Holland Marsh: Provincial Road Race

Yesterday brought great weather for the race, asides from the strong wind. The course started out heading west with a tail wind, we turned left where the crosswinds strung out the peloton. We quickly descended a steep hill (I hit a max of 88.7km/h sure someone else went faster), the next left was terrible as the road was full of pot holes. It was a mess and there were water bottles everywhere, this wasn't made anymore appealing with the headwind. The last leg of the course saw the peloton meet the crosswinds again with a nice hill leading up to the feed zone. Overall we had 12 laps for 144km on the agenda.

Coming into this race I didn't know what to expect as I had been racing roughly half this distance this year while most of these guys have been racing this all year. Also I went swimming to a public pool on Friday and I think i'm coming down with a cold from that... I wanted to give it my best shot anyways to see how I could do.

Race started off good, trying to get a feel for the potholes. On the back section my bike felt funny after crossing under the 400 hwy, I looked down to see I had a flat. Crap. Lost my good position in the peloton already... Pulled over and got a spare wheel then sprinted to try and catch back up not wanting my race to be over already on the first lap. Luckily the peloton eased right up before the hill so I was able to get back on after about a kilometer. We hit the hill at a moderately hard pace, then it picked up at the top.
 The next time up the hill people were starting to suffer and a few looked to be popped off the back but were able to get back on when the paced eased at the top.
 The third lap saw the pace pick up at the beginning of that last stretch. The peloton was single file (at least the back half was) riding along the yellow line trying to get protection from the person in front from the crosswinds. Paced eased up slightly only for a moment as there was a surge on the hill. I saw a few people pop off, my heart rate was through the roof and then I also fell off the back. I tried chasing hard for a lap and kept them in my sights. After a lap I lost sight and my hopes of catching back up were dashed. I decided to keep riding until I got pulled. After a few laps of TTing I saw teammate Ryan on the back stretch with a flat. He had a few choice words for the the organizing of the race for not having a wheel car behind the peloton and I could see why he would be so frustrated. I knew I was so far back that giving him my wheel wouldn't have helped. A real deal rider came by and I rode a few laps with him. We got pulled after 8 laps of 12.

I don't know how much the flat took out of me from getting back on, or how much the cold held me back but I wasn't impressed with the result I had. Some hard interval work is definitely needed for next year if I hope to be competitive, as racing with these guys is a whole new ball game. I think if I positioned myself better in the pack it probably would have helped as well. After looking at the results though I know it was a hard race after seeing so many big names with a DNF beside it. Next year i'll be back for redemption!

Pictures up when I get some...
Race results: here
Garmin data: here