Mess Report: Good Friday Road Race

Things were looking good going into this one. We had good representation from the team with 8 riders, I was feeling good, new bike, what could go wrong... turns out a lot!

After a little delayed start we set off 'into' the tailwind, already shivering quickly go up to race speed and moving up towards the front, our team would be active today and making moves early.

Going around the first turn, into a strong crosswind from the right, almost the entire field went and stayed straddling the yellow line, it was all over the place! With yellow line rule, as usual, in effect, this would lead to the disqualification of about 3/4 of the entire field over the race! Although unbeknownst to anyone until the end because they weren't pulling riders due to DQ's.

Onto the hills, I was riding about 10th position and speeding up to go with an attack from a teammate, I see some surge on my right and someone falls into the guy next to me, who then falls, quite literally, onto me. The three of us go down and we have a silly mess of tangled handlebars. After we finally untangle bikes and we get up, I look around to get my waterbottle, still in the cage that got broken off and stick it in my pocket. Elbow is stiff and chain is off so by the time I'm going again, the pack is long gone. Race over, after only 10km.

On the brighter side, teamates Charlie and Adam (who drove all way up from NY) went on to take the 1-2 for the team, with the others doing fine work watching all attacks attempting to get away and bridge up from the peloton. And when the results come up turns out I got swept up in the DQ Blizzard too! Only 3 from our team actually placed in the official results, very odd day.

The next two weeks will be fun trying to sleep with some new road rash, but no major injuries and the bike is fine at least.

Next race is Springbank in about a week. Had a good result there in S3 last year, will go for the same this time around in S1/2.

Enjoy the sun today, possibly the nicest day we've had all year!

A new ride

The other day our team bikes came in, they're lookin' something like this:

Wheels of Bloor set up the team with these racing machines. Put on some wheels I had waiting and off we go, just in time for the first 'actual' road race this Friday.

Put in a few good rides on it so far and it rides just like it looks.. fast. Just rock solid too, can't flex the frame a nanometer even when I'm laying down my 3000 Watt sprints with my gorilla legs. 

First time riding an Argon 18 and I definitely dig the Canadian factor going on there, although of course they are actually manufactured in the same place as all other carbon bike parts. 

I'll be back with an update on how 'the bike' performs this Friday. Enjoy the brief glimpse of sun we have coming the next two days :) 

Paris to Ancaster Race Report

This was a really fun race. Definitely one of the most unique styles of bike races around. Over the 60km of this race we had everything from full speed, spinning out our gears on the roads to barely going 10km/hr under full power over bumpy, muddy, grass stretches.

Funny how such a race would end up as the largest in Canada, but it is! Over 2000 people raced on Sunday.

Big thanks to Rachel for lending me her cross bike for the race, even though she may have been trying to kill me. For all its 'incidental' quirks, such as non-downshiting front shifter, squiggly rear wheel, and exploding waterbottle cage, it was a fine ride.

Speaking of thanks, thanks to the organizer our team was granted access to the 'top 100' coral, where you can start in the top 100. Usually you have to finish in the top 100 the year before to get there. So that saved us having to fight through +300 people on rail trails to get to the front (not all 2000 people go in one wave, just ~350 in the first).

Mike D from Speed River raced with his video cam too, should be some good footage on that!

After the army of cyclists was let loose to invade the farm roads of southern Ontario, I worked myself up to the top 30 or so riders before the big funnel onto the first rail trail, off the open road. Pace eased up after a totally frenetic start. Figuratively bumped in to Andrew D., had a little chat and he musta been feeling charitable as he told me on the hill just up ahead is where it all hits the fan.

Literally out of nowhere, its a right turn up this loose gravel hill, and I was totally not ready for this thinking the hill was coming on a proper dirt road, not off the rail trail! This was where the first big selection was made. Everyone was off their bike and bumping elbows up this hill, shoving gravel everywhere. By the time I scramble to the top I can see a group of about 20 guys riding away, guys who were expecting that little turn! Good on them, that's apparently part of how you win this race.

So I started hammering in pursuit, they weren't out of reach yet, and things got single file really quickly. Started bridging to/from groups, everyone gasping, let the gong show begin!

Turn onto some forest trail about 10km into the race, bike through two small ponds, instant double-foot-soaker at 2 degrees C, awesome! Emerge onto road again, see group ahead about 700m now, time to bury the needle some more. Had a few others with me in this chase until next section...and repeat.

While chasing this lead group out on the road, there were several km's where we were all spinning out our gears, going at least 50km/hr for km's on end.  Some mountain bikers got shelled just because of their easier gears wouldn't let them spin fast enough!

Well the lead group was getting away, we were too few and not strong enough to get them back. About halfway through the race, my teamate Derek shows up, after bridging solo for who knows how long. No big deal. What does he do? Goes straight to the front and starts drilling it. So much ass was hauled on those open rail trails with the winds, so many train jokes to make. But I won't do that to you.

One of the more 'interesting' parts of the course came near the end, called the 'chute' I think. Its a downhill trail that makes you wonder if the best way through is to ride in and hope for the best or to bellyflop into it and use your momentum to slide through like a greased pig in spandex. No time to think that through, so I chose the former. This was bonkers - not knowing what was coming up. We had bricks, broken cement and all kinds of stuff underneath the mud. Picking up ridiculous speed I wanted to reach for the brakes but between all the bumps and sliding, that didn't happen. Instead, I came to an unplanned stop by some unseen dirt-dwelling piece of rubble, just standing there wondering what just grabbed my wheels. So I rode out at a more civilized pace without having any dirt sandwiches.

After not too long I finally make it to the final hill there the race finishes, see Josh camped out taking wicked pics again.. hmm maybe I'll post some up here someday...
That thing was steep. Checked about five times to see if I had an easier gear, and I never did :(.

Come in 22nd at the end, and I can't help but wonder how it would have turned out if I were prepared for that first uphill turn where the split happened.... Regardless, a fun little adventure with the snow and winds, and just the race itself. A race with character for sure!

For the next race we might finally NOT get covered in mud.. we'll have see. The Good Friday road race.. can never remember what day its on but its soon. We might have our full team out for this one, looking forward to it!

Happy Monday, once again

Race Report: Tour of Bronte

Skipping to the end, 3rd place finish.

Here's how it went down:

Under rapidly clearing skies but not so dry roads, we had ~100km to ride with about 30% gravel. And the gravel sections were quite a minefield this year. Not just because of the wet, soft dirt everywhere that could suck you in like quicksand in some spots, but the potholes were everywhere! One section it was almost impossible to ride through, even solo, without nailing one. Even the pavement had its bottomless pits!

Anyway, the first 9 laps of the paved part were pretty uneventful. Everyone was pretty relaxed for the first Ontario road race of the year, and the pace was easy-peasy for a lap or two. Then a group of 3 guys went away, two from 3Rox and one from Trek Canada. That made the pace go up for the rest of the paved laps, but they were pulling away for sure. I felt it wasn't the time for me to make moves, so I waited in the draft for the gravel sections. 

You could tell everyone was getting anxious for the first gravel section, and I was expecting some attacks right away, but it was fairly smooth transition. Rode in the top 5 to keep an eye on developments but no attacks, just the same consistent tempo-ish pace. 

I bided my time until the next time through the gravel section, it was about 40km into the race at this point and if the people I was marking weren't going to make a move, I would try to draw them out with my own. Just as I was positioning to attack through the false flat, an attack goes out hard with 3 guys. Did they read my mind?! I jumped onto that right away, caught my breath after the bridge and looked around to see a group of 5, and we had a nice gap growing as we returned to the pavement. There was good power in this group and we got our rotation going, keeping a very strong pace. 

Then the bottom almost fell out of this 'so far so good' race. I bailed on the sharpest dirt corner of the course, just two-tire slide until my front caught and twisted me off the bike. The breakaway had to go on, and I was left getting my chain back on and sorting myself out. It was a slow fall and not that bad at all, but being tired form working in the break and suddenly in no-man's land between the break and the peloton is almost worst case scenario. Being ticked at myself for overcooking the corner probably helped get some more adrenalin, and I rode up to a Darkhorse rider (I think Isaac) who happened to be making a bridge up himself to the breakaway, and together we re-joined the break. For a while though, the peloton looked closer than the breakaway! It did not look good then. While just a bike race, I could not have been impressed with myself if I crashed out of the winning breakaway - so it was on. 

Later, after having caught my breath (again) and plugging away in the break, I notice someone sitting on my wheel, who had bridged up SOLO from the pack across what must have been a minute long gap. With this added horsepower we went on to catch the initial group of three, and then we were 9 of us.

A group this big was destined to come down with 'I don't wanna work' syndrome, and the paceline got interrupted all the time by ppl sitting on and not pulling through. Granted at least 3 guys were out there for longer by themselves so were understandably tired, but there games were being played all along. 

All in all, good group to have out front and we pulled time out on the pack until the last lap, assuring the winner would be one of the 9. With about 10km to go on the dirt, I pulled through after nobody else would and then pulled off to let someone else resume.... and... nothing. I think I heard a pin drop, a tumbleweed blew by. I know there's 8 guys behind me and I'm almost coasting now.... then BOOM. Attack from last year's winner. Half expecting this, I jump with all I had to get on the move. There's 3 guys up, and I need to get there. I think time slowed down, maybe it was my tunnel vision from here until the end, but it felt like forever until I made contact, really probably less than 30 seconds though. After that I didn't look back to see who was with me but the attack had shattered the break. Riding out onto the final and paved stretch, more attacks flew from the Darkhorse riders doing the old one-two on us. Neither move got away and I think it was 5 of us heading into the sprint, tunnel vision getting worse as we all jumped on moves. 

Hauling ass into the finish, I was holding 3rd wheel and waiting for the sprint when the winner opens his sprint, comes by us and we jump after him. I got stuck on the wrong side of the guy who was leading us out thinking he was pulling off, so had to check my speed and lost a bit of ground before being able to pass and wind it up. Haha wind it up with whatever was left, that is. 

Good finish by all though, I think everyone was really givin' it the beans, as they say. So I come in 3rd, about half a bike length out of 2nd. The pre-race plan worked out perfectly and despite the major hiccup (wiping out), I dealt with it and the day ended on a really high note. I love bike racing. 

And its that time, race after race is now on its way! 

Happy Monday. 

The Wheel Keeps on Turning

Didn't make it after all to Homage to Ice, transportation fell through and by all accounts it was tough going through snow covered double track. Not exactly my idea of a good time, but kudos to those who slogged it out and raced all the way through snow.

Instead, a handful of us gathered early Sunday morning around the TV and streamed one of the best races of the year, Tour of Flanders. As usual it didn't disappoint and had us on the edge of our seats for the entire time. I love this race because you see all tactics of road racing being applied in the same race. A sprinter can win, so you have full teams chasing small breakaways, you have insane solo breakaways that sometimes make it, attacks on the hills, the flats - it's just bananas.

Can't help but think of the whole radio debate in light of races like theses. Cycling's governing body is trying to phase out the use of radios between riders and their sports directors in the follow cars, arguing they want the sport to remain about the 'cyclist' and not have them become puppets, with the goal of keeping races more exciting.
This article by a pro rider affected by this debate says it the best: Radios don't make races boring and predictable, boring courses do.
eg: The first week of the Tour every year. Flat 200km stages, what do you expect? Long breakaway, chase, catch, sprint. 6hrs of riding for 10mins of racing at the end. Very boring.

Tour of Flanders? Many many steep cobbled climbs, twisty/never straight course - anybody can win, so everyone will try. Amazing racing. Doesn't get better, equaled by Paris-Roubaix perhaps (next weekend). And radios, either way, can't change any of that.
Ok, end rant..

After watching the race, we headed out for a long ride with some guys from the SRCC, good to see some faces I hadn't seen since fall.  Spring is really struggling to arrive this year, you can do it, Spring.

Otherwise, training is going well and just heading into a needed rest week now before the first Ontario road race next weekend at Bronte.

It snowed AGAIN last night, and is raining all day today, so at least that might clean the grit off the roads a little bit - but with the day off of training and work, looks like a good time to do a spring tune-up on the commuter and clean up the road bike which has been seeing interesting conditions outside these past few weeks.

Over 'n out!