Leading up to the 2010 Edmonton Canada Cup, each month from April on, we’re going to be highlighting one feature racer, getting their thoughts on the upcoming 2010 Edmonton Canada Cup, plus any insights they have in general on riding and racing in Edmonton, Alberta and across Canada. No matter if you’re a seasoned vet, or new to the mtb scene, these Husky Feature Racer articles will worth checkin’ out!

Our Husky Feature racer of the month for June, is none other than team Hardcore Bikes, Bridget Linder. If you’re from Edmonton, you’ll likely recognize Bridget as she’s been sporting that iconic Hardcore green for number a years now in the women’s elite category. In this article she talks about her very first race, what’s so great about riding in Edmonton and balancing her racing goals with ‘real life’. Here we go:

Let’s start out with a little history on how you got into riding and racing. What’s the Bridget Linder Story?

I dabbled with mountain biking when I was in high school growing up in Kamloops. Unfortunately, sometimes I feel like my time in Kamloops was wasted. Maybe not wasted, but it was definitely spent doing other things like basketball and volleyball. I rode a bit, but my friends that rode were spread out across the city and I really didn’t get out much. Prior to Uni, I sold my bike, bought a cheap four-wheeled vehicle complete with a combustion engine and moved to Calgary. My passion for cycling remained but I didn’t own a bike or have any friends that rode. After a year or two without a bike I caved and bought a sweet used Rocky Vertex with a Mag 21R and Kooka cranks. I credit any of my technical descending skills to using this oversized (19”, I ride a 17”), under suspensioned bike as a shuttle bike during my summers home in Kamloops. Unfortunately, this didn’t help my climbing!

Fast forward to the day I met my husband… I think Dave fell in love with my Kooka cranks before he fell in love with me. Dave loved cycling and had been mountain bike racing for a few years before we met. Dave was my “in” to mountain bike racing, which was something I’d only dreamed about before meeting him. With a new riding partner/racer (and much more) I had finally found my way into the sport.

Do you remember your first race?

My first race was the 2002 CAUSE Canada Race for Human Rights. This seemed like an ironic first race. It was snowing, muddy, freezing and the most painful racing experience of my life. My V brakes lasted one lap and I broke my rear shifter while trying to shift with my fist because my fingers had literally frozen solid. I would say I’ve never been happier to finish a race, but it was my first, so all I can say is that I was ecstatic to finish, and only mildly hypothermic.

I knew that everything would be easier compared to this first race experience. I continued to recreational racing over the next couple of years until I found myself unexpectedly upgraded to Elite and completely out of my league. I retired. Saying “I retired” makes it sound like I gave up, what I did was recognize that I needed to ride more to compete at that level.

Dave and I moved to Edmonton almost three years ago. We hooked up with Hardcore our first summer here. I went out to volunteer for the Hardcore Devon Dust Up and ended up racing on Karen Martins hardtail. After my two years off I was hooked again and decided it was time to put in a solid training effort. Living in Edmonton and riding with Hardcore enabled me to bring my cycling to a new level. Before, I had no idea that it was possible to live in a city AND have wicked singletrack minutes from your doorstep. I used to be a weekend warrior and now I’m out at least four times a week, work and weather permitting. I credit Edmonton, its amazing cycling community and the passionate cyclists at Hardcore with any improvements I’ve made over the last couple years.

Sounds like you ride and train quite a bit, so how does it fit into your life? How do you manage your racing goals?

I love riding. I would love to quite my job and train and race. Unfortunately, as everyone knows, reality bites sometimes. Currently (as if that will someday change), I train around my full time job as an environmental planner. This is a really busy year for me and I don’t have the time to get as many training hours as I did last year. Then again, last year I was training for triathlon, which required a lot more time. I had a plan for this year that seems to be crumbling but I’m trying not to stress about it because that will just bring me down. You have to be flexible and adjust your goals as the season and life progresses. I was hoping for top 10 at Edmonton Canada Cup and top 15 at Nationals but it all depends on who shows up. In my dream world I wouldn’t be more than 10 minutes back of the leaders in Canmore but right now, with my slack training, it seems like a far off dream. The Edmonton Canada Cup course was so great last year that I think it will attract more competition so top 10 may be a stretch.

I have to ask here, what’s it like racing against Pepper, and that cyclo-cross bike of hers?

Haha. You’ll have to ask Pepper about her CX love affair. For me, I love my CX bike and I love CX racing. I really love it. However, when it comes time to mountain bike race I like to use the right tool for the job.

You mentioned the Canada Cup course, so what was your experience at last year’s Edmonton Canada Cup?

Last year it was HOT, I mean it must have been over 30C! I was there way too early cheering and felt drained before the race even started. It was the first time I had ever trained and peaked for a race so I wasn’t sure what to expect. In the end I was satisfied with how the race played out but it left me pumped to go at it again in Canmore. It was a surprisingly small field last year, but as I said before, I think that’s going to change this year.

My absolute favourite part of the race was passing men on the 2pm drop. Oh sure, they passed me again soon afterwards, but passing men at all, let alone a technical section, doesn’t happen very often for us women, so I basked in the ‘glory,’ albeit briefly. I have to admit, I’ve only looked at the 2pm drop this year, I’m not sure I feel as confident as I did last year (i.e., it makes me nervous).

My least favourite part of the race was when a back-of-the-packer from the men’s race thought that his race was more important than mine and ran me off the trail in a narrow section. One of the realities of women’s racing is that it is always second string to men’s.

I think it is fantastic that any city can hold a mountain bike race in its core. It is even more fantastic that it is the city in which I live. It’s unbelievable and I think that it is easy for alocal to take it for granted. I admit that I was skeptical about river valley riding before I moved here from Calgary. This skepticism is prevalent among non-Edmontonians and I think that’s why there was a lower turnout for the Edmonton CC than the Canmore CC. Canmore is associated with the outdoors and mountain biking and Edmonton is a city with river valley paths, at least that’s what people think. After last year’s race people’s perceptions will have changed. I’m optimistic, I think this is going to be a bigger turnout and hopefully will bring in more local spectators to come see what this sport is all about. Having an easily accessible race enables all types of people – including youth and families – to spectate and potentially recruit new racers for the future.

Keeping on the topic of women’s racing then, what’s your opinion on the local Women’s MTB scene?

We’re pretty thin on women’s mtb racers. The trick is hooking them young. It’s great to get into it later in life, but I think to really develop the sport and competition it helps to at least be exposed to it at a younger age, for instance, in high school. The Catch-22 is that to attract youth we need more women mountain biker role models.

The other problem is that mountain bike racing is expensive. I’m not even talking about the bike and equipment - I’m talking about licensing, race registration, and travel. I think local grassroots events like Hardcore’s Fat Tire Tuesdays are fantastic for the sport, for women and men. It’s a low-key, inexpensive ($5) way to try out racing. The only problem is that you still need ABA insurance so people, even the newbies, need to plan ahead and join a club.

Provided by Sheldon Smart of bikeridr.com

2010 Road Nationals, Edmonton, Alberta from Sheldon Smart on Vimeo.

A week or so ago, I got a call from Mike Sarnecki asking if I wanted to help do a little reporting on Road Nationals for Pedal Magazine. I said, ‘sure, why not…’. I didn’t really ask what it would all entail, but nor was I concerned. Whatever it was, I was pretty sure it was going to be good fun. Thursday, the day before the Friday Time Trails, I showed up at the press conference at the Matrix Hotel. ‘See if you can get some on camera interviews’, Mike told me. Again, I said, ‘sure, why not…’, though I knew I might be walking in over my head. Armed with a point and shoot Fuji Film camera, a list of racer names I didn’t really know, and some suggested questions from Mike, off I went…

read more [here]

2010 Canadian Road Nationals Post Race Win Interview with Will Routley from Sheldon Smart on Vimeo.

2010 Canadian Road Nationals Post Race Interview with Dominique Rollin from Sheldon Smart on Vimeo.

2010 Canadian Road Nationals Post Race Interview with Svein Tuft from Sheldon Smart on Vimeo.

2010 Canadian Road Nationals Post Race Interview with Andrew Randell from Sheldon Smart on Vimeo.

2010 Canadian Road Nationals Post Race Interview with Tara Whitten from Sheldon Smart on Vimeo.

2010 Canadian Road Nationals Post Race Win Interview with Joelle Numainville from Sheldon Smart on Vimeo.

The Nationals organization is still looking for VOLUNTEERS in order to be able to host a successful week of racing. If you will be in Canmore for the week/weedend of July 15-18th and are either watching or accompanying a racer, please consider helping out for any of the other (multitude) events. Even if you only have an afternoon available, there is always something that can be done. (set up, take down, traffic control…)

For more information and to contact the volunteer coordinator, please email:
volunteers@rundlemountaincycling.com

Provided by Sheldon Smart of Bikeridr.com

Last weekend was the Deadgoat, Summer Solstice Suffer Springs XC race in beautiful Kananaskis country. This race should simply be titled, ‘the hardest race of the ABA XC season’. I know there isn’t much of a ring to it, but it’s much more accurate. Over 1,400 meters of vertical climbing in just over 12 km. Now I shouldn’t make it sound all bad, because I mean after all, what goes must come down, and despite massive amounts of rain the week before and all the mud, the down part was more than worth it. Good times, good times.

For me this race was about three things: Ken, Sam and Gord. Simply put, I wanted to beat all three of them, haha… ‘Lofty, this goal was’ (as Yoda might say). I’ve never, ever beated Ken and Gord has been crushing me all season. Then there was Sam, who had laid a sound thrashing on me at the Bacon race. Beating all three was a long shot at best, and I knew that, but what’s life without goals.

When we took off, I watched Gord blast off the line and very quickly disappear, totally. Scratch goal number 1. Sam also shot off the line and took position 5 or 6 spots in front of me. It was a little while, maybe 3 or 4 mins before Ken rolled past me, with not so much as a word (bastard :-). I’ll point out here that I said something unique like, ‘good job, man’. But yeah, Ken ignored me and just rolled right by. I watched, helpless, my lungs were already searing as Ken caught up to Sam just at the beginning of the day’s first real climb. At this point, I felt like hell, and it was all I could do just to keep pace, never mind jump up on Ken’s wheel. So, it wasn’t long before Ken was pulling out of sight. Scratch goal number 2.

I knew more than likely, barring a crash, I wasn’t going to see Ken again. So I set my sights on Sam, who was still only a few spots ahead, and halfway up that first long, long climb I caught him, and passed him. I figured I might see him again in time, but for the moment I wanted to believe I’d managed to achieve 1 of my goals.

It’s a long and grueling race though, and strange things can happen. People can recover, find a rhythm and come back. Though I didn’t see Sam again after that first climb, toward the top of the second last climb, maybe 8km in, I looked up the hill and who did I see? Gord! I was shocked in a way. Mostly because he’d been out of sight, and out of mind for so long. On the other hand, I wasn’t that surprised because this was Gord’s first true mountain race, with real climbing. I had thought before the race, that maybe he’d have a harder time with it, and I’d be able to take advantage. So, there he was, not 30 meters away. Goal number 1 was back on the table! The bad news was he was near the top and I had a lot of climbing to do to catch him. I have to hand it to Gord here though, he saw me catching him and he wasn’t haven’t any of it. He recovered at the top and then put the hammer down. I tried to catch him, but when I got to the bottom of the last downhill, and saw he still had a solid gap on me going into the flats, I knew it was over. He just pulled away and by the time I hit the line, he had well over a minute on me. Gord took 10^th, and I rolled in just outside the top ten in 11^th place, once again… haha… Good times.

Big hats off to the Elites who rolled out 3 laps + a prologue. That was a tough, tough course and three laps of it is impressive, indeed. Thanks too, to Deadgoat and to Bow Cycle and the volunteers. It was a great race, and the weather was made to order.

Full set of photos here

June 15th
Team Cyclemeisters/ Bow Cycle
www.cyclemeisters.com

This past weekend saw the 3rd edition of Team Cyclemeister’s  Iron Lung XC at the magnificent Canmore Nordic Center.  In 2 days we saw over 600 racers take advantage of the sun and spectacular weather in 2 days of racing.  New for this year was the introduction of the RMCC Little Lung kids race and the Organ Grinder 5hr Enduro on the Sunday following Saturday’s XC.

Along with the addition of the new races we also debuted the Nordic Center’s incredible new trail network.  Laid out and cut by none other than Matt Hadley, this trail network was intended to be a race course from the get go.  Racers were treated to a course the required every bit of technical skill and fitness that they could muster, but it also rewarded them for their intense efforts with flowy trails that could be ridden by anyone, but only ridden fast by those with skill.  Giant grins were the order of the day on both day’s and although the course’s were extremely demanding they were just plain fun … goofy fun!  Everyone was definitely ready for the fun to come back to MTB racing it seems.

I won’t go on, but “best ever course” is a pretty bold statement when you’re at the Nordic Center, but that is what was being said by old and new racers alike … perhaps another Canmore classic has been born!!

Cheers,
Team Cyclemeisters

Full results are available at www.zone4.ca

Photo’s at www.craigdouce.com

Rider race reports …

http://www.stefanwidmer.com/news.html

http://ctwally.blogspot.com/

Provided by Sheldon Smart of Bikeridr.com

Iron Lung XC and Organ Grinder Enduro 2010 from Sheldon Smart on Vimeo.

I won’t be the only person saying this, but I have to start out with Saturday’s Iron Lung XC course was THE BEST AND MOST FUN COURSE I’VE EVER RIDDEN!

The Canmore Nordic Centre always offers up incredible single-track riding, but the way this course was put together was nothing short of inspired. The 6km+ loop mixed in seriously hard climbs with twisty, fast single-track decents, including the Laundy Chutes, the ever famous and Devonian Drop, and new this year was the sketchy Eye Dropper (a short, super steep section of single track that finshed with about a 3 foot vert drop at the end) PLUS an amazing, perfectly bermed downhill pump-truck. It was a blast! And, this was just the first day of an epic two day double header XC mountian bike race weekend in beautiful Canmore, Alberta…

For an Edmonton prairie boy like myself, trips to race in the mountains are always something to look forward to. This past weekend was a big one, with both the Iron Lung XC on the Saturday, and then the Organ Grinder 5 Hour Enduro on the Sunday. I drove up with Mike and Liesje Sarnecki (Berkly & Bella) and stayed with the rest of the RVC team at Kirk’s, which was ideal. Lots of space, hot showers and comfy beds. What more can you ask for.

Saturday’s race had a massive field. I think right around 260 racers all together. Strangely though, the Novice Men’s category was the second smallest at around 27. I thought this was a bit weird because normally it’s one of the largest. After my disappointing finish at last weeks Tuesday night race, I had tried to get a little more rest, and to get a few more glasses of water into me each day in hopes of putting in a better performance, so once the race started, I was relieved to find my legs were good go. There was a lot of back in forth. I’d pass a few guys, and then get past by a few others, but all in all I felt great the entire race and was able to push the pace, for really the first time all season.  Final result was 12th, so not too, too shabby. I admit, I was really hoping to finally break into the top ten on this one, but no dice.

After the race that night, we were went to Magi Scallion’s place for some BBQ (thank you!). This was great because not only was there lots of food and ice cream, I got to sit and talk with some serious MTB cycling elite like Matt Hadley, Stefan Widmer, and Cathrine Vipond. It was cool just listing to them talk about riding and racing. All really great folks. I was just trying to soak it all in. It was a really good night and could have easily gone late, but we packed it in around 11pm to get some shut-eye because Sunday was still the Organ Grinder 5 Hour Enduro!

Once again, the weather was stellar – maybe even too hot. I know I got burned, nicely. The field was huge, and I always find it so interesting how it’s almost a completely different group of racers at the enduro race. Broadly speaking, it an older (as in older than me) crowd, and all tough as nails… The course was essentially the same as it was for the Iron Long, except they threw in a few extra km with the lower section, introducing the crazy ‘Ass-whipper’ decent and the evil Geargetown Trail climb to make the course 11.5km for good measure. For me this was a much more chill day. I rode hard, but enjoyed the time hangin’ around the camp. My partner Jason Redfern from Pedalhead shouldered the team well, clicking off around 45 min laps all day, and then with me turning down the chance to roll out another ‘hero lap’ (like in the Trans Stoney), Jason grabbed another water bottle and banged out another one, back to back. He’s a fit dude, what can I say, haha… Thanks, Jason.

Double headers in Canmore, you don’t have to ask me twice. I’m in!

Iron Lung AM Start Results can be found [here]

Iron Lung PM Start Results can be found [here]

and

Organ Grinder Results can be found [here]

Pedalhead Bicycle Works and Backside Tours are joining forces to put on their biggest & best Panorama DH trip to date - July 23rd to 25th. You and your bike travel by luxury coach, stay 2 nights in Panorama’s hillside Gold Level resort, and receive 2 days of lift passes - all for $350 (tax included)! Bike rentals are available at the hill for an extra cost.

To book your spot, contact Backside Tours at (780) 454-7669 or visit them on the 2nd floor of Pedalhead (6604 104 Street). For more info, visit www.pedalheadedm.com.

The Edmonton Canada Cup Tech Guide is now available. Click [here] to download it

Provided by Alberta MTB Racing

That’s right, Alberta MTB Racing is pleased to announce the Early Bird Draw prize contest. The contest is for everyone who registers for the Edmonton Canada Cup on or before July 4, 2010.

Here is the deal: If you register online (via Karelo) before 9pm on Sunday July 4, 2010 you will be automatically entered to win a Garmin Edge 500 GPS courtesy of United Cycle. That’s right, we’re giving away another Garmin worth more than $500! And all you need to do is get your registration done early.

We will draw for the Garmin after 9 pm on July 4 and announce the winner on our website (www.edmontoncanadacup.com).