Riding beside the best in Canada

Jasper’s own Loni Klettl is back on her bike this summer with her latest win last Sunday at the Summer Solstice race in Kananaskis Country making her the points leader for the Elite Women. 

“A wins a win right, you love winning,” she laughed, adding that her closest competitor happened to get a flat tire.

“That’s just part of bike racing. Everyone gets flats and mechanics,” she said.

The summer solstice xc race is in its 28th year, and is renowned for its steep climbs and fast single track sections. Cows have been known to appear on the course as well. The elite women’s course ran 30 kilometres on a new track.

A long-time athlete who once competed on the Canadian Ski Team, Klettl also came 15th in the Canada Cup in Canmore early this month, where she competed in the elite Women’s race.

At 49 years-old, Klettl was the oldest in the Elite race and went head to head with women who are less than half her age, the youngest being 18.

“These girls, some of them are the best in Canada,” she said, “they were so far ahead, but it’s fine because you can’t compete against that, because they’re really, really, really good.”

Competing against what Klettl calls “high-end girls”, she said “it’s really fun because you just see how fast they are and you just go as hard as you can and see where you end up.”

Clocking a time of 1:46:29.5, Klettl ended up just 13 minutes behind first place, 21-year-old Emily Batty of Trek Toronto in the Canada Cup.

“I’m at a detriment because of my age,” she said, “and you’re really limited with that, because as you get older... you lose your power and your high end and you don’t recover as fast.”

“So, you have to just do what you can do. These high end girls, you just don’t stand a chance because your age is really worked against you,” she added.

Resting her legs, for just one day after the Solstice race, Klettl will be back on her bike and warming up for her next race in the middle of July in Devon. 

Another one of Jasper’s infamous riders, Cory Wallace also competed in the Summer Solstice, coming third in the Elite Men, just 14 minutes behind the race winner.