October 29, 2006 – 79 competitors took part in the first race organized by Terrascape Racing that went off without a hitch on Saturday October 28th. In partnership with the City of Calgary, Terrascape was able to secure a city park in central Calgary to host one of the last races in the Alberta Bicycle Association’s 2006 Alberta Cyclo-Cross Cup Series. The course conditions on the day were slicker than predicted as the anticipated 15 degrees Celsius never arrived. Frost on the course actually got heavier and heavier as the day went on until the open men’s division started at 1:30pm.

The sport men’s category saw a real back and forth battle from the gun with Trevor Pombert (United Cycles) and Antonio Bilotta (Pedalhead Roadworks) constantly changing places and opening gaps between themselves through their race. For the last lap it all came back together with the final selection made at the last set of barriers where Antonio managed to gap Trevor. With the last barriers on 200m from the finish Antonio then cruised to victory. Behind them a battle for the final podium spot waged between Chuck Gibney (Pedalhead Racing) and Lance Adamson (Juventus) with Lance breaking clear of Chuck about halfway through the race and sailing in to third place without contest.

The crash-filled expert race saw lots of thrills and spills in the first set of off camber frost-coated chicanes and even in the “stadium” area where some tight racing conditions resulted in some minor contact and eventual loss of rider balance. The hole-shot award went to the super-tall Clayton Paradis (Pedalhead Racing) as Clayton wisely used the leverage his long legs could afford to launch off the start and stay away from some of frost induced carnage on the course. It looked as though Clayton was going to stay away the whole race until the foot of the first run-up where Uncle John Tim Brezsnyak (Deadgoat Racing) managed to bridge up to Clayton taking the whole pack with him. For the next few laps the race started to take shape with Chris Stipdonk (United Cycle), Tracy Shearer (Juventus) and Scott Anderson (CBTL) joined up with Clayton at the front. Chris eventually dropped the other three combatants and looked to be heading for the win. However, in the last lap and a half Clayton stepped on the accelerator, caught Chris and never looked back – eventually putting half a minute into him at the finish. Behind them a battle for third was going on between Scott and Tracy with Tracy motoring clear of Scott toward the end of the contest and on to a satisfying podium spot.

The excitement in the women’s race was mostly due to the costumes and wigs worn by some of the more jovial competitors. With 11 entrants of all capabilities entered in the category there was not much racing to be done after the first couple of laps. Mical Dyck (Terrascape Racing) lead from start to finish lapping all but second place rider Susan Copeland (Juventus). Third place was well earned by Martha Handford (Independent Fabrication/Different Bikes) who rode a solid steady race from start to finish. Race Note: the costumed riders from the women’s race were rewarded for their extra efforts with special treatment in the beer gardens later that afternoon. The sun came out just in time for the open men’s race which was won by United Cycle’s Tim Heemskerk. Tim led from start to finish in a race where strategy was not a key element on the twisty and very hilly course. Although early in the race many pockets of riders stayed close to each other, by the end most of the 26 racers were very spread out and only the battle for seventh place was contested in a sprint finish. Second place was hotly contested for most of the hour with Per Strom (Bicisport) and Nick Friesen (Pedalhead Roadworks) battling back and forth for some time until Nick finally gapped Per and rode into the finish with an easy 30 second gap. The demanding course certainly inflicted some damage to many of the open class riders on the day. Some of the suffer stories from the this category include numerous face plants on the wet slimy leaf covered run-up, two riders rolling their rear tires off on their last laps and one DNF’ed rider “˜losing his lunch’ as he put it, on his second lap.

Many thanks must go out to the several volunteers who endured the cold for most of the race. As well thanks to our race sponsors: Calgary Cycle, Talisman Centre, Gunther’s Fine Baking, Coffee Cats Café and Sleemans Brewery for their support and donation of food, drink and copious draw prizes. A final, big big thank you goes out to Keith Bayly (Deadgoat Racing) who jumped into the role chief course designer. With a small park area to work with (and my being out of town on business for most of the month) Terrascape Racing had to outsource much of the course design to the creative genius of Keith. Judging from the smiles, grimaces and vomit splatter on the faces of all of the racers Keith succeeded in creating a super-fun, super-twisty and super-challenging “˜cross course for us all.

Sport

1 BILOTTA Antonio Pedalhead Roadworks 43m51s
2 POMBERT Trevor United Cycle 43m52s
3 ADAMSON Lance Juventus 45m04s
4 GIBNEY Chuck Pedalhead Racing 45m29s
5 BOOK Scott ERTC/Redbike 45m44s
6 VINCI Stevan Pedalhead Racing 46m23s
7 WITZKE Connor Juventus 46m30s
8 STENEKER Mike Juventus 47m05s
9 GARVIN Ed Singletrack 47m42s
10 SCHIETZSCH Andrew Juventus 48m41s
11 HEIN Shann United Cycle 48m49s
12 SPARLING Chris bicisport 49m31s
13 FLATTERS Noel Calgary Cycle 49m44s
14 SIEGEL Shane Pedalhead Roadworks 50m23s
15 YANICKI Greg bicisport at 1 lap
16 GARVIN Mac Cyclemeisters/Bow Cycle at 1 lap
17 KNAPIK Brad Cyclemeisters/Bow Cycle at 1 lap
18 WILBERG Felix Cyclemeisters/Bow Cycle at 1 lap

Expert

1 PARADIS Clayton Pedalhead Racing 51m37s
2 STIPDONK Chris United Cycle 52m14s
3 SHEARER Tracy Juventus 52m47s
4 ANDERSON Scott CBTL 53m26s
5 BROWN Gary RMCC 53m52s
6 MCKEE Mike Deadgoat Racing 54m20s
7 CUMMINGS Reid Cyclemeisters/Bow Cycle 54m54s
8 KNIGHT Peter United Cycle 55m11s
9 ANDERSON Kyle ERTC/Redbike 55m32s
10 BREZSNYAK Tim Deadgoat Racing 55m56s
11 DOYLE Pat Deadgoat Racing 56m05s
12 CLEMENS Roger United Cycle 56m27s
13 MAK Tommy Eurotech 56m48s
14 HUNKA Daniel Juventus 57m32s
15 BREAU Claude bicisport 57m48s
16 CLARK Geoff Deadgoat Racing 57m55s
17 WALSH Stephen Schmoe Racing at 1 lap
18 PRINZ Mike Singletrack at 1 lap
19 FUNK Jack Deadgoat Racing at 1 lap
20 BIERD Daniel bicisport at 1 lap
21 FOX Don Juventus at 1 lap
22 ZELENSKY Mike Terrascape Racing at 1 lap
23 KOVACS Frank Synergy at 1 lap
DNF KULLMAN Brian Synergy

Women

1 DYCK Mical Terrascape 42m42s
2 COPELAND Susan Juventus 46m31s
3 HANDFORD Martha IF/Different Bikes at 1 lap
4 TIBBITTS Adrienne Gruppo Sportivo Campione at 1 lap
5 BREAU Joanne bicisport at 1 lap
6 ONG Krystyn Juventus at 1 lap
7 KOO Cindy Deadgoat Racing at 1 lap
8 SOULES Carolyn Crankmasters CC at 1 lap
9 GROVER Samantha Juventus at 1 lap
10 SPARLING Ellen Independent at 2 laps
DNF BARRON Caeli Oval Program

Open

1 HEEMSKERK Tim United Cycle 1h03m12s
2 FRIESEN Nick Pedalhead Roadworks 1h04m02s
3 STROM Per bicisport 1h04m31s
4 HOPPING Ryan ERTC/Redbike 1h04m55s
5 CANNING Cody ERTC/Redbike 1h05m05s
6 ADAMSON Shaun Juventus 1h05m29s
7 TOTH Peter ERTC/Redbike 1h06m05s
8 LARSON David Juventus 1h06m06s
9 BUNNIN Shawn Cycledlia 1h06m14s
10 SCHOOLER Aaron ERTC/Redbike 1h06m21s
11 REAIN Alan Fresh Air Experience 1h06m29s
12 BARR Sean Pedalhead Roadworks st
13 SUTTON Andre Hardcore CC 1h06m39s
14 MCNEIL Chris Canary Cycles 1h08m02s
15 BAYLY Keith Deadgoat 1h08m42s
16 COLLINS Jesse bicisport 1h08m48s
17 NEILSON Jeff Terrascape at 1 lap
18 DEBELLEFEUILLE Craig Synergy at 1 lap
19 BATE Lonn Terrascape at 1 lap
20 SMITHEMAN Spencer Juventus at 1 lap
21 BIDNIAK Mike Juventus at 1 lap
22 COPELAND Bruce Juventus at 1 lap
DNF MORRIS Dallas Deadgoat
DNF BAIN Brian Cyclemeisters/Bow Cycle
DNF WALSH cp Synergy
DNF FOSTER Mark Team H&R Block