MEMBERS OF NORTH Vancouver's first amateur bieycle racing team go through their paces during training sessions. The Westview Cycle Racing Club was formed in April and has made

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impressive showings in summer cycling races.

NORTH VAN CLUB COACHES YOUNG CYCLISTS

NEWS photos Tom Burley

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NORTH VANCOUVER'’S
first amateur bicycle racing
team is picking up com-
petitive speed.

Beeun in April, the Westview
Cycle Racing Club (WCRC) con-

WESTVIEW CYCLE RACING CLUB co-coach Peter Raabe instructs club members on the finer points of
bicycle racing techniques. Along with Westview owner George Buchar, Raabe bas helped guide the club to suc-

riders pick up speed

sists of a hard core of 10 riders
who were united by a common
love of the sport and a common
desire to improve skills and tech-
niques under a team training pro-
gram.

Co-coach Peter Raabe says the
North Shore, with its varied ter-
rain, is an excellent area for train-
ing bicyclists and, coupled with the

area’s growing supply of talented
riders, helped oil the wheels for the
club’s formation.

Along with Westview Cycle
Shop owner George Buchar, Raabe
has taken the raw talent of some
good individual riders and moided
them into a team that has begun to
consistently place in the top five of
tecent. category four anv five

cess on the focal bicyele racing circuit,

amateur races.

INDEPENDENT RIDERS

“Both of us noticed a lot of
good independent riders in the
area,’’ Raabe says, ‘‘but most were
floundering around with no proper
training and no. technical
guidance.”’

Buchar, a former member of the
Czechoslovakian junior national
cycling team, formed a smaller
version of the WCRC in £985,
“but it was not organized like this
one.”’

The 30-year-old Buchar says he
started the club because he wanted
to help the sport of cycling in
general and young riders in pur-
ticular.

Raabe, who raced in the senior
two category in Toronto, says cycl-
ing in that city is more highly
developed than it is in Vancouver,
but the Lower Mainland has better
terrain for training.

FIVE CATEGORIES

Of WCRC's 10 riders. seven
compete in ihe beginners’ category
five level, two have recently grad-
uated to category four.

The club also has one female
and two junior riders. Ages range
from 14 to 36.

In a series of five June and July
category five races, WCRC racked
up four first, three second and two
third-place finishes.

There are five racing categories
for bicyclists, beginning at catego-

ry five and running to category
one, which is national team level.
Once a rider has accumulated 10
points in a given category he or she
advances to the next category.
Three points are awarded for each
first-place finish, two for a second
and one for a third.

Raabe, 36, says the popularity
of cycling in the Vancouver area
has begun to blossom: ‘‘A few
years ago drivers would try to run
you off the road, but the public is
much more aware of riders now,
They see a team riding today and

oon

they say, ‘oh, wow, look at that’.
COMMITMENT

Competition requires intense
rider commitment to training.
Raabe says WCRC members ride
at least three hours per night and
iog 30 to SO miles in that time.

Hecause they are amateurs, club
members do not compete for any
financial compensation. Buchar's
shop serves as the club garage.
Members get club jerseys and spare
parts wholesale, Eut the cost of
racing is still high.

Racing bikes cost anywhere
from $1,000 to $2,000. Good rac-
ing Ures cost between $100 and
$150.

“Most of these guys are in it for
the personal satisfaction,’’ Raabe
says. ‘‘Thev're in it to push
themselves to the limit. But most
of all there is the joy of speed.
They just enjoy going fast.”

For more WCRC information
call 988-5411.

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