The Tom Jehlicka Memorial Criterium Race and New Jeans Report

Two views of the Tom Jehlicka Memorial Crit, one from Brian "Tenders" Trafford and the other from Osmond "The Grizzle" Bakker, and their pursuit of men's denims.

Hardware: Brian on the left with the Bronze, Osmond on the Top with Gold.  Photo courtesy of Brian Trafford.

Brian: 

Leaving Ottawa with the van full of equipment I knew it was going to be a fun filled weekend as it always is when you travel with Osmond. Despite all the laughter we are serious when comes to our bike racing. We devised a cunning plan, one that would put all the other teams on the back foot. I was feeling good that day, so we decided to send me up the road in the hope that Osmond would bridge up to me. Our other team mate Dave was to wait for a sprint and cover moves.

Osmond:

As the race started Brian asked if he may go up the road and I obliged and said yes. He immediately gained 20 seconds. Moves tried to bridge to him but to no avail as I surfed their wheels. After 15 minutes I saw an opportunity to bridge to Brian and successfully connected with him. Once across the gap Brian looked back and immediately made a massive effort to reestablish the gap. We had one other rider, Ben Andrew from Stevens.



We rolled steadily and gradually increased our lead to over 1 minute 20 seconds and 50 meters behind the pack. It was a lot of fun riding with Ben again, having been his team mate when we were 19 on the Fresh Air – Ottawa Bicycle Club team it brought back many fond memories and made the mood in the break more lighthearted than normal. Unfortunately the inevitable came and with 5 laps to go we started to attack Ben. Ben was strong and successfully brought us back on numerous occasions. In the end Osmond won the sprint, Ben was second and I finished third.

Brian: 

The best part about this team victory is that Osmond introduced me to men's 7's jeans and bought me a pair as part of my earnings: