Tim Heemskerk

Last weekend I raced in Appelscha for the Championships of North- East Holland. It was a really nice course in a forest with some technical sections that really suits a MTB racer. Right from the beginning we got up front with a group of 3. We attacked each other a few times but every time the group got back together so we were up for a sprint of 3. Unfortunately for me I dropped my chain right near the end, just before the final sprint and finished 3rd. I was the first ELITE racer so won my category since the 2 other guys were still U23's. A good weekend right in the middle of our move. No riding the 2 days before the race and right back to our home after I finished the race, not ideal but the legs were OK.

Last Sunday I raced the National cross called Walsbergcross in Reuver- Limburg. I am not sure how long it was ago since I last raced in my home province of Limburg, yes originate from this province and actually had quite the racing years for the organizing club called Midden- Limburg. They did an excellent job and it was very nice to see some familiar faces of people who were already supporting cycling back in the days when I was like 14 years old. They put on a cross race on one of the nicest cross courses I have ever done, period. I made the 3 hrs trip back and forth with a pleasure. The race went pretty well for me but I am still lacking some fitness after a 2- week period of being sick. It is coming back and the 4th cylinder is starting to move and maybe it will fire soon! 2 guys got away during the first lap and I was right behind a group of 4 for 3rd for a while and near the end their gap got a little bigger and I finished a solid 7th place. With a few more workouts I should be able to hang in there with the guys of this group in front of me. Deb did a good job driving part of our trip, running the wheel pit, cheering and taking care of our dog at the same time. We have been a good team the past few races, team Heemer! One guy near the wheel pit tried to be funny @ me and commented on my wheel set, he was pointing out at my Dugast Rhino's and he meant to say I had guts to have those for spare wheels...I quickly returned him with a comment that this was all I had for spare wheels, nothing else to choose from, that I do not grow a money tree in my backyard like him. Easy for him to say with 2 spare bikes in his hands for the JUNIOR rider he was supporting at the time. Yes, cross is a big thing over here and dare to bring the wrong kind of wheels/ tires into the wheel pit! It does reflect how serious and professional cyclocross already is over here at a junior level, and no wonder these kids are so fast, it is serious business over here!

After a few people asked me to update my blog I realized people actually do read it so here we go! Things are slowly settling down here in Groningen. We have had a busy period over here from getting our needed stuff together (like purchasing a car, a house, kitchen stuff, vacuum cleaner, dressoir and other furniture) to doing our jobs and a bit of family life in the south of the country. We're both looking forward moving into our new house in Zuidhorn next weekend! That is when we really have our own home instead of camping in our current rental house. In a real home one can really relax from stressors in life and you can do whatever you want to do since it is your property, these things lacked which made our life a little harder. We are both from Holland but the North of the country was new for us too and we do not have any family living here. The only times we have seen family is when we traveled south, twice now in 2 months.

Being back in Holland is nice for a few reasons, one of them is that I'm not considered being a foreigner anymore. Yes, even after 5 years in Alberta I have noticed that quite often in different situations when I was working, in sports and in social life. It only did increase my respect for people who decided to start a new life in a new country, because they do face a lot of challenges, one of them for example is trying to get rid of their "funny accent" when speaking English. I have always had interest in people who go out of their comfort zone, people who do want to go out and explore and more importantly grow! We have taken a lot of great experiences back to Holland with us and have grown as a person again.

I am also racing my bike for a team here in the North of Holland, although it has been hard to focus on racing and training with so many distractions going on right now, all sucking time and energy out of you. I have had a few DNF's because of it but also already won a MTB race in Rozendaal, and now I am crossing things up a bit. I am not sure if I will continue racing cross in the next few months since I do not have my cross equipment set up properly to do this well enough for the races to come. Next weekend Deb and me are moving into our new home and things will look different again so that's what we are focusing on right now, again out of our current comfort zone for us when we are moving to a different town meeting all new people. Owww...by- the- way our street we're going to live in is called: Heemskerkstraat (straat= street in Dutch), and the house just came on the market when we were looking for a house in that particular town: Coincidence or Destiny? You decide!

Later, -Tim.

4 young TTP- talents from Alberta participated in the U23 Canadian National Championships CX this past weekend, and 3 of them finished top 10. Brian Robinson won another bronze medal, just like in 2007, Justin Middleton finished 6th, and Matt Krahn finished 9th. Peter Knight is trying to get back in shape after a cracked bone in his ankle, so unfortunately no top 10 result for him. Good to see them perform well and picking up another cyclocross medal for TTP.

The past few weeks have been incredibly busy for Deb and me and in the middle of that I also raced road provincials. The race went OK and I finished 3rd. THe moving and shipping of our stuff, move related stress, cleaning and renting out of our Condo plus, and renovations which took quite longer than planned sure had it's impact on my legs and motivation on racing and training. A new step in our lives has come. We have moved back to Holland since my wife was offered a job as assistant professor at the University of Groningen. She's going to run her lab with hopefully as much success and dedication as she did the past 5 years in Edmonton. Edmonton has given us a lot and those were the best 5 years of our lives. I will post more about our Canadian "honeymoon" which lasted 5 years in a next posting. I am very thankful to have met some really nice people and spend some time with them on the bike and off the bike as well. Special thanks to Antonio who was always there to listen to me and provide me with some well meant advice and vice versa (we both run a business and have our business related issues), next to grabbing a movie or go out for a nice dinner together, next to serving the best Cappuccino's and Doppio's Canada has. Da Capo really brings people together and that's what is most important in life, friendship. Right now I am in Groningen in a hotel working and catching up an emails etc. and our Canadian dog KiKi right next to me. She was definitely the best thing I had over in Edmonton. I love dogs and animals and KiKi has always been with me, accompanying me, and making me go out and walk with her. She has taken me through some lonely, and sad days as well since Deb was the only family I had over there. A dog surely changes your life! OK. what next for me? I am going to finish MTB season here and do some cross races at the start of cross season, will get our new home ready before winter, coach at the next level, next to getting my coffee machine rocking and introducing the Dutchies to some real coffee making!

Since Intermontane Challenge was a no go for me I decided to head out to Calgary for Tour de Bowness. I did not enter until the last minute of registration Friday night, since I was not sure about it because I was super busy the past week with our move back home, but more importantly my bike broke on Friday! I managed to get my cyclocross bike rolling for the long weekend, not ideal but.. EY, I had no other chance. The Hill Climb is something I was not pumped about and with a storm with lightening rolling in, I was hoping it would get cancelled, no it was a GO and with the strong tailwinds most records were broken. I managed to have a good race with Chris McNeil in the last heat of the day, it normally is a 3- men Hill Climb but in the last heat only the 2 of us which was fine and we tried work together. I was not feeling strong but still had a sprint at the end which made me finish 3rd on the day, surprisingly knowing the Hill is only about 3.5 min long....too short for me actually. The next day we had an evening criterium race and I was a little concerned since I have never cornered that fast on my cyclocross bike :) The crit was sketchy with a few sketchy moves by some riders. I decided to sit safely in the back and have a try near the end, tried and got caught back, tried again and got caught again, too bad, needed my road bike for these attacks, I managed to stay in the front and finished 5th, all this happening in the last 3 laps of the race, I was strong. The next day a true European/ Belgian Kermisse style race on a loop of 5 km's with rolling hills and out in the open w/ wind. I decided to make the race hard and went off the front a few times in the first few laps. Just before half way the race Jamie Sparling was up the road by himself with HR Team chasing hard, they all faded on the hill, and when Chris Devries attacked with Dan Skinner I responded and that was the 4- men break of the day (3 racers from British Columbia and me). Apparently the chase behind us was very hard, but they could not bring it back! I was lucky with all my team mates trying to disturb the hard chase :) . Dan Skinner got dropped (or flatted??) a few laps later, not sure what happened to him and we headed on with the 3 of us. With 1.5 laps to go Jamie attacked us and I decided to NOT respond and stick with Chris for the next 8 km, but disaster for him since he flatted about 3 seconds after Jamie attacked us, crap. The pinch flat sealed off a bit and he managed to get to the finish line half a lap later to change a wheel. I was by myself with Jamie in front of me by himself....this was also how we finished. Chris who had to change his wheel still finished in 3rd since the gap we had build up to the chasers was big. I finished 2nd in this road race and 2nd overall IN POINTS, SINCE THIS WAS AN OMNIUM RACE AND WAS UNFORTUNATELY NOT TIME BASED, not bad considering the cyclocross bike I was riding and not going prepared into this race. I managed to make a few $$ to pay for the Vet bills we got for our dog KiKi this past week. Thanks Antonio Bilotta for the good company this weekend and thanks to Ryan and Tanya Hopping for having us stay @ their home in Calgary! It was a fun weekend for sure, one of the better ones so far in good company! -Tim.

Yesterday we headed out to do Tour d' Alberta which is a nice event in Alberta, not a race but an organized Tour. Off course I would have rather RACED an event like Intermontane Challenge, but without race team support it was a NO GO unfortunately. Entry fees, meals, hotel were too expensive for me to cover by myself. I do think I would have had a good chance racing for the 10K prize money purse for the Solo Men's winner considering my endurance level at the moment...enough said. Back to the Tour d'Alberta a nice event for people who love to ride, for grassroots people, and for people preparing for other events since it is not a race but an event where you want to have fun and finish! I managed to get a nice group together of motivated people and Alberta's talented (Brian Robinson, Justin Middleton, Matt Krahn, Peter Knight, Antonio Bilotta, all people I coach within TTP). For most of us the longest ride of the year or even the longest ride some of the guys ever done! The ride started nice and easy staying as a group, when Antonio flatted twice and we had to put in a race effort to get back into the main bunch before the 60 km mark. From there we had a nice rest stop and after that we put on a good pace and rode about 40 km/ hr average to the lunch stop to have a nice extended lunch while we sat down in a nice patio. After that we hammered through some crosswind sections and a nice tailwind back with one more stop in Gibbons. All those stops made us probably ride more than other people but it was worth it and good training for what's to come. It is nice to ride with a talented and motivated group of people and I am sure they learned a thing or 2 on this long ride, from eating/ drinking well, drafting well and pacing well etc. We had a few more flats on the way and saw a total of 3 crashes on the way from people who ran into each other (put tri- athletes in a bunch and things like this happen..hahaha.....just a joke). After riding just over 5 hrs and 15 min we arrived back in Morinville and had some food, a shower, and a popsicle...well organized that's for sure. Thanks guys and I hope all people that crashed out are fine today and able to ride their bikes any time soon!! I do think some people of our group slept well last night, I did for sure after such an effort. Next appointment: Tour de Bowness.