The racing schedules for this summer have just been posted and it looks like everything stacks up almost perfectly for me!
When I say perfectly I mean that there is very little conflict of interest in where I intend to direct my attention each weekend for basically every weekend of the summer. It’s simple, choose what you love doing and then love doing it. I’m not signed up for everything listed here, or at least not yet!
- May 1 – Vancouver Marathon
- May 8 – Spring Thaw (Sprint) Triathlon
- May 14-15 – Velocity Stage Race
- May 21-22 – Bikes on Broadway Stage Race
- May 28 – Crewing for Aaron at Blackfoot 100km
- May 29 – Pigeon Lake Road Race
- June 5 – Oliver (Half Ironman) Triathlon
- June 11 – Half Moon Lake – Mission3 (SuperSprint) Triathlon
- June 18-19 –Banff Bike Fest Stage Race
- or June 18 – Chinook (Olympic or Half Ironman) Triathlon
- June 25-26 – Devon Stage Race
- July 1 – Canada Day Crit
- July 10 – Edmonton ITU (Olympic) Triathlon
- I think this will have slots for Worlds but they are in New Zealand in October 2012 so taking a slot is a rather outrageous proposition.
- July 16-17 – Perhaps run the Skyline Trail with Aaron?
- July 23-24 – Perhaps a backpacking weekend in Wilmore Wilderness?
- Sylvan Lake (Half Ironman) Triathlon is on the 24th and is likely the spot that I’d need to race to qualify for the ITU Long Distance World Championships that are going to be held in Spain in 2012. Doing this is an attractive alternative to chasing a Kona slot in 2012 as this is a true world championship, not a corporate world championship.
- July 29-30 – Tour de Bowness Stage Race
- August 6-7 – Jason Lapierre Stage Race
- August 14 – Bicisport Road Race
- or August 14 – XTerra Canmore (Offroad) Triathlon – rumour is that this will have slots for Maui in 2012, so racing on the course the year before is an advantage if I want to try and qualify for worlds in 2012.
- August 20 – Headwinds Provincial Road Race
- August 27 – Recovery Weekend
- September 1 – It’s September – time to start riding the ‘cross bike!
Two or three weekends out of the whole four months with conflicting interests is a pretty slim number. I’m happy to have a couple weeks in July without much potential distraction which I can either use for relaxation if I’m running on fumes or use for hard training to prep myself up for the upcoming stage racing. I’m really hoping to be able to bring my A-game to the criteriums in Calgary, the infamous Tour de Bowness “Bownesian Pavement” Crit and the soon to become infamous Jason Lapierre “Speedfest” crit that was run downtown last year, rumour is that it will be downtown again in 2011. That means big base in May and June and serious sharpening efforts in June and July. Lots of bike riding!