CHIN Picnic

An early rise of 5:30 had me not so eager to race, coffee changed that. I'm lucky I even woke up, set my alarm for 5:15pm instead of am, somehow I woke up at 5:30. 20$ to park at race site, ouch, I've gotta start showing up a bit earlier to races so I can cruise the streets nearby and find somewhere to park for 20$ less.

I took my time getting ready because for the first time in a while I was there on schedule, an hour early, by the time I was done it was 8:18, 12 minutes to warm up and line up. It wasn't so bad, the start was delayed a bit so I had a bit more time to ride around. Shot the shit with Holtzman and Csikos before lining up. I was hoping for a win today.

In hindsight, I did race the perfect race to have enough in me for a sprint, for the first time ever I just sat it. I wasn't feeling good at all let me tell you, it wasn't cramps, tired, stomach or anything like that. I just couldn't go fast. I was hoping my legs would come around because everytime we came by under that banner before the S-bend I knew we were one lap closer to the innevitable group sprint. I made my way up a few times but just didn't have the power to hold my spot so I'd soon find myself near the back. The group was taking the corners brutally slow and some people had a really hard time holding their line. No big crashes though, so that's always good when you're at the back.

So sitting in the pack all day you'd think I would at least have enough in me for a good sprint, not at all. I made my way up to 5th or 6th wheel but as soon as I got there I started loosing ground, fast. By the end of the sweeping left bend I was sprinting at the back, I almost felt alone. The good part about this race is that I know I can, at the very least, stay in the pack on a bad day even on a course that doesn't suit me very well. I guess 12th isn't a poor result, but I'm in need of some upgrade points.

Big ups to Etzl and Perry for their 1-3 in cadet (couldn't sweep the podium again boys? come on...), Holtzman had a solid race after driving the pace and leading everybody out at the end but still managing to get on the box, Visser must have a good sprint because he took his first race as an M2 and from looking at the results it seems De Cal fits in just fine with the big boys, I knew he would. Paps didn't want to stick around afterwards so unfortunately I didn't do any spectating. Leaving for Gravenhurst early Tuesday so I can get in a good ride of the course after getting settled in at Honey Harbour.