The following is from Team Racer Marion Jago giving her thoughts and impressions of the Niagara Classic Road Race.

The 2010 Niagara Classic served as the first race for the rookies on the LapDog ladies race team.  Two of the ladies (Maya, Marian) had never raced before and two (Rachel, Korina), though experienced in other racing disciplines, are quite new to the rigours of road racing.  With that in mind, the goal was simply to finish as strongly as possible, and to try to work as a team.

Mission accomplished! 

We stayed with the pack through the first lap until the group splintered on the first ascent of Effingham. After the first descent on the course we regrouped and rode together, eventually linking up with a lone rider and working in a pace-line until the second climb.  Maya and Rachel then worked well together to overcome a mechanical at the top of the hill on the 2nd lap, riding hard and nearly bridging back to the rest of the team on the final lap.  Korina showed great strength and teamwork working for Marian who found herself (much to her surprise!) to be the fastest Lapdog up Effingham hill.  Looking at the times from last year we had set a goal to finish under 2:00 hours and achieved it with Marian finishing in (approx) 1:47, Korina at 1:48 and Maya and Rachel at 1:49.   

The support from other LapDog members was essential to the successful completion of the race - without the encouragement from the sidelines, Effingham would have seemed even longer!!  We stayed to cheer on the other LapDogs racing throughout the day, and generally had a blast.  Great lessons learned all around, and we have high hopes for the rest of the season and for the continued growth of the women's team.  We've got a lot to work on, but feel that we're in a great place from which to start building.

Whitby (Durham Classic) - Saturday

I've read that if you race in Belgium or Netherlands you should expect sand. The logic dictates then, that entirely muddy single track in the woods, with rock, tree stumps and foot deep puddles must be an Ontario thing.

Coming up to the Whitby race I felt a little sick. I've done the Epics, but this was new. These people think of lighting fast dismounts as a part of the game, plus they carry their bikes flicking them up like matches and frankly, my shoulder hurt from all the practising couple of days prior.

On the start line there was five of us and at least one of the guys just took right off. "Dude! It's Saturday 10am! Wtf?" The course was pretty flat without any lung busting hills, but shortly after the finish line we would enter the mud-special with that good old stinky sludge all conservation areas have.

On the preride I've decided that one of the large puddles in the forest would be impassable on skinny tires. On lap one I've changed my mind on the fly, made it half way through, got stuck, flew into the water while my bike escaped for safe keeping in the bushes. The race marshal posted at that spot declared: "That was amazing! I wish I had my camera!". Well thank you kind sir, I'll be through here three more times so don't despair.

While paying my ten buck I kept staring at the ski hill lit up bright by halogen lights. "You guys are not kidding around with that hill do ya?" I asked. "Yeah, we're gonna hurt ya a bit tonight, though that descent is probably the tough part." was the reply. I waited a little and watched another rider start his lap. He's threaded back around, over the barriers and through the maze of pink flags. He was gone..."how the hell is he seeing the path?" I thought.

I followed thinking of Tron, flight simulators from he early nighties and Whipeout on N64. The path was now emerging, I've build up a bit of speed and got that nice glide over bumps, "Oh shit, the barriers! Ok, I practised this, coast swing the leg around unclip the other foot and start running. Lift up the bike and hop two steps and hop it's over. ". What followed was a less then graceful remount and yeah I dismounted on the drive side. I've tried that on the left side a little later, but in the end could not bare the shame.

This past weekend I took place in a race known as Crank The Shield. It’s a three day stage race that runs a total of 250k on anything from paved highway to barely used backwoods trails. It truly is an epic race that anyone involved in mountain biking truly needs to give a go.

Pre-Race: I was feeling very weird about this race. It had been building for weeks. Not nervous by any means, but more just wanted to get it over with. I have had a season full of bad luck and really I expected this race to be somewhat the same. I was riding my Scalpel which had only been on a handful of rides this summer so that was another concern…would it hold up? I had rebuilt it the week before so really nothing more I could do. Thursday afternoon my teammate, Michael Cranwell and another Lapdog, Mike Carter loaded up my car and headed north for the long drive to our hotel in Haliburton. Once there, a steak dinner and lots of sleep. No backing out now.

Day 1

We got up at 6. The morning was cold and it was raining, go figure. The three of us went and had a very good breakfast at a local greasy spoon. I made sure I had a lot. We got back to the hotel, loaded our bikes and bags onto the car and set off for the start line at Haliburton forest. During the drive the rain stopped. We arrived at the start line with about 45 minutes to spare. As per any Chico events everything was well organized and easy to follow. Bags dropped off , sign in and over to the start line we head. Myself and Michael line up early right at the front. Rider meeting happens and we are ready to get under way. First day is approximately 75k. Wasn’t sure what the terrain would be like but was expecting lots of trails. We’re off. The start is controlled by the pro riders who move across the front and is actually very slow. Good thing so people can get there legs under them. First road bit is about 2k then we turn into the trail. The pace picks up. We stay with the lead pack and my heart rate is at about 174. Very high for me. About 7k in our first and last mechanical, Michael breaks a brand new chain. It takes about 5 minutes to fix and we are under way. Problem being we are now behind a lot of slower riders. We are both riding bad due to our frustration level. I crash on a wet root and take the handlebar to the left knee. Ouch but no huge deal…or so I think. We pass most of the people that got around us while we were working on the bike and get or rhythm back. The day just seems to go on and on and on. It’s a long one and it seems Sean Ruppel the course designer has found every hill he can for us to ride up. Its brutal. Some just go on forever it seems. I finally spot the camp that will be our refuge for the night and in cruel style they make us take a trail that takes us away from it. Damn you Sean. 5k later we cross the line. Few people are in camp at this point so we know we have had a good day. Turns out we are 4^th on the day, 3 minutes from 3^rd. Great result.

Day 2

This stage is supposed to be exactly like last year, just dry for the most part and it is. My knee is very sore for the start of the race from my mishap the day before. We line up at the front again and get a decent start. Again we head down a short road before heading into the trails. Things are a bit faster as it turns into a free for all. We get onto the ATV trail that we will be riding for the next few hours in the top 20 riders. Lots of crashes going on behind us. Day two is about 90k and is the longest stage. With a long stage the day before you can really feel it in the legs. After about an hour we settle into a groove and enjoy riding some of northern Ontario rocks. They are everywhere. Its actually pretty fun and unlike anything we ride around here. After about 3 hours of riding ATV trails and hydro cuts we pop out onto a paved road and head through Minden. We stop at the marshal station, fuel up and get some lube on our chains. We know whats coming. One through Minden its back up a long steep climb that goes on for a good 10 minutes. At the top it’s a bit of paved road then right back into ATV trails and hydro trails for another hour or so. Once past those we hit what everyone from last year agreed was the hardest part of Crank…a 17k rail trail to the finish line. Sounds easy right? NOT!!! It has a 1 degree upward grade and is sand and loose rock for the most part. We are very lucky and hook up with 4-5 other riders and after some coaxing, take turns on the front. Downtown Haliburton and the finish is a welcome sight. On this day we end up third…podium time.

Day 3

I wake up in my cabin and realize I can barely move my leg. Not good. This could be a long day. We head for breakfast and my fingers are crossed the knee pain goes away. No such luck. I get back to the cabin and start to get my kit on. Once the jeans are off I notice my left knee is about twice the size of the right knee…yikes. Third day they have a 17k neutral ride to let everyone stretch there legs. We head out towards the start line. Temperature at the start of the neutral ride…2. Not good with a sore knee. About half way through the ride I am actually wondering if I will be able to ride. The start is straight up for 1 1/2 k and is hell. We get to the start and the knee feels a bit better although sore. Once agin, we line up close to the front. Start goes off and up we go…for a very long time. For us to get third overall we have to finish three minutes ahead of the team currently in third. We push hard on the hill. At the top we pass the first place team who has just broken a chain. This is looking good. We get into a rhythm. After a while we get caught by first and hang on with them and the factory Norco team. We are moving fast. Eventually we get held up on some technical downhill and loose the main group. Shortly after third goes blasting by us like they just started the race. We stick with our game plan and hold a steady but conservative pace hoping one of the three teams in front of us has a mechanical or bonks. Not today, we finish 4^th.

Overview

This years event went fantastic for us. We rode much stronger and smarter than last year. Stronger riders beat us. Its that simple. The event was great and I already can’t wait for next year. It really is a must do for any mountain biker. Consider it a personal challenge not so much a race. The nights are as much fun as the riding. The accommodations and food are first class and  there is nothing left for the rider to worry about. Congrats also go out to the other Lapdogs that participated…Robin Kay (1^st) Scott Enns(12^th), Jean Michaud (33^rd) Mike Carter (45^th) Bartt Eade and Shannon Tucker (3^rd) A great job by all and Chico, another fantastic event.

Thanks to Shannon Tucker for the following thoughts, observations and personal account of her and Bartt's victory at the 24 Hours of Hot August Nights.

Here are her words...

This past weekend Bartt and I participated in the 24 Hours Hot Summer Nights and finished 1st overall.  This is just a brief summary of the events.

Bartt and I deceided about 2 months ago that we wanted to do the 24 Hour Hot Summer Nites for training and as a test for the Crank the Shield.  We wanted to make sure that we could race for a long period of time and yes if we could get along together as Race Partners.  We also had another couple, who are very close friends that had deceided to do it as well.  So that would mean we would be competing against them at the 24 and at the Crank.  We were pretty focused with long rides leading up to this event.  But 2 weeks before we got hit with some bad news, our friend Leesa who would be racing against us broke her neck.  We were devastated and this had a huge impact on our riding.  Who wanted to ride when all we could think about was Leesa.  She did have surgery and has rods and a plate in her neck.  So our training rides were now filled with guilt and our thoughts were of Leesa.  We saw her about 3 days before the 24 and it put our minds to rest and we knew that we had to do this race.  I only rode the rail trail about 3 days before and Bartt did not ride at all.  In fact he had to work overtime at work and while I was in my air conditioned office he was working with a temperature of about 92 in the warehouse.  I think we were both feeling pretty confident that we could do this race as a tag team and that we would make the podium.  I had done 2 Tag 24’s before so I knew what was expected but Bartt had never done one.

We headed for Albion about 7PM on Friday night.  We had set up our trailer on Thursday and paid for the night so that we could have a primo spot.  Our campsite was right on the course, actually the last run to the finish line, it was perfect.  So we unpacked made some supper, trout and hung out with my cousin and his wife.  We had an early night , went to be at about 10:30 but we started to watch Doomsday, well we feel asleep right away.

Woke up Saturday morning about 7am, had to feed and walk Rocky before I started getting ready for the day.  I had a pretty good night’s sleep but Bartt said he was up till 2am.  We had deceided weeks ago that Bartt would start, I have a tendency to go like a bat out of hell, that is how I bonked the last time I did tag.  So we wanted to be smart this time.  We were also doing double laps, at least till we had to do our night rides.  I think it was around 10:45 am when it started to drizzle.  We had not brought our “rain tires” afterall the week’s forecast was supposed to be sunny and we left them at home.  So I deceided that maybe I should head home and get them and my single speed so I could race that while Bartt was putting on my rain tires.

So I headed home, showed back up at around 11:20 just in time to help Bartt get his stuff ready and he headed for the start line.  So 12 noon came pretty fast and the race was off, Bartt looked really strong .  I headed back to get my stuff ready for my laps.  Bartt’s lap times were 54.10 and 51.39, pretty impressive but we had made a promise to each other not to do under an hour for our first two laps.  Well that was out the window.  So my turn.  I was not nervous I was just hoping that I could keep my cool take my time and not burn out.  Well what would you know it started to rain, I mean rain on my laps.  I was covered from head to toe in mud and that stinky mud that smells like you rode through cow manure.  My laps times were 53.24 and 55.45, not too bad.

Bartt was up again and this time with his “rain tires” on.  He was a bit slower these 2 because of the rain but still some pretty good times.  I had told him on his second lap that I would be riding by singlespeed so he could change my tires.  So I went out on my single speed.  I managed to keep my heart rate down to 135 but the climbs on my single speed made it jump and I started feeling it.  I had just finished the first half of the course when Bartt and my cousin were on the trail with my Rocky, oh thank God!!!!  They had changed my tires so I finished this lap on my geared bike, what a relief.  But by this time I was really burnt out from riding the single speed so I took my time.  Bartt up again.

Later on we did our night laps one at a time, well that was till Bartt got sick.  So I get to the finish and see my cousin’s wife at the line saying that Bartt is really sick and he cannot go back out.  I was feeling pretty good again so I took about 10 minutes and I hate some gels then went back out again.  I was in a pretty good moon, singing to myself , chatting away to people, feeling great.  I knew in the back of my mind that Bartt would be there to do the next lap.  So as I went by our campsite I saw him by the fire.  He was still pretty sick, had the shakes, could not move his legs and was feeling sick.  So I stopped at the campsite and tookd about ½ hour to re-fuel and headed out for another lap.  This would make it about 4 hours on my bike and I was feeling okay. But somewhere on the last half of the course I started to feel really sick.

I thought to myself can I keep riding without a break.  I did not want to let Bartt and myself down but after this one I needed to rest.  On this lap I helped a guy who had lost his lights almost at the start of the race and he was very happy that I helped him.  So another lap done.  I went back to the campsite and Bartt hugged me, he was worried that I might have gotten hurt since I was getting so tired.  I told him that I was so sorry but I had to rest for a few hours.  My stomach was so sick not having any solid food in it.  So at 3am we stopped.  Our goal was to start back up at 6am which changed to 8am.  We figured we were 4 laps up on second so all they could do was maybe get 1 lap closer to us but they would not take over first.

8am I hit the course again, feeling pretty good but taking my time just in case Bartt was not ready to ride.  But he was at the finish line and then he did 2 laps.  By the time he finished it was 11:30 am Sunday morning and well we really did not need to do anymore laps.  We had no idea that the second place team had stopped at 1:30am.  We were so happy a victory.  We worked together as a team, through the good and the bad.  What a feeling!!!!!!!  So we did 15 laps- Shannon 8 and Bartt 7.  I was okay with doing more, I only wish that I could have kept going.  But I learned that I can ride for a long time and the we can do anything if we put our minds together.  We both agreed that we do not regret any choices we made during the race, we were very happy with the decisions that we made.  We beat second by 4 laps and third by 5.

So look out Crank here we come!!!!!!!!

The Tour was a blast and it was too bad we didn't have more 'Dogs competing, as it really lends itself to team riding; Mark Cascella and I were the only ones out of the 200 or so riders. Results for S3 were included with S4 and M3 and we finished sixth and 36th respectively out of the 59 who actually finished in the category. It is very much an endurance event, so the choice is to try and hang on as long as possible near the front and risk burning out, or starting conservatively and working your way up gradually, jumping from group to group. I tried the latter this year, and seeing that there was only one M3 in the top 60 overall, I'm glad I did! It's also very much a social event, with a nice BBQ at the end and a chance to actually sit down and chat with riders from all over Ontario. I believe there were a few crashes, primarily at the top of the Heritage Road hill where people try and recover and invariably lose concentration. The rest of the course is either flat or a fast downhill toward the finish line (and encouraging crowd). Again, I think it's an ideal team event, particularly for the M3s, so we should go for it next year.