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photo courtesy: Sue Weston
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Race the Ridge
Submitted by: Tyler Trace
Maple Ridge, BC – Maple Ridge, BC- This past weekend Red Truck
stormed the podium once again at Local Ride’s Race the Ridge. In
only his second race on BC soil this year, newcomer Matt Bell showed
his skills by claiming the top overall spot for the weekend.
The 2010 edition of Race the Ridge had a new format that created
some anxiety as the organizers ran the 100km hilly road race on the
same day as the 21km time trial. The anxiety turned to dread as we
woke up Saturday morning to heavy rains and strong winds. Now while
bike racing is my passion and I dedicate most of my time to it, my
second pastime is probably complaining about bike racing. If anyone
has heard me before a time trial they know what I am talking about.
So with the prospect of climbing into wet clothes and shoes after
the road race for yet another wet bike ride, you could imagine the
amount of complaining and lack of motivation during our pre race
meeting. Thankfully our fearless manager was there to give us his
best Tony Robbins impersonation and get us pumped up. And pumped up
we were as the team rode a strong race with everyone working hard on
the front to bring back the break. Nic had a strong finish in second
place, only a few seconds behind Marcel from Total Restoration who
had an impressive solo win.
After all of the complaining about the weather, the sun came out and it was
beautiful in the afternoon for the time trial. Nic threw down another strong
ride placing second again, only 8 seconds away from first, while Matt Bell
finished 3rd. The rest of the team all had good times over the long rolling
course. |
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Going into the crit we were 2nd, 3rd, and 5th overall. We had a few cards to
play but to win the overall, in the words of Matt Barth, was going to take some
‘Ballistic’ or ‘SuperNuke’ riding. We attacked from the gun and eventually a
break formed with Craig, Matt and Tyler. We supernuked it as much as we could
and almost lapped the field. In the end our break put in enough time for Matt
Bell to jump into the overall lead with Tyler first and Matt fourth in the crit.
It was another satisfying come-from-behind win as the whole team worked hard to
make it happen. It was a great victory and we can expect to see Matt Bell on the
top of many more podiums this year. (hopefully wearing the same parachute pants
as in the above picture)
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