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!

Paris - Ancaster 2014

April 27, 2014

Brenda's back, ChrissyB, Drew and Adam rode new bikes and a few of us battled coughs and colds yesterday were the headlines of yet another edition of Ontario's Spring Classic.

Nice but cool temps and a steady headwind were the weather conditions yesterday for the BlackFlys.  However not really that muddy considering the winter we had and the rain this spring has brought us.  Most of the mud collected on our bikes was from the usual mud chutes towards the end.

Great results by all including our 70km finishers Chrissy B and Drew.

The St. George race produced three top-34 overall finishers with Adam 4th (who also won the Mens 40-49 category), Marty 10th and Lamey 34th.  ChrisL did a great job of pacing his buddy but very well could have opted to stay home in bed.  Brenda and Marty competed in the Couples category and finished in 3rd place.

Nice start to the season!

Adam,Lamey,Brenda,Marty before the SG-A start

Brenda working her way up

HELLO!

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.

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.

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.

GOOD TIMES BOYS! - THANKS

Black Fly Team 1 on the 'Pode

Spring 8hrs 2011

I can't imagine NOT doing this event for as long as possible.  

As a cycling club we broke our previous best turnout with 15 Black Fly's!  We entered 3 teams of 5 riders in the 5-6 rider category and we not only placed one of those on the podium, but all 3 were in the top 7.   Way to work out there!  Especially considering the rather late night before, with the 5:15AM smoke alarm wake-up for Cabin 2 and the awkward visitor to our party, (so what time do you guys race???) and what else happened?  Oh ya, midnight bacon and some kind of attempted potato patty by Chef Tony and his magic hands.  Max Burn!!! 

I didn't bring our camera, so the only visual contribution I have is the lap profile.  If you guys have pics and stories, please post them on the blog!  Cheers.

Full race results, click here
Plate #297, click here.
Plate #303, click here.
Plate #304, click here.

Our Champ

The 2011 St. George - Ancaster winner on his way to - well, winning.

Paris-Ancaster 2011

Epic. Day.  Never before and hopefully never again will we race our bicycles in the conditions we just rode in.  A Blizzard!!!  

Temps were feeling like -3 with the windchill and the snow was coming down sideways which stung our faces and froze our hands & feet.  A race day to never forget.

In the end (like always with this little club of ours) we battled the elements and ended up winning the St. George-Ancaster 35km distance with Jody coming in 1st place overall.  Win Paris-Ancaster next year, Jody?

Some of us dealt with mechanicals, from no shifting into The Granny for Stitt to Destroyed Derailleurs for Cam.  The impending final climb to the finish was a bit tougher for these guys.

Big thanks to Muller for snapping a couple of pics (for proof!) and driving us around.  Finally getting into that toasty warm van was the best feeling I had all day!

It will never get any worse than yesterday for bike racing for a bunch of guys who pay their own money to do it.  :)

Paris-Ancaster 2010

At the start of St.George - Ancaster with a rather large crowd behind me.


Jody, Chris and Kathleen showing off Jody's medal!

Brenda

Cam

Jody

Marty

Marty hike-a-bike on the Mudslide.

Willow Beach CX

Jody on the highest step of the podium.
Jody crossing it up at the Willow Beach races in Port Hope. Jody went on to win his category and also racing was Ian, who ended up with a solid top 10 result. OCA race report here and full results here.


Ian washing his bike after what could only have been another 2009 muddy Black Fly Racing experience.

Lake to Lake

Niagara. M-U-D-D-Y. Ya, that's what you get when it rains for 3 days leading up to a mountain bike race. Don't get me wrong, it was tons of fun out there - slipping and sliding, jumping through puddles, getting covered head to toe with wet, unknown mucky dirt. Tony even described the conditions as "icy". Not too far from the truth.

For our efforts we were all rewarded with a dip in the lake, a huge plate of BBQ goodness, a nap in the park and for some, a podium appearance. Not bad. Not bad at all.


Six very muddy and very happy finishers!


The Drewman with his derailleur-less ride.


Happy Father's Day!


2nd Place - 2 years in a row!

Spring 8 hrs

Mansfield. Yesterday Black Fly Racing was one of the best represented clubs at the event with 10 guys racing on 2 different teams. It was pretty cool knowing you had a clubmate out on the lap with you. Both teams worked hard all day and one of us even got on the podium. Marty, Ian, JonD, Denis and Dean were in 4th and 5th place most of the afternoon, and kept closing the gap until we overtook the team ahead of us for a 3rd place finish. What an effort!

The 11km circuit was challenging as usual, with an opening 750 metre climb straight up. The next 5km was fairly "easy" until about the 7km mark where we were hit with numerous steep climbs and technical descents down to the finish line. It was also a little sandy in some parts especially after thousands of sets of wheels went flying through the corners. This resulted in minor crashes by Chris H. and the Deaner.

Cabin #3 was our home away from home where a few of us stayed over on Friday night and the whole group hung out after laps. The weather was perfect with only a couple of drops of rain on Saturday afternoon. This event is defintely a staple in our season and who knows, maybe we'll send 3 teams next year.
Clockwise from top left:

1. Jonny D. at the start.
   
2. Dean flying down to the finish
3. Chris H handing off at the transition.
4. Stitt 1st race after nearly a year off.
5. Denis with his head down at the start.
6. Tony after his first lap
7. Mr. Muller is done.
   
8. "Dirt Face" (not a teammate of ours but a funny image nonetheless!)
9. Ian around the last turn.

Icebreaker 2009 Podiums

Black Fly Racing - 2nd place, Team Challenge!

Dean - 2nd place, Men 40-49 and our old teammate, Keith in 3rd

Denis - 1st Place, Men 30-39

The Icebreaker

Durham Forest. What started out to be a very cold morning ended up being a fairly warm day - thanks to the sun. I think all of us were overdressed because of the early chilliness and during the race we were trying to peel off some extra layers when we could. The course had it's snow and ice patches requiring some extra patience and skill but overall it was pretty "floaty".

The Black Fly's were out in full force today bringing home lots of early season hardware: Our 5 person team came in 2nd overall, Dean finished 2nd in Men 40-49, and Denis won his Men 30-39 category. We also welcomed Ian into our team and he kicked some butt today even after racing in the Tour of Pelham the day before. Good job fellas! For the full results, click here.
Clockwise from the top:

1. Derrick and Drew before the start.
2. Dean, Marty, Justin and Ian enjoying the sun after the race.
   
3. Marty, Drew, Denis, Dean and Jody are ready to race!
4. Marty finishing.
5. The Vanderhoek's
   
6. Jody finishes (on a cross bike!)
7. Ian looking at the end.
8. The Hurricane is blowing through!
9. Post race chat with Dean, Marty and Jody.
   

Lake to Lake 2008

June 15, 2008. Niagara. We're back! I don't think I've mentioned that they always run this event on Father's Day. How appropriate. It was pretty cool this year being the defending champs and all but we weren't quite able to repeat our awesome performance from 2007. Second place was still very good, though. It proves we're a force to be reckoned with in future L2L's, that's for sure. We also had an honourary Black Fly in our group in Laura who had a fantastic race and came within seconds of winning the overall women's title. Once again, nice work out there guys!

Summer 8hrs at Hardwood

July 21, 2007. Hardwood Hills. What a busy summer! That's because the babies haven't arrived yet. We headed up to Hardwood for this 8hr event and like usual it was a beautiful day for racing. Our team for this one was Dean, Jon, Denis, Tony, Fox and Marty and we started off in 3rd and after the teams 5th lap, Foxy and his rental bike put us into second place - where we stayed til the awards. Our 3rd team podium in a row!