by Laura Brown

Laura Brown and Shani Russell raced in the beautiful and pristine Banff National Park, Alberta, in the 2nd annual Banff Bike Fest June 20-21. At the crack of dawn on Saturday, they woke up to a bit of rain, cold temperatures, and apparently grizzly bears near the start line. With a long warm-up, they felt ready to tackle the Individual Time Trial. With two pre-rides under their belt of the 21-km hilly and scenic Lake Minnewanka loop, they were expecting some great rides. After dodging a few cattle guards, mountain sheep, and elk, Laura finished in a time of 30:59, putting her in 3rd place, 1 minute down from Julie Beveridge (Team Tibco), and Shani was happy with her ride in a time of 34:32.

The Criterium was Saturday evening and the sun was shinning. The course was right in the heart of downtown, with an awesome crowd, and was quite technical with a 180 degree hairpin turn on Banff Avenue. After the motorbike-paced neutral lap, the women’s field was shattered within just a few laps. Julie and the Total Restoration team were lighting it up on the course with attacks and some hard tempo. A break was established consisting of Julie, Alison Testroete (Total Restoration) and her teammate Sarah Stewart. Laura found herself in a small chase group and working hard with Naomi Cooper (dEVO), they were able to bring the break back, devoid of race leader Julie (she rode away solo from the breakaway and almost lapped the entire women’s field). The last lap came a bit sooner than initially planned, but Laura made sure to get to the front quickly and won the bunch sprint for 2nd place.

With only a 12-hour turnaround from the end of the criterium to the start of the road race, Laura and Shani were really starting to feel the fatigue of hard racing in the mountains. But the women’s road race was only 4 laps of the 13-km Tunnel Mountain Loop (52 km total). Julie had pretty much solidified her overall after the criterium and Laura was sitting in second place, with Alison close behind in 3rd (~30 seconds down). Shani and Laura knew that if they kept Alison within reach, Laura would hang on to 2nd overall. The loop had a 1 km climb, some flat rolling sections and a couple short punchy climbs amongst the descent. The field stuck together on the first lap, but on the second lap, Alison saw Laura on the front of one of the punchy climbs, attacked hard, and only Julie and Heather Kay (ERTC) had the legs and lungs to follow. With less than 30 km remaining in the race, the two lone Local Ride girls tried to rally the troops within the women’s field to get a chase going. At this point the break had only 15-20 seconds on them. All efforts fizzled as Shani was taking monster pulls at the front with no one else wanting to help her out. The breakaway ended up gaining over 5 minutes in time on everyone! Laura won the pack sprint for 4th and Shani was close behind in 6th place.

Laura finished in 4th place overall and Shani was in 11th. It was a bit disappointing to be off the podium in the end, but both girls had fun and felt privileged to be racing in Banff National Park on some of the most beautiful roads and backdrops in the world. They both hope to be back next year.
For Laura, it is now time to rest and do some final preparations for the Canadian Road Nationals in Saint-Georges-de-Beauce, Quebec and for both Shani and Laura, the BC Cup #3 Yaletown Grand Prix on July 1 to defend the BC Cup Leader’s Jersey.

Thanks for reading!

by Jean Ann “Animal” McKirdy

On Sunday, June 7th, I had the privilege of being a part of the winning team in the Westside Classic, BC Cup #1 in Vancouver, where “Downtown” Laura Brown claimed victory in the final sprint after four of us escaped in a break on the sixth of eight laps. Local Ride Racing also won the Queen of the Mountains (QOM) competition, the first prime, and all four of the members of the team finished in the top 10. “Downtown” Brown is now proudly representing Local Ride Racing in the green and white BC Cup leader’s jersey. There was a solid showing from the Local Ride Racing men too, with Steve and Mike mixing it up in the cat 1/2 field, and Roy and Andrew finishing in the main pack of the master’s A and cat 4/5 men’s races, respectively.

The women raced 84km on the closed course near UBC in Vancouver, and the weather turned out beautiful and sunny, despite the forecast for rain. We had a plan going into the race: make it hard, control the race, and set Laura up for the win. From the start, Chelsea a.k.a. “Pickle” and Shani worked out front to keep the pace steady, with Shani initiating an attack at the end of the lap that allowed me to rocket through for the first lap prime. The leaders up the climb each time on laps three through six won points that went towards the $250 QOM prize. I was second for the first climb, and won the other three, with many thanks to Shani and Pickle for delivering me to the bottom of the hill in a good position.

Their efforts also helped to break up the field, separating Laura and me from the pack in four- or five- woman breaks, which were pulled back in the headwinds on Marine Drive each lap. It was not until two laps to go, that a break stuck, including Laura, Naomi Cooper (dEVO), Kristine Brynjolfson (Westwood Cycle/Cannondale), and me, while Lisa Howard (Escape Velocity) managed to bridge up on the last lap. We worked hard to make it hold, with Shani and Pickle in the main field preventing our chasers from regaining contact. Lisa was gapped on the last climb and I did my best to make the pace fast and hard [read: The Animal absolutely drilled it and made everyone whimper. - editor’s note] on the slight downhill to the finishing stretch to set Laura up for the sprint. Naomi attacked just before the corner and the 200m mark, but Laura catapulted around on the inside of the corner and took her at the line. I finished fourth, my legs absolutely done. Chelsea won the pack sprint for sixth, with Shani right behind her in seventh.

Mike and Steve contested their second Cat 1/2 race, and held their own over the 126km effort as active participants in the race. Steve finished just off of the main pack, after playing a gutsy role in an early break. Mike was solid, proving he could hang with the 1/2′s, and finished in the main pack, 30th out of 77 starters, and going shoulder-to-shoulder with his competitors in the sprint to finish. Andrew and Roy raced earlier in the morning – Andrew with the Cat 4/5’s, and Roy with the Master A men. Andrew was strong in the main field and finished a respectable 25th out of 94 starters.

Local Ride Racing had a full support set-up, with Dave and Ian manning the tent and repair stand, as well as serving up some delicious Kicking Horse Coffee. Paul, Barry, Jeremy, and Marie were a huge help in the feed zone, shouting, cheering, and directing. We had a great team beyond the riders, so a big shout-out goes to those on the sidelines, who continue to play an integral part in our success.

Next weekend Local Ride Racing’s women will be defending the white and green jersey in BC Cup #2, Kelowna’s K-Town Classic, while the LRR men aim to mix it up in their respective fields.