Over the past two years Jud Deuling has been one of the most consistent and strongest riders in the Sport Men's category at VeloNorth's cycling events.

It is not uncommon to see him place easily in the top three and occasionally besting the field.

Whether things had been seeming just too easy for him or he wanted an added challenge Deuling warmed-up for Sunday's 77 km road race from Jake's Corner to the South Access by riding from Whitehorse to the start, in other words Deuling had a good 80 km in his legs before the race even started.

It should also be noted that last weekend he switched from his bike to his running shoes and shorts and ran in the Ottawa ING Half Marathon clocking a time of 1 hr 42 min and finishing 117th out of 657 runners in his category.

But that was last week and this weekend's bike race would hold one more challenge for him. Approximately 40 km into his race he managed to get a flat tire and as a consequence rode the last 37 km by himself. For the ever positive Vanier Catholic Secondary School teacher it was just another day at the office, his next goal is to ride the Kluane to Chilkat Bike Relay solo.

While Deuling was changing a flat tire Dan Reimes and Anthony Delorenzo battled it out for the win in the Sport Men's class crossing the line in identical times of 2 hr. 2 minutes and 53 seconds.

Kerrie Paterson once again dominated the Sport Women's division finishing the 77 km in a time of 2 hr. 6 minutes and 52 seconds.

Paterson is showing herself to be as fast as the Expert Women and we may soon see her moving up a Division and giving riders such as Chown and Enders a run for their money.

Pre-race favourite in the Men's Expert category Jonah Clark seemed poised to record his first victory of the season until "bike tire meets broken beer bottle," resulting in not only a punctured inner tube but also a slashed tire only five km into the race putting an abrupt and early end to his day.

The four remaining riders in the Expert Class rode strongly together with Derrick Hynes doing huge pulls at the front which in the end may well have cost him the race. The Expert Men once they reached the South Access had the added pleasure of adding on an additional 10 km by doing the dreaded Miles Canyon Loop.

Once in the final hills Hynes found his legs cooked and Stephen Ball, who had ridden a cagey race took the lead and didn't relinquish it crossing the line first in two hr. 15 min. and 1 sec. only five seconds ahead of second place Marcus Waterreus.

Three riders entered the time trial category, John Berryman and Michael McCann in the Expert Men division and Trina Irving in the Sport Women. All three rode the 77 km from Jake's Corner to the South Access.

The next VeloNorth Cycling race will be held on Wednesday. It's called the The Uphill-Downhill Challenge and promises to be short and painful, but the playing field is levelled for the more gravity challenged riders.

The race starts with a two-km lung-buster up the Robert Service Way from the entrance to the Go-Kart track to the top of the hill. This first part will favour the lighter riders who tend to have their way with the larger sized folk on the courses with larger hills

Registration starts at 5:30 p.m. at the entrance to the Go-Kart track on the Robert Service Way and the first rider starts at 7 p.m.

Article provided by Mike McCann, president of the VeloNorth Cycling Club.