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 22nd, Paul 24th and Mike 30th in the Master Sport 45-49 group. Bob earned a very good 7th 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 12th in Junior Sport, Samantha was 8th in Junior Expert and Danielle was 3rd 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 8th place in Senior Expert while Nathan was 24th and Zoltan 28th in the same group. In the Elite men group Simon was 25th and Logan was 29th. 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
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