First Event of 2013

As the new year kicks in, what better way to get the ball, er wheel, moving again, than with a nice hard effort up a hill. Some say this hill is haunted with the forgotten dreams of aspiring tour riders. Others say Lance secretly started his doping scandal here. All we know is that it's one hell of a lung buster.

Even before the race started, Lindsey decided to do the uphill time trial in hardcore mode and do it completely on her big ring, just to show the guys up. It has nothing to do with the fact that she may have had a slight mechanical incident with her shifter... Okay, at least it was the front derailleur and not the back.

For the brave few who showed up that misty Saturday morning, nerves were quite calm, as if anticipating the worse a storm has to offer.

Derrick, who always manages to find the tri club on any given day on any given ride even after the crew flew the coop, managed to find his way towards the tail end of the warm up lap up the hill and decidedly gave chase. A valiant effort, but for a vain cause. It was not the only misfortune Derrick had this fateful day. On the actual climb, he too also suffered a mechanical failure, derailing off his big ring. Again, he fought as valiant as the brave Andy Schleck up the Pyrenees, bludgeoning through the hill as if they were rolled flat. Unfortunately,  his extraordinary efforts could not beat the fastidious pace of Jorge, Chris, and Eddy, all of whom, posted sub 5 min times.

The veteran, Jorge, made a blistering dash to the finish that would make Andre Greipel proud, probably clocking well above the speed limit. The new-comer Chris has shown that you should watch out for the new kids on the block. He is no slouch, posting the second fastest time of the day, but the king of the hill belongs to Eddy Wu.

As usual, Kevin needs his own section to himself. Having spent the good part of last night drinking, he "lost" a screw in his cleats and volunteered to time. I'm sure the whiskey last night had nothing to do with it.

For the females, an impressive performance by both Elise and Jen, who were right up there among the boys.
Pretty soon, most of the guys are going to get chicked by these girls.

After people had perforated their lungs riding up the hill, some decided it would be best to ride to horseshoe bay after. Just a casual 65km of undulations. No sweat, until it got warmer and sunnier.
Times are below:

Male:
Eddy Wu        4:52
Chris Bhatla   4:54
Jorge Winter   4:57
Derrick Lee    5:09
Hugo              5:12
Winston Guo  5:20
Sam                6:25

Female:
Elise Caron      5:04
Jen Bhatla        5:11
Lise Nicole      5:27
Karin Olafson  5:41
Theresa Price   5:41
Lindsey            5:47
Emily               6:20