Angela Webster Takes the Podium

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It was a heart-wrenching day for Trevor Beattie at the Road O-Cup #1 - Mosport Classic. On the first lap of the 20 lap race, Trevor successfully broke away from the pack, taking 1 rider with him. Over the next few laps, the original escapee dropped off and 2 new riders bridged up to form a working group of 3. Together, over the next 50 km, they built a 2 minute lead over the chasing group. With 20 km remaining, Trevor was dropped on the main climb, but continued to maintain a 2 minute lead over the peloton. He was well-poised for a 3rd place finish until his front tire flatted with only 2 km of the 76km race remaining. Despite his efforts to keep his position, riding the next kilometer with a flat tire on the rim, the peloton caught him near the top of the final climb. Trevor finished the race, walking his bike across the line. (at Mosport International Raceway) https://www.instagram.com/p/BwduSVolvSP/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1sje6uu69np4h

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Such a great day for mountain biking! James Barker and Joanne Beattie kicked off the racing season at the @substanceprojects XC Marathon today at Turkey Point. Despite having 3/4 of the field starting ahead of him, James managed to work his way forward to an 8th place finish. Joanne finished, just shy of the podium, 12 seconds behind 3rd place. Despite not bringing home any medals for the team treasure chest, it was still a fantastic day to be out in the woods and in the saddle! Special thanks to @mckeeshelly for volunteering her time today at Aid Station 1. Events like this wouldn't happen without so many great volunteers. #kingstreetcycles #pedalharder #bikeracing (at Burning Kiln Winery) https://www.instagram.com/p/BwOJxLmg7JO/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=i28vbodi613x

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Pedal Harder is proud to announce that @kingstreetcycles will be sponsoring our race team this year! King Street Cycles is a rider-owned and rider-oriented bike shop in uptown Waterloo. They have been keeping the bikes of many members of our team race ready for years, making this an exciting partnership. Feels great to be home! #pedalharder #bikeracing #bestbikeshop https://www.instagram.com/p/BwKAVGnnttn/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=15k91zzoeayfw

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Angela Webster Takes the Podium!

After a few days of compulsively checking the weather network, I decided to take the chance that the sunny forecast for Saturday would stick and registered for the Waterloo G +G in Grass Lake, Michigan.  Embracing my past endurance racing roots, I registered for the 100 km course, and prepared myself for a major sufferfest.  Of course there was the decision about which bike to ride and which tires to run based on the course conditions.  Run tubes and risk flatting on the notoriously potholed filled roads or go with tubulars and pray I didn't flat?  File tread or the Grifo's that weren't nearly as fast but would save me a potential fall on the icy, rutted and muddy downhills and uphills?  The last thing I wanted to do was injure myself at the beginning of the race season, so I went with the more knobby tubulars and got ready to embrace the pain.  The race started with a flurry of water bottles flying out of cages on the first gravel road section. And then miles of dodging potholes of all shapes and sizes.  Then came the icy downhills that had riders flying off the trail and hitting the ground left, right and center.  I narrowly avoided a crash that took out one of the women I was racing against and sailed into what I hoped was first place position overall.  The group of guys I was with started breaking up when we hit the 2 miles of peanut butter mud around the 60km mark and I found myself alone in the damn wind with over 30 km to go.  A group caught me with less then 5 km to go with 2 women in it.  So it was going to be a Sprint finish.  Not sure exactly how far away the finish line was, I stayed with them until i got tired of being roadie lazy and decided to put the hammer down and go for it.  Most exciting finish ever.  Got beat by less then a second.  Argh!!  Finished up 2nd place overall and 1st place in my age category.  No podium pic with me on the top step because the race organizer skipped our category :(  I decided not to complain for once ;)  Great day of training and already looking forward to the next one!