July 6/10 17:34 pm - Endurance Camp Underway at Burnaby Velodrome

Posted by Editoress on 07/6/10
 

The Burnaby Velodrome is active with endurance track riders.  From June 28th until July 24th the invited men's team pursuit pool of riders will be based out of the Vancouver area in an effort to position themselves in a qualifying spot for the 2012 Olympic Games.

The riders include Mark MacDonald and Jamie Sparling of Calgary, Alberta, Jacob Schwingboth of Surrey, BC, Remi Pelletier-Roy of Montreal, Quebec, Adam Thuss now located in BC, Stephen Meyer from London, Ontario, Erik Mulder from North Vancouver, BC, Daniele Defranceschi from Windsor, Ontario. These eight will be joined by a few others in week two and their mission is simple:  set a team imposed qualifying time by the end of the summer, then another team imposed faster standard to qualify for the World Cups which begin in December.

Photo courtesy Jeremy Storie

Many of the riders have been racing on the road, and the first week of the camp was dedicated to getting their track legs back.  Led by coach Jeremy Storie, they worked on building their speed endurance, in an effort to prepare themselves for speed and power sessions that they will face in the upcoming weeks.

"It is great to be able to live, train and race as a team for almost a full month.  This gives us the ability to train all aspects of a team pursuit with the proper recovery" commented Meyer, while Jamie Sparling added "the past few days have been a reminder as to just how hard track training is. The CCA has assembled a great group of guys who seem to be working well together on and off the bike."

The camp involves road training and racing to complement the track sessions, and the team will compete at the Tour de Delta, Tour de Whiterock, and then head south of the border for track races in Portland and Seattle.

Courtesy CCA

Photo courtesy Jeremy Storie