Escape Velocity

So, something called Get Out There apparently has some fantastically discerning readers. Because for 2011, those readers chose things. And one of the things they chose was us.

I know! In their 2011 Readers' Choice awards, EV was recognized as "Best Cycling Club, Western Canada." They also picked an Eastern Canada winner, but didn't make any claims about which club was best in Canada. Whatever, you know it was us. After all, they made this year's Award logo red, black, and white, which is THE BEST COLOUR SCHEME EVER! We're totally not biased when we say that, and we'll pretend we weren't the reason.

In the tradition of acceptance speeches, EV would now like to fake humility for a moment and thank all the people who made this moment possible: the voting readership of Get Out There, and the many members of EV that do all the things that make us the Best Cycling Club, Western Canada (But Probably Really in All of Canada, and Maybe The World). Of course, EV's members are EV, so I guess we're bragging again.

On a less boastful note, The Best Cycling Club, Western Canada would like to humbly reach out to anyone who might want to join us: we're looking for a few good cyclists. If you like road racing, and you want to join a team that does more to make road racing in BC possible than any other, we'd love to hear from you. We've had some turnover in our membership team (the old Membership Guy got teenagers, and a job or something), so you can write to rcousine@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Despite very low temperatures and icy roads, Escape Velocity's annual Toy Ride ran as scheduled on November 19, 2011. Even in the face of these conditions, riders did come out!

The Tim Hortons Community Cruiser provided coffee and snacks to the hardy participants, and we raised $1300 for the Lower Mainland Christmas Bureau, who provide toys, clothing and food for needy families.

Our sponsoring bike shops stepped up, with La Bicicletta helping us collect donations, and Wentings Cycle & Mountain Shop donating a gift certificate door prize. The lucky winner was Doug Brons.

Thanks go to all the riders who didn't let little things like freezing cold deter them from supporting a good cause. And we'd like to extend a special thanks to our friends from Wedgewood Cycling Team, who continue to support this event generously, as they have for many years.

EV has big plans for this year's Spring Series. Very big plans. Would you be excited if we told you that it might get so big, Spring would no longer be able to contain it? Well, you should be excited by that!

OK, trust me, it will seem more exciting once we actually reveal what is happening. So this is a notice, to, um, prepare to be excited some time in the future. Probably. But it's going to be great. Really.

Behold this photo:

That's Garneau Evolutionist David Gerth, recent winner of the club sportsmanship award, repairing the wheel of Tristan Hughes, recent co-winner of the mechanically declined award. For bonus points, David is doing it with the only cone wrench that was at hand, which was, uh, part of the mechanically declined trophy. Not only is it beautiful, it is also useful.

In other ridiculous news, Tristan, who won for getting multiple flats on a club ride without having a spare tube, well...I'll let David tell it: "Sunday morning, not 12 hours after receiving his award for mechanical incompetence, Tristan got a flat. We all stood around him in awe as he emptied his pockets...without producing a tube."

In other news, the guy who won the club member of the year award is still on the board, and the guy who won the crash prize crashed again. We can only assume the most improved riders are getting better, and the most dedicated riders are out training.

Having exhausted the tragic and farcial versions of history, we can only assume these moments will repeat very shortly in another form, possibly Brechtian musical theatre.

Escape Velocity: a club with a sense of history, extending back at least as far as the weekend.

Every year, in one of Escape Velocity's best-loved and most hallowed traditions, our members gather at some place with good beer and generous portions, so that we can take awkward photos of them eating. Here are this year's pix:

Also, we shame or glorify some deserving individuals.

Mechanically Declined

Accepting for both himself and Aidan Caves, his absent partner in crime, Tristan Hughes told the story of how they both got flat tires on a group ride where neither was carrying spare tubes or pumps. Because they never carried spare tubes or pumps. A few flats later, mom was called to pick them up.

But don't worry folks: they now "sometimes" carry pumps and tubes. So lesson partially learned.

Dedication to Training (dEVo)

For logging everything onto Strava (and having a lot to log!), Wilson Tran scooped up the award for the youth member most willing to suffer now for glory later.

Most Improved (dEVo)

Aidan Caves was not exactly slow at the start of this year, but then he went and qualified for the Pan-Am Junior games. Unfortunately, he couldn't make it out tonight, either because he was training or because he got another flat tire.

Dedication to Training (EVeryone else) and Most Improved

Dave Stephens collected two awards as an early adopter of Strava who rode everywhere (including "Spain," which we think actually meant "Italy"), logged everything, and apparently got something out of all that riding and logging, since he shot from obscurity and TT specialization to glorious crit victories. Dave went from Cat 4 races at the start of the year to a spot on the elite GE roster today (and you should totally read his team bio at their site, where he lists "macroeconomics" as one of his hobbies. Also, indoor rowing is a thing?)

rEVolution Leader's Award

Dave Gerth collected the club sportsmanship award, as a result of being as nice as he is fast (he's quite fast) and helping shuttle numerous dEVos to their appointed races in a totally non-creepy way. We're pretty sure this is how Garneau Evolution scouts fresh talent.

Keeper of the Flame

Joe Tam could not dodge this award any longer: he has been running the WTNC since approximately 700 AD, he answers Every. Email. We. Get. And he is as close as EV gets to having a living embodiment of the spirit of Escape Velocity. So we gave him a candle. Honourable mention must go to, well, most of the rest of the board, who got nominated for their various unsung contributions to making EV what it is.

Best Racing or Training Crash/Best Story

Ryan Cousineau (by which I mean me) won the crash prize by crashing in a safe and graceful fashion when he blew a front tire at the velodrome. Normally people run towards fallen riders at the track, in this case, the other trackies just assumed Ryan was fine. He totally did NOT win it for wiping out J. Gerth in an unrelated rookie-move chop on the track last Spring.

Best story went to this exchange on Facebook, which featured Ryan, Tobin Copley, Mark Wan, and Stuart Lynne, in a tale of Cat 4 smack-talk. With teammates like these, who needs Glotman-Simpson?

And then, this happened:

That's it for 2011. See you next year.

(For past Awards Nights, see 2010, 2009, and 2008.)

Escape Velocity is a very special cycling club. No, not that kind of special; the other, exclusive, selective kind of special.

How exclusive are we? Well, meet "Tobin," our membership director:

(Photo by Doug Brons, EV member.)

Nevertheless, we are now accepting applications to join Escape Velocity. Why go through the hassle? Well, because with exclusivity comes awesomeness. We have a page that explains what it means to be an EV member.

In short, we're bike racers from 5 to 85 (at 86, the Velo Vets recruit you), and we take two things seriously:
-bike racing (road, track, and CX, with BMX as part of our youth-development process)
-giving back to bike racing

If you join our club, it means becoming part of one of the oldest organized clubs in Metro Vancouver, the club that runs more bike races than anyone else in the province, and a club with a structured program for developing young riders.

We also have a sense of camaraderie that I think is rare in a club of any size, much less one as big and diverse as EV. Do we like to have fun? See the photo of our membership director above. Let us tell you about the time we had a hot tub at one of our races (and why we'll never do that again). Come meet our amazing members, who in the rest of their lives are bankers, entrepreneurs, rocket scientists, former Olympians, architects, fire fighters, electricians, graphic designers, IT professionals, massage therapists, and, uh, whatever it is the web nerd does.

Most of all, join our club because you are amazing (or if you're too young to be amazing, you want to be amazing someday) and you want to hang out with amazing people. Join a club where it's not whether you win or lose, but whether you raced well, helped out, and had fun.

If that appeals to you, read our intro for prospective members, and then fill out our online application.

Team Escape Velocity will be hosting the annual Toy Ride on Saturday, November 19, 2011 in support of the Lower Mainland Christmas Bureau. All cyclists, cycling clubs and teams are urged to come out and join us in support of this worthy cause. Riders are encouraged to bring donations in the form of cash or cheques made out to the Lower Mainland Christmas Bureau. Monetary donations are preferred as this provides the LMCB the most flexibility in assisting those individuals who need help the most. The LMCB will issue tax receipts to donors at a later date.

Look for the Escape Velocity tent and the Tim Horton's community van in the parking lot beside the Jericho Youth Hostel at the foot of Discovery Street any time after 8:00 AM. Please arrive early and join us for coffee and Tim Bits, as our ride will leave at 9:15. As usual, this event goes rain or shine.

All participants LMCB Toy Ride will have their name entered into a draw for a $50 gift certificate that has been graciously donated by Wentings Cycle and Mountain Shop.

If you are unable to attend the ride but still wish to make a donation, you may do so by dropping off your donation at La Bicicletta, 233 W. Broadway, during regular business hours until the end of November. Please add “E-V Toy Ride” to the memo field of your cheque.

We encourage all cyclists to join us for the ride. Thank you in advance for your contribution.

Event Details

Date: November 19, 2011

Location: Jericho Youth Hostel, 1515 Discovery Street, Vancouver, BC

Time: Coffee at 8:00 AM, Ride departs at 9:15 AM

Route: Escape Velocity Richmond Route (approximately 80km).

For more information on the Lower Mainland Christmas Bureau, see: http://www.lmcb.ca/

For more information on the Escape Velocity Toy Ride, contact Cam Finnigan:evtoyride@telus.net

2011 Results are here.

Please contact jak_new(at)me(dot)com if you have any questions or concerns with the results and he will be happy to address them ASAP.