Whistler's Will Routley, 27, was named to the Canadian team for the 19 th Commonwealth Games, which take place in India in October. Routley, who recently won the road nationals, will race alongside Tour de France and Olympic rider Michael Barry; former Symmetrics team member and national time trial champion Svein Tuft; Olympic qualifier and former Symmetrics teammate Zach Bell; as well as Ryan Roth and Travis Smith.
The women's team will be comprised of Erinne Willock, Joelle Numainville, Tara Whitten, Alison Testroete, Julie Beveridge, Monique Sullivan and Leah Kirchmann.
The team was picked based on results at the 2009 Road World Championships, the 2010 Road Canadian Cycling Championships, the 2010 Pan Am Road and Time Trial Championships and UCI points. As well, a spot was given to the top Under 23 finisher at the nationals.
This will be Routley's first appearance at the Commonwealth Games, although he has represented Canada as an Under 23 racer at the world championships in mountain biking.
Locals in Seymour 5 Peaks run
The third event on the B.C. 5 Peaks calendar took place at Mount Seymour on Saturday with close to 380 trail runners at the start line for a 11.7 km Enduro course and 6.2 km sport race.
In the Enduro, Whistler's Chris Kennedy placed 15 th overall and fourth in the male 20 to 29 category in a time of 1:09:51.
Walter Wallgram was 32nd overall and second in the male 50 to 59 race with a time of 1:14:43.
Cathy Jenkins was third in female 40 to 49 in 1:29:18.
Sarah Ruttan was 16 th in female 30 to 39 in the Sport course in 46:37.
Lisa Wanless and Christine McLeod of Squamish were 19 th and 20 th in the same category in 47:04 and 48:17 respectively. Marie Gosling was 22 nd in 30 to 39 in 49:03.
Ryder Hesjedal's Sea to Sky connections
On Sunday, Victoria's Ryder Hesjedal wrapped up the three-week, 3,642 km Tour de France in seventh place overall, the best finish for a Canadian since Steve Bauer's fourth place finish in 1988.
Hesjedal wasn't supposed to be contending for anything. Instead he was supposed to play a support role for Team Garmin-Transitions rider Christian Vande Velde. However, Vande Velde was forced to withdraw after the breaking two ribs in a crash on the second stage.
Hesjedal stepped up day after day, hanging close to some of the top names in road cycling. He sat in eighth after an impressive fourth place finish on Thursday stage that finished atop the Col de Tourmalet. He then moved up to seventh after Saturday's time trial.
More impressive, Hesjedal did a lot of the work on his own, with his teammates struggling and the Garmin-Transitions team placing 16 th overall.
When all was said and done Hesjedal was just 10 minutes and 15 seconds back of Tour winner Alberto Contador, and less than four minutes out of the top five.
Michael Barry, the only other Canadian in the race, placed 99 th in the GC.
But before he was star on the Tour de France Hesjedal was a world championship-calibre mountain bike racer on a path to the Olympics. Hesjedal competed in several Sea to Sky races over the years including the Cheakamus Challenge.
Still spots open for PreFondo
On the second Saturday of September some 4,000 road riders will make the trip from downtown Vancouver to Whistler along the Sea to Sky Highway on the first running of the RBC GranFondo Whistler - a distance of over 120 km.
Some of the participants will be racing, with $12,000 in prize money up for grabs.
That's a long course by any measure, and will require thousands of cones and markers. To help cover the cost of the signage, Corsa Cycles in Squamish is hosting a "PreFondo" event on Aug. 6 to help purchase "Share the Road" signs through the Squamish area.
"Road riding has increased in popularity almost exponentially over the past few years," said Corsa owner Dave Heisler, "and these signs are just a reminder to motorists and cyclists that they're not alone on the road."
The PreFondo training ride starts and finishes at Corsa Cycles at Squamish Station Mall at 5:30 p.m. Riders will return to Corsa by 7:30 p.m. for a post-race party. You don't need to be registered for the RBC GranFondo to take part in the ride.
If you haven't registered for the sold-out GranFondo, participants in the PreFondo ride can purchase raffle tickets for a prize draw that includes spots in the GranFondo. Proceeds from the draw go towards the purchase of the signs.
Upwards of 200 riders are expected for the PreFondo, and Specialized Bicycles will be on hand with some demo bikes for participants to try.
To register, visit www.cyclecomponentsnetwork.com/event/show/926 and click on the August tab then Day 6.
For the record
In last week's issue we credited Jason Shorter for finishing 224 th overall in the Maratona Dles Dolomites in Italy out of 4,500 riders. The brief suggested that it was a mountain bike event when in fact the Maratona is a one-day road race. As well, the number of participants was 9,000 and not 4,500.
The ride is the precursor to the Grand Fondo circuit and to the RBC GranFondo Whistler taking place in September. This year's Maratona Dles Dolomites course was 147 km, and included an 11 km climb with an average road grade of 10 per cent. In total there is over 4,200 metres of climbing from start to finish, with treacherous and technical descents.
"For comparison, the Joffre Lake climb from Lillooet Lake has an average grade of roughly eighth per cent," said Shorter.
More than 20,000 riders enter the lottery for the race, with half of the spots reserved for Italian riders. As well, Shorter did not have the points in road racing to leave with the first group of 1,000 riders, and started with a second group of 3,000 riders. He played catch-up from the start to place 224 th overall and 57 th in his age category.
Shorter also did the race in 2008.
