WELCOME TO THE WEBSITE FOR BLACK FLY RACING, AN ONTARIO, CANADA BASED CYCLING CLUB FORMED IN 2004.

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Chili Don-Don Ride

Hopefully another annual ride tradition was started today with an end of the season MTB ride through Toronto's Don singletrack.  We had to dress up a bit, but overall had pretty decent weather considering it was raining for the last few days - a little mud at this time of year is expected, right?

We finished with some beers, chilli and pecan pie to cap off what was probably one of the last trail rides of the year. :(

Thanks everyone for making 2011 another fun and memorable year for Black Fly Racing!

A little hike-a-bike.

Drew-man's 1st time on the Don!




Where's the trail, Tony?

Tuesday, October 04, 2011

Tour de King


Somewhere in there is Jody and Marty.

On Sunday, Jody and I headed up to the 1st ever Tour de King put on by Chico Racing.  The temperature was pretty cool when we left, and we crossed our fingers and hoped the rain would hold off.  One tricky thing about racing, or even riding in this weather is debating about what to wear.  You never wanna be cold out there, but we all know that as soon as you get moving it doesn't take long to warm up on a bicycle.

The 50km race had about 400 people participating and it started out like a pure MTB event.  Twisty, technical single track was the order of business for the first 15k's before the course ended with mostly paved and gravel roads.  About halfway through it started to rain, a very cold and pelting rain I might add.

At the end there was a hot BBQ lunch waiting for us but because of the rain and a clear lack of a warm, walled shelter it was not ideal.  Ever tried to enjoy lunch, cold, wet and shivering?  Not fun.

Next year?  Only if it's a nice day.

Monday, October 03, 2011

Wrenching with a smile :)


Should we send this pic to the 3rd place team as proof to how they beat us?

Saturday, October 01, 2011

Why again?

Weather forecast for tomorrow:  Rain and a high of 7.  Should be a blast.
Course map.
Profile.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Fall Epic 8 Hour @ Hardwood Ski and Bike


Black Fly Racing on podium

Chris finishing the last lap for Black Fly Racing 2

It could have been a double podium for Black Fly Racing 1 and 2.
Black Fly 2 had a mechanical which added 12min to their lap, but they worked hard to closed the gap to 4min at the end, earning 4th. Never the less, weather was beautiful even though the forecast was cloudy with a chance of shower.

Fall Epic 8 Hour @ Hardwood Ski and Bike


John Finishing off the last lap for Black Fly Racing 1
Camp site
Transfer Area: Cam just got in, Muller running off with timing chip, Stitt waiting for John.

Stitt and Chris at the starting line for Black Fly Racing 1 & 2

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Hydro Cut

Muller finishing off the double black diamond from Sept 3rd.

Tuesday, September 06, 2011

Hot August Nights Team Photo

Great job everyone! Sorry about the delay getting this posted.

Monday, August 29, 2011

24 Hours 2011

We must remember to bring those Christmas lights next year!  Now that's outta the way, another great weekend I would assume?  Of course.  We had a fast, flowing course with none of those lung-busting killer climbs that Chico is known to include - which in turn made for some pretty quick lap times.  The 10 person team completed 25 laps, finished 16th out of 53 teams while our 4 person No-Nite laps (one might say they`re afraid of the dark!) came in 3rd place.  Another podium for the club!

Night time.

Tent City!

The Drewman starting us off.


Success for the club!
Check out more pics from the 10 person team, here and the 4 person No Night Laps team, here.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Perch Run 2011


We started out at Ryan M's place near Mt. Pleasant for the round-trip ride to Port Dover - outfitted in our new jerseys of course!! Looking pretty handsome I'd say....





A great time was enjoyed by the group, although the cross-headwind throughout the ride home made for some challenging K's (and some "twinging" hammy's and quads).




The ride ended with a BBQ (and Black Fly cupcakes and cherry cheesecake - thanks Haase and Stitt, you guys obviously have the Mr. Mom thing down pat), well-earned cold beverages of choice, and some quick dips in the pool, followed by some longer stretches in the hot tub!

Can't wait (?) to do it again next year, hopefully with even more riders.

Great job guys, and thanks for pulling me along...

First annual BlackFly "Perch Run"


We all know that BlackFly Racing is first and foremost a MTB racing team. Those are certainly our roots. Most (if not all) of us have a road bike in our personal fleets as well though, and thoroughly enjoy riding them. It was because of this that we decided to hold the first (annual hopefully) BlackFly Perch Run. Named for the destination and turnaround point, the Perch Run was a 100km "out and back" route to the sunny shores of Port Dover in Norfolk County, well known for its perch fishery.
We set out around 10:30 from Muller's house just outside of Brantford. Along the way we were buffeted by a stiff west cross wind that didn't seem to hinder our progress too much. We arrived in Dover all feeling pretty good; so good that Dean treated himself to a fish sandwich! Man was it windy down there though. Our return home was Epic (yes with a capital E). That stiff west cross wind had gotten stiffer and turned out to be slightly north-west making our ride a tough slog for sure. We all survived with no major injuries (apart from Hazer's unfortunate debilitating leg cramps with less than 10 km to go. We finished the day with an awesome BBQ and hot tub session back at Ryan and Sandy's (thanks again guys!)

It was certainly great to get a group of 8 of us out there on our road bikes for a day. Let's shoot for at least that many next year. Great job fellas!

Sunday, July 31, 2011

My domestique

Sometimes you gotta get those K's in anyway you can and with anyone who's available.  And yes, Justin IS playing the harmonica!    


Monday, July 25, 2011

Jerseys!


Front and Back of our new kit.  Looking good if I do say so myself!  Nice job ChrisB.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Lonely Black Fly

Ian's number plate from the Summer Solstice 24hrs.

Monday, June 27, 2011

Weekend Warriors

A rare opportunity yesterday for a few BlackFly riders to get together and ride through Durham.

Despite getting poked in the eye with a branch (hence the squint) at the 1 k. mark and riding the rest of the 25 k. with only one eye, a great ride.

And if you look real close, you can still see the red Shiraz at the corner of Dean's mouth from the night before.
Way to go Hurricane!

Enjoy the summer rides everyone and make sure to bring your camera along and contribute to the blog.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

No Squeezer This Year!

 No Squeezer for 2011!
Well, that sucks.  Hopefully, this will only be a one time thing and they can provide us next year with the race so many of us love, and expect to be our season ending event.  How can they do this?  Doesn't the 1000's of racers and supporters provide the Wine festival with that many extra visitors?  I don't know but the Squeezer organizers try and explain it here.

It's not the same, but there is the Fall 8hrs at Hardwood the day before and Chico is introducing a new race called the Tour de King for the following weekend. :(

Monday, June 20, 2011

Lake to Lake 2011

HOLY SEIZING LEGS, BATMAN!!!

I heard that one a few times after the race.   Another one was the near-perfect riding conditions.


A couple of teams were entered this year and the team of JohnL, Adam, Cam, ChrisB, and Muller came in 3rd, just a few minutes ahead of the other Black Fly team of Drew, Tony, ChrisL, Will and Fox.  Ian, Stitt and Marty all finished in the top 100. 

Too bad the BBQ portions were a little skimpy since I heard the Drew-man burned over 4000 calories!

Nice riding guys.