Tour of Pelham

Saturday April 4: We take a brief moment to pause from birding the local trails as there were a number of cyclists out there doing their best to complete the 2009 Tour of Pelham. Unfortunately, I did not take part, neither as a rider or volunteer. I didn't bird anywhere either. I stayed home to recuperate from the latest cold virus passing through the region.

Image courtesy of Dave Van de Laar

It was the 9th annual Tour of Pelham and as Tim posted on the St. Catharines Cycling Club (SCCC) forum, "(it) wouldn't be a Lake2Lake event without a torrential downpour now would it?". The heavy precipitation occurred all day Friday causing Tim and the gang to drastically alter the course, removing the Short Hills Provincial Park section. From the following images (used with the permission of Dave Van de Laar) you can see it was a cold and muddy day of racing.

Over 150 riders braved the elements and thoroughly enjoyed the event. Many of them SCCC members. Those who did not ride did an excellent job of assisting Tim with the set-up, timing, marshalling , and tear down.

Image Courtesy of Dave Van de Laar

Image courtesy of Dave Van de Laar

SCCC member Nathan Chown, riding his cross bike, smoked the 29.8 kilometre course in 66 minutes.

Image courtesy of Dave Van de Laar

The following day (Fox Sparrow day) was sunny and 13 degrees. Monday evening it started to snow. Welcome to April in southern Ontario.

The next Niagara race (road race) will be the Niagara Classic O-Cup Race hosted by the SCCC. Our club does a great job of organising the Niagara Classic. I hope to be there to help out on that day. I'll take the camera as well. Though I think Dave would obtain a greater quantity of images than I ever would.