After a long race on an extremely tough course Peter was able to surpass his long time Friend/Enemy Andrew Watson.

Along with Peter’s triumphs, Jon Barnes was able to add another provincial title to his long list of accomplishments this season.

-Enjoy

After being spoiled all week at Trek HQ it was time for the team to get down to business on the race course.

Cayley Brooks was first too race on Saturday. An incredible last lap attack landed her in the top ten at a US Cup Race.

During the mens race later in the day Mitch Bailey was running with the lead group in the top 7. Unfortunately Mitch suffered a puncture and was unable to finish in a position true to his form. Peter Glassford had a strong race finishing in 13th.

Jon Barnes also had a great weekend of racing with his new buddy Rich from Trek Subaru. Finishing in 4th place in the XC race against a field of super fast masters(Old Guys).

Another good weekend of racing for the Trek Canada MTB Team.

Up Next:

Peter: Marathon Nationals Aug 26th

MItch/Cayley: MTB World Championships Sept 7-9

-Enjoy

The single most watched athletic event in North American history: The Olympics – London 2012 edition.

One of the things I love the most about in a nutshell is how people have come to expect us to be on top of the daily goings-on of the world at large. That’s why, when out for drinks last week, I was affectionately hounded: “Why hasn’t NUTSHELL done anything on the Olympics yet!?”

True say, my friends, true say.

I think I can speak on behalf of all of the nuts in saying we wore our Canadian pride well – watching, cheering and catching up on the each event of the day. Jess’ friend, Will, from Kingston, even took home a silver medal, bringing the spectacle across the pond a little closer to home. We joined the 32 million Canadian hearts bleeding patriotic pride across the nation for that special time, once every four years, where we get to watch athleticism at it’s prime. Hard work, dedication, discipline, talent all before our eyes. No, in a nutshell did not miss out on this worldly event.

And what an event it was. It seemed as though for those days between July 27 and August 12 it was the only subject worth talking about … “Did you see the Canadian girls’ soccer game? What a heartbreaker.” … ”Did you see Bolt run?” … “Did you see we got another medal?” ………

“Did. you. SEE. the BODY on that ROWER!??”

Yes Canada, we took home 18 medals. We won gold. We showed the world what we are made of…

…. And we also, looked good doing it.

While discussions about unfair judging, bicycle crashes and cocky athletes ruled conversation across the planet, so did one other thing – brawn. can. be. beautiful.

So, with a little help from one of those that scolded in a nutshell for it’s lacklustre coverage of this epic event, my good pal Allan Gordon (@agordo12) and I bring to you the TOP 20 HOTTEST CANADIAN ATHLETES – LONDON 2012.

Feast your eyes, Canada, and take it away, Allan.

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THE BABES: 

Although a team of five girls runs in a nutshell, they’re not (always) the kind to discriminate. We know that Team Canada’s Olympians didn’t only run deep in male talent, as our women put up nine medals – a contribution equal to the men, including our only gold of the London 2012 games, by Rosie MacLennan, in trampoline.

But let’s get serious here gentleman, when the ladies aren’t winning medals (and realistically while they are winning too), we’re watching closely for the talent that carries off the field of play.

Without further ado, let’s take a look (or two, or three, or…) at our top 10 Canadian Olympic babes of the 2012 games:

10. Melissa Bishop (Track) @BishopMelissa

Starting off the countdown, it was a no-brainer to include this hometown girl. Bishop has ties to the Nation’s capital that go way back. Before her success in CIS track with the Windsor Lancers, she attended the University of Ottawa where she competed on the GeeGees track team. She currently represents the Ottawa Lions Athletics Club in competition. A tough break in her heat caused her to miss the semis in the 800m, but we hope to see her back in 2016.

9. Kelsey Titmarsh (Rhythmic Gymnastics) @kelseytitmarsh

Little Kelsey almost didn’t make this list – not because there was a ‘you must be this tall’ restriction holding back this gymnast, but because criminal law almost caused her to be left off the list. Kelsey is only 18, but it’s not illegal to look right? Let’s hope she returns in 2016, and that the rhythmic gymnastics team doesn’t place last again… okay fine maybe we can deal with another last place, what is rhythmic gymnastics anyway? If Will Ferrell can do it, anyone can: 

8. Desiree Scott (Soccer) @MsDScott11

Desiree logged huge minutes in Canada’s run for the soccer bronze. It was pretty tough to miss that face on the field, especially while she was rocking that bright pink headband all throughout the tournament. Oh by the way, her nickname is the destroyer… we’ll leave that one to your imagination.

7. Jenna Martin (Track) @Mz_Can_eh_D_n 

East-coaster Jenna Martin was the 2011 Canadian champion in the 400m. She earned her way to the semi-finals in London, but wasn’t able qualify for the finals. We forgive you Jenna.

6. Sarah Wells (Track) @SarahWells400mh

Sarah Wells belongs in the same category as Jenna Martin: Good-looking, ridiculously fit track athlete who qualified for the semis, but didn’t come close to making to finals. What else is there to say, just take a look and move on to the top five.

5. Tracy Little (Synchro Swimming) @Tracy_Little

On behalf of men everywhere, it’s nice to see a synchronized swimmer who still looks hot without piles of waterproof makeup on. Who even knew about Tracy Little until now? We need more coverage of athletes like her, for obvious reasons.

4. Lauren Sesselmann (Soccer) @lsesselmann

Lauren Sesselmann is probably the greatest import to Canada from the USA next to California wines. Sesselmann was born and raised in Wisconsin, and only received her Canadian citizenship in 2010, but we welcome her with open arms – I think any guy would in a heartbeat. Just take a look at her twitter bio (@lsesselmann) for a description of the perfect woman: “Athlete, Model, Actress.” Jackpot.

3. Jonelle Filigno (Soccer) @JFiligno

Filigno (no, not Foligno) has quite the resume. She has been named to the following: Top 10 Olympic Women to Watch, 30 Hottest College Athletes, 50 Hottest Female Soccer Players All Time, and Top 100 Sports Hotties, by various different sources. She also won bronze at the Olympics, but that’s just a minor detail.

2. Emily Batty (Mountain Biking) @emilybatty

Emily Batty is an absolute gem. The girl looks just as good while she’s competing as she does off the course. Too bad for her, she crashed in practice the week of the Olympics, and raced to a disappointing 24^th place finish. Why is that awesome? She did it with a broken collarbone and a couple broken ribs. If you’re thinking, “this girl is tougher than me,” you are correct… and way better looking too.

1. Kaylyn Kyle (Soccer) @KaylynKyle

They say a picture is worth a thousand words… there’s 3000 good ones for the boys. If you haven’t heard of or seen this beauty yet, it’ll be a matter of seconds before you google her name, get mad at her for spelling it so stupidly (so many y’s!), and then instantly forgive her when google gives you the ‘did you mean’ option – success. To give you an idea of how much this country loves Kaylyn Kyle, she is one of very few, if not the only Canadian Olympian to be twitter verified. I think she just gained another follower…

Now that’s true patriot love

Of all the heartwarming stories Canadians had the privilege to witness during the London 2012 Olympics, the gutsy effort shown by the FIFA #7 rank Canadian women’s soccer team to earn a bronze might have been the most exciting.

This victory literally put the faces of our ladies on the map, across the country and all over the world.

The greatest part of this team might be that they could’ve lost all of their games, and still captivated the attention of over 16.5 million Canadian men.

It’s pretty evident from this Top 10 that the women’s soccer team dominated on and off the field. Although the team won bronze, the lads know they’re really a gold mine.

Congratulations on winning bronze ladies, but even bigger congratulations on winning the hearts of men all over the world.

- By: Allan Gordon

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THE BOYS:

#10. Nathan Gafuik (Gymnastics) @gafuik_nathan

Ok, ok. So we may not be starting off our top 10 on the strongest foot, with gymnast Nathan Gafuik, but the fact that after his Olympic dream concluded early with him falling during his high bar routine, his only event at the Games, Gafuik said he was “headed to McDonald’s” means he’s got a sense of humour. Or at least, a hearty appetite. The 27-year-old from Calgary was Canada’s lone male artistic gymnast. Weird right? I thought that was a popular sport for that demographic…

#9. Alexandre Despatie (Diving) @ADespatie

Not a huge fan of the speedo, but he’s got a body.
The 27-year-old, fell flat (literally) at this year’s Olympics, but for a guy who was making his fourth spin around the Olympic stadium and spent almost his entire young life as Canada’s leading international diver, I guess he does okay. Finishing in 11th place (second from last. knife. twist.), in the 3-metre springboard he was eighth going into the last of six dives.  His legs slapped the water hard as he entered ….
…Just going to trail off there.

#8. Sergio Pessoa Jr (Judo)
A common theme in this series of Canadian hotties, Sergio Pessoa Jr, one of Canada’s most promising judokas, ended his Olympic dream after only one match. A Montreal resident, Pessoa, had a very tight contest with Kazahstan’s Yerkebulan Kossayev that went into golden score and was then determined by the judges’ decision. They ultimately raised the blue flag in favour of Kossayev, but we raise our eyebrows to what’s above those blue shorts. No Canadian judo player has won an Olympic medal, so hey! You were just meant to stand there and look pretty anyway. The 24-year-old was following in his father’s footsteps, who competed in Seoul, which means ladies, he’s got good genes.

#7. Tory Nyhaug (BMX) @Tnyhaug49

Tory Nyhaug, badass BMX biker from Coquitlam, BC, won the fifth and final run of his Heat 2 grouping, and yet — disappointingly — the 20-year-old missed out on reaching the semi-finals by one measly point. Luckily, he’s likely got a long career ahead of him. Lucky for him? Or lucky for us? Men only get better with age. Right?

#6. Damian Warner (Decathlon)Decathalon should be synonym for: “I’m a freaking boss.” Not only did Damian Warner get put through not one, not two, but ten Olympic paces, the 22-year-old managed to get a respectable fifth place for his first Olympic Games. Oh and he only achieved six personal bests during the last two days… nbd. The only thing going against this stud is that he doesn’t have Twitter, which means limited stalking privileges. Drat.

#5. Jason McCoombs (Canoeing) @JasonMcCoombs

This Dartmouth, Nova Scotia smokeshow would have scored higher on the list if he wasnt NINETEEN. Little Jason wasn’t even supposed to go to the Games, being invited to Olmypic training camp simply for a learning experience. I can think of a few women across the country who’d like to teach him another lesson… The first of many rowers that made our palms sweat, I’m sure we’ll be seeing this up-and-coming super star on the water again soon. Thankfully, he’s not getting any younger.

#4. Riley McCormick (Diving) @RMcCormick2012With an eleventh place finish, Victoria’s Riley McCormick didn’t crack the Olympic top ten, but he did crack OUR top ten. As the second diver on our list, it’s no secret that men of the pool have sculpted stomachs… and thighs … and shoulders … and backs. Shall I go on? He kinda looks like he needs help drying off… I think a million hands just flew into the air to volunteer for that job.

#3. Conlin McCabe (Rowing) @conlinmccabe

Oh hi, Conlin. My name is Catherine and I also live in the Ottawa area.

We already had our eye on this rowing hottie, before realizing he was from Brockville, which is really just a hop, skip and a jump from the Nation’s Capital. As one of Jess’ friend’s teammates (three degrees of separation) that led the men’s eight rowers to an Olympic silver medal, this brawny Canuck turned the most heads out of a group of men who were all tall glasses of water in their own right. Only thing I wish? That we were all in London for THAT silver medal after party.

#2. Martin Reader (Beach Volleyball) @martinjreader

No. Words. Necessary.
Right? It’s a no brainer that this beach volleyball babe would make our list. Why is he not #1 you ask?
Because he knows it.
That and he lost every possible game he played. But hey, it’s something just to go to the Games right?

Every girl likes a winner, gentlemen. But second place ain’t nothin’ to sneeze at.

#1. Jared Connaughton (sprinter) @jncoolc

He may have lost the bronze for Canada, but he ranks #1 on our list and in our hearts. There wasn’t a single Canadian who didn’t feel P.E.I. sprinter Jared Connaughton’s pain   after Team Canada was disqualified in the men’s 4×100 metre relay final. Connaughton stepped on the line during his leg of the relay, pushing the men out of medal contention. But, the jacked and tatted 27-year-old gets our #1 ranking, not only for his bodacious bod, but for owning his misstep like a champ.  After stepping off the plane to a warm welcoming from a hometown crowd yesterday these words show he not only knows how to man up, but he looks good doing it: “Be proud of your hard work and be proud of the good times and the bad. Because sometimes the bad times wake you up to the good times you weren’t paying attention to. And that was a pretty bad moment but this makes it not so bad.”

–
So there you have it Canada. Take a second to be proud of our 18 medals, take pride in our athletic achievements, and for the love of God, take a cold shower, because the great North (strong and free) just got a little greater.

One last thing, thank you to Daniel Charboneau (@DanCharbs) for helping to craft this incredible post-worthy idea.

Seriously if you missed the drama today, there’s just no way I could sum it up for you, so I’m just going to quickly summarize each event. If you need more info, I wrote a post for each event earlier in the day.

*Medal Hopefuls*

• Men’s K-1 200m Final: Mark de Jonge was the ONLY medal we had today, bringing home a Bronze.
• Men’s +80kg Taekwondo: Francois Coulombe-Fortier won his Round of 16 match, lost his Quarterfinal and then had to wait and see if his opponent made it all the way to the final so that Francois could have a chance at the Bronze via a Repechage. Unfortunately his opponent lost next round, so no shot at Bronze. http://wp.me/p2DUKQ-HP
• Men’s 10m Platform Diving: Riley McCormick barely made it into the final (http://wp.me/p2DUKQ-Go) but once there, gave one of the best performances of his young 20yo life. However the competition just took it to ANOTHER world. He ended up finishing 11th but the race for the medals in dives 5 & 6 was insane. Watch it if you have time http://www.ctvolympics.ca/videos/channel/obs2/watch/diving-10m-final-5770.html
• Men’s K-2 200m Final: Ryan Cochrane and Hugues Fournel finished 7th.
• 4:30am – Women’s Mountain Biking: Emily Batty fractured her collarbone on Tuesday but didn’t tell anyone till this morning but still pushed through, while Catharine Pendrel (the current World Champion, 4th place finisher in Beijing and winner of the test event in London last year) had a very off-day. She finished 9th (http://wp.me/p2DUKQ-GW)
• Men’s 120kg Freestyle Wrestling: Arjan Bhullar, the 2010 Commonwealth Games Gold Medalist lost his opening round match and had no chance at a Bronze via the Repechage as his opponent was defeated in the next round.
• Women’s 20km Walk: Rachel Seaman finished 52nd of 61.
• Men’s 5000m Final: Cam Levins is a BOSS. He may have finished 14th but he’s SO promising for Rio. See me pay homage to him here: http://wp.me/p2DUKQ-Id

*GLORY & HEARTBREAK ON THE TRACK*

• Men’s 4x100m Relay Final: Long story short? We come in 3rd. The huge scoreboard says it, the commentators go wild, Canadians around the world go wild. Gavin Smellie, Oluseyi Smith, Jared Connaughton and Justyn Warner celebrate wildly with Canadian flags wrapped around them……. then it all goes horribly wrong as the loudspeaker announces that we’ve been DISQUALIFIED but offers no reason why….. We all hold our breath for 5 minutes until they finally replay the handoff between 3rd leg, Jared, and the anchor leg, Justyn, and point out that Jared had stepped on the lane marking…. automatic DQ. We lose the Bronze, Trinidad & Tobago now has Bronze…. our hearts are broken
• My immediate reaction here: http://wp.me/p2DUKQ-IK
• If you need to see the replay, here: http://www.ctvolympics.ca/videos/watch/4x100m-relay-jamaica-bolts-record-gold.html

Had we not been DQ’d, that Bronze would brought our medal total to 19, to make these games our 2nd most successful games, after the 22 medals in Atlanta in 1996…. had we won Bronze, that would’ve been our first 4x100m medal since Donovan Bailey’s in 1996

Coulda woulda shoulda. Tomorrow is a new day.

Don’t scroll down if you can’t handle it!

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Even before the Olympics, but especially the last few days or so, the media had been pegging Catharine Pendrel as our #1 favourite for a Gold Medal. So much so, that they were calling for her to be our Flag Bearer at the Opening Ceremony. She came in 4th at her Olympic debut in Beijing, became the World Champion in 2011 and won the Olympic test event last year as well.

Unfortunately, nothing in life is guaranteed, especially in a sport as volatile as Mountain Biking. Catharine had a bit of a slow start but by the end of the 1st lap (of 6) she had worked her way up to 3rd. At the end of the 2nd lap, she was in 2nd. However, during the 3rd lap, she began to fade. I’m not sure if that push she made in the 1st lap to catch up drained her or if she was injured somehow but by the end of the 3rd lap, she fell back to 7th place, nearly 30seconds behind 1st.

At the end of the race, she finished 9th in 1hr 30min 52secs, 3min36secs behind 1st…. I’m sure the media will try to find out what happened. Hope she’s not injured.

- Gold went to 23yo Julie Bresset of France, who led the entire way.
- Silver went to Sabine Spitz of Germany, the defending Gold medalist from Beijing and 2004 Bronze medalist.
- Bronze went to Georgia Gould of USA.

Our other Olympian in this race, Emily Batty, who was doing well the last week or so, ended up breaking/fracturing her collarbone this week but still raced. She finished 24th, 9mins behind 1st place.

We might just be out of hopes for another Gold medal… but we still have a good handful of chances at possible medals. Cmon Canada!

We’re currently sitting on 17 medals and need 1 more to tie our 18 in Beijing or 5 more to tie our best ever, 22, in Atlanta 1996. Quick history lesson: the 44 medals in Los Angeles 1984 aren’t included because the entire Soviet Union and friends boycotted the Olympics since the USA and allies (including us) boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Oh politics.

Anyways, tomorrow we have 8 possible shots at a medal (notice the “possible” as some are not as probable). Go Canada Go! A huge medal haul would definitely wake people around this country up and get them cheering again. We have too many 4th place (and Bronze medal) finishes that depress those people.

*Medal Hopefuls*

• 1:15am – Men’s +80kg Taekwondo Prelim: Francois Coulombe-Fortier is the 2011 PanAm Games Bronze medalist and 2011 PanAm Olympic Qualification tournament Silver medalist. He has a legitimate shot at going deep in this tournament. If he wins vs Gadzhi Umarov (Russia), the Quarterfinals are at 7:15am, the Semis at 9:15am and Bronze/Gold Medal matches are at 12:15/2:30pm.
• 1:30am – Men’s K-1 200m Final: Mark de Jonge is our 1st possible Gold Medal tomorrow, finishing 1st in both his Heat and Semifinal.
• 2:00am/12:30pm – Men’s 10m Platform Diving Semis & Finals: We have one diver, Riley McCormick, who finished 11th in the qualifiers, but all the scores are cleared and Riley has to finish Top 12 to make the Final and go for a medal.
• 2:41am – Men’s K-2 200m Final: Ryan Cochrane and Hugues Fournel managed to grab the last spot in the Final so if they do win a medal, it would be a shocker!
• 4:30am – Women’s Mountain Biking: We have two athletes in this race: Emily Batty & Catharine Pendrel, the current World Champion, 4th place finisher in Beijing and winner of the test event in London last year. She’s our 2nd possible Gold Medal tomorrow
• 5:18am – Men’s 120kg Freestyle Wrestling Round of 16: BC’s Arjan Bhullar, the 2010 Commonwealth Games Gold Medalist faces Komeil Ghasemi (Iran). If he wins, the Quarterfinals are 6:30am, Semis at 7:06am and the Bronze/Gold Medal matches at 9:45/11:56am. Go Arjan!
• 9:00am – Women’s 20km Walk: Rachel Seaman is the lone Canadian in this long long (and odd-looking) race. If you’ve never seen race-walking, you need to check this out! It’s all in the hips
• 11:30am – Men’s 5000m Final: Cam Levins is the lone Canadian in the mix. Cheer him on!

*The Big Athletics Events*

If you plan on watching the Olympics today and you want excitment, you should definitely catch Athletics. The fun starts at 11am and will go until 1pm. Women’s High Jump, Men’s Javelin, Men’s 5000m, Women’s 800m, Women’s 4x400m Relay and Men’s 4x100m Relay. Every race is for the podium and the biggest names will be there.

• 1:00pm – Men’s 4x100m Relay Final:
  - It’s going be a 2-way race for Gold between the USA & Jamaica. “But Bolt & Blake are so much faster than the USA” you say. Yes, this is true HOWEVER teams have screwed up the baton hand-off in the past and been DQ’d for it (Team GB did today)!
  - It’ll be a 6-way race for Bronze, including Canada! If we get our favourite medal (Bronze), I would be so impressed with Gavin Smellie, Oluseyi Smith, Jared Connaughton and Justyn Warner.

*Other Big Events*

• 5:30 – 7:30am – Individual All-Around Rhythmic Gymnastics Finals: 4 rotations in total
• 7:00am – Men’s Soccer Gold Medal match: Brazil vs Mexico! Should be exciting!
• 1:00pm – Women’s Basketball Gold Medal game: USA vs France… I think everyone’s betting on the USA
• 12:30 – 2:30pm – 5 Men’s Boxing Gold Medal matches: 49kg, 56kg, 64kg, 75kg and 91kg

- Enjoy

- Enjoy

We all know that it often takes a visitor to remind us of just how interesting and amazing the place that you live in really is. Dan Proulx, Head Coach of the Canadian Olympic Mountain Bike team and personal coach of current world champion Catharine Pendrel, was the perfect visitor to unravel just why Bourg d’Oisans is a perfect global cycling destination.

Dan and members of the Canadian Olympic team including Geoff Kabush, Catharine Pendrel and Emily Batty, their partners and support staff have all just spent an amazing week with us in Bourg d’Oisans prior to arriving in London for the Olympics.

Dan Proulx has the exact demeanour and focus that you would expect in a performance coach and an elite team manager. He is personable, friendly, precise and determined all at once. You would trust him to make you a better rider and to get you to the start line on time. I had the opportunity to have a cup of coffee with Dan and learn about their pre- Olympic training camp and for him to share his experience of being based with us in Bourg d’Oisans.

The conversation was made easier because over the previous few days I had bumped into the team before and after their rides, witnessed them paddling in the river and shared the adventures of our dog with them on a couple of occasions- not least when she decided to jump from a second storey window! Basically it was clear that they were all having a good time.

Our conversation kept returning to the variety and abundance of the riding directly from our base in the town but Dan was clear that it was much more than the quality of the riding that was required for a successful week.

He focussed on many of the background practicalities that turn a good destination into a great one.

He loved the fact that the town had good shops and restaurants and that the local supermarket could supply all of the athletes nutritional needs. They enjoyed the easy strolls out for evening meals and fresh air. They parked the vans at the beginning of the stay and they didn’t need to use them to go riding, to go food shopping, to make an unexpected visit to the dentist or to find places to relax and chill out. Bourg d’Oisans may not be a big place but it has everything you need for a perfect base to underpin the main activity: riding.

Everyone knows that Bourg d’Oisans is at the base of the Alpe d’Huez climb made famous by a century of Tour de France battles and its numerous heroes. Every bike rider- whether mountain biker or road rider- has this one on their bucket list. But you can also ride dozens of other famous climbs from here and Dan was very enthusiastic about the simplicity and availability of all the road riding straight out of the door. He was even more surprised to find that the team could head off on their mountain bikes every morning and with a mixture of local route maps and signage and a little adventure they were easily able to piece together a huge variety of off road riding encompassing cross country and technical, uphill and steep downs.

As a keen mountain biker, not least with a love of Dan’s home country Canada, I was interested to get his sense of progress in the sport and how this area was playing its part in the global development of mountain biking. Every weekend this summer there has been a world or European event taking place within the immediate drive time. World cups at Val ‘d’Isere, Crankworx at Les Deux Alpes, Megavalanche, Enduro de Nations and many more. He admitted that his first exposure to the area was because of his interest in the Alpe d’Huez road climb and this led him to visit the ski resort in 2011. He was excited, however, to find that there was a mountain bike infrastructure as well and he immediately realised that the mix would provide a perfect environment for a training camp. This was clearly apparent in the riding that Geoff Kaboosh was undertaking whilst staying with us. On the Thursday, in glorious mountain sunshine, we bumped in to him putting his mountain bike away after a ride along the river trails. I asked him what his plans for the next day were- he was going to smash it up Alpe d’Huez on the road bike.

Two quotes from Dan summed up the riding experience:

“I have never seen the team so pumped to get out and explore each day”

“The hardest part of this camp is keeping the riders from overdoing it”

Dan is a very experienced coach and manager and returned again to the value of having good background facilities to make a camp a success. He described the free internet access as ‘like water to these guys’, the ease of having multiple banks to access cash, the scale and size of the accommodation, the fact that their limited French was not a hindrance for day to day interactions and the fact that he did not spend hours getting lost trying to find us.

Their wider travel plans also proved easy to navigate by utilising the straightforward drive to Lyon airport to fly the team to London whilst driving the bikes and equipment up in the hired vans. He had thought of every detail and enjoyed a few unexpected bonuses. Two of his favourites were the fact that the area was such a magnet for cyclists creating a sense of community on the road and trails and in the cafes and restaurants. The other was to remark on the courteous nature of French drivers and it is true that you do not have to drive far in Le Bourg d’Oisans to see a sign asking you to ‘partegeons la route’.

We wrapped up the conversation by returning to the Olympics. I asked Dan about the team’s goals for London 2012 and whilst he acknowledged the real possibility of achieving medal finishes his actual answer was more interesting;

“To have the best day possible and master each and every section of the course”

Sometimes you are lucky enough to stumble across a little wisdom in life. I grabbed hold of this little gem, shook his hand and thanked him for reinforcing all the great things about bike riding from our base in Le Bourg d’Oisans. Thanks Dan.

Gary – Enjoy Oisans

Both had strong races and finished in 3rd place.

Photo (c) Kaesy Gladwin

Meanwhile Adam Morka and Emily Batty are in Europe training. Riding at high elevation Adam is preparing for this weekends world cup in France, while Emily Prepares for the Olympic games in London.

Here are some photos from their journeys.

-Enjoy

Mitch Bailey finished in 2^nd place in the U23 men’s the same incredible spot as last year. Mitch fought extremely hard during the race with his two other podium compatriots.

Peter Glassford had a strong race to finish in 6^th position in elite men. Battle with long-time friend and race rival Cam Jette. In the end Cam was able to pull away from peter on the technical descents.

Jon Barnes showed his true ability to be an exceptional racer on Sunday. Winning his second Master’s National title. Caught in an epic battle with the 2^nd place finisher, Jon managed to recover from three crashes and finish in 1^st. Launching an incredible attack on the final climb to seal the deal.

Big thanks to all the team sponsors for their continuing support which allows us to race and win! Trek Bikes, Sram Corporation, Subaru Canada, Trek Bicycle Store Toronto, ProGold Lubricants, Clif Bar and of course the Families and Friends of the team who donate so much of their time to the team!

-Enjoy

Jon Barnes showing Geoff Kabush some lines,

Emily Showing off her mechanic Matt O’s new bike!

-Enjoy

The Trek Canada Team had the great honor in conjunction with the Trek Bicycle Store of Aurora to present a special gift to the Big Brother Big Sisters of York. $5000 in youth bicycles will be donated over the next two years! The full Trek Canada Team and Emily Batty (Subaru-Trek) were on hand to present the donation.

Emily being interview by the Globe & Mail

Subaru Canada and Subaru of Richmond Hill were also in attendance to show their support for the kids.

Emily, Grace, and Cayley on the podium

Kids being Kids

Saturday – Trek Store Canada Cup Pre-Ride

As has become tradition with the Saturday before the race the Trek Canada Team hosted an autograph session and a pre-ride clinic with amateur racers.

Subaru gave out Cowbells which were a hit with all the fans at the race.

Adam and his group of young riders

Cayley Brooks and a group of girls go out for a lap of the course

Emily Batty and Floyd of Subaru standing in front of the New Subaru BRZ!

Sunday – Race day

A lap of the Elite course with Adam Morka

With hints of rain during the morning races the weather was starting to look better for the Pro race. Or so everyone thought. After a lap and a half the rain hit! This changed the dynamic of the race completely.

Full results can be found HERE

Post Race Interview with Emily Batty

Big thanks to all the team sponsors for their continuing support which allows us to race and win! Trek Bikes, Sram Corporation, Subaru Canada, Trek Bicycle Store Toronto, ProGold Lubricants, Clif Bar and of course the Families and Friends of the team who donate so much of their time to the team!

More to come from today’s short track,

-Enjoy

After arriving at the venue and watching an exciting end to the Elite women’s race that saw Canada’s Emily Batty (Subaru-Trek) narrowly miss out on her first World Cup win against Poland’s Maja Wloszczowska (CCC Polkowice), it was time to kit up and hit the warm up routine.

Once the warm up was finished it was time to get into the call up loading bay and wait for your name to be called to line up for the start. Being South African, and not having a high UCI seeding, this meant I was near the back, number 102! The tension before the race could be cut with a knife, as all the worlds best XC riders had come to show their stuff and claim glory. The minutes before the start are always the worst, as the anticipation is at an all time high as all the riders are lined up, with the thousands of spectators eagerly awaiting a show down.

The gun went off and as was expected, all hell broke loose as 120 of the worlds best riders hurtled down the start straight and into their first lap. The only thing you can do in this situation is go as fast as you can and look for gaps in the field to move up position. Soon though as per usual with world cups and starting at the back, I found myself waiting at the huge bottle necks which are typical of world cup racing. Once I had pushed and fought my way through that I was able to continue the all out sprint of the first lap.

Start straight

For me, lap two was where it almost fell apart as the efforts of lap 1 caught up with me. This was by far the hardest lap as I tried to catch my breath and settle into my own rhythm, all the while fighting the urge not to go too easy, the pain almost unbearable. I lost quite a few places on lap 2 but managed to hang on to the back of a big group of about 15 riders and let them do all the pace making. Some of these riders included the likes of Adam Craig, Woflram Kurschat and Mike Broderick.

As the race progressed I managed to get into my own rhythm and wasted no time in taking back places and making up time. Any hesitation at doing this at world cup level and you soon find yourself at the back and being pulled by the 80% rule. Lap by lap I rode hard and consistently, taking a few places each time, while not taking too many risks over the technical sections of the course. The amount of spectators around the course was amazing and really inspirational to hear your home crowd shout for you.

Home crowds

I kept up the hard efforts, especially on lap 5, and was rewarded for it by managing to make it onto the last lap without being pulled. For anyone who has started at the back of a world cup, you would know this is hard! Stoked with the opportunity I gave the last lap horns as I took back a few more places to finish just as a torrential downpour started to take 78th place, and 3rd African over the line.

Up ahead of me our very own Burry Stander(Specialized Factory Racing) had an epic battle with Switzerland’s Nino Schuter (Scott- Swisspower) but came out second best by a matter of seconds, and a minute up on Germany’s Manual Fumic (Cannondal Factory Racing).

Thoroughly stoked with my performance, there was no time to hang around as the torrential downpour quickly turned the roads into rivers, and soon everyone was soaked.

The next day however the sun was out shining and it was brilliant to watch another South African, Greg Minnaar set the downhill track on fire and take the win in front of an very loud and enthusiastic crowd. What a great weekend for South Africa!

So reflecting on the race I am very happy to finally produce a performance close to what I know I can produce, which I have battled to do over over the past few years. It is a great feeling to have ridden a a close to perfect race for me. I am really looking forward to the rest of the season to see what I can pull out of it! Also a big thanks must to to the Wolhuter family for hosting me while I was there, as well as my awesome sponsors RSA Web, Rocky Mountain, and of course Jesus Christ.

This weekend is my first weekend of no racing since the middle of January, looking forward to having some fun on the bike!

Until next time!

PS, someone conveniently complied a video with some crashes over the weekend, enjoy!

More to come on Adam Morka’s race later in the day.

-Enjoy

 In last weekend’s Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Mountain Bike World Cup event in Nove Mesto na Morave, in the Czech Republic, our riders had the second best race of their season.

 Emily Batty (23) a first year elite rider, was able to achieve her second best World Cup placing ever with 8th after having fallen and bruising her left knee severely. I used both the lymphatic technique over her knee as well as knee stabilization and patellar tendonitis techniques.

 Heather Irmiger (31) had her second best World Cup race of this year with 15th.

 Sam Schultz (25) was able to finally crack the top 15 during his World Cup with a 15th place finish. His best race ever.

 Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (32)was able to finish with his second best race of the season with a 22nd.

 Over all it was an extremely successful weekend for the Subaru-Trek Mountain Bike Team. This weekend we are in Val di Sol, Italy for the World Cup Finals. Here’s hoping our riders do well!

-Taylor

Saturday

Race #1
After a strong qualifying session earlier in the day I was to be starting the race in 7th position. The grid for this race was one of the best ones we have had all year, with all of the series top drivers out to get their final racing fix of the season. After a strong start I found myself battling the car of Gord Ross, with a good tow on the back straight I was able to get past him going into turn 8. The next lap was filled with pressure from both Gord Ross and Ayrton Triolo who were fighting for position behind me. While entering turn 3 I looked into my mirrors to notice that these two drivers had gotten into a tangle and where going off track. On the next lap around I could see that both drivers had gone off track and where stuck in the wall. Upon seeing this, a large amount of pressure had been lifted off my shoulders. Ayrton and I were both gunning for the title of “Rookie of the Year” and with him out of the race I knew that the point’s lead I had would not be getting challenged. My next focus of the race was to catch and pass the car of Andrew Mason who was not far up the track. After a few strong laps I had gotten within striking distance. My plan was to follow closely and make a few passing attempts near the end of the race. Over the next few laps my front tires started graining which was making almost impossible to keep up to Andrew. After this tire issue developed I knew it would be a better idea to just focus on the championship and finish the race safe and sound.

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Photo: Family and Friends at the track. thanks to Canadian Mountain biking superstars Emily Batty and Adam Morka for coming out

Sunday
Race #2
The grid for the second race of the season was almost identical to the day before. The first half of the race was spent running nose to tail with my team mate Ayrton. We were maintain a good pace but were unable to close the gap on the leaders. While going through turn 5 Ayrton lost control of his car and started spinning, as he came to a stop I went to driver around the outside of him. Unfortunately he took his foot of the brake pedal and rolled back into my front right wheel. This collision ended the race for both of us. It was not exactly the way I wanted to end the season but I was able to secure the title of “Rookie of the Year” and 4th in the over points standings. OFFC “Rookie of the Year” is an award that Brian Graham Racing has won numerous times. Notable Previous winners are ALMS prototype driver Kyle Marcelli and 2010 Star Mazda Champion Conor Daly.

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Mosport Driver Development Track

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Following the last race of the season I was off to the Driver Development Tack at Mosport on Tuesday and Wednesday for some go karting and Testing. Tuesday was a very wet day with the rain coming and going numerous times during the day. This made for some extremely eventful karting, especially with slick tires.

Photo Credit: Jim Mcglade

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Wednesday I was scheduled to test BGR’s F2000 car. The weather was much nicer in the morning and I went out to do a few shake down laps to learn the basics of the car. For the next session on the track I was going to be going out on a better set of tires and working on getting up to speed in the car. Unfortunately there was an issue with the clutch that could not be repaired at the track which meant my day in the car was to be cut short. All in all I was a nice two days of karting and hanging out with the team.

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Thanks again to everyone who made this season possible! I would not have been able to do it without you. Now that the season is over it is time to start looking to next year. Over the next few months I will be reviewing all the options for racing next year.

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-Taylor

Everyone who participates in a co-ed group activity has encountered it. It may have happened to yourself! It may even be happening right now and you don’t even know it! It happens all the time, all around us. Falling for someone you spend a lot of time with is part of nature.

Hell, it even happened to Fatty, but most wouldn’t say that they were head over heels for one of their club members. Many will admit to a crush or so but nothing that goes anywhere.

So hard to find a pic of Liz Hatch with her jerzey zipped up

Exercise/recreation induced relationships could be a fantastic case study due to so many variables for a thing like that so many people experience. The whole idea of “stay with the rider or still be the racerboy you are” or: “Uhhh – what can we do together outside of the sports activity that brought us together???“

I think it is so prevalent in cycling because:

Cycling is easily a co-ed sport.

Cycling is naturally competitive.

Cycling usually involves people who don’t look like Rosie O’Donnell, or Louie Anderson

So by all means, with men and women cycling and possibly showing off/competing and looking more attractive than your average American, you can see how at least some check marks on the attraction list could be filled in. Then there is the facet of having similar interests which never hurts the chances of something to spark, no? This all leads to a potential stew pot where two people will eventually hook up. Heck, I once saw a guy out riding with several girls and I almost challenged him to a race to try to gain alpha male status, but I decided against it. What if they all slipstreamed and spit me off the group? That would have been quite shameful and we all know how much ego is important for a cyclist.

How many people do you know who have ended up marrying someone from a club they were both in? Its like a potential/eventual rabbit breeding program in some! Who wouldn’t feel accomplished by meeting the girl of their dreams on a bike ride?

But we all know if you do go after members of the group you must follow the unwritten rule that is the same for dating co workers and get at least one person’s approval, otherwise you are knowingly liable of disrupting the whole group dynamic by crossing that line. Then if the relationship fails… you have the awkward responsibility of: 1.) either seeing each other every ride or 2.) deciding who gets every other week or on the weekday/weekends.

Don told me a story of love when he said:

I went for my first “real” road bike ride with my now wife. She was an avid cyclist and some-time racer. We rode up Teton Pass, a substantial climb in Wyoming. She was a gal I’d known from skiing and a member of the local bike club and offered to ‘show you some stuff about real bike riding”

After about 2000′ of ~10%..me on my Schwinn Super Le Tour ~30lb steel touring bike and her on her race-Trek..I said something like…”Hey, let’s take a breather for a minute” and she said..”WE don’t stop part way up a climb” and then accelerated leaving me struggling to turn my about 32 rear cog…. Macho Me, I vowed right then that that would never ever happen again…And after a year or two, it never has-yet….But I guess that simple ride up that hill sold me on both my wife and ‘real’ bike riding…

How romantic, no? For some odd and possibly biological/learned-behavior reason, I always tend to abort my feelings and just keep out-riding my crushes every time no matter how much I like them. For me, I haven’t fallen for someone unless I had to ride over them, and they caused me to crash. (Get it…? Falling for someone…?) Somehow, keeping up with the leaders in some local group ride is much more important than an attractive woman to me most of the time.

Does anyone know of a relationship that has started due to cycling, and ended due to cycling? Example: Boyfriend-X being several rider categories higher than his girlfriend never brings the tempo or intensity down on rides, leading to frustration, resentment and eventually a breakup?

How many of you have met your cyclist féminin, ending up in marriage and raising a whole garage of bicycles? Isn’t that what usually happens? Drunk Cyclist agrees with this one.

His family owns so many bikes; he had to write them down to remember them all...

All in all, let things happen as they happen and don’t worry about the results or end product until it happens. If it was meant to be, it was meant to be. You just never know unless you try~

Links from images/examples I have exploited in this post:

http://www.fatcyclist.com/2009/12/23/the-runner/

http://drunkcyclist.com/2009/12/30/new-books-and-old-bikes/

http://canadiancyclist.com

http://dhreno.files.wordpress.com

http://copenhagencyclingchic.com

Also: Thanks to RoadBikeReview.com