The Road Warrior: Blizzard Bicycle Club rider cites dedication, commitment in achieving racing success

BALDONNEL, B.C. — It’s a calm two-lane road in the rural community of Baldonnel that takes centre stage each Thursday evening during the summer.

While there is rural traffic that passes Baldonnel Elementary school’s parking lot, it’s the rapid speed of cyclists that dominates for a couple of hours during Blizzard Bicycle Club’s weekly time-trial.

These ritual time-trials have been going consistently since the club’s inception, according to club co-founder and current secretary Pat Ferris.

Originally from Victoria, Ferris helped establish the club in the early 1980s. Usually, Ferris would be out with the rest of the crew, but there are weeks he’s more content to sit on the side of the road in his lawn chair calculating splits as participants come along.

“It’s open road. We’re only riding on one-minute intervals,” said Ferris. “We’re spread out, but it’s up to the riders to obey the rules of the road.

“Fort St. John is a terrific place [and] the bike club has been around for so long. Motorists give you tons of space.”

Almost on cue, a rider rips by him in a flash, seeming to push time and space. It’s Nigel Wray, who has been a mainstay of the club for the past three years.

The 16-kilometre stretch for the time trial occurs each Thursday, but unlike other participants, upon completion Wray doesn’t come in right away. Instead he rides down the stretch again, far after his final time has been clocked.

Once, twice and again. Like any seasoned athlete, he keeps pushing himself to do better and get faster. When final times are called out by Ferris, Wray notes it’s still higher than his personal best.

“You have got to warm down,” said Wray. “[I] accumulate a lot of lactic acid in an effort like this, so you have got to kind of wash that out with a 15-minute ride [after].

“Even before [I got to cycle] 15 minutes just to get primed up, get the blood flowing, get the heart rate up and then you’re ready to go.”

Initially a cross-country runner, Wray never grew up watching the Tour de France and desiring to emulate the successes of riders such as Canadian Steve Bauer.

In fact, Wray was so successful as a runner he was able to obtain an athletic scholarship from Iona University in New York state and also competed while studying at the University of Guelph in Ontario.

Training at the then-Speed River Track Club in Guelph, Wray said some of his best times were good enough to qualify for Canadian national teams.

“I’ve run a 14:23 for 5k, and an 8:19 for 3k,” said Wray. “So the engine is there.”

The 43-year-old admits he “didn’t do much of anything physically” after university and well into his 30s, admitting he was “never the same” after an Achilles tendon injury.

After suffering a car accident in 2017, Wray described himself as gaining “a lot of weight.” Amazingly, Wray didn’t get on a bike until well into the Covid-19 pandemic, when he purchased a Peloton exercise bike.

“You couldn’t go to the gym,” said Wray. “I bought a Peloton bike [with the] screen on it. The person is yelling at you to go. I got really into the power data [and] the watts that you could produce. I thought, ‘man, I should buy a real bike. Get into this.’”

Wray travelled to Edmonton, purchasing a bike from Cycle-Logic. He says the store’s owner  Rich Schafenacker is the only person “that can touch his bike,” when it’s in need of a tune up or repair.

Joining Blizzard, Wray has pieced together some solid performances, which included a top-four finish at Calgary’s Ghost of The Gravel road race in 2024 and a top-15 placing in last year’s Alberta Bicycle Association’s (ABA) gravel racing championships in September. 

However, Wray wasn’t able to land on podiums consistently due to what he called being “a lone wolf” as the sole rider from the club.

“I was going to these races and there’s a lot of team tactics,” said Wray. “If you’re just out there as a lone wolf and you got a team around you, they’re just going to eat you alive.” 

Wray’s salvation came in the form of the Stealth Cycling club. Based in Edmonton, it also has a chapter in Grande Prairie, and the team recruited Wray to compete under its banner for criterium, or road course races.

“These guys just hold your wheel and then they sprint to you, because your legs are done after two or three hours of that [road circuit] pace. So [team members] asked, ‘why don’t you join our team? We have guys that can help you.”

Competing under Stealth at this season’s events, Wray has seen more success, including a victory at the Pigeon Lake Road race in Alberta in June. 

Wray says when not in season, he’ll train at the gym three days weekly, and even involves yoga into his regimen.  

With Wray achieving success at the amateur level, his next goal is to elevate his ability category as a cyclist. 

According to the rules of the ABA, of which Blizzard is a member club, a rider may upgrade from one ability category to another either by earning Alberta Cup points, achieving performance standards as described, or by gaining selection to a national or other trade team.

Currently at a level three, he is eyeing an upgrade to a category one or two, which Pat Ferris says is an achievable goal, adding Wray is a committed club member as well.

“He’s dedicated,” said Ferris. “He goes to the big races to get the experience. That is important. [He] can have a very good career. Some good guys, especially time trialing, [can] keep going in their 50s.

“He’s a good club guy. If he is not racing, he’s timing. A lot of times there are guys [that are] maybe not interested in talking to the new guys.  But in cycling, it kind of goes with the territory. Everybody got where they were from as they started from scratch.”

Wray’s next goal is two back-to-back events at the beginning of next month, first the Tour de Bowness in Calgary, with the ABA Juventus provincial individual time trial a week later in Miquelon Lake outside of Edmonton.

Wray believes he needs to do “more time trials” but has what it takes to compete against the best – and win – when it is time to perform.

Adding a little extra is his motivation: like older athletes, such as boxing’s Bernard Hopkins or NFL legend Tom Brady, Wray sees his age as an incentive to compete his best against the best.

“I’m not young,” said Wray. “I’m an old man, but I want to bury these 20-year-olds.”

“I want to crush these guys, and I don’t care if I’m 43. I don’t care [or if] we’re the same age. I want to annihilate these young guys.”

The Tour de Bowness goes from Saturday, August 2nd to Monday, August 4th and the Juventus provincial individual time trial goes on Saturday, August 9th.