It's like he never left.
After dominating the Orecrusher two weeks earlier, Squamish's Neal Kindree had some tough competition for the NimbyFifty in Pemberton this past Saturday. In the end, Kindree had the lead on the final sprint and took the win by close to a minute over Kevin Calhoun, Neal's 2:15:59 to Kevin's 2:16:52. Greg Day was third in 2:19:03.
Not bad for a guy who missed almost two full seasons with a knee injury and at one point didn't know if he'd ever return to racing.
"It was a good ride, but I'm definitely a little exhausted," said Kindree on Monday. "The Big Nimby climb was the good part for me. I rode a hardtail, so I got slaughtered on the second half of the course when we started descending."
Kindree plans to do all of the Hell of a Series events that he can get to, and is also looking outside the corridor for the first time in three years. He's planning to race in the nationals in Canmore in July, followed by a pair of Canada Cup events in Edmonton and Panorama.
While a good result at nationals or in a Canada Cup would get Kindree closer to where he was before he injured his knee, he's taking it one race at a time.
"I don't have one race that I'm focused on, or two or three, I'm just racing this year," he said. "I have no goals set as far as what I want to achieve. I'm just making the effort to train well, to not get sick, not get hurt. If I go into a race, I'm not entering it to get a training day, I'm going to do my best to win, but after three years of not doing much I don't know what to expect."
Kindree said his injury is still continuing to improve a little each year, although he's treating it as a chronic issue he might have for the rest of his life. Luckily, he said, it feels best when he's riding a bike.
"Cycling is the best activity I do, and I'm grateful for that," he said. "I can ride hard for quite a while, but if I stand on my feet for a few hours it gets sore. Biking seems to be the best thing for it."
Kindree knew the NimbyFifty race course after taking part last year and came in with a plan of gaining as big a gap as he could on the climbs. At one point he was told he had more than three minutes, although he knew that the gap would be a lot smaller after the descents. "You can't ride the same lines on a hardtail as you would on a dual suspension," he explained.
The course included over 35 km of Pemberton's best trails, almost all of it on singletrack, including the 10 km, 101-switchback, 550-metre vertical climb on Big Nimby.
The top Whistler rider in Elite was Michael Robinson in fifth in 2:20:45, with Dylan Wolsky in 11th and Josh Stott in 17th in the Elite category.
Kelowna's Jennifer Schulz was the top Elite Female in 2:53:06, followed by Melanie Bernier in 2:57:21 and Megan Rose in 3:00.
In 14 to 19 Male, the Daniel Hennigar of Squamish was first in 3:17:14, followed by Michael Kilby in 3:57:22 and Jack Jauristo in 4:32:07.
In 20 to 29 Female, Regan Kolhardt of Squamish was first in 3:42:34, followed by Jenny Strong in 3:54:52 and Lindsay Trimble in 4:00.30.
In 20 to 29 Male, Davey Mitchell of Squamish was first in 2:33:24, followed by Brett Grayston in 2:38:21. The top Whistler rider, placing third overall, was Jean-Philippe Boulais in 2:48:29. Also from Whistler was Andrew Rankin in 17th, Loran Gibbs in 18th, Luke Garside in 19th, Shaun Fry in 23rd and Dave McHenry in 28th.
In 30 to 34 Female, Melanie Vaughan of North Vancouver was first in 3:13:21, followed by Whistler's Fanny Paquette in 3:17:14 and KJ Sadler in 3:27:13. Also from Whistler, Jenna Fox was eighth in 3:56:42.
John Courtney of Quesnel was first in 30 to 34 Male in 2:28:41, followed by Keith Wilson in 2:38:16 and Carsten Ivany in 2:38:19. Whistler's Clark Lewis was fourth, Alex Capon eighth and Caleb Jones 22nd.
In 35 to 39 Female, Petra Hauke of Squamish placed first, followed by Aimee Dunn and Martine Long. The top Whistler rider was Lauren Sampson in eighth.
In 35 to 39 Male, two Team Whistler riders led the way. Michael Boehm was first in 2:23:26, followed by Trevor Hopkins in 2:30:24. Stephen Ushy of Kelowna rounded out the podium in third in 2:36:24. Jerome David, the other Whistler rider in the category, was 29th.
In 40 to 44 Female, Tara Walsh of North Vancouver was first in 4:09:28. Julia Balkwill was second in 4:13:29, and Sasha Walshe third in 5:23:51.
Whistler's Matt Bodkin won 40 to 44 Male in 2:33:38, followed by Squamish riders Dwayne Kress and Matteo Abel in 2:36:59 and 2:39:26 respectively. From Whistler, Greg McDonnell was sixth, Julian Hine eighth, Ian Ritz ninth, Kevin Hodder 22nd, Chris Susko 33rd and Rob Darbrough 36th.
In 45 to 49 Female, Cathy Zeglinski of Whistler won her category by a full half hour in 2:57:03. Lauren Kalf was second in 3:27:51, followed by Moira-Ann Handford in 3:56:28.
In 45 to 49 Male, Andrew Handford of West Vancouver placed first in 2:33:42, followed by Pat Doyle in 2:46:09 and Mike Charuk in 2:49:59. From Whistler, Richard Potter was seventh in 3:15:10.
In 50 to 54 Female, Marilyn McSkimming raced alone to finish in 3:35:01.
In 50 to 54 Male, Ted Russo of Port Moody took the win in 2:34:41, followed by Whistler's Eric Crowe in 2:43:30 and Sheldon Orr in 2:46:23. From Whistler, Bob Allison was fifth and Martin White ninth.
In 55 to 59 Male it was all Whistler, with Tony Routley placing first in 2:37:09, Rob McSkimming in second in 3:00:37 and John Blok in third in 3:40:23. Jannie Grobler was sixth.
In 60 to 69 Male, Roy Kregosky of Qualicum Beach finished first in 3:18:14, followed by Ed Day in 3:38:53.
Complete results are posted online at www.nimbyfifty.com.
