May 27, 2012
Category: News
2012 Killington Stage Race-Wrap Up
The Killington Stage Race continued Sunday with the individual time trial. Ambrose was the only Canadian in the 50+ category, as they hit the road for the short but hilly 17.6km time trial. Ambrose put in a time of 26:11.30, good enough for 20th spot in an extremely competitive division. To put this in perspective, if Ambrose was in the 40+ category he would have been 8th. We’re talking world class athletes in this race! Checking back, Ambrose was 10 seconds slower than last year, but other riders lost more time compared to last year. Haluk Sarci, last year’s overall winner, dropped well over 2 minutes, and William Thompson, who was 3rd in last year’s TT, dropped about 38 seconds. A few guys managed to improve their times over last year, but it was unusual, likely due to a drastic change in wind direction.
Going into the finale on Monday, a 99km road race, Ambrose was 3:26 behind the leader. As usual a small pack of about 15 including Ambrose broke away from the field, getting some good separation before hitting the big mountain to finish the race. The last 8km is a nasty bit of business, basically climbing up a ski hill. Ambrose got to the finish in 10th spot, behind some of the toughest 50+ riders in the US.
In the overall standings, Ambrose jumped to 10th place after the road race, 5:52 off the pace. Brian Batke was the overall winner, with Kevin Hines taking second. Batke was 5th overall in the 50-54 category at the US national time trial championships in 2010. Hines was second in the 50-54 age group at the World Cylco-cross Championships in January. These guys are fast!
2012 TT Start List
Here is the starting order for the 2012 Cape Breton Classic Time Trial.
Anyone registering on-site will be added to the end of the list at random, in 1 minute intervals.
Starting Order
2013 CB Classic Results
And The Winner Is…
The Eagle Eye on Green Challenge wrapped up today. Our friends at 103.5FM The Eagle pimped the heck out of this contest and we all had a great time playing along for the month of August. Thanks to superstar on-air personality, Nicole Sullivan and her daughter Davis for making the huge commitment and sticking to it through wind, rain, blazing heat, dripping ice cream and heavy traffic.
The winner of the Norco bike worth over $600 is Karen Hamilton. Congratulations.
August Promo With 103.5FM The Eagle
Our friends at 103.5FM The Eagle, are promoting eco-friendly activities all this month. Leading the way is their very bubbly on-air personality, Nicole Sullivan. FrameWork Cycle has given Nikki everything she needs to start biking to work. For added fun, she is going to have her baby girl, Davis, on board heading for daycare, in the iBert Safe-T-Seat. We’re not sure who is more excited, but Davis came in to pick out her helmet and hasn’t taken it off since. Check out Nikki’s blog.
The Eagle wants everyone to join in by committing to some kind of eco-friendly activity. There will be lots of prizes to be won, including Nikki’s new bike. Everyone who enters, will benefit by living a healthier, more active lifestyle, not to mention, possibly saving some cash. Tune in to 103.5 The Eagle the whole month of August for more details.
Enter the Green Challenge to win Nikki and Davis’ bike and some other great prizes. Contest is ending soon. Enter now to win that bike.
To help you join the eco-friendly challenge, we have taken some incredible deals and made them even better. Check out our bike selection and you will see prices that are virtually unheard of. Don’t wait too long, some bike manufacturers will not allow us to hold these extreme discounts for long. (Other dealers get upset and complain about our prices being too low!) Here are some of the best deals available…
Remember to join us on Facebook, for even more great deals and info.
Bicycle Advocacy Taking Hold
Back in 2008, FrameWork Racing joined forces with over 100 CBRM residents at a council meeting where a vote was taking place to entrench spending on Active Transportation for the next 20 years. There was a lot of research done up to that point, but very little actual progress. With the gallery filled to capacity, council voted unanimously to spend $1 million per year for the next 20 years on Active Transportation infrastructure. To do that, they would leverage grants and funding from other organizations, mainly the provincial and federal government, basically spending $1 million but only costing the CBRM $333,000.
We were all happy to see that kind of progress, but actions speak louder than words. Here are some of the projects that were planned followed by a brief summary of what has been accomplished. There are other projects, but these are the main ones.
A nice bit of work to keep us busy for a few years. One of the key issues of funding these types of projects is that you have to spend the money each year. The funds cannot be carried forward. The problem is that a project might get derailed by unforeseen circumstances. For example, the project listed as “Downtown Sydney to Mayflower Mall” is mostly a plan to pave separated bike lanes running along both sides of Spar Rd. If you have ever biked this road, you know there is a problem with the tracks. A plan to solve that problem has been devised, but the owners of the tracks, Rail America, are proving difficult to work with. Without an agreement with Rail America, the project remains on hold. Problems like that exist all along Grand Lake Rd, delaying the “Sydney-Glace Bay multi-use path” as well.
Even though it appears that things aren’t being done, sometimes it’s not possible to complete projects in a timely manner. Appearances can be deceiving. It’s not for lack of trying. There are funding issues and project delays that can prevent spending the full amount. Now we are nearing the end of the 2012-2013 fiscal year for CBRM which is almost 4 years. Since there is no carry forward for spending, they will never be able to “catch up” but it seems as though they have been picking up the spending quite rapidly, and the “big” projects are still being planned, and wrinkles being ironed.
In September of 2010 Rick McCready of CBRM reported to FrameWork Racing, the following progress after the first full year of the new plan:
“Last year (2009-2010), we spent $325,967 on AT Plan projects, of which $219,342 (67%) was comprised of federal and provincial grants. That was the first year of AT Plan implementation. The largest expenditure was extension of the Westmount Walking Loop, followed by the engineering plans for the Whitney Pier Heritage Trail. There was also money spent on purchasing 59 bike racks and rings, bike racks for the transit fleet, walking loop signage, drawings for the George Street bike lane, etc. The budget last year was supposed to be $1 million but two problems occurred: HPP (NS Dept of Health Promotion and Protection) rejected our application for funding and the Westmount project got delayed due to the discovery of unexpected problems with the sanitary sewer, meaning the monies allotted to that project could not all be spent.”
FrameWork Racing recently received an update from CBRM that goes like this:
“We have spent over $2 million on AT Plan implementation in the last 4 years, so we have spent less than we had planned..Most of the money has been spent on the Westmount walking loop, the Whitney Pier Trail, the Greenlink trail, the Grand Lake Road Multi Use path engineering design, and the purchase of steel 4 seat park benches. There have been a lot of smaller projects such as the Renwick brook tunnel redesign, bike rack purchases, the Sydney River multi use path design, the Glace bay bus shelter to name a few.
“A lot has been done but it is true that we have not made a lot of progress on the bike specific infrastructure. The reasons for the delays have partly been financial. We spend a lot of time waiting for federal and provincial grants to come through, often pushing projects from one year into the next. There have also been other technical and jurisdictional issues….such as dealing with RailAmerica on the SPAR Rd shoulder paving and the Sydney River MUP routing…very difficult.
“We think approval from RailAmerica is close for the SPAR, so it SHOULD happen in the spring. The Grand Lake Rd MUP is our biggest single project and we hope to start this coming year as well. We have included it in our budget request to Council and have applied for provincial funding as well, and will be applying shortly to ECBC.”
Thanks to Rick McCready for providing the information in a very timely manner.
To see the complete Active Transportation plan check here. AT PLAN
Bike Shop or Big Box Store?
Black November
Black Friday…All of November.
For a limited time only. The best deals you will see all year.
50% off all our SevenPeaks bikes, Yes! Half price. That includes assembly. Act fast on this one.
35% Off! All other remaining non-electric bikes. Assembly included. We have lots to choose from, but they might not last. This deal could end without notice on certain bikes. Don’t wait too long. All Bikes On Special
25% off all remaining in-stock electric bikes. This is your chance to snag a great deal on an ebike. PLUS, you still may qualify for the $500 Electrify rebate. We have some great choices in stock.
eBike Special
We have some great deals on our rental fleet of eBikes while they last. All of these are in great working order, tuned and ready to go. Retail value is $3599. Now only $2300 minus the $500 Elecirify Rebate. That’s right. Only $1800 plus tax.
Surface 604 Rook and V-Rook used electric bikes
Great deals on cycle trainers. Stay in shape this winter with a great deal on a trainer.
Cycle Trainers
Check out the Black November deals here, while quantities last. Sale ends November 29. Due to the size of the discounts, certain items may be removed before November 29 without notice. Check back for updates throughout November.
Cabot Trail Top Ten In The World
The Cabot Trail, in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia has been named by Lonely Planet as on of the top ten trips that every cyclist should make…check out the article in the Cape Breton Post from November 11, 2009.
