Lake to Lake

Rolled in at HH Knoll for 10:15 and got a good warm up in, shot the shit, the usual pre-race stuff. I lined up at the front and was ready to go, the start is always sketchy and today was no different, starting with an old lady driving through the intersection then stopping as she saw the group coming towards her. The look on her face was priceless. Some guy was trying to take the smoothest line on the road by avoiding all the cracks and sewers and almost took me out, not 10 seconds later did I hear that awful sound. The same sound that was produced during the finishing straight at Good Friday, carnage. These things happen and are very unfortunate, however, they are very avoidable. Let's not get into that right now.

So I continued on in the hopes that everyone was OK, I didn't bother looking back because I didn't want to see it and to stay focused on what was in front of me since that probably shook a few guys up. Wow, just over a paragraph and I didn't even take the first turn yet. Going through Port I was sitting 10th or so and once we got on the gravel stretch I was shelled and hopped on the next group of guys. Worked with them for a while going in to the trails and back on to the gravel along the canal until DeBoer attacked and I tried to respond. Even though I never bridged, it ended up being a good move because I had dropped that group and was chassing for the next. I caught them and passed before heading into Mosquito Alley which was a total shit show and gave me flashbacks of last year when I ran the whole section and gained 2 spots.

The Coach and his boss gave me a bottle just after the train bridge and I was on my way chassing down the next train, thanks a bunch. I couldn't bridge on the road but once we got in the trail I was making good time and caught them before leaving Allanburg. Got a good cheer from Boston Marathon star and long time friend Al Deschamps (blog on right) which got me pumped and ready to rock. My cleet had been loose for a while but it was starting to get really bad and I was trying not to think about it coming apart on me. Our group was working well together and eventually reeled in Rahim, I attacked a bit later and held them off until the singletrack, I was told my 2km/h pace was a little slow and tried to ramp it up a bit resulting in a body check to a tree and a headbutt to his friend across the trail. No biggy, Rahim and I managed to get away and were riding strong going down the escarpement.

After Suzanne's we saw Trevor Montague up ahead and started to hammer to catch him, this is where the race got interesting. So Trevor is about 10-20s and we can see he's hurting, I'm on Rahim's wheel and as the gap starts closing I crack. No soon after Rahim cracks as well. You know those long ass boxing matches where the fighters are giving it their all at the end but the punches are just so weak because there is pretty much nothing left in the tank? That was how the chasse was, 3 guys within 10s of each other pushing hard but making up no ground at all.

Ian from The Hub catches me and we work together to get to Rahim, for about 3s we were all together, then back to the boxing match but this time between four guys. Although Trevor was out of sight, maybe he wasn't hurting as bad as we thought. Final road section was a blur, coming up to the final descent I seen De Cal and pointed to him with a nod because he was already changed so I assumed he had finished on the box where he belongs, little did I know he was in that first crash. Heal up quick buddy.

The Flying Frenchman, JC Roberge was also involved in the crash as well as Jenny Brown. Very unfortunate, I hope the healing process goes quick.

I made a goal for top 15 and came 13th, can't say I'm unhappy. It was a good day for my paps too who won the 444 fishing derby. Happy father's day to all the paps out there.

Here's a good one, so my mom parks in some dentists' driveway that she knows who lives real close to the finish. She leaves her keys with him so he can move the van when his wive gets home. We get back to the van and there is a note written on the windshield, the windshield of the van with my bike, my mom and aunt's purses as well as a few more valuables: "Hi... Keys are in the mailbox - had to leave for a bit" with his signature at the bottom. Nice, even after 14 years of schooling some people just never quite get it.