Homage to Bronte

2 race reports in one, could get long, here we go. Training was great since my last post, finished a few weeks ago, during the rest week I felt great and super pumped to start a new block. That was last week, the first hard ride was probably my best ride yet, rode hard to Hamilton, did the Big 3 three times each and rode hard home. I was pretty congested for the rest week but didn't think much of it because I'm always congested. Friday night before Bronte I really started to feel bad, brutally congested, ear infections, migraines, chest cold, I was a disease infested pile of shit. Saturday night I thought for sure I wasn't going to race but woke up feeling alright and after Derek from Lib! just made my bike a beautiful working machine (HUGE thanks for that!) I had to race it. Also, big thanks to DeCal for the flatbar. I started off pretty good, made my way close to the front and that was it. Turned onto the snow, rode it good but still lost a bunch of spots. Started the long hill climb and I watched everybody walk away from me. The rest of the time was spent feeling pretty good for a couple seconds and putting the hammer down then back to feeling like crap. Everybody rode away from me effortlessly, it really wasn't good for the pride. I had full intentions on pulling the shoot after the first lap but then Cayley Brooks caught me and convinced me to do another lap, glad I did because I ended that ride on a good note. Congrats to Meg and De Cal for their wins. Then it was on to a brutal night, finally fell asleep around 3am after 4 advils, not so liquifast. Doctors the next day confirmed a sinus infection, chest x-rays, throat swab, urine test, breathing test, ECG and physical just to be sure. Got meself a bunch of meds and took a week off the bike, still haven't even cleaned my mtb from the race. I wasn't expecting anything today but I was going to watch for sure anyways so I figure I mine as well race, maybe it was the 8 hours with the chicken shit yesterday that did it or the 5 hours of dishwashing last night but something gave me some good legs today and it was awesome. Start was really slow, the first few surges weren't so bad based on everybody's expression around me but I was hurtin bad. There were 8 short laps to get warmed up, nothing too drastic happened, an early break got away but they would later need assistance to survive. The surges were getting easier and easier as I started getting some legs, I was starting to feel good and made my way close to the front. Did a little work and a couple attacks but nothing too useful. Morka and De Cal were doing most of the work for the group, a chase group of 5 formed and stayed a few seconds ahead of us but they didn't seem like they were going anywhere. Not until Chown hammered away from the group to join them, the solo bridge was nuts, just sick to watch. Then they started making some ground and soon joined the lead group. I kept surprising myself every time we made it to the turn around and seeing the numbers go down while still being in the bunch. With 3 to go I thought it was over, I started cramping up really bad but thankfully the pace slowed and I was able to recover enough to stay in it. Same thing happened a few times but somehow I managed to stay in for the bunch kick. I made my way up good, got in the 53-12, started my sprint on the grass, still moving up and now I was pumped. Got back on the pavement to avoid the barricades and got boxed in. Oh well, started cramping up again anyways. Huge props to Chown for the win. Exams next week and hopefully feeling good enough to start some intensity again.