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 ;)
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