Sept 17-18: Univest Grand Prix

It was fast. Brutal fast. And that was definitely expected with this being a pro UCI and NRC class race. With that it was also pretty fun to get into a race like this and see how fast it can get at the top.

Most of the big north american pro teams were there: Spidertech, Kelly Benefits, Jamis/Sutter Homes, Bissell, United Health Care, Kallisto/Wheels of Bloor, all the big guns.

Along with some extra hard intervals in the weeks leading up to the race, my prepartion largely involved being mentally prepared for the biggest sufferfest I've ever beent through. Even worse than Katskills (see related post...). Probably shorter than that, but more intense.

The race was two days, one 160km road race and an 80km crit the next day. They changed the course this year to be all within the host town of Souderton, Pennsylvania, instead of a big loop through the countryside like in years past. 17 laps. It was like a giant crit and had two short but steep climbs each lap. Apparently the constant steep ups made this a harder course than in years before, and I believe it, a race of attrition it was.
After the usual pre-race rituals were done we approach the start line where the announcer and stage were, big screen with TV camera's, the works. I take my place appropriately in the back half of the pack, check that I didn't forget anything like a shoe or leg, all good. The guns goes off, and the hurt comes on!

Within the first lap it was apparent a lot of time could be lost through the corners, there were so many and some we were taking downhill at ~60km/hr, freaky. You had to sprint out of every corner like it was a 90 minute crit, but psych! it was a 160km, 4hr road race.

On the first lap one of the United Health Care guys decided to ride through a bunch of long grass to take the bike path along the road... and in trying to cut the corner ahead he dinged his HEAD on an telephone pole, also while ridding through 2-foot tall grass. Some people. And not very pro, for a pro.

On the second lap I came around a tight corner to see a teamate and a few others who had hit the deck, apparently a truck drove onto and parked on the course which the leading few ridrs hit. It didn't look too bad though.

Through all this the race was on, lots of attacks and chasing made the pace high very early. It was really really hard work just holding position in like 80th place. We had to climb the course's hills 34 times, and though they were short, they were fast, and it just took its toll on me. About half way through the race the pace just kept going up and I slowly lost the wheel going up the climb, sprinting in my big ring. A small group of four were dropped just a head of me too, but I couldn't get up to them to try and get back in as the gap crept up and up. That was it. Chatted with a few other dropped riders who came up to me along the way to the start, and called it quits. Only 94km in. Sigh.

Nice shot from cyclingnews.com of one of the small climbs

The next day at the crit was very similar. Cool course except for a few big bumps and actual speed bumps on the course, but it had elevation gain and the crowd was awesome. Lined along the barriers all the way through the start finish, lots of excitement and deafening cheers with the announcer getting everyone pumped.
I lasted a bit over half way through this race before I got popped as well. One corner was so sketchy yet everyone was taking it at 65km/hr downhill, and every time right there I had to close a little gap, and that sure wasn't helping me conserve energy. I found that around every other corner where its line choice that makes your speed, I was fine. Its sketchy, high speed, off camber turns that I suck at. At least I didn't crash, that was obviously a priority. Some did of course.

Again, I'm not in this shot, but a good view of the crit's finish straight, with a nice attack making ground

While I never thought that just trying to finish the races would be that hard, given the course profiles/level of the competetion, it was realisic to get shelled where I did. Over 60% of the fields on both days DNF'ed - pure races of attrition! Thats what you get when you mix amatuers with the pros! For sure a good experience though. Very eye opening to see how strong even domestic pros are.  No excuse for DNFing here, except I need to train more and just be stronger. All there is too it. If I can just double my muscle mass I'd probaly have an easier time of things. An off season project, perhaps.

The last cycling event of the season for me will be the Tour de Hans, going to enter with a few local riding buddies. Should be fun as it will be a first 'race' for some. That's Oct. 2 and will probably be my last post here for a while. I'll see if we can make something interesting of it. Marketed as a 'tour', but with precision timing? hmm

Been a good long season so far, will check back here soon after Hans.

Niagara Classic: Pass and Fail.

The Niagara Classic - a race to love and hate. Pretty simple rectangular course with a fairly short but steeeep climb up Effingham hill each of the 10 laps around. Nice course to race, but the hill kills. Really not that hard to get up and over, but its usually a sprint up there each time which can take its toll very quickly. 

Going into this one after Catskills I wasn't too worried about the course, even though I'd never ridden this race in S1/2 or done the hill 10 times. I did want to make something of this last O-Cup this year, so early break was the name of the game. Just a question how...

Went in early with Rach and got to watch her race of 9 riders and the winner come in solo by many minutes, pretty crazy. Small races like that are never easy. She did pretty well especially considering her feelings towards climbs. Way to go Rach, job well done. 

Our race had about 35 riders, offering the potential of more breakaway combination/attempts. I started making my early moves at the top of the first time up the climb. Tried to get away with Anton as per the plan, but too many people tried to come with and we got chased down instantly. Heard that on this blog before? So original. 

I try again over the top of the hill next time, still no luck. By the time we got the hill the first time, a Darkhorse and H&R Block rider had snuck off the front, so their teams were keeping a bit of a leash on things. 

On the flats we then set up a move that included another Darkhorse rider, and we started to get away since we didn't have their team chasing, but we STILL got chased down, although it took some more time. 

Then right after that a counter attack went from Max C from SRS, which nobody went with. It seemed like a good moment to go after all the action so I jump up to him, and still nobody behind is reacting yet. We start pushing on and getting away, perfect. 

Before long we can see the two leaders, but Max is hurting and was having trouble pulling through. We turn onto the false flat, and he's had enough and pulls the chute. By the top of the climb I had burning acid fire in my legs but had finally caught the two leaders. For the next lap we get a good rotation going and are definitely going to stay away a while. 

Then starting the false flat up the climb later that lap, a group of about 10 riders catch up to us out of nowhere! There was so many of us I thought it was the peloton at first. Chaos ensued for a moment as everyone looked around to figure this one out, and a shuffling occurred where a new 6-man group formed off the front of this jumbled mess. I made into this group, including team mate Brandon, and again, started pulling away.

This group was a bit different, and we were probably rolling 5km/hr faster than the former lead group. We were cooking along the course and with all the teams represented except Darkhorse, I knew this move would stay away. The only problem (which happened to be a huge one!) was that as the pace spiked over the hill each lap I was hurting and sliding, 10 feet, catching back on, 20 feet, catching back on, and then infinite feet, of the back of the group. The final time I chased with everything I had but was just not shutting down the gap on lap 6, when Steve in the commissar car drives past and points to the chase group about 1min behind that I didn't even know about. Salvation? hmm. 

I savour the chance to rest and regain clear vision as the chase group comes up to me, and its more of the strongmen in the race, Schiller, Ivey, the provincial champ and another HR block guy. Hanging onto this group would be no easier, but I latch on, and pull through until the false flat. And sure enough on the hill I slowly slide of the back. For Pete's sake... dropped twice.

- Note to self, I should lose some weight, get a lighter bike, and pack legs with more lightning. 

Now I'm no man's land. Up sh*t creek without a paddle. All my matches are burned, and I'm pretty sure I'll get swallowed up by the pack before getting shot out the back and finish last, if at all. Yahoo!

Well its lap 7, and I'm reminded of Catskills and think, if I can solo those courses and survive, I can probably do this. I have no idea how far back the pack is, only that I can't see them, so I plow on, into the remaining 35km and three accents up the climb. The cheers of the crowd on the hill were encouraging, thanks to them for that. I'm sure it wasn't the pinnacle of pedalling fluidity and grace when I was coming through. 

For a very painful ~60 minutes it was TT mode with all that I had left and somehow... somehow, hold off the pack. The somehow was that in the lead group, we pulled out major time. They had 11 minutes when they finished, and of that I only lost 7, enough to stay away. So after this sufferfest I rolled in alone, muscles twitching, 9th place. 

Apparently Anton finally was allowed to fly the coup and solo'd the last lap ahead of what remained of the peloton (about 15 DNFs), and came within sight of me one the final climb. 'You were that guy weaving up the climb at the finish?' yeah....  

Tour of Catskills

Last weekend was definitely the most strenuous two days of my life. Either of the two days would probably have qualified on their own for the hardest day. Wasn't exactly supposed to be that way, even though the course would have its challenges for everyone!

The first of three stages was a time trial. 20km, easy enough. Andrew M. was generous enough to actually lend me his ridiculously fast Cervelo TT bike, disc wheel, the works. I was ready to suck it up on my road bike but he ran into me just before my start and we decided to rig it up right there, change of pedals, raised the seatpost, and off to the race!

I had a descent run, certainly helped by the bike and funny helmet also lent from Rach.. (gotta get a TT setup of my own some day... but so expensive!), but racing in the pro/1/2 field often humbles your best efforts, and I ended up roughly mid pack on the first day. I'll take that, had some slowdowns with cars on the course and getting used to the new bike.. not to bad a start.

Stage 2, totally different story.
- 150km, 4 KOMs, one of which was the famous Devil's Kitchen which is 2.6km over 12%, and let me tell you, that sucks. Its hard to visualize this thing without staring at the wall-like ramps that make up this climb. For the locals reading this, its like 4xRattlesnake all at once, but steeper. Yes steeper. You make words up when its that steep.

The pace of the stage started off pretty hot, team mate Derrek was planning to light things up early and shake up the teams trying to control the overall situation. He's good at that and there were many short lived breakaways, including a huge 15 man group that had to many hangers-on to stay away, but if they worked that would have been the move of the day for sure.

Anyway, when we were back together 20km into the stage, on a descent I felt the oh so dreaded drag-wobble of a rear flat come on. Great. 60->0km/hr with one brake while avoiding riders flying past me, I finally pull over to the guard rail and hopefully look back for the wheel van to get a quick wheel change. Instead I see not a soul in sight, and suddenly I'm on my own in the middle of nowhere on some mountain. wtf.

Keep on truckin, right? 130km by foot can't take that long...
So as I'm walking down the road, coming up with some hitchiking plan, the wheel van shows up! The driver apologizes and says that after helping some others, and trying to catch the race again, he got wrong directions and got lost! So I get a wheel but its been 3-4 minutes and there is no way in hell I'm chasing back on alone. Regardless, I chase for the next 20km to see what happens, just in case there's a big lull, with no sight at all of the race. Its over.

I sit up and realize what awesome views there were all through this race, jaw dropping nice. Clouds covering tree covered mountain tops, dipping down to wide gorges below... I could look at that all day.

Eventually a group of other mechanical unfortunates make it up to me, and together we proceed to finish the last 100km of the 'race'. By the time we hit Devil's Kitchen at the end, we were all fried and just did what we could. A follow car from another category somehow found us and followed us as the last riders to finish, lights blinking, 7km/hr up this stupid hill. They also gave me a 25 tooth gear to replace my 28 I had on the original wheel. That made it all the more brutal at 10rpm up this thing. We were so wasted just trying to survive this day, oh yeah, it had started raining and getting cold, that we were like the dehydrated animal in the desert being followed by vultures (the wheel van) waiting for us to just kick the bucket and pack into the broom wagon.

Well.. I crossed the line with an H&R block guy, well outside the time cut, but given the fiasco that started the whole thing, they allowed us to start the next day.... as long as I would wake up at all from that night's sleep. If we just had to finish the stage, it wouldn't have been that hard. But driving a small group trying to make the time cut made it like our own race - a lot of effort for just making it through in the end!

Stage 3: 
Amazingly I can walk the next day and don't feel like a giant piece of beef jerky, so I decide to start. Game plan? Sit in the first 40km (1hr) and see if I'm alive, then just go from there.

I actually feel fine for the start, see a break get away including team mates and Anton, sweet for them, then we hit the first KOM. Today's profile would be almost as hard as the day before, even without Devil's Kitchen. The chase begins in earnest up the first, LONG, KOM, and I slide out the back as the group starts to shred near the top. On the way down the KOM leader (??) comes by with a train of other riders and we start to chase back on. On the way, half the riders with us just pull off and turn towards their hotels, chute pulled! Oh man, down to two of us.

We make contact with the peloton again, and the initial break had been caught as a result of the high pace. We hit the feed zone, and gear up for the same KOM again... oh god. Pretty early on the pace goes through the roof on the climb, and the pack is shredding to bits again, its all over the place. I ride over the top with another rider as we see the remnants of the peloton get further and further away down the decent. Only 80km in at this point, another long day still ahead.

We pick up riders, drop some, grind up the KOM's on this route, and after what felt like a straight week of riding, make it to the finish in a delirious haze.

It was hours before I was feeling normal again. Couldn't eat, couldn't think straight. Happy it was finished. And how did I finish? You guesssed it, DFL. Never thought I'd be reporting that! The DNF list sheds some light on how tough the whole race was, only ~54 finished of 94 starters. Although last place counts for absolutely nothing, there's a small amount of solace in at least finishing after all that happened.

At this point I can feel the end of the season coming up, just one more local race next weekend, the Niagara Classic, then maybe off to the Green Mountain stage race in Vermont in early Sept.

The end is near!

Provincial Road Race Wrap Up

After the whole National's debacle, I certainly had this race pegged as a priority. Got out last weekend to preview the course with Rachel on a scotching hot day but still had a great ride. It looked like possibility of wind which always makes for an interesting race, but otherwise nothing very special about the course, some rollers but nothing intense.

Turned out to be calm and muggy air for the race, good thing (maybe) I did a lot of training these past few weeks in the heat to acclimate.

Race day we had a 'little snag' on the drive up - what I will now call the 'Great Helmet and Shoe Fiasco of the Millenium'. I'll let Anton fill you in on that one.

It was eventually sorted out by some miracle and Anton got to race after all. But it was a clooose one.

Once into the actual race, the pace reflected the tentative and negative state of mind prevailing in the pack. We started at about 25km/hr  for a good long while, got passed by a few joggers, before the first attack. After that it was essentially attack after attack that just got chased down if it got any gap at all. Then the pack would slow down to lows that I simply haven't seen in a race before - like granny gear on the flats sometimes. And because of the violent accelerations every time you tried to blink we still averaged 41km/hr for the whole thing.

But despite the 'I'm watching you, and you and you' mentality, there were some good tries for sure. For example, we got Derrek (team mate) up in a good sized group of 10-15 riders with a solid gap, but their cooperation fell through and the chase behind caught them easily. Annnnd so on, times about a hundred.

We tried every trick in the book to get one of the three of us up the road, counter attacks, I let a gap open behind Brandon while they were drilling it to see if they'd get away, but nah, everyone was chasing everything. I don't know how many moves I was in myself, but enough to be pretty cooked by the end. I was even trying to conserve for the sprint at the end, but I couldn't let certain moves go without a guy from our team so I ended up covering a ton of crap that ultimately went nowhere. A waste of energy in hindsight, but if any of those moves had gotten away with out us.. then I'd be writing about how I should have been covering more...

So in the middle of all this a break of 3 guys got away, interestingly without a single JetFuel rider, the team with the biggest numbers at this race. For the finish, I was just empty and came in with a measly mid pack result.

I didn't feel to fresh going into this race for some reason as well, despite a fairly typical build up to race day.
Really shouldn't have been so creamed in a 145km race like this with no major mountains or climbs.. something felt a lil' off, and I'm blaming not enough rest before hand.

Anyway, it a was fun, exciting race. So from the perspective of good times, it was at least a Sunday afternoon well spent.

Going to rest like a fiend before Tour of the Catskills and its mountainous, 160+km stages in two weeks and see what we can pull out of the bag there.

Enjoy the heat while it lasts, won't be here for too long ;)

Another Two for One Deal: Crit Weekend

This past weekend was another double, with the Detroit City Crit on Saturday followed by the Ciociaro Ontario Cup in Windsor. Both first year races on the calendar on pretty nice courses.


Its tempting to make the usual jokes about Detroit, like 'after the race I patted myself down to find NO bullet holes in me', or whatever, but the part of Detriot we were in was actually pretty nice. Huge murals (not graffiti) on the sides of some apartment buildings, parks, nice stuff. A lot of abandoned buildings right next to fancy high rises though, sure signs of the city's prime being... not now.

The Detroit crit had about 50 starters, I had two team mates, and Anton was racing as well.

Off the start I lined up near the front, but shifted to the back in no time. I apparently still had some pack jitters from the nationals incident and had a hard time trusting in any wheel in front of me. After a few laps I got into the grove of it again and had memorized all the defects in the pavement to take the right lines. I moved up to the front and popped off my first attack.

After some hard charging I found myself in what looked like the perfect breakaway:
Anton, Garneau's strongest guy, two strong riders from Jet Fuel, and one or two others.
Basically the strongest teams in the race were represented in this break and then some, so any chase behind would be getting some proper blockage from our team mates.

But as they say, if it looks too good to be true, probably is. For some reason, 'some rider' on Jet Fuel decides he'll go attacking before we even establish a safe gap over the peloton. Now we've got the other Jet Fuel rider as a passenger and cooperation falls though, then guess what, we get caught. Way to go, us! 'Here's the silver platter sir, just let me remove the ... whahaooaaoaooao *crash bang cling snap*'

So I hang in the pack while Brandon on my team goes out for a counter attack, same when Derrek goes out to do the same after Brandon gets reeled back in. Then I made it into another good looking break with Anton again and some other guys. Chased down eventually....

Then with about 20mins to go, we're all together and with a slight lull in the pace I shoot out from one side of the pack out of a turn. After driving it to get a gap, I finally check behind and see my team mate Derrek on my wheel, who had the exact same idea but came from the other side of the peloton. We have a Jet Fuel rider for company who just sits on, trying to set things up for his sprinter in the bunch. Other than the infiltrator, this was looking good.
We hold a solid gap until the final laps, driving pretty hard obviously, and then with two laps to go, I ride over one of a millionth cracks in the pavement, and flat. As strong as he is, unfortunately Derrek didn't hold of the pack all by himself and got gobbled up on the final lap, and the pack finished with a sprint.
Ahh what could have been.

Some quality pictures here.
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On Sunday we were back in Windsor for the Ciocaro race. This was on a paved track made for bike racing, but not like a velodrome, which was very cool. Small registration for this race with only 18 guys, so it would be a hard race from the start since everyone will be attacking.

There was so much going on in this race its hard to keep track of the exact order of things, but I remember each of the three of us on Kallisto were taking turns counter attacking and it was Brandon who got into the move that stuck. So did Anton. While they were out there there was more action with the pack and I got into a chase group of 4 guys. The lead group eventually caught what was left of the peloton, with our chase group still out trying to do the same. Brandon got a flat in the breakaway but luckily they were giving free laps for mechanicals here, so he got back in, I learned after the race.
He ended up a controvertial 3rd place to Anton's 2nd. I finished in 7th and Derrek almost bridged up to my chase group by the end and finished right behind us in 9th.

The controversy was that one rider in the lead group who lapped the field had team mates in the lapped group. Those lapped riders hung around to lead him out for the sprint, leaving the other breakaway riders who lapped the field with him to fend for themselves against a full team again... which is the reason one tries to get into a breakaway in the first place, to fight against less riders for the win!

But technically it was the decision of the commissars to make, and they made it that way so you have to adjust tactics accordingly (the other option is to pull lapped riders out of the race entirely, but it rarely happens).

Well... the results weren't quite what they mighta been, but I think we did a respectable job getting one of us from the team into every move of the races and coming within a hair width of another double podium/win weekend.

Fun weekend overall for sure, good road trip with the Guelph posse, never a dull moment.

Nationals

This will be a short one, not a whole lot to write about the 6km I lasted in this race.

Basically on the descent, someone either dropped a waterbottle and someone ran over it starting a pileup, or people just started running into the rear of riders in front of them, and everyone started bouncing off one another and about 10 of us hit the deck.

Luckily it wasn't on the fast part of of the descent, I kept my distance and lost a few positions there to just keep safe.

Anyway, the bike got destroyed, which was quite unfortunate. I'm fine, just a bit of road rash. I might have landed on the guy who fell in front of me, not too sure.

So I watched the rest of the race from the sidelines. What a crazy race it turned out to be. So many DNFs from those who were caught behind this crash and more from the attrition that followed, no matter the group.

42 of 170 starters finished, crazy.

Two for One Babble! Double Race weekend, Cambridge Crit and K.W. Classic

Just coming off a wicked race weekend with two back to back. Some tired legs here, but well worth it. 

Saturday saw the running of the first Cambridge Crit. Will they possibly turn this into a stage race with KW the next day? Who knows. Maybe the Guelph Crit will be brought back some day too... hmmm.

Either way, the course for this first time race was on quiet streets and perfect pavement with easy, safe corners, exactly what you'd want in a crit course. 

Headed down with Anton, got in a proper warm up on the course, found out what Sound Solutions was by incidentally asking the owner of the company riding in his team kit, and started the race with a good sized group of 25. 

Then, THIS happened (disclaimer - more gratuitous action shots!): 

(not sure who snapped the money shot here)

The first half of the races was full of moves going off the front by teams who had 4-5 guys, plus others testing their legs. A good tactic from the teams, but nothing was exactly sticking. I radio'd Anton on the walkie talkie to come with me for a dig of our own. We shoot out and get a good, albeit short lived gap. As we were getting caught it looked a bit disorganized on the front (still behind us) and I was still not quite caught so I dug again. What the heck. 

Anton lets the gap open behind me and before I know it I'm riding alone. Up the road I see a Jet Fuel rider, not sure when he got away, but I soon made it up to him. Together we hold a 20 sec. gap over the field for the next 30 mins. While the gap was smaller at the beginning, a prime was called, and we hold it until then (and then some) and I end up taking a prime. Woot. 

Anton says the chase behind was disorganized, just hard attacks from the one Planet Energy rider then chase, then lull, then repeat. Eventually though, a group of 4-5 guys breaks away from the peloton and catches the Jet Fuel rider and I with two laps to go. As soon as the catch was made, organization in the break falls though, and the peloton's shadow was creeping back up to us. 

Who would want to be caught like that... so out of the first corner of the last lap, I attack from 2nd wheel with everything I had, hoping to gap the hangers on at the back who should have been more fresh than us powering the break. I see past my seatpost that the chasing wheel was losing ground on me, so I go for it all the way. Solo all the way to the last corner and 'sprint' the final 200 m to hold the chase off. Barely. They shut the gap down a lot in the headwind section, but there was enough left to sit up and savour the moment a little. First S1/2 win, on the day that I upgraded officially to S1! 

Waiting...waiting...

(Photo: Gabhan's Dad, Mr. Gabhan)

The finish:.

Big thanks to Mike M. for sticking around after his 3rd place finish in the earlier race to film this.

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The next day saw good racing conditions for KW. Perfect weather and WINDY.  The crosswinds made this a  really hard race. The first of the 130 km's started out fast. By one lap of twenty into the race, the peloton was already splitting apart. Just carnage. It often came back together, but a lot of legs were getting softened up by all the action. A team mate got into the first break, Anton too, we (and teamates of others in the break) start to block, and they get out of sight in no time. 

As the laps wear on attacks and chases from teamates in the pack keep going. When Derrek (my last team mate in the pack) attacks, he gets away, but another solid rider goes after him a bit later. I have to jump on this and burn a huge match there. The two of us stayed away for half a lap or so, but got reeled in. 

Derrek's group catches the front break, and behind in my group it was just attrition from there on in. Maybe 20 riders at this point, each lap it gets smaller and smaller. Each attack from our group shells a few more riders, and one or two get away off the front to ride in no man's land between groups for the rest of the day. 

Covering those moves and accelerations all day (too many to even mention) through the wind was tough, and I think I definitely dulled my edge by pushing so hard the day before. But another good lesson in racing with crosswinds. 

Our group now whittled to about 10 guys on the second last lap, one takes a flyer. Nobody care's because we're all visibly smoked, share a laugh or two (its over for us, so who cares) and just want to finish. On the last time through the crosswinds I go out to catch him just for kicks. He attacks near the finish as we're holding off the little group, and I couldn't be bothered to follow the millionth attack of the day for 15th place, so I just ride in at my own pace for 16th. 

Not a super performance for me at KW, but we got two of the three of us from the team into the break, Derrek killing it, again, to take the W. Double win for the team this weekend, have to be happy with that.