A Paris to Ancaster to Forget

The weather was the best it had been in years. Legs felt great and I was aiming for a top 100 spot to make the elite wave next year. The course was shortened due to the heavy rain during the week leading up to the event. My brother decided to do the half St George to Ancaster 40km race.
I started a bit back in wave one. I figured showing up to the line 20 mins in advance would be enough time, turns out it wasn't. Worked hard to catch up, and get by the slower people. Mechanical #1: turns out I didn't tighten my seat post enough and over the first 10km, it slowly dropped with every bump I hit. Forgot my CO2 and multi-tool at my student house, so I had to find someone that had one. Got one, took the guy's number, fixed it and had lost about a minute. Fresh legs now, sprinting to catch back up, got into a farmer's field and did one too many shifts up. Mechanical #2: chain jammed between the cassette and the spokes. Lost the group I was with and a couple minutes trying to get it out. Fresh legs again, caught up to the guys, and passed them in the next farmer's field section. Killed it along the rail trail from Jerseyville Road, on route to Powerline East. Passed quite a few people here, riding mainly solo. As soon as the course turned off it went onto an uphill, loose gravel section. Mechanical #3: Shift up and chain really got jammed between the spokes and cassette. Lots caught me here, probably took about 5mins to fix. Again fresh legs now, and sprinted onwards. Nailed the two mudslides passing a few people along the way. Met the kind gentleman that gave me the multi-tool and returned it. Bike felt weird coming out of the second mudslide. Mechanical #4: Rear flat tire. I forgot my C02 dispenser but had a canister. I prepped the tire with a fresh tube and started asking for help. Someone stopped and offered up a C02 and said to keep it. (if you were the one that gave me it and want it back let me know!! I never got your number or anything) I inflated it, and my stupidity, I forgot to check if the bead caught the rim. It didn't on one section so had to get someone else to stop with a pump. Needless to say I lost a few minutes again. This was about 5km from the finish. Was able to catch a few people by the top of the climb. The course was surprising dry in most areas such as the rail trail, so it made for a fast course.
I wasn't able to put up a great result for the CoachChris.ca team, but many others did great! I finished 278ish, and 29th in my age group.
What I really love about this race is the camaraderie. When people are at the side of the road, anyone that goes by checks to see if you are ok. After I finished, I waited for my brother at the bottom of the hill and cheered on the people that were preparing for a sweet climb. I was changed into my regular clothes and rinsed my face off so it didn't look like I rode. People gave me the "go screw yourself" look, or the "lets see you do this" look. The people that were coming through by this time were just trying to make it to the finish. They all did great work pushing themselves.
Legs felt great today, feel the power coming back which is a great sign. The additional riding outside is a lot better at building up the power than on the spin bike.
Next race will be Springbank crit on May 5th.

Garmin data: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/298123864
Results (both 70km and 45km): http://www.parisancaster.com/results.html
Hopefully post some nice pictures in the picture section if I find some posted.

Tour de Bronte

Hey!
I probably should have got this up a bit earlier but i'm sure you've been busy riding and racing yourselves! Anyways, Saturday was the tour de Bronte, and my coach Jeff Kehler said I should try the elite race to get used to the 80km distance of the elite 3, and to see how I fair against the top guns. It was the same great course as last year, plus a couple of extra pot holes here and there to add to the fun and keep your mind sharp. I was sure this time to start at the front having learned my lesson from the Good friday race.
As soon as the race started I could sense the power these guys had behind them. First time I had raced with a mainly cat1/2 field, and they are on a whole other level. I am still getting used to the big jump from elite 4 to 3. These guys are crazy fast, but I feel like I should be able to hang in with them a bit further into this season (we will find out come provincials).  Back to the race. I was able to hang on for 1 of 10, 8km laps. About half way through the 2nd lap I was shelled off the back. I had already seen that a chase group had formed as we came around in the second lap so I slowed my pace and waited up for them. This group was more the pace/skill level I was used to, and just what I think I needed to get back into things. Gave me the chance to get used to rotating through, feeling strong enough to take pulls again and not care that others are skipping turns. Through the remainder of the race there was two bad crashes ahead of us, with an ambulance being called for on CHCH rider I believe, and I cannot remember if they other crash had an ambulance as well.
With about 2 laps to go there was about 10 in our group. A m1 rider from Wheels of Bloor attacked with one guy on his wheel and they stayed away for about half a lap then I bridged the gap. Once that happened he decided there was too many and eased off back into the group. Once we were all back together he attacked again, and he was able to stay away. Going into the last lap there were only 4 of us left as the rest fell off from the increased pace. I wanted to work on my finishing strategy so I tried to limit my turns on the front, and seem as tired as I could. Coming into the final 2 kilometre there were 3 of us in contention for whatever place was next. That didn't matter to us as we raced our own race and wanted the fun of a good finish. Coming in I was sitting in the middle of the train. The front guy attacked and I was able to cover his move. He cleverly slowed right up, pushing me to be in the front. I kept my pace low with an easy gearing so I would be ready to jump on the next attack. The same guy jumped again, the other guy had his wheel then I got his. Now I was back to where I wanted to be. The guy in the middle thought the end was where the turn around was but it was further down the road. He attacked and sprinted just past that point only to realize his mistake. I was on his wheel and this brought me close enough to open up my sprint to the finish. I didn't know the other guy was still on my wheel until I saw the shadow in the picture, but he didn't have enough to get by me after all his attacks. I felt confident with my sprint because I have done quite a bit of training for it so I rode conservatively into the finish and it worked! It felt like I was riding the final kilometres of a spring classic with all the attacks which was awesome.
Now I feel like my head is back in the game and i'm ready to race. Going in to get checked for bronchitis so that might help give me some more oxygen. But ill be in full action this weekend at the Paris to Ancaster! Hopefully some of you will be out there!

Results: http://www.ontariocycling.org/web_pages/results/20130406-224451-tbresults.htm
Garmin data: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/294046140

I leave you with my sprint finish. If you look at the shadow you can see there was someone hiding behind me. Forgot my coachchris.ca kit in my closet! Good thing I packed enough to wear just incase I thought it would be overly cold. Ill be sure not to mess that up again! I did however remember the bright yellow team socks ;)