Day 1 – Friday June 29th 2012
After a quick breakfast at the hotel on the Friday of the team BC project to the first Canada Cup in Quebec, it’s off to the historic downtown area to tour the battlegrounds (Plains of Abraham) and get in a good pedal to activate the legs. Vans are loaded and ready to go, a tight fit but a nice easy drive into downtown, made it there safely, barely however when one of our vehicles was almost rear-ended by a careless driver. After finding a parking spot the vans are unloaded and the ride begins. Making our way around the battleground of Quebec where Canada’s history all begins, we continued our ride for just under and hour then headed back to the vans. Seeing as practice was not scheduled to start until later that evening the decision was made to grab lunch at a nearby mall giving each rider a preference on what to eat, as well as a good way to kill a bit of time by doing a little walking. After wandering the mall it was time to go back to the hotel, where we packed up the bikes again and went to straight over to the track. The idea was to get our practice in a little earlier than scheduled so as not to disrupt our dinner reservations. A short time after we arrived and took a team picture we were rained out by a massive storm and sent back to the hotel for the day. The rain managed to keep us stranded in our rooms for a few hours before loading up and driving to the restaurant for dinner. Dinner was great, a nice little Italian restaurant, then after a little jump over to the Wal-Mart across the road to replace our worn out soccer ball we had purchased the day before. Then it was back to the hotel where the competition from last night continues as we gathered for a game of soccer in the parking lot before bed. It was only fitting because our exercise was negated thanks to the earlier thunderstorm. A nice friendly game and some fun in the lot and it is off to bed for the team to rest up for the first Canada Cup BMX race of 2012.
Connor McCormack
Day 2 – June 30th
Great day of Racing today done by Team BC. Started off with what looked to be a nice sunny day but soon turned into one heck of a thunderstorm in the afternoon. As practice started this morning, so did the weather start to change. Most of us were able to get two laps in before the first of to sprinkles happened during practice. As we went back out after the rain stopped, we got about three laps in before it started to sprinkle for another 10 minutes. After that, it was time for the championship classes to head back out for one last practice and a chance for us to go out and hit the pro sections. The pro section was very muddy, so what is normally one of the easier pro sections turned into a struggle to make through. As the main events rolled around, so did the massive thunderstorm. The thunder was booming during both the championship main events and the rain started about 3 minutes after the final. We were super lucky to get out of there just in time for the 20min long thunder and lightning storm. As the rain picked up and we were driving back to our hotel, the rain started to pick up even more. With the track cover and better weather forecasted for tomorrow were looking for another great day of racing.
James Palmer – 1st place Jr. Men
Highlight of the day: Takin the W
The team started the first day of the Canada cup like any another big race. We all woke up around 7:30-8am, took showers and ate breakfast. We were all unsure what the weather was going to be as we left to the track because the weatherman called for rain. When we got to the track we all unpacked our stuff and got suited in the “team BC” zone and biked around to get our legs moving while all concentrating on the top spot. Practice started and we only got 1 lap in before it started to rain but it was just a passing cloud and that repeated 2 more times throughout practice. The hardest part of the track was slow moving pro section, which felt like we’d almost lose half our speed going through in-between the two jumps but everyone had the same disadvantage the elite men had a few rides while the jr. men and jr. devo boys had semis. Connor (McCormack) took the first for the elite men with some impressive runs. The two jr. men team BC members James Palmer and Myself were in the two different motos and we both had good runs but James dominated in his motos and also taking the win for the first day of the Canada cup. Jr. devo main, Hayden (Mechielsen) took the first spot with an impressive run. Amanda took the third spot in the elite woman and Erin took the first in jr. devo girls. The races finished right in time for the big thunder storm that started to flooded the roads within minutes. When we all got back to the hotel we All relaxed and played in the rain and finally went to out to dinner to grab a bite to eat and now we are all sitting around having a good laugh and enjoying the cool night.
Ryan Murphy – 5th place Jr. men
Highlight of the day: Thunderstorm five minutes after racing
Day 3 – Sunday
We started off today with getting to sleep in a bit since racing didn’t start until 11:00. After we all got up and ready to go we headed to the track for a few practice laps and racing. Although I didn’t do as well as I would have like racing was still fun and the track held up really go after the rainstorm we had the day before. As a whole team B.C. did pretty good on both Saturday and Sunday. After racing we headed back to the hotel to hang out until we went for dinner. After dinner we drove down to Quebec City and walked through the old part of the city making our way to the plains of Abraham where we watched the fireworks for Canada day. Over all it was a pretty good day.
Hayden Mechielsen – 1st & 3rd Jr Devo men
Highlight of the day – Standing on the podium
Today we had our second Canada cup race and I again raced elite women. There were only 4 of us today but I still managed to get a 3rd. I felt a lot better today because I finally got the timing for my gate down. My snap was way better than yesterday and it felt great! The weather managed to hold out and we ended up racing in the sun with little wind. After racing we got our awards for yesterday and today and it felt so good to stand on top of the podium and get my medal and hold up my giant cheque. We went out for dinner with team Ontario afterwards and that was a blast! When we finished dinner we all piled into the vans and headed down to old Quebec where we walked around town and watched the fireworks. They were pretty great! All in all it was a very fun day.
Amanda landers – 3rd in Elite female (1st Jr female)
Highlight of the day – Standing on the podium raising the giant cheque high above my head!
Day 4 – Summary
On Thursday morning we got up, had breakfast and put our bikes together. At about 11:00 we headed to the grocery store to buy food and drinks for the weekend. We then returned gathered our racing gear and headed to the track for practice. After practice we drove to an Italian restaurant for dinner and stopped at Wal-Mart to pick up a soccer ball and a Frisbee. We returned to the hotel and started a soccer game in the parking lot, which was a lot of fun even though my team didn’t win. Friday morning we started our day with breakfast followed by a ride around the Plains of Abraham. We stopped at a mall for lunch and to hang out on the way back. At about four we packed our bikes into the vans to try and get some practice in before dinner. Once we arrived we could see some dark clouds heading our way. Once Adam had gotten our team picture the skies opened up and in started pouring so we headed for dinner and Wal-Mart to return our destroyed soccer ball. On Saturday we got up and headed to the track for racing. The team did very well on Saturday. Once racing finished we didn’t even have time to get our medals for the day before a massive thunderstorm started. We headed back to the hotel and played in the rain. Once the rain stopped we went for dinner. Sunday was a much nicer day than Friday and Saturday. The day started with breakfast then we headed to the track for a bit of practice before racing. The team didn’t do as well as on Saturday but it was still a successful day for us. After racing we went to dinner with team Ontario followed going sight seeing in old Quebec. After watching the Canada day fireworks we headed back to the vans and returned to the hotel. This being my first team BC I had an awesome trip.
Erin Kinnie – 1st Jr Devo female
Highlight of the trip – Team soccer game in the parking lot
This was my first team BC trip, and it was really fun. On Thursday went to the track and got to only ride the first 2 straights because it was to soft in the others due to rain. On Friday we drove down to downtown Quebec city and rode at the plains of Abraham, after that we went to the track again and it started to rain really hard, so we just went back to the hotel. On Saturday we all headed to the track bright and early to get on the track, racing went well, even though i fell in my main. After that it started to rain really hard and there was a huge storm with thunder and lightning. On Sunday it was really sunny and hot, racing went well, after racing was really fun, we went down to downtown Quebec and walked around and watched the fireworks. Over the course of the weekend we had some really fun times that i will remember for a long time. Overall it was a really fun weekend
Darien Landers – 6th Jr men
Highlight of the trip – Thunderstorm after racing on Saturday