24hrs of Summer Solstice 2015

The Black Fly's participated in the 18th annual Summer Solstice this weekend along with nearly 2000 other racers.  They were calling for rain at least on Sunday morning but that luckily didn't happen.  A little sprinkle is all we got!

Cam, ChrissyB, Mitch and Marty stayed over Friday night to do some reconnaissance on the course and basically update everyone: "It's a good course, quick, with a minimal amount of climbing.  Only towards the end do the hills come.  A little longer than usual at 18k's but it goes by pretty fast.  You'll like it."

There was 1 mechanical when Adam burped his tubeless tire off on his 1st night lap and 1 physical as Marty came down with a stomach issue and was able to do only one lap.  Bad timing. 
Pyzer and Lamey were as consistent as ever and new Black Fly JonH completed his first actual MTB race and produced some very quick times.  Next upgrade: clipless pedals, Jon!  Brenda used her new bike and seemed to enjoy herself as she had a rather large smile on her face after both laps. :)

As far as results go, the team finished in a very strong 23rd place out of over 100 teams in the 10 person category!  What else is new? 
 

Adam starting us off

Chip exchange between Lamey & Brenda

Off she goes!

The Lost Boys

Spring 8hrs 2015

Introducing the 2015 Intense Cycles Epic 8 Hour Relay 5-6 Person Champs: 

Dean, ChrissyB, Cam, Adam and Mitch!

Way to go fellas, you crushed it!

Our other 6 person team of Pyzer, Lamey, Muller, Fox, Tony and Pete finished with a strong top 10 performance with 8th place out of 12 teams.

Our mixed team of new Black Fly's Stephen and Jenn and old Black Fly's Marty and Brenda pulled out a 2nd place finish out of 9 teams.  Double podium!

The 10km course was very challenging with the usual slog of a climb from the start line, a whole bunch of twisty singletrack before we were met with a series of steep hills, one named the Wall of Pain, before a new technical descent into the finish area.

 

Mitch and Marty at the start

Champs!

Mixed Team 2nd place!

ChrissyB killing the hill!

Paris Ancaster 2015

The 40km St. George start was ridden by Marty, Adam, Stitt and Foxy (who was making his first appearance since 2007) under clear sky's and a solid racing temperature of 10 degrees. 

At the 1st intersection in St. George, the marshal mistakenly directed the lead group, which contained Marty and Adam to go the wrong direction.  2km's and about 4 minutes later they were able to re-join with the race.  Way to go professional police officer!

Adam & Marty finished the race in 9th & 14th positions respectively and Stitt & Fox competed very well against a field full of cyclocross and 29ers MTB bikes.

Over at the 70km Paris-Ancaster, part time Black Fly Stephen cracked the top 100 while Mitch and previous Black Fly Jody had very strong results as well.  ChrissyB inaugurated his 2015 season with an under 3hr race and the Drew-man spent an epic 4hrs, 16mins on the course.

Nice work everyone!

Marty at the St. George start.

Durham Forest

October 2014.  A little late season mid-week trip to the legendary trails of Durham Forest.

Ian & Marty

Winter riding... in the Don!

I took the plunge this winter and got myself a Fat Bike, the KHS 3000.  I first took it out when the Don was frozen in mid January but before we got dumped with snow.  It held up nicely over the frozen terrain and over the ice patches.   However, ice is ice and it doesn't matter how wide your tires are, you still can slip and slide.  Off-camber sections were a bit dicey too.

The true test was after our 1st blizzard and to be more accurate after that snow had gotten packed down from hikers, snowshoes and a few brave cyclists.  What a blast!!!  The traction held up very well, climbing was no major issue and descending was slower, but doable.  I was able to ride all the main Don singletrack trails that we ride in the summer.  It actually feels a bit softer mainly because all the roots and rocks are covered with snow. 

Winter riding generally sucks because of the cold but this made it fun again.  Also you're mountain biking and not as much in the open so you don't get quite as cold anyways.

For the 1st time, probably ever, I'm kinda looking forward to next winter. 

Canadian winter pastime

Lower Don

Lower Don close-up

Heading towards Loblaws

Even Brenda came out and had some fun