Banff Stage Race - Stage 1: ITT

Lisa Howard, Jessica Hannah, and myself, along with guest rider Marie-Claude Gagnon, hit the road early Friday morning - Alberta bound! After having traveled about 850km from Vancouver and spending over 10 hours in my van singing along to songs by The New Pornographers and the Lion King soundtrack, we finally arrived in one of the most spectacular places on Earth. We all felt pretty lucky and excited to be racing in a national park at the Banff Bike Fest '08. The racing kicked off Saturday morning with a hilly 21 km ITT, which started in the town of Banff and proceeded to loop around Lake Minnewanka. The scenery of this time trial was as breath taking as the effort...there was a leg/lung burner of a climb up to the lake followed by a ripping, winding fast decent. Wildlife crossings were also present. Despite having driven from sea level to some 1400m the day before, the women of Giant Bicycles/Team Whistler were able to put out some fast times and solid results. Downtown (me) finished the time trial 1:10 behind eventual stage race winner Julie Beverage (Aaron's Women's Pro Cycling Team) and landed in 4th. The Hannibal (Jessica Hannah) placed 6th and Doc (Lisa Howard) placed 8th. The criterium was being held the same day almost 12 hours after the time trial so off to lunch, naps, and butt-kicking prep we went!