Based in Ottawa, many of the Cyclery-4iiii team arrived on bike to the GP Gatineau
Ariane Bonhomme is Canadian under-23 road and time trial champion
The Scott Foil's get race numbers
Ellen Watters was a member of the program and was close friends with many on the team
Watters signature adorns most of the teams bikes
Training wheels are swapped out for race wheels
The team ride Energy Lab VC 40 wheelsets
Director sportif Jenny Trew's bike acts as the spare
The team's bikes are outfitted with 4iiii power meters which came on as a title sponsor in 2017
The fleet of Scott Foil's at the ready
"180 psi?" the team mechanic jokes with the riders as he pumps up tires
Jenny Trew preps the Cyclery-4iiii riders ahead of the GP Gatineau
The Cyclery Racing at the 2017 GP Gatineau. Photo: Philippe Tremblay
The Cyclery-4iiii are an Ottawa-based women’s development program supported by the Cyclery bike shop and it’s owner Vince Caceres. In 2017, the team is atop Scott Foil bikes outfitted with Shimano Ultegra mechanical groupsets, finished with EnergyLab wheels, 4iiii power meters and they wear Biemme apparel. A top their heads are Scott helmets and protecting their eyes are Smith glasses. At the recent Grand Prix Cycliste Gatineau we had a look behind the scenes with the team as they prepared for the road race.
The team has a commitment to development with riders from across the country in the 2017 line-up. Riders from around Quebec, Ottawa, Vancouver, Edmonton, Saskatoon and Mississauga, Ont. join forces as the team travels across North America to race on the domestic and UCI circuit.
“At Energy Lab we joke we have to go across Canada to support our Alberta racers on the Cyclery-4iiii,” explained Kelly Zwarych, CEO and founder of EnergyLab on the reasons for the companies commitment to supporting the program. “Vince Caceres and myself spent time talking and our principles align well. The team has a long-term focus on the Olympics and professional athlete development. I am 100 per cent on board with that.”
The team strives to develop the next generation of elite women cyclists. Following the 2016 season, the team graduated Canadian road champion Annie Foreman-Mackey to the UCI level where she joined Sho-Air Twenty20. Ellen Watters who was hit and killed by a car in late December was set to join Colavita-Bianchi having won the Tour of the Battenkill and the Tour of Sommerville with the Cyclery in 2016. Olympian Tara Whitten who finished eighth at the 2016 Rio Olympics in the individual time trial is also a member of the team now serving more in a mentorship role.
Ellen Watters passing had a deep impact on the team. She was not only a strong presence on the team but a close friend to many. She also strongly demonstrated the program’s principles and success developing into a professional caliber racer.
“Ellen was more than a teammate for us, she was a member of our family. It has been very difficult these past couple of weeks and I still can’t even put into words how I feel about it,” wrote Canadian national under-23 road and time trial champion Ariane Bonhomme in early January. “We will remember her by bringing her aggressive style of racing at every race we enter, her work ethic everywhere we go and her positive attitude on and off the bike.”
This reflected in the team’s results at the 2017 Tour of Sommerville where on Day 2Â Bonhomme won the Raritan Criterium. “When we decided to go down to the Tour of Somerville, Emily, Sara, Kinley and I knew we wanted to bring our A-game,” she wrote. “Partly because it was at this race that Ellen had her awesome win last year and partly because this is just who we are. We love racing aggressively, dominating the race and putting the other teams under pressure.”
The team continues to forge ahead despite the loss. “I stay in the moment and I control what I can. I hold my teammates and my family close. I allow myself the time and space to process, to feel, to work through fear,” wrote Justine Clift reflecting on the loss of Watters and others in the cycling community. “I seek out and affirm the joys of this sport and the community that hold us together,” Clif who was sidelined because of injury for almost an entire calendar year reflected.
The Cyclery-4iiii will once again be on home soil at the Canadian road national championships in Ottawa on June 24. They will be defending Bonhomme U23 road race and time trial title as well as hope to put on a show in the elite women’s race where Foreman-Mackey shone last year thanks in part to the work and commitment by her teammates.
