Cycling Nut's Results

Dave came to road racing upon moving to Vancouver, BC in 2002. In his second season, he managed to upgrade from cat. 4 to cat. 2. The highlights of his second racing season were an invitation to the Canadian Cycling Championships (Road Race and Time Trial) and to the prestigious Tour de Delta and Tour de White Rock. Realizing his potential, Dave took the bold decision to move to France and joined a DN2 (highest amateur level) team.

After four months in France, it was clear that Dave was lacking the experience to race at this level, thus he returned home for a sabbatical. Dave continues to train, though he took up a job in the Montreal area. He is also following a drastic diet to lose the pounds that the French team considered he had in extra.

November 1. The VSQ coach invites Dave to join the French cycling team for the 2005 season. The coach believes he will have the best team in Brittany (land of Bernard Hinault).

August 22. Provincial Criterium Championships in North Vancouver. Team Coastal found an absolutely delightful circuit for this race. I began the race with a two man breakaway, but rapidly I felt that I did not have enough energy. I folded back to the pack, avoided two crashes and finished with the pack. Decent finish for someone who is feeling exhausted. I nonetheless made it to cat. 1/2.

August 14. Provincial TT in Squamish. I won the cat 3 race. I enjoyed this race greatly because the guy 1 minute behind me was none other than Svein Tuft (Canadian TT champ). I did my thing and finished only 6 minutes behind him, that is better than the 10 minutes he had on me at the Nationals!

July 23-25. Tour de White Rock. I was a volunteer at the Tour de Gastown, which took a great physical toll. I did not feel rested for the hill climb or for the crit, so I forteited them with the hope of doing well in the RR. Unfortunately, I had not been able to recuperate sufficiently.

July 16-18. Tour de Delta. I got a special invitation to race with N.America's best cyclists during BC SuperWeek. The HC was marked by my dropping my chain and unclipsing twice on a 700 m course. What a bad start. The crit was even worst since I avoided a guy and got disconnected from the pack on lap 2, this meant a very hard race for me. The RR was much better, I was always moving up, but I niced the crutial break when it happened. I worked hard and showed my colors until the leaders flew by me.

July 12. Team Soliton finally decided to recruit me to help out their top racer during the prestigious BC SuperWeek races.

Mt Seymour HC. My favourite race started with a mass start of cat. 1/2/3, so the pace was intense from the gun shoot. A bit too intense, since I could not maintain the leaders' pace nor could I follow that of the packs catching up to me. I finally stabilized, found my rythm and finished 7th in cat 3. My worst result in a hill climb.

June 30. Yaletown GP. A new race in downtown Vancouver. This circuit is phenomenal, but man does it not suit me.

June 25-27. Nationals. The 40 km time trial was run on a very windy rivershore road with various nasty climbs. The killer was the heat though (41oC). The 180 km road race was run under slightly cooler temperatures (38oC). The 10 km loop had 3 km of climbing and when I mean climbing, I mean around 10% gradients. The heat and the climbs and my nervousness (86 km descents with corners) made sure that I got disconnected quickly. I fought though and got lapped after 120 km. I lasted longer than many of my Vancouver colleagues.

June 13. The Atomic RR is a beautiful course which combines hills and false flats. I waited until the later half of the race to start animating the race. I tried several breakaways, but the pack always reacted to my efforts. They recognize me now and do not want to let me go too far. It ended with a pack sprint in which I placed fifth.

June 12. Brockton Crit. in Stanley Park. Again a crit with a hair-pin corner. I did what I could and finished 13th.

June 6. Bastion Square Crit. This is another crit that I dislike. I raced better than last year though. I took the corners with much more ease, yet that was not enough to finish the race.

June 5. Gary L. Provincial Champs. This race combined categories 1/2/3 on an interesting course. The pavement was actually broken in many high speed downhill portions. This and the corners freaked me out. i am maybe the only guy who can't descent, but at least I catch up to some people when I climb up the hills. I placed 35th. Not bad for a first effort with the big guys.

May 29. Norm Lowe Memorial again organized by Team Soliton. Big climb, but a very fast descent with a sharp corner. That type of circuit was something on which I could do good, but not when it is flooded. As the course dried up I tried a breakaway (2 laps to go) which got a 30s lead before the hills. This effort ended when I got a flat tire. Furious, I changed wheel and time trialled back into the pack, just in time for the pack uphill sprint. Obviously my legs cramped during that last effort, but i still finished within the first half of the pack. I finished 14th.

May 15-16. Mutual of Enumclaw Stage Race in Washington State. The TT was OK, I placed 29th at 35s from the leader. The criterium ruined all my chances at a good GC position because I got nervous on the wet corners. I fought but I got pulled and given a 3m15s penalty to be allowed to race the next day. The road race was interesting. I waited and waited, but I always stayed in the first third of the pack. At one point I moved to the front and tried to help a Vancouver guy who had the best chances of winning. When he faded away, I launched and finished the race 9th or 29th overall. Had it not been for the penalty, I would have placed 8th!

May 7-9. Columbia Plateau Stage Race. This is my initiation to stage races and racing with American teams. I greatly enjoyed the experience and I finally realized that position and timing is crutial in RR. When the breakaways occured, I was always too hard back and died trying to bridge up. This would only make me struggle alone in the wind. Useless efforts. I finished 31st overall (unofficially)

May 1-2. Salmon Arm RR and 2 man TT. The TT was a unique experience because my teammate and I are not good matches. I pulled for most of the race hoping he would be able to maintain my rythm, but this was not the case on the last uphill portion. We placed 7th. The road race, on the other hand, is a brilliant example of my irrationality. I attacked and raced at the front the whole race. I was on all the breakaways including the winning one, but I faded away with 5 km to go. I finished 14th.

April 25. WarpSpeed TT organized by Team Soliton. A new and very flat circuit greated us for this famous TT. I finished 5th, which is not so bad, but I was about a minute behind the winner! My bad luck is continuing.

April 17. Race the Ridge TT and Crit. The TT saw my unlucky streak continue. I broke my wheel on the starting block, but did not have time to change wheel, so I raced with a wheel rubbing on my brakes. I placed 11th, which was not last! So you can imagine that I raced the crit with a lot of frustration. I attacked on the last lap, but could not continue my effort, I finally placed 6th.

April 11. The infamous Harris-Roubaix which, luckily for us, was dry. A mistake at the beginning of the race forced me to play catch-up until I joined two other racers and worked our way back into the pack. When a good racer went on a breakaway, I joined him and forged a 60s lead. Until, I wiped out on the gravel section and got the breakaway buddy's wheel inserted into my ribs. Despite the pain, I finished the race, but last. I should know better than to get distracted during races. Oh well, I guess this is a learning process and that the race season is still young.