edmonton

terwillegar park

May 30, 2024
cycling
places, terwillegar park, mtb, edmonton

Terwillegar Park is a park in southwest Edmonton. It has a pile of trails and is a great off-leash area for doggos.

There’s a good amount of doubletrack that follows along by the river and countless little ins and out singletrack bits through the trees. One of the downsides of the park is that the soil is very clay-based so it gets super rutty if people ride it before letting it dry out. There are a few dry-baked stretches that remind me of what some of that Moab-style slickrock looks like, but it isn’t as much fun to ride.

spring again

April 25, 2024
cycling
club, vcc, edmonton, mtb, ftt

It is almost the end of April in 2024 and my Strava account says I’m in better shape than I was at any point last year. I’ve been out for a couple of VCC rides this season where it’s been about 11 degrees and I wore my tights and seemed to fit in pretty well.

In the first week there was a fast group and a slow group, which I definitely knew I should stick with (Strava number notwithstanding). My suspicions were justified the next week when chatting with one of the riders who’d been in the first week fast group. Apparently their average speed wasn’t that crazy, but they’re so strong in the wind. Some of them used to be Cat 11 racers so yeah, best shape of my life is still going to leave me in a puddle by the side of the road keeping up with them.

baby walter cross 2023 - day 2

October 15, 2023
cycling
cx, races, queen elizabeth park, baby walter, alberta cx collective, aba cx cup, race reports, edmonton

Race Info #

I had hoped to do more racing this year, but it turned out that four was what I could handle with my work and other life commitments. So the second day of Baby Walter Cross was my season closer.

In the Leaves Defending 12th - photo by Stewart “The Legend” Hutchings1

The course this year went the opposite direction of 2022 which I think I preferred. The climbing of the stupid hill was still tough, but the descents weren’t terrifying and we got to skip the runup in favour of a singletrack descent (with roots that were highlighted but you needed to dodge).

baby walter cross 2023 - day 1

October 14, 2023
cycling
cx, races, queen elizabeth park, baby walter, alberta cx collective, aba cx cup, edmonton

Race Info #

Baby Walter Cross is a two-day race put on by the Alberta Cyclocross Collective, which isn’t a club exactly, just all the cx lovers in Edmonton. The park has a really big hill, which makes for a lot of climbing.

Apparently on the Saturday race (which I didn’t attend) there were some big crashes by people trying to bunny-hop the obstacles and failing badly. One of them happened when the rider came unclipped between barriers, but I don’t think there were too huge of injuries.

school of cross 2023

September 17, 2023
cycling
cx, races, capilano park, school of cross, ertc, aba cx cup, edmonton

Race Info #

Like the previous day’s Jim Horner Grand Prix ERTC’s School of Cross (p/b Blindman Brewing) 2023 race happened in Capilano Park. The air quality was a bit better on the day so only one race was cancelled (Open Women).

Results #

Open Men #

  1. Mark FAGNAN
  2. Graham FRANCIS
  3. Ryan MCLEAN

Expert Men #

  1. Paulo ALVES 1
  2. Jacob PLAYFAIR
  3. Randy PERRY

Sport Women #

  1. Rachel DUMONT [^3]
  2. Kristin BAKER
  3. Madeline MAGLEO

Sport Men #

  1. Ethan MCGHAN
  2. Ryan ARYCHUK
  3. Colin WEIR CHABA

Novice Men #

  1. Quinten MACKLEM2
  2. Emmett MACKLEM
  3. Evan KINDZIERSKI

My Results #

  • Did not race

Read More #

  1. Earned promotion up to Open Men, with his second win (in a row, following JHGP) in Expert. ↩︎

jim horner grand prix 2023

September 16, 2023
cycling
cx, races, capilano park, jim horner, juventus, aba cx cup, race reports, edmonton

Race Info #

I was so happy this race wasn’t taking place in Argyll Park this year. I hated the downhill that someone broke a collarbone on last year and lost so much time on it. Capilano Park was near my house and I could practice on it. But I didn’t practice hard enough on wet enough grass, because hoo boy did I not do well on that terrain.

capilano park

September 15, 2023
cycling
cx, places, capilano park, mtb, edmonton

Capilano Park is a park in the city of Edmonton, where I wouldn’t actually expect a cx race to work, but it does.

As far as the singletrack in the park goes, this is where you connect up with Goldbar Park and the cool trails in there. I generally prefer riding Eastbound.

Races #

  • Jim Horner Grand Prix 2023
  • School of Cross 2023
  • Midweek CX Series 2023

velocity cross 2023 - smoked out

September 3, 2023
cycling
cx, races, strathcona science park, vcc, velocity cross, aba cx cup, edmonton, wildfires

Race Info #

Sidney McGill was going to be racing in the Open Men category and I was really excited to see her, and to race in the Novice Men, but by 7am the AQHI was over 10 and no one wanted to get blacklung for a race (also the Alberta Bicycle Association won’t let you do anything if the index is over 7). It sucked, but there wasn’t anything else to do about it.

tubs on tubs supercalifragilisticexpialidocius prestige 2023

September 2, 2023
cycling
cx, races, strathcona science park, aba cx cup, edmonton, tubs on tubs, prw, race reports

Race Info #

Tubs on Tubs Supercalifragilisticexpialidocius Prestige was the race that was going to open up the 2023 ABA CX season. And it did for the Novice Men, Sport Men and Sport Women categories, but sadly, the AQHI hit 11 and the afternoon races had to be cancelled (along with the next day’s entire Velocity CX Race).

But I got my race in, and it was really fun! I was fighting for a good position at the beginning and because I was pushing too hard on the off-camber turns, I wiped out a bit in the long grass. Then coming out of the big downhill I cut the corner a little too close and got caught up in the course tape, which cost me time.