Many of you may not know about the Trans Rockies - one of the toughest mountain bike races in the world. It is a 7 day stage race in the Kootenay Rockies south of Calgary near the American border. A number of Irish MTBers and a few others were in the field of 300 teams of 2. All of the Irish completed - Evan Ryan and Matty Blayney for the second time. Results and reports can be found on the Trans Rockies site: www.transrockies.com/trc/index.htm . Below is a link to photos, mainly of the Irish, with a lot of scene shots. All were taken within 2 miles of the start/finish of each stage. The boys however were really out in the wilderness for between 4-8 hours per day, covering a total of 550Km and over 17,000 meters of climbing - more than twice the height of Everest, on a bike! It is the experience of a life time. Look out for it on the Extreme Sports channel some time in the future.

Trans Rockies Photos

What more can be said about the British Cycling Track Team at the Beijing Olympics 2008. They continue to real in the Gold medals and they continue to kick serious ass and while they may not be dominant on the road they have easily confirmed themselves as the greatest cycling nation in the world on the track at least. Christopher Hoy has lead the way, the big Scott today won his third Gold of these Olympics becoming the first British athlete to achieve such a feat in exactly 100 years. If anyone deserves a Knighthood coming out of these games, it is him.

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79km will sound short to the lads after the last three days but it was still a push and there was still places to be made up. In the end they saved their best performance to the end, coming in 24th on the day and improving, as always, in the overall standings. The impressive finish to the 7 day stage race highlighted Matty & Sams endurance during the event as they picked off those ahead of them in the overall. Their 24th place finish — 3rd among British/Irish teams — moved them up to 33rd in the final standings as the sneaked into 3rd place finish by just 39 seconds in British/Irish finishers.

106 started the Open Mens race at the Trans-Rockies and 92 finished of which 21 were British & Irish riders. Well done men.

Click Below for full Results and Final Overall Standings. . . .

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A savage day but the end is in sight. With this nightmare behind them it means just one more race before the finish line and the end of the ‘08 Trans-Rockies. The stage was won by Italians Deho and Cattaneo who look to have confirmed their victory in the event. Matty & Sam slipped back on their race best finish yesterday to finish a still impressive 30th, good enough to move them up in the overall yet again to 36th and 5th best placed Brit pairing. Each day the boys have improved on their overall position. MORE»

It took a while for results to become available between stage four and five but like busses they all came along at once so I shall back date them and post stage 5, 6 and 7 results now. Stage 5 was a tad shorter than 4 but still no rest day. 88km of tough climbs seen no change at the top of the overall but a race best 25th place finish for Matty & Sam placed them 2nd out of the British/Irish teams improving them to 38th overall. Click below for Results and Standings.

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It’s all downhill from here, right? Well not quite, but yesterday’s stage marked the halfway point in the Trans Rockies and also marked the end of the longest stage of the race. A 110km slog through the mountains was won by the Italian pair who have been in charge of this event from the start and so they retain their lead. Further down the pack Matty and Sam continued to improve on their finishing position by the day, coming in 33rd on this stage under 2 hours back on the winners. It was good enough for 4th best Brit/Irish team and so boosts their overall standings yet again to 40th place and 6th Brit/Irish team. No word out of the camp so far today so we’ll assume all is well. MORE»

So it turns out Tuesday was a bigger disaster than at first thought. It wasn’t just a few riders going the wrong way, it was a huge number. Reports coming out of the Blayney/Craig camp suggest the boys hiked their bikes up a climb that went on longer than Slieve Donard only to find out it was taking them the wrong way. Apparantely the times were neutralized from that stage meaning today’s time-trial carried even more importance for those going for the overall win. Matty and Sam wern’t going to be doing that but they were looking to improve day by day and that they did. It was only a 44km ride, mainly on excellent single-track terrain and nobody complained about that considering tomorrow is the first stage that is +100km in length. The boys came in an excellent 35th place out of the 97 left in their category good enough for 5th place out of the British/Irish riders. They finished with a time of 3:33:02 and that moves them up further in the overall standings to 45th overall and 7th in the Brit/Irish cagegory that I am keeping an eye on. MORE»

Ex-International and Ulster Cycling great Dave McCall was last night killed while competing in the Phoenix CC - Maryland Wheelers Inter-club league event at Nutts Corner when he was struck by a car. McCall, aged 46, was one of the most recognised names in cycling throughout Ireland. A top class international cyclist he won many honours on the road and track including competing in the 1990 Commonwealth Games in New Zealand.

As a mark of respect tonight’s Northern Ireland Hill Climb Championship and tomorrow’s Ulster 25 TT Championship have been postponed.

Cycle-Seen would like offer its deepest condolences and sympathy to the family of Dave at this difficult time.

A book of Condolence has been opened on the Phoenix Cycling Club website

R.I.P.

With the first stage over and everyone into the swing of things the distance in the Rockies has started to go up. Monday’s stage was a 74km run across the mountains with a course savage enough to send the big favourites for the event off in the wrong direction. It apparantely brought them into the finish well behind schedule but still at the front of the pack. Matty and Sam completed the course in a time of 7hrs 56 mins 03secs in a very impressive 44th place. The position was good enough to make them 7th best British/Irish riders out of the 21 left in the race and moved them up in the overall to 58th place. Although well down on overall they sit 12th out of British riders but interestingly with 5 British riders just 7 minutes ahead of them.

Also taking part in the event this year in the +80 category is recently retired NHL star Trevor Linden. He came in with his team-mate on a time of 7.45.12 just 11 minutes up on Matty and Sam.

Results & Race Report after the jump.  MORE»

I’m not sure the two North Down boys realised they would be riding in the snow come mid-August when the Trans-Rockies challenge 2008 got underway, but yesterday that is exactly what happened. Matthew Blayney and Sam Craig make up the North Down team and although it was a short stage in the context of the event, it still proved a huge challenge for the lads as they came in 63rd in the mens senior event out of 106. No doubt the stage will be seen as a race to get them into the swing of things as tomorrow the race goes longer and harder. Yesterday’s stage had a climb that peaked at 2400 meters above sea level. The climb in itself on the bike was a 1,000 metre climb that took the boys into the snow of the Rockies. They came in 2 hours, 42 minutes down on the days winners and placed 10th our of 22 Briitsh and Irish riders.

Results & Race Report after the jump. MORE»

What a ride that was by Nicole Cooke and in the process it gave Britain it’s first medal of the Olympics so far — A Gold medal at that. She got into the right break that stayed clear to the line. With about 500 yards to go she lost contact with the others in her group but at the bottom of the short climb that took the riders up to the line just past the Great Wall of China but managed to ride on, hang on and then burst clear in the sprint. For a moment it looked like she had gone too early but she just keep the pace on and held off the Italian for the victory. MORE»

I suppose in some way, in fact a very little way, he should be praised for admitting it and not dragging it through the courts, but then you think of the other boys in the team who were removed from the Tour because of his actions and you feel no praise for him.  Yes today Riccardo Riccò confessed to taking EPO to the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI). MORE»

the ever impressive Sean Downey of Banbridge CC won the Ards 3 Day having been in each of the crucial breaks in stages 1 and 2 and having won the Windmill Hill time trial. On stage 4 for a time Kirk Sloan was leader on the road but his 3 man break behind the race winning 4 man break was reeled in leaving Downey safe in his defense of the yellow jersey.

Photos of stage 4

Three Tour titles in a row and for the record, three major sporting victories in a row. Carlos Sastre joins the Spanish football team and Rafael Nadal as champions of major sporting events this summer. It has been quiet a year for Spain and the last few days have been the icing on the cake in the career of Sastre. A worthy winner of this years Tour de France, he was the man who made the attack that counted, the one that broke his rivals and the one that none of the others could make stick. While everyone else jumped in twenty yard bursts only too look around at their rivals chasing them and sit up, Sastrejust kept going and rode off to get the big minutes he needed in order to win the Tour. MORE»

Well there is still a stage to go but with that kind of a ride against the clock, Carlos Sastre has comfortably done enough to ensure his place as the Tour de France 2008 Champion. I honestly didn’t believe the Tour would come down to a time-trial to decide things this year — there just wasn’t many TT kilometres in the Tour compared to other years — but that is exactly what happened as Evans looked to overturn a minute and a half deficit to win his and Australia’s first tour. MORE»