Last week life was packed and this had to be put on the back burner for a bit.
But as the last event, it will get an entry here.
So as a preamble this event was touted as a 'Tour' but with 'precision timing'... so I think its clear what they're getting at there.
200 people signed up and the forecast for the day was horrible, 8 degrees and raining, but thankfully the rain held off in the end and started on the drive home. Dodged a huge bullet there.
Eight guys from the local cycling club came out too, guys who I ride with every week but who don't often race. That would surely make for some interesting stories at the end, seeing how differently everyone perceived the same 'race'.
During the 5 km neutral start I meandered my way near the front as it was quite a large peloton. I see the manager of Spidertech riding with no gloves in gloomy 4 degree weather. Bold. Turned out he didn't pack them. Bummer.
The first 50 km of the 100 km race was quite slow, 33km/hr. There were a few long but mild surges up the hills, one attack from the gun that came back after ~20km but nothing more. Apparently Cory was sandbagging far back in the pack when a split occurred during one of the surges and lost contact from the front for the rest of the race. Too bad. Playing it too conservative maybe.
50 km in we hit hard crosswinds. A small rotation forms at the front, I get in a take a few short pulls. Roth from Spidertech Bird and are in there, starting to pick up the pace. I look back for the first time during a lull when Gabhan comes up and says 'that sorted things out' and there's probably 30 people left. Everyone is just GONE. Then the hammer goes down from Bird and Co. and we're single file, mowing the grass. I was thankful nobody let a gap open because I was too far from the front when this happened and mighta been caught out. Everyone held firm though and we regrouped before the 'Hurtin Hans' 700m TT within the race. How weird is that btw. But fun idea and they had a blackberry Playbook for the prize.
Coming up to the biggest hill on the course you knew this was it, and was just waiting for Roth to come screaming by. He does, with Bird on his wheel, and I get on the train as we pass the rest of the pack. The two of them finish almost together 10s ahead of me, and I can see them starting a rotation on the rollers following the TT. I'm in no man's land and giving everything to latch on, but once they started working together I had no chance. Before long a pack of ~6 catches up and we start a good hard rotation.
We somehow bring them back after a bit, I think they just sat up for whatever reason.
Then we ride at 25km/hr for a while, nobody taking initiative, I take some food/water, try to read some minds. Then Gabhan and James come back up to this group after a long chase, good work there to keep on chasing.
After a few pointless surges from the pack I throw out an attack, and see no-one is reacting with a bridge, but chasing. I ease up a bit to not waste too much energy, and then out of nowhere Roth flies by. I held a gap of ~10 m while trying so hard to get on, but it wasn't happening and he just started riding away. 30 km to go.
Then the pack flies by me as I'm gasping for breath but manage to get back in. Then for the next 10km we chase at ~50 km/hr trying to get Roth back. It was unreal how he just kept getting further and further away. Clearly racing for 2nd now, the lead group of 9 of us start our own games. Attacks here and there would go, come back.
Then the bottom falls out of the whole thing for me when I was pulling through on the front heading to an intersection. There was traffic everywhere, including in front of us, stopping, and in the heat of the moment paid too much attention to that and the police officer waving his hands to notice where the turn sign was. I bomb straight through the intersection while I was supposed to turn. Slamming the brakes and going back uphill to try to catch the group, I was already far behind.
I chased at ~200 m for a while but it was headwind and I wasn't closing the gap. Two other guys join and we try to work together but I think they had been chasing solo for a while too and were running on empty.
10km of this and I take the final little 3 man sprint end for 9th, but what a messed up finale. I felt I had a good chance at top 3 had I made the proper turn. Of course just a fun race so not the end of the world. We all had a good time and good food afterwards included in the (rather large) entry fee. Cory learned his lesson, James learned he hates road racing (for now), Gabhan had a good ride all around, Adam took a wrong turn too, found a short cut and was apparently the first across the line to loud applause. Bravo my good man. Bravo!
And with that begins the off season. Who knows yet what next year will bring, a lot is uncertain at the moment but that's alright, now is the time to relax from training and the stress of racing/planning for a bit. All things changing gears right now.
Its been fun writing about the races this year and who knows, might fire it up again to dilute the internet again next year.
Thanks for reading and have a safe and happy fall!
Bayden
