Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Round 2 - Woodnewton

Sick weekend started at casa De Cal with all the boys on the Lib! team loading our stuff into Schmidt's van, a couple hours or so of driving and we were at the venue. We remembered to shut the car doors this time during the pre-ride and all went well. Some good singletrack, good climbs to go hard and a couple drag race sections to get to the singletrack in front. Just like last year, we hit up subway for some fuel and Vince's for some groceries. The team chefs cooked up some potent fuel at a cool B&B on Scugog Island. The night was super chill, just sittin around, eating and I even got in a foam roll session. Won't be long now before I get myself one of them fancy things.

Morning of the race was awesome with about 6 pounds of french toast in us and seeing Contador rip a mountain stage apart we were all set. Good vibes on the drive there, pulled in with plenty of time to watch Meg take a win in the cadet expert field after opting for the rock garden which gave her a big enough gap to hold to the line. Then, with the help of JC, I got my bike dialed and I was ready to go. Warm up felt good, some spinning, some efforts, it's all pretty much the same.

Had a good start position, I was riding behind Peter Glassford for a bit then by myself. The Lapierre train came rolling by and I hopped on for a bit, turns out my stop was the first one and I was all alone again. I was hurting by the end of the first lap, not being able to hold anyone's wheel that came by. I don't even remember who came by me and where I was position wise, I just kept a pace that wouldn't blow me up before the finish. I think it was Tim Carleton that came by me at the end of the third lap, we battled for the 4th lap, caught someone, now it was starting to get funner.

Fifth lap was by far my best one, I dropped that group and just kept hammering everywhere I could. The tight sloppy singletrack section was probably the worst riding I've seen from myself in a while but it was slow for everyone anyways so no worries. Not sure when it really started to come around but next thing I knew I was bridging up to Jamie Wagler, then a few other guys, then Simon Wagler just before the last climb. I punched it and just kept hammering into the last descent, I didn't want the race to end because I was finally going like I was the first lap. I'm very happy with 20th because my goal for the first half of the season (pre-Nationals) was to get in the top 20s and because I get some points.

Another successful o-cup for the team with Meg's win, Schmidt (huge thanks for the weekend of driving!) coming in 6th, a solid result in such a stacked field. De Cal always doing his thing, only 3 spots away from a top 10. Sara got herself on the podium again at Bike the Bruce, should be some fun racing this weekend on the pavement.

2 comments:

  1. Great blog post makes me miss those O Cup weekends. Always a blast.

    Congrats on the points. J Henri +3!

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  2. Thanks bud, where've you been? It was good to see you at the Tuesday nighter... sorry for scarin you haha

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