June 23, 2009
Lenovo travels north to compete the the Banff Bike Fest
Banff, Canada - Well what a great 9 days on the road traveling from Eastern Washington (Winthrop) to Banff, Canada via Whitefish, MT. Nathan Smith, Shawn Ongers, Wes Richards, Travis Venable, Ryan Iddings and Mike Hone all made this journey across the northwest. It was just amazing. Following the clean sweep at the road race in Winthrop, the Lenovo team had high hopes of trying to beat the dominant Red Truck Racing team which have been doing very well in the Northwest area. We have been able to race against them now for many stage races and we were not about to sit in and let them take control of the race.
Stage 1 – Uphill Time Trial
This stage was located on highway 93 in Banff National Park. It was a 6 mile uphill grind with about some pitches around 10-12% grades. Mike Hone was the top placed rider for the day with 17th. Still not the best time, but as good as I could go. Not bad since a couple days before Mike Hone was not walking due to some serious muscle fatigue from my breakaway last Sunday. Unfortunately Red Truck took the top 4 spots in the TT.
Stage 2 – 1A Sprint Road Race
This was a fast 80km road race on an out and back course. On our way to the race, we passed a grizzly bear on the side of the course. We were all wowed by the experience. Not too many places where you get to see a grizzly bear. The race was on from the gun, small attacks tried to go off the front on the downhill to the turn around. Ryan Iddings launched an attack about 10km in and was away with one other rider fro 30km. The Red Truck team slowly reeled him in. Once he was caught at the turn around, I decided to launch the next attack. Mike Hone went up the road with 4 other riders. They had nearly 2 minutes on the chase group. With about 10km to go, the peleton was at 40 seconds closing. Mike Hone was beginning to get worried that the break would get caught. Jamie Sparling attacked with 3km to go and then Mike Hone followed. Hone was not able to latch onto his wheel and was going for broke. Hone thought he could keep 2nd place, but was unfortunately caught with 1km to go by the peleton. The rest of the guys finished in the pack. Nathan was the highest place finisher with 11th place.
Stage 3 – Impact Time Trial
This time trial was on one of the most scenic course you could imagine... Check out some of the photos on the Flickr site. Just amazing. Shawn Ongers was the highest placed rider for the team placing 18th with 28m20s. Seems like these Canadians can all time trial. Nathan Smith was 10 secs slowler. Travis Venable and Mike Hone were 20 seconds further down. With the TT, we had four guys in the top 25.
Stage 4 – Fulcrum Criterium
The criterium was going to be a technical one. The course was shaped like a capital P. A long straight with a tight hairpin and then around a small block. With over 90 riders in the field, it was going to be a dash for the first U turn corner after the neutral rollout. Shawn Ongers was not going to wait around. He was still a little nervous returning from his Cherry Blossom crash where he broke 6 vertebrae and 4 ribs. Shawn launched immediately off the line and headed up the road to make Red Truck chase. Unfortunately while he was up the road, he also hit the deck on the U turn. It seemed like nearly every corner someone was going down. Shawn got a free lap and actually rejoined Nathan Smith at the front and the two rolled off for the next 3-4 laps. Red Truck again had to set tempo at the front and chase down Lenovo. It seemed as if Lenovo was the only team that tried to break the Red Truck strangle hold. So we weren't going to give up and lay down. As soon as Shawn and Nathan were brought back, Mike Hone countered their move and went off for a number of laps. Hone was soon caught. Mike Hone tried a couple more attempts but was never able to get away. With 10 minutes to go, we actually lapped the field. Out of 90 riders, only 46 survived the crit. Both Travis and Shawn lost time due to crashes and getting gapped in the last part of the crit. After the finish, Nathan Smith and Mike Hone moved up to 15th and 16th in GC.
Stage 5 – Tunnel Mountain Road Race
After a night of healing the wounds for Travis and Shawn... The team had decided to go on the attack again from the start of the 9 laps (13km circuit). The circuit had a 3 step climb, we a fast downhill and a flat part of the course to the finish. Travis launched the first move of the day on the first climb. Soon he was accompanied by 2 other rides. Within the same lap, Shawn Ongers also bridged across to the move and soon we had 2 guys in the lead group. Red Truck was still on the front controlling the race. One the second lap, Mike told Wes Richards to bridge across to the lead group. He did in blazing fashion on the beginning of the second lap on the climb. Soon we had 3 riders out of 5 in the lead break. We were about to give up and the break keep rolling. The guys were out there for the next 50 miles. They were eventually caught on lap 5 with 4 laps to go. The peleton stayed together for the next 4 laps and then on the final climb of the final lap is where the splits happened. Mike Hone was too far back going into the last climb and was gapped while Nathan Smith made the front selection and was able to place 9th in the sprint keeping him in 15th overall. Mike Hone lost a couple places and moved down to 18th in GC.
All in all, we had a great 9 days on the road. It was awesome to drop into Whitefish and hang out with the Hammer Nutrition guys. Thanks for the team massages and nutritional products. They really helped save us throughout the week. We are already organizing out trip for next year. The guys were so thrilled to have raced in Banff and it left great impressions on our host housing and the organizers.
