go, when most people realized they couldn’t take over the top spot on GC. The race would then end with a bunch sprint of 30 riders, with Ellsay securing his GC win by approximately 40 seconds.

Cumberland XC- Andrew

I also raced Cumberland on Sunday. It was a super fun course, with lots of rooty, muddy, technical sections and also some fun descending. I had probably my best race so far this year, and finished 4th in Intermediate Men. I had an awesome time despite the weather and I'm hoping to just keep improving every race!

Andrew G.

Vancouver Island Cup #5: Cumberland

Today the fifth Vancouver Island Cup race took place in Cumberland. There were quite a few people there from the team which was great to see. The trails were muddy and the rain came down constantly. I raced Intermediate Men and placed first. The race went fairly well besides tons of mud in my eyes and some leg cramps on the second lap.

Fraser

Vancouver Island Cup #4: Snowden

I raced this last weekend in Snowden, which was the fourth Vancouver Island Cup, but the first race I was able to make it to. I had a fairly good race and placed first in Intermediate Men. Although the course didn't have very many good places to pass it was fairly fast which made for a fun ride. Luckily the rain held off for the most part so we didn't get wet and muddy this time. Amanda has already posted the photos below.

Fraser

Spring Series Stage Race - April 2 and 3

The Grants headed over to Langley for the last Spring Series race. The stage race began on Saturday morning with a criterium. It was a pretty standard 1km 4 corner course, but it did see a casualty early on in the youth race. Unfortunately, Mark got behind the wheel of an inexperienced rider who hit a wheel and crashed right in front of him. Mark went down and paved the road with his face. Thankfully, he only suffered road rash and a sore wrist. James was luckily out of the crash and continued on to place 2nd. Andrew, racing in the B category to qualify for the Western Canada Summer Games, stayed with the pack for about 5 laps before falling off. He finished strong in the chase pack.

Saturday afternoon saw the Grants, minus Mark, lining up for the 12km TT along River Rd. Fighting a headwind on the way out meant a fast return.

The Road Race on Sunday was successful all around. Andrew joined the large B field and rode his first 110km race. He stayed with the group until the last 2 laps, when he strained his quad muscle, but he finished the race. Steve had his best race of the year, finishing in the group and placing well after 8 laps(63km). James won his race after breaking away with 4 other people and sprinting them for the win after 4 laps(31km, giving him the Omnium GC in the youth category. Mark, the photographer and cheerleader, kept in high spirits. Aside from Mark's crash, the weekend was successful, and a lot of lessons were learned.