Shishkebabs

This past weekend, thirteen members of the Synergy Track team headed to Edmonton for the Velocity Shishkebab track race. It is the second in a series of four races that result in combined individual totals to determine the winner of the ABA Journal Cup at the end of the season. Synergy kicked ass! We had top three placings in all five categories.


Cat 1/2 action

Cat 3 action

Here are the Synergy results:

Men's Cat 1/2
Placing Name Points
1 Reid Dalgleish 41
4 Felix Haspel 25
5 Devon Smibert 24
6 Chris Hooper 18
9 Mike Patton 10

Women's A
2 Natasha Kuzmak 59
3 Steph Roorda 44

Men's Cat 3
2 Frank Kovacs 45
3 Craig Debellefeuille 40
- cp Walsh -

Men's Cat 4
3 Dave Corr 36
5 John Plant 22

Men's Cat 5
1 Sherwood Plant 64


Warm ups

Devon also raced the tandem bike with Brian Cowie.

Frank automatically qualified for the Alberta Provincial Team with his Master's results. Craig may qualify too, but it's by committee selection, so it'll be a few days until we find out.

What a great weekend. The team did some good work, had some fun and the weather stayed relatively nice, although the rain was threatening both days.


Jayson and Natasha

I am so excited about my results! I did a 5:05.16 pursuit, which is another two seconds off my time at the Spring Cleanup race. Sub-five minutes, here I come! I really want to especially thank Felix, Devon, Chris and Mike, who provided some phenomenal teamwork on the pack races and helped to maintain my first place position, especially during the Points Race on Sunday. Chris had a crash when his tubular came off the bike, but he had the 'nads to jump back into the race two laps later! What a trooper!


Whee!

I bunked with Dave Corr and we had long conversations in the evening when the lights went out. We got word this weekend that Dave accepted a new position in Albany, NY and is moving the family out East later in the summer. We're really going to miss you Dave! All the cornerstones of Synergy are slowly leaving Calgary....


Awesome!

The team (Chris - you're missed here!)

I also had lots of laughs travelling in the minivan with Natasha and Steph. We went out for dinner together Saturday night after the rest of the team ditched us. No one was quite sure how the restaurants were going to be (packed or empty?) since we were leaving the track during the Oilers/Hurricanes game. As it turned out, everyone went further south to find a place to eat, however we three went up to Whyte Ave and settled on Chianti's. Needless to say, the restaurant was empty and the whole team could've dined together. It was really loud since the bar upstairs was showing the game and we followed what was going on when it sounded like the roof was going to cave in! As it turned out, Edmonton won the game and the happy Oilers fans poured out onto Whyte Ave. shortly thereafter. We decided to make a beeline back to the rez at U of A where we were staying to avoid the crowds. The celebration on the street couldn't have lasted too long since torrential rains started coming down about a half hour later.


Oiler-mania

Dave, Frank, Felix and I met up with my old work-mate Matt for a few beers later on at Earls. It was good to catch up with Matt. He's so freaking funny.

The racing on Sunday finished early and the prizes were divvied up during a barbeque behind the Juventus clubhouse, complete with shishkebabs. We were able to pull the plug around 2pm and made it back to Calgary around 5pm. Early arrival at home was a nice way to finish the weekend.

This week, it's back to the grind, and this weekend is the Prairie Steamer Road Race hosted by our club. cp and Natasha have been busy preparing. I haven't been able to contribute as much as I'd like since I'm mired in more AGLC paperwork, but I'll be able to lend a hand this week picking up prizes, food and getting things under control on Saturday.

The following weekend is the Women and Children First Track Race hosted by CBTL, and the weekend after that is the Canada Day Crit and Trofeo Leva Crit in Edmonton again. I can't believe the year is almost half over already!