Dukes Summer Epic 8 hour July 24th, 2010

Please excuse my lateness on this blog posting but the summer has been filled with too much fun, excitement to allow me to sit down at my computer and type away.

Lets go back in time a little bit to July 24^th, the big day of the Dukes Summer Epic 8 hour, or should I say the day of Da Revenge of Carlos and Moustachio, or the Dooms Day of the Brother and Sister Rivalry Showdown, or a regular day in the office for Bom Chica Wah Wah to do what he does best.

For those of you who have no clue what is even meant by those three days, please allow me to explain. The day of Da Revenge of Carlos and Moustachio, that day is thanks to Corey’s intellectual creativity for the name he assigned to his two person tag team with Simon on board. Who is Carlos, and who is Moustachio one might ask, I don’t think anyone really knows. Then there is the Dooms Day of the Brother and Sister Rivalry Showdown that needs some explaining. This day is compliments of the loving togetherness that can only be shared by a brother and sister. A brother and sister wanting to (for lack of a better description) kick the asses of other sibling teams who think that they are faster and love each other more than they do. The three teams competing in this category are the Kick Ass Kinsie’s (Jon and Danielle), the Whoop Ass Wagler’s (Jamie and Sam), and the Wicked Ass Wilsons (Jen and Parker). Lastly, there is the regular day in the office for Bom Chica Wah Wah to do what he does best. What does Bom Chica Wah Wah mean? Well if you’ve seen a few Axe Body Spray commercials I think you can imagine a possible definition of that phrase. I however advise against you searching for the definition on urbandictionary.com for the results are mildly inappropriate. Anyways, this is the team title Logan gave his one man team in the Solo category. And team Bom Chica Wah Wah was going for the big win again at this race for his 4^th time in a row, (Hence the regular day in the office). Team Bom Chica Wah Wah also though he would intensify the brother, sister rivalry competition by challenging the bros and sistas that he would complete just as many laps as them and in a faster finishing time.

Well , the big day arrived and it appeared that everyone had brought their A game to the table. Everyone that is except for Corey or Carlos for that day, who brought his A+ game to the table. Corey and Simon’s team were in tight competition with the Scott Squared team for the entire race and the difference between being first, and the first loser came down to the last lap! Corey was the one to lay the hammer down on the last lap while Simon nervously waited at the finish line probable regretting not choosing to do a double lap for the win. And Corey pulled through with the goods proving he had what it took to guarantee the win, by coming across the finish line in first for the tag team category a mere 40 seconds ahead of the Scott Squared team. Corey knew he had to put together a solid last lap to make up for his romantic tree hugging experience on an earlier lap which almost resulted in a skin graph and a lost nipple. Way to go Da Revenge of Carlos and Moustachio!

Then there was the brother and sister rivalry. I will cut to the chase and state right away that the Kick Ass Kinsie’s took the win, however I feel this is due to an unfair advantage. Advantage one being that the Kinsie’s are very good looking, advantage two being that they have a much higher combined age over their competitors, and advantage three, Jon is too fast. Then the true competition was between the Waglers and the Wilsons for the win (say that 10 times fast). It was a close match and it all came down to finishing times because the top 4 teams all managed to reel in a staggering 15 laps of the near 10 km course. It turned out that the Waglers pulled off a 3^rd place finish only 2 minutes behind team Flash Dance while the Wilsons came in a close 4^th place. Jamie says that he and Sam could have easily pulled off a second place finish if he didn’t have to run half a lap due to his crank falling off and his rear derailleur getting mangled. But Jamie these are the risks that you have to take when you decide to assemble your bike yourself. To tell you the truth, I’m suprised that only your crank fell off and your derailleur got mangled. I think the MVP for this race goes to Sam who had to clean up her brother’s mistakes by completing an impressive double lap while master mechanic Jamie went to work.

Then came the solo race. I didn’t realize this at first, but having won three of the last solo 8 hour races that I have entered, I was a top competitor and there were other racers “out to get me.” Other than the start and the finish of the 8 hour race, there really isn’t anything exciting to talk about. I mean going in the same circle over and over again, in fact 15 times, is really only exciting for the first lap, then comes the mental game of trying to keep pace for the longest 8 hours of your life, and keeping the rubber side down. However I have managed to find a technique that has worked really well for me. Go fast right off the beginning, don’t look back, and if you start to slow down, go faster. And hang on because it is a long 8 hours. Oh and don’t forget to stay hydrated and eat a good amount of tasty food at regular intervals. This technique worked out quite well and I managed to take home my fourth title by finishing 15 laps and only a few minutes behind finishing time of the Kick Ass Kinsie’s. Oh so close. A big congrats goes out to Duane competing in the masters 40+ solo division. To the untrained eye that guy may not look like your typical endurance mountain biker, but to the trained eye, he is one tough farmer that can finish that 8 hour like it is a typical 12 hour day on the farm.

Well done Two wheel Express!

Written by Logan Tacoma

24 Hour Race

On Friday June 25^th some of the team headed up to Albion Hills Conservation Area of the annual 24 Hour of Summer Solstice. Two Wheel Express entered a team into the 6-10 person category. We had 7 people on our team being Simon, Jamie, Danielle, Corey, Duane, Samantha and Nathan. Along with our many loyal fans!

Arriving the day before the race started, most of us went out for a ride on the 17 km lap. After getting back from our rides, we settled down for the evening with supper and then sitting around the camp fire that kept going all weekend, courtesy of Nathan. We set up 4 tents, our team trailer and 3 Kenda tents up in our little camp site to accommodate to our total of 14 people.

Although Saturday’s forecast was calling for rain, when we all woke up there wasn’t any rain. All of us were hoping that the rain would hold off for the weekend and there wouldn’t be a replay of last years 12 hour race, cut short due to the mud. Unfortunately, the rain came, and the start of the race was delayed from 12 pm to start at 2 pm.

When it was about time to start the race, the rain had finally stopped and held off for the rest of the weekend. Everyone gathered around to watch the huge start of all the racers go off at once. Simon started for the Two Wheel Express team, pulling a solid lap, on the course that was not too muddy and kept getting better with each lap! Jamie followed Simon, pulling another fast lap, easily putting the team into first place. Danielle went next, followed by Duane and Corey. Finally after waiting quite a while Samantha and Nathan got their turn to do their laps, and after everyone on the team got a lap in, the first place position was still held.

After Simon went out for his second lap, the night laps started. Danielle and Samantha successfully completed their first night laps ever, and had a good time! The fog of the night making the night laps a little more difficult to see with our lights and all the roots a little more slippery, the added a little more danger and caution to the night laps.

The next morning, as 12 pm kept creeping closer and closer, our riders were getting more and more tired, due to a combination of hard racing and lack of sleep. Everyone on the team completed 3 laps with the exception of Simon, Jamie and Corey who completed 4. In total, Two Wheel Express completed 24 laps in the 22 hours that the race ran, and finished in first place. Way to go team!

Next race is Buckwallow, O-Cup #5!

By Samantha Wagler

Lake to Lake Classic

1st of all happy belated Fathers day to all them Dad's out there!

While most of the Two Wheel express gang decided to pre-ride the 24Hour of summer solstice race course on Sunday, Jamie and I raced the ever so famous Lake to Lake Classic.

Great day of. One Scott Scale 40 check, team gear and food check, one Jamie Wagler w. team "bus" ON TIME. check.

On our way we pick up Danny Souter and with. a non eventful drive we get down to the start line. With a good warm-up we line at the front rows and at 11am sharp off we go. Jamie takes the front lead while myself not so comfortable in a pack take the left side 4 rows down. Good spot plenty of space, crash free. U'd think. Not even 2 minutes into it.SNAP! Come around 2 guys on the ground and 5 more untangling their bikes. Not good, sprint to catch the main pack were in a good position entering the double track. a few "on your left-on your right's" and I'm chasing the front pack.

Hey i can see a Two Wheel Express Jersey, greeeeat see if I can bridge it. Lock out the Reba,full gas into a headwind with at least 15 people behind me easy task. Not so much. Thought some people might take some pulls but it’s a race, I forgot. Enter the ATV trails and that was some fun, trying to take the best line and keeping your speed was a task even four yours truly, but the Scott was up for the rough ride and "we" managed to lose some competition. Lost track of the leaders at this point. Ride your race. Halfway thru' and i came upon some great volunteers cheering and passing out water. Thank you, your support is appreciated.

Some great flowing single track down by St. Catherine’s which I rode mainly alone, eventually catching riders and riding over some epic mud bogs. Yes, one so epic it nearly "consumed" my bike (top tube deep). Last part of the race was spent hammering as hard as i could knowing that if you want a good finish it has to be under the 2hr mark. Jamie made that in 1h51min pulling of a 3rd place sprint that looked a la Mark Cavendish. Yours truly had a not so shabby 29th place overall, in 2hr05min.Happy.Will I be back? Absolutely.

Overall. a well organized race, good post race food, 9 out of 10 for course marking(yupp I almost got lost),congrats to Danny Souter for winning it (again) and thanks to chocolate milk. (nom nom)

It was a grrrreat day.

by Zoltan Pop

Two Wheel Express rides with Caledon Hills Club

So we have a couple weeks break between Ontario Cup mountain bike races now, so time to do block training for a lot of us! We got invited up to ride some trails up by Caledon Hills, Ontario by the crew from Caledon Hills race crew! This was a little weekly road trip with a drive of little over an hour one way, but hey why not! So we showed up had a little meet a great while splitting up into two groups and went off to shred some trails, discovering some new terrain and a new bonding experience with another great cycling team! By the end we gained a lot better technical skills as the trails they showed us were nestled in the escarpment with lots of rock face and off camber climbs and descents. It’s a poor situation as well were they had over 30km of trails and now is dwindled down to 10km tops. Only the young guys went to this area of trails, which was a mountain biker’s worst nightmare to see these beautiful trails just get ripped apart by logging. But to finish this on a good note I think anyone in the Caledon Hills area should most definitely check out their shop! Don Coats is an outstanding guy with a solid crew backing him up!

The following week was Hydro cut time to show the Caledon Hills team our little gold mine. After a delayed start time, do to traffic and the Caledon Hills shop getting bombarded last minute; we were off like stallions galloping on a majestic carpet ride with three split groups. One strictly girls with Danielle, Samantha (two wheel express) showing the Caledon girls Jenn and Shannon. Then it was the young guns and experienced guys with a little age behind them, in the other two groups. It was quite enjoyed by all, as we are all getting more comfortable with one another and our riding skills, along with joking amongst one another! By the end of the night we all arrived back in the parking lot to grab some high quality recovery drink in chocolate milk with a snack of cookies!...mmmhhm so yummy in my tummy!

These past two weeks of riding with another cycling group was a great experience to meet new people with the same passion for the sport and also to not just be strangers at races no more! An interesting note on the Caledon Hills Cycling club is that they are one of the largest clubs in Canada with 357 riders.

By Corey Hakkers

Ontario Cup #4

On June 5^th the team set off for the lovely town of Midland for the next race in the Ontario Cup series. When we arrived on Saturday to check into the Howard Johnsons the weather was quite cool but at least it wasn’t raining. We had a good pre-ride and then rested up before a dinner out with the team at Boston Pizza. When we got back to the hotel some of us went to Dairy Queen which was conveniently located across the street from the HoJo. Then began the parking lot dance party hosted by DJ Mike and his Chevy Tahoe.

We awoke Sunday morning to the sound of rain and none of us were eager to deal with the muddy race course. By the time the 9:30 race began the rain had stopped and most of us had switched to our mud tires. For those of us who raced first the course was actually better than expected and got better each lap. Paul and Duane finished 16^th and 17^th in their race while Mike did not finish (he didn’t have mud tires and was sliding all over the course). Bob had a great day and placed 2^nd in his group making his podium debut of the season. At 11:30 the course was considerably better. Samantha and Danielle rode strong and each finished 2^nd in their group.Ryan also had a good day and earned an 8^th place finish. At 1:30 the full course was open and had dried up very nicely. In Senior Expert, Corey was the lone finisher from our team getting 18^th while Nathan and Zoltan both had misfortune and did not finish. In the Elite race Simon and Jamie fought hard for their 14^th and 16^th places while Logan was not his usual crazy self and he did not finish (must have been the veggie burger).

The day ended with the weather being very nice so we all left Midland and headed for home a little dirty, quite tired and thankful that it didn’t rain all day.

Photos by Melissa Wagler

Canada Cup/Ontario Cup #3

Hello friends, family, sponsors and fellow cyclists. Sunday, May 31 was the Trek Store Canada Cup/Ontario Cup#3 up in the outskirts of Barrie, Ontario at Hardwood Ski and Bike. It was gorgeous weather, plus 20 degree, possibly even touched 30 degrees each day I bet! The night before we all consumed some good pasta put on by the mothers who were in attendance at some sweet fancy little condo venue by Horseshoe Valley, but the bread was demolished by some hungry people after Logan and I prepared some unexpected Bruschetta bread after confusion of forgotten bread was misplaced, or kept in a van! Course was super dry and in dusty condition, bone shaker was ready to rattle some bones...and the BMX track was ready to be pumped around on!

First the Older fellows (Paul finished 21st, Duane 23rd and Mike 25th) were battling themselves in their own category finishing less than 1 min behind one another, it was good seeing them stay together battling and coming close to each other in the end. Bob rode to a very strong 6^th place finish in his group. Ryan also raced at 9:30am with the older fellows and he finished a respectable 16th. Then the elite pro race along with juniors raced at 11:30 and as the heat increased so did the quality of the racing. Simon finished 49th, Jamie 46th, and the crazy boy himself Logan 36th after he almost came close to becoming a victim to the boneshaker. Samantha scorched her own competition in the junior expert female category finishing a solid 7th. At 1:45 pm the Z man himself, Zoltan was hammering away with Nathan in the final laps until he had a crash which gave him a flat to let Nathan have the victory of their battle on the last lap. Corey finished a respectable 16th in senior 19-29 expert male. Danielle had the only bad luck on her side on this race day with a early first lap crash that ended her day. Everyone had solid finishes and places throughout the day. Overall it was a great first overnighter race for the 2010 season of Two Wheel Express.

Ontario Cup #4 is up next up in Midland, Ontario!

Written by Corey Hakkers

Photos By Angie Wagler

Ontario Cup #2

On May 9 the race was at Albion Hills Conservation Area in Bolton. Our new team outfits had just come in and we were so looking forward to showing them off. The rain came down hard on Saturday thus causing the pre-ride to be cancelled for much of the day. On Sunday when we went to the race we needed very warm clothes as the temperature was hovering around the freezing point. In fact at some points in the morning there were snowflakes in the air. The condition of the course turned out to be better than expected with all the rain that had fell prior to the race. This was because the great guys at Chico Racing did not letting anyone on the course while it was raining. This was another “chocolate milk race” and we had no trouble keeping the milk cold with the temperature being so low. I think some people would have preferred hot chocolate on this day instead of the ice cold chocolate milk that was given to them at the finish line.

In the races the action was heating up in spite of the cold temperatures. Paul, Duane and Mike finished 24^th, 31^st and 33^rd respectively in their group. Bob had strong race with a 4^th place finish, just missing the podium. Ryan was not having a good day and did not finish. Danielle rode to a strong 3^rd place finish and Samantha finished a very respectable 6^th. At the 1:30 race Corey rode strong again to a 13^th place finish while Zoltan improved on his last race with a 20^thplace. Nathan, feeling the effects of being on his honeymoon and not riding his bike did not finish. In the Elite race Logan rode to a strong 18^th place while Simon and Jamie finished 24^thand 25^th respectively.

Photos by Angie Wagler

Ontario Cup #1

Finally the season has begun. After a lot of training over the winter months, both indoors and outside, we got to start racing our mountain bikes. With Scott as our new bike sponsor for Two Wheel Express we are eager to see how these bikes are for racing. As a team we were very thankful for the opportunity to train at Iron Heart Fitness over the winter. It has been great to have them come on board as a sponsor of Two Wheel Express. Many on the team have done at least one race already this year at either the Good Friday road race in Hamilton, Tour Bronte in Oakville or Paris to Ancaster. Even so the race in Mansfield on April 25 is thought of as the start of our season.

As the day approached we were all watching the weather forecast and it was not looking good.After the 2009 season when we had a lot of wet and muddy races we were eager to have a good start to 2010 on a dry race course. After a good day of pre-riding the course we all went home to rest up for the big day. On the way to the race on Sunday morning it was raining but as we got closer to Mansfield the sky began to clear. We drove out of the rain by Orangeville and later in the day drove back into the rain at the same spot. There was no rain in Mansfield all day which seemed like a miracle and we were all very thankful.

The course was fast and the racing was tons of fun. Our four old guys were in the 9:30 start and they all battled hard to the end with Duane finishing 22^nd, Paul 24^th and Mike 30^th in the Master Sport 45-49 group. Bob earned a very good 7^th place finish in the Master Sport 55-59 group. At 11:30 Ryan, Samantha and Danielle were eager to test their skills on this fast course.Ryan placed 12^th in Junior Sport, Samantha was 8^th in Junior Expert and Danielle was 3^rd in Senior Expert. At the 1:30 race the speed increased as the best racers of the day took to the course. Corey got his season off to a great start with an 8^th place in Senior Expert while Nathan was 24^th and Zoltan 28^th in the same group. In the Elite men group Simon was 25^th and Logan was 29^th. Jamie did not finish his race as he was sick and could not continue.

One of our main sponsors over the last two seasons has been the Dairy Farmers of Canada.They will be sponsoring us for at least 2 more seasons. We have been promoting chocolate milk as a sports recovery drink. With this there have been several chocolate milk giveaways at Ontario Cup Mountain Bike races as the racers cross the finish line they are given a cold chocolate milk to drink. This race at Mansfield was a “chocolate milk race” and everyone really loved getting their chocolate milk after their race to “recharge with”. Riding your mountain bike and drinking chocolate milk – two of the best things in life – made for a great day to start the 2010 season.

Photos by Angie Wagler