Only 7.1 seconds separates Matt Thomson from another championship season.
"We've been flip-flopping all year," said Thomson about fellow Prince George Cycling Club rider Simon Perreault. "It's been quite an interesting year."
Thomson and Perreault go head-to-head in the final four events of the cycling season, Sept. 8 to 10, trying to out-duel each other for the club title.
"We're very, very close in everything we do," said Thomson, while pedalling a stationary bike Friday in a Cops for Cancer event in Prince George for the Canadian Cancer Society. "I'm a better sprinter than he is. I'm better at short-time trials; he's better at long."
In 15 club races since April, Thomson has accumulated 1362.10 points, while Perreault has 1369.20. Thomson has won the club championship three of the past four years.
It's the second year that the final events are grouped in what Thomson calls a "quadrilogy."
The competition begins Thursday with a 5.7 kilometre hill climb, starting at 6:30 p.m., 800 metres east of Catherine Drive on Otway Road and wrapping up 100 metres onto Harold Drive. Sign-in begins at 6 p.m.
A 45-minute criterium - a short, but fast course - hits the pavement Friday at 6:30 p.m., starting and ending on West Beaverly Road, circling Waldina Road.
Saturday begins with a short 4.5 km time trial, which Thomson refers to as a "pure power" ride.
"It's just you versus the course," said Thomson.
The final event is the road race - 72 kms for men, 48 kms for women. The time trial gets underway at 9:30 a.m., with the road race at 11:30.
Both events are at Pineview and will be followed by a season-ending barbecue.
"It's a nice, fun wrap-up," said Thomson. "Not everybody does all four races."
The cost of riding in the first three events is $5 plus $30 insurance for non-club members, while the road race is $10. Riders sign up at the event's starting line.
Thomson said the number of riders has surged in recent years.
"Road racing is definitely taking off in popularity again, each race we probably have 20 to 25 people," he said.
For more information on the race or the PGCC check out the club's website at www.pgcyclingclub.ca.
