San Dimas Stage Race

On March 19, the popular San Dimas Stage Race signals for many racers, the start of the season. This year is no different, with the top men’s and women’s teams racing for three days out of San Dimas, California. In these deep fields are a number of Canadian teams, including members of the Specialized Mazda Samson team, Team Nanoblur-Gears, and Team SpiderTech Powered By Planet Energy. Amongst the deep start lists are also Canadians racing for American teams, including Andrew Pinfold racing for UnitedHealthcare Presented by Maxxis, Alison Testroete racing for Team Vera Bradley Foundation and Heather Logan-Sprenger racing for Colavita/Baci presented by Cooking Light.

Now in its 11th year, the San Dimas Stage Race gets the racers warmed up with a challenging 6 kilometer (3.8 mile) time trial. Although this time trial may seem short, it includes a challenging climb up Glendora Mountain Road.

The second stage of this three-day stage race is the San Dimas Hospital Road Race. Racing over 11.5 kilometer (7.15 mile), the men will race for 12 laps for 135 kilometers (84 miles) and the women will race for eight laps for 90 kilometers (56 miles). According to the San Dimas Stage Race web site, “The race course terrain makes this course a challenge for all riders: bigger riders face the daunting climb up Cannon that has a 13-percent kicker; once over that climb, the smaller climbers must hang on as the course is flat and fast for the next couple of miles. Every rider looks to the rollers through the park to even out some of those differences in rider size and ability. To master this stage requires a solid all around riding style. Bottom line: anyone can get dropped on this tough circuit, so everyone better bring their A-game.”

To close off the three days of racing, racers gather in the Old Town San Dimas for the Incycle/Cannondale Old Town Grand Prix. This criterium includes six corners, a slight downhill, and three long straight-aways. The men race for 90 minutes and the women race for 55 minutes.

Although most racers are busy right now traveling to San Dimas and going through last minute preparations for the race, we were able to catch up with a few Canadians to get their thoughts on the upcoming weekend of racing.

Anne Samplonius racing for Team Nanoblur-Gears, is looking forward to the first stage race of the season for her new team. She is expecting the racing to be challenging as it is early in the season and she has been juggling training with school. Samplonius emphasizes that this weekend of racing is going to be a great chance for the team to race together. Overall, she says this of the weekend of racing, “Well I am going into this with zero personal goals other then to race hard everyday. I want to urge the others to take opportunities and not hold back as well. I want our team to be noticed. We will not simply be pack fill I can tell you that! We may not make the podium but this team will be racing hard everyday. I want the team to build confidence.”

Racing at San Dimas for the second time, Jenny Trew of Specialized Mazda Samson will be joined by only one other team mate, Moriah MacGregor. Trew is using this weekend as a chance to open her legs and get back into racing after taking a break. She emphasizes that for both herself and MacGregor, they are hoping to be active in the stages through-out the weekend with the goal of getting some race stress into the legs. Trew, the team sprinter is honest about her expectations this weekend, “As I haven’t raced in over eight months, I have no real expectations of how things are going to go. I’m hoping to be strong enough to mix it up in the races and as a sprinter, you always hope that you can roll the dice and get on the podium if it comes down to that. More than anything else for me, the purpose is to get out there and have fun and set the tone for the rest of the season. After San Dimas I’m heading home to train in Ottawa for another month to further prep for the season.” After this weekend of racing, MacGregor will race at the Redlands Bicycle Classic and then she is off to Europe for a Canadian National team project.