Rolf Devinci

It has been a Sunday of contrasts. This morning we had an official "unofficial" club ITT. Never having done an individual time trial I was curious to see what it is all about. Wow! It isn`t easy and just zooming in the bike fit with aerobars is difficult even before you start racing. We had 35kph winds which meant a nice tailwind for the first 15 kilometres but quickly resulted in some painful riding on the return trip into Fall River. That said I managed to do the 30 kilometre ITT in 51:22 which is a shade over 35KPH. Not too bad considering the last 7K felt like I was sitting on a rail. Ouchie.......the tender parts were definitely feeling the effort perched on the nose of the saddle. Given time and practice I could see myself liking the ITT discipline. This afternoon the club did the Garfield Gilson memorial ride for our deceased comrade who died a year ago today. Like any ride of that nature it brought back both happy and sad memories. I miss you buddy! He would hav...

Here are some of my shots of the 2006 Halifax Crit. Geo

Every year in the history of the modern Halifax Crit it has rained. It looked like we might actually see nice weather today but, alas, Mother Nature once again rained on our parade. The Juniors/Novice and Master B/C cats lucked out. We were the first two races on the schedule and had almost perfect weather....overcast but dry. In fact I was heading back to the Halifax Armouries to change after the Master`s race when it started to rain. Whew! The Master B/C race got off to a good start. We had six cyclists out of a field of 20(ish) riders so were in good shape to control the race. Unfortunately we did not take advantage of the situation. Was it because our guys spent themselves on a tough race in Wolfville yesterday? Was it a case of the squad not willing to work together? With about 12 minutes left in the 40 minute race(plus two laps)a two man breakaway went off the front. A couple riders, myself included, tried to rally the troops by working up front and attempted to bridge to ...

So.......weather forecast for the weekend and the start of Superweek is looking good. Sunny and hot for Saturday and Sunday. My spouse`s work schedule was posted and, to my utter disbelief, she has Sunday free! Perfect....Sunday is our club`s Halifax Criterium so now I am free to volunteer to work it and participate in the Master B race. A win/win. The tradeoff is Saturday but I`m more than willing to sacrifice the tough Wolfville race for an opportunity of participating in the crit without time constraints or childcare issues. So........time to start thinking about Sunday, what my objectives might be and what I hope to achieve. The Halifax crit is a race well suited to my abilities as it is a course that circles the Halifax Commons and is on wide, flat boulevards.That said I have no illusions...it will be tough. Previous years has shown it to be a fast race that attracts the finest riders from across Atlantic Canada. If the weather holds it will be an awesome event. Pics are some...

In ideal weather conditions the IG Triathlon was a great success. An excellent event. Well done. As part of the Team event I was a third of Team Biome responsible for the cycling leg of the event...a 20K sprint distance. The lead Team swimmer tagged off to his cyclist about 5 minutes before Jim and I made the transition. I had a decent ride and managed to clock 38:38 for the cycling leg that included the time it took Jim to run from the waters edge to transition and what it took me to run to the mount line.Average speed, according to my cycling computer, was 32.6 kph. I placed the fastest cycling time of the Team event and Paul did the same for the running leg. As a result we finished first overall in the team event with a time of 1:16:25. The second placed squad finished with 1:18:30. It was lots of fun and I definitely have the greatest respect for those triathletes who do the entire competition. I find it hard to allocate time to train for one sport let alone three disciplin...

Monday after a dreadfully wet and rainy weekend...ugh! No bike time for this dude. Managed to get in an intense spin class on Saturday and some weights on Sunday but with the IG Triathlon on Sunday, July 2 I need to get back in the saddle. Still cloudy outside but at least it is a little brighter. Will I get a chance to get out riding tonight? If not there is the Monday night spin and Cynthia`s class is darn intense. Unless, of course, Josh decides to go to Karate tonight. The BNS road points series is now updated and I`m currently sitting in 16th place out of a field of 24 Master B licensed riders. My focus now is to get the bike leg of the IG Triathlon team event in the books. Immediately after that event the following weekend is the start of Superweek.....the Wolfville race on July 8 and the Halifax crit on the 9th. The Wolfville course is the hardest in the series, with some nasty climbs and rough pavement. I`m focusing on the crit so may not do Wolfville...I`m not a climber and...

The provincial road race was today in 26C sunny weather. The only drawback was a stiff cross/headwind for 3/4 of the rolling hills course. In a group it was managable but alone it was evil. My game plan heading into the race was too play it safe and try to hang with the pack, dependant upon keeping in touch on the only real challenging climb on the course. At the line it became obvious that we had a several club riders in the Masters B/C cat with at least four potential podium finishers.We were in the ideal situation to try and control the race. Five kilometres into the race a couple of our riders started attacking off the front and mixing things up. Several others(including me) moved to the front of the peleton of about 40 riders and continued to try attack and block strategies. Generally things stayed together until the first and only big climb. As usual the climb was the signal for the guys to hammer and try to break apart the group. Not only did I manage to hold on to the lead ...