CROSS ON TOP OF THE ROCK 2016!! 

Cross on the Rock - Mt Washington

Race #2 Race Report by Evan Luksay

The debut venue provided 239 racers with a tight, muddy, off camber course that went throughout the upper section of the “Green Acres” ski trail (right below alpine lodge). The conditions at the time of the race were overcast, yet the rain was still holding off, perfect cross race conditions. The beginner race started out with a two hundred meter uphill sprint, I was luckily able to get the holeshot and ended up going into the tapped section with the leading position. The next quarter lap was filled with tight turns and bends on incredibly slippery grass. Immediately after crossing the finish line starting us on our official first lap we came into a pair of barriers, I ran over them with speed yet I caught my wheel on the second one thus making me put down my bike roughly. Once I tried re-mounting my bike I quickly realized that I had lost my chain on my front ring! I moved over to the side of the track while I fumbled to put my chain back on, yet it was stuck in my front chain ring! My Dad was luckily spectating the race where I had pulled over so he helped me with the chain, it took a couple minutes to finally get going on course again yet I realized I had gone from first to nearly 30th! I spent the next twenty minutes going throughout the ups and downs of the tight course regaining positions, it was great practise at passing aggressively. Sadly, on my last lap lightning struck twice and my chain jammed again when going over the barriers! Luckily, it only lost me a few positions and I was able to maintain my position for the rest of the race. Overall, it was a awesome race as I learned how to pass smoothly and efficiently while also having loads of fun on a amazing new venue!

Ian Lehton and Hudson Webster had a tight battle while Malcolm Lehton had a great finish in Beginner Men.

Brynn Johnston in Beginner Women’s finished third with Eva Leikermoser close behind!

Trial Bicycles had a great showing in Intermediate Men with Breckin Nowak, Erik Ashton and Jake Yells all having solid races!

Lastly, Emilly Johnston placed third in Expert Women!

Thank you to all our sponsors: Sew What, I Sew, Eatmore Sprouts & Greens Ltd., Rob Nygren Royal Lepage Realtor, Western One Rentals. And Sales, Wedler Engineering LLP, Airport Service and Mini-Storage, Trail Bicycles, Riverway Dental Inc..

CYCLOCROSS RACE REPORTS from the team are coming in hot and heavy! 

What a great start to the season racing in the @cross on the rock series. Starting with Jake Yells racing Topaz Park, Victoria: 

"First off I’d like to point out this was my first CX race and as promised it was awesome.
I had an early start to the day to catch a ride with the Nowaks. We got to Topaz Park and to me it looked crazy, all I could see was ribbons everywhere. I got ready and went for a pre-ride. The course started with a lot of turns on the grass and shot into the woods for a very loose corner, Then back to the field for more turns and then onto a wood chip path that was quite loose....then another corner in the field into two tight switchbacks on a steep hill then two straight aways into more field and over two wooden barriers, then the lap point/finish line. I finished the pre-ride just before beginners started, so I registered and went to watch the beginners race. Off the start Evan, Ian, Hudson and Malcolm were doing well. Evan was inside the top ten and on fire. Evan Luskay finished 9th, Ian Lehton in 28th, Hudson Webster in 47th, and Malcolm Lehton in 53rd.... pretty good I must say.Then came Beginner women. Brynn took off with an amazing start and pretty much held that spot for the race. She finished in 13th.
Now the team was doing very well and I was wondering If we could hold that through Intermediate men, my race.
We had a running start to get our bikes. That's where I ran into a bit of a problem, I ran up to where I left my bike but it wasn't there! So I started running around looking for my bike. As I looked ahead, I saw someone drop a bike that looked like mine and jump on another one....Guess what? It was my bike!!! So I ran up to my bike and finally I got in the race. As I jumped on my bike I clipped pedals with someone and they flipped over.[Sorry for that]
After that interesting start I was on the course way back in the pack. I thought I was doing pretty good through the field, over the barriers and through the trees. I yelled a “Oh no” as I passed Erik who had just lost his chain. I picked up more and more speed passing lots of people until I got too much speed and wiped out in the corner cutting my ankle and knocking my chain off. This lost me a lot of time because my chain was really fighting me and wouldn’t go back on. I gained momentum again for the rest of the race and passed a few more people, but was still a little scared to go faster again. Right at the end I saw Erik whose chain had fallen off again, but he was not discouraged and sprinted across the finish line ahead of me. When we finished I found out that our good friend Carter Woods took the win, Breckin Nowack was 11th, and though I almost lapped Erik due to chain trouble somehow he finished ahead of me in 42nd and I was 43rd! Nice work Erik!!!
After that we had the masters race [the dads race]. We stood around and handed water to the dads and cheered them on as they whipped by.
Dave Nowak finished 8th, Wade Luksay in 21st, Dan Lehton in 39th,
and Chuck Ashton in 64th.
In expert women Emilly Johnston had a blazing start holding off 3rd place for the first few laps but ended up falling back a few spots to finish in 8th.
An awesome day for all of us in the first race of the year! Thanks so much to all our team sponsors for helping make racing happen for the team: Airport Service and Mini-Storage Sew What, I Sew Trail Bicycles Eatmore Sprouts & Greens Ltd. Wedler Engineering LLP Rob Nygren Royal Lepage RealtorWestern One Rentals and Sales Riverway Dental Inc.