Blink once and this speed demon on wheels is gone.
A local U17 rider had a big weekend on the Alberta Cup circuit ahead of the Canadian National Championships in Quebec next weekend.
Over three days (July 1-3) the Canmore Mountain Bike Festival ripped through backcountry trails and the downtown core of the mountain town.
Sunday’s cross-country mountain bike race at the Canmore Nordic Centre was the finale for the weekend.
With parts of the course named the Organ Donor and Eye Dropper, riders strategically rode through the fourth race in the 2016 Alberta Cup Series.
Canmore’s Logan Sadesky was the fastest U17 rider Sunday, showing his swiftness and technical skills in the looped course en route to his first mountain biking race in the Alberta Cup.
“It was my goal to really do well in this race. My dad organized it and so it’s really nice to take the win,” said the 16-year-old Rundle Mountain Cycling Club (RMCC) rider.
“Normally the climbing is my weakness, but really the legs were there today and I managed to kind of stick with people in the climbs; then descending is my strength, so I attack on the descent.”
Sadesky was able to put his technical riding skills to use, electing to use the shorter A-lines throughout the course to his advantage.
“The A-B lines help me out a lot. It’s nice to have a technical feature in there,” he said.
Following Sadesky in second place for U17 was RMCC’s Sean Parker. The 15-year-old Canmorite clocked in a time of 1:03:43.3. RMCC’s Brittany Webster crossed the line first in the elite women race (1:32:10.5). Webster, who also coaches the mountain biking portion for RMCC’s younger Rampage group, said it’s all about keeping rhythm on the course.
“I love the course,” said Webster. “At first, going fast on a technical course like this, because we don’t have them very often on the Alberta Cup circuit, was a little nerve-wracking. It’s really important to be relaxed out there … I told my kids the same thing, especially after racing with the kids for a few days.”
In expert men, Canmore’s Marcus Henry with Synergy Racing finished in second (1:22:59.1) and RMCC’s Darren Schmidt was third (1:24.20.3).
On Saturday the Super-D downhill mountain bike race saw riders slicing through steep trails at the Nordic Centre.
Sadesky shined in his strongest race style, finishing first in U17 and third overall (10:50.1).
The top finishing Canmorite was Henry, who crossed the line second overall (10:37.4). Local Jared Gervais from Different Bikes Racing was fifth (10:59.7).
Webster was the top local female, finishing 30th overall (12:55.5).
“The Super-D was amazingly fun,” said Webster. “I would love to have a couple more of those in town. Unfortunately, (Rampage riders) had a couple of crashes. They’re at that level right now where they can get going really fast, so if they crash it’s going to be a fairly bad one. It has potential to be bad.”
Three Rampage riders were injured over the weekend festivities and with Canadian nationals on the horizon, Webster’s fingers are crossed they recover in time. Last Friday’s challenging event, the Eliminator, is a technical base course and cornering well is a must.
Sadesky was the top local finisher, sixth overall.
“Logan is amazing on his bike,” said Webster. “You have to corner well (in the Eliminator) and he’s really good at that.”
“It was challenging, it challenged a lot of my young ones, myself included … You live and learn, but that’s what racing is all about, especially in all these Alberta Cup races. It prepares them for bigger and better things.”
