London Tourism Challenge

Yesterday was the London Tourism Challenge, which took place following a youth cup. This was an open category (all ages, skill levels and gender) could participate with some extra awards being awarded to top female finishers and younger riders.  It was a criterium that was based on a 75min time plus one lap rather than a set distance. We raced around a wide-open 1.3km course with no-yellow line rule. The roads were all smooth asides from the first corner of the race, which was a little rough. It was a fun and fast course, one of my favourites this year. The one thing I might like to see changed is the start/finish moved to the longer side stretches just to make the sprint finish more open, which will make it more exciting to watch and also make it safer. (Although there weren’t any crashes that I know of in the final corner).

The race started out with all cadet and junior riders being brought to the front. When the whistle blew for the start of the race I wasn’t able to clip in right away. This saw me off the back and the race just started! I was able to get back on and the pace was high with many attacks being launched. I could feel that the stronger riders were waiting for the move from Jeff Schiller to go with. I finally saw him fly up from the corner of my eye but I was nestled in the middle of the pack and wasn’t able to do anything about it, and the front didn’t react either. Eight strong riders were able to make the jump with him and they were quickly able to distance themselves. Looking around I saw Ed Veal was still with us so I thought there was a chance that we would see the break again. Veal attacked solo and he also quickly distanced himself and we thought we wouldn’t see him again.

They announced a $50 prime for us mid race and I thought it would be a good chance to salvage the race. I attacked a bit too early and Jordan Broad got onto my wheel. No one else contested this and he was easily able to sprint off of me to take it.

A few laps after I saw Ed Veal ahead of us, and was surprised to see him. I guess he wasn’t able to get up to the break. After that the group stayed together and then the announcer said that we were going to get lapped so that we would get our sprint finish a few laps early. For whatever reason I didn’t contest the sprint. Probably a combination of fatigue and wasn’t where I wanted to be so I didn’t risk it. Unsurprisingly Jordan took the sprint, followed by Veal. Jordan is turning into one hell of a sprinter!

We were able to watch the real finish and it wasn’t a surprise to many that Jeff Schiller easily took the win. The man is a machine and I hope one day to be able to put up power figures that could come close to his.

This was probably one of my favourite races this year. It was organized really well and it was a fun course. The perfect weather conditions didn’t hurt either! At the end my garmin said I had an average speed for the race of 44.3km/h (a little off from the OCA results estimate).  Pretty sure this is the fastest race I have completed, I can feel huge improvements from the start of the year.

Next for me is HCC club race this coming weekend, then provincial time trial championships Labour Day weekend!

Results:here

Garmin Data:here

Picture of my brother in the Cadet race earlier on in the day

Looking fresh midrace? Not sure when this was taken

Pushing the pace at the front

Tour de Terra Cotta: I'm Back!

Now based on the title, you may think I did really well. Well not really but I finished in the peloton. This race was meant to be a redemption race. After upgrading to cat 2, I was pulled in my first two races (both were provincial championships), and my moral wasn't too high. Todays goal was accomplished and I'm feeling good about my fitness again! Also i'm almost fully recovered from my cold so I think that helped.

So the race is a must attend race for the first time racer to the experienced cat 1 rider. It is a closed 8.8km loop, so you get the full road with no yellow line rule. There was a youth cup race in the morning, followed by a 26km beginner race, 54km Intermediate race and a 104km elite race to finish the day off in style. There was good prize money in the elite race with the winner walking home with $1000 (according to the tech guide).  Theres a short hill on each lap which will sometimes break people off the group if they aren't very strong on climbs.

I ended up being there for all the races this time as my brother did the youth cup in the morning. I had friends in both the beginner and intermediate races so it turned into a day of cheering before racing.

Before the race started I noticed the guy beside me had his brakes pretty tight at the start line. Let him know and they were indeed rubbing. That gave me some good karma to keep me out of trouble in the race! The elite race started neutral up to the base of the hill. No better way to warm your legs up than starting a race at the bottom of a hill... I managed to hang in there the first lap and get my legs warmed up. There was a crash behind me on the third corner of the first lap, not sure what happened but it was at the back of the pack so I can't imagine many were involved. On the second lap a strong group of riders attacked on the hill and got away. For some reason I was sitting neatly at the back still and had no idea this happened. Mid-way through the race I finally moved up and met up with team mate Andrew and he said he wasn't feeling too great. Andrew not feeling great is the same as me feeling my best so I thought I should help him out. Just before the downhill section I brought him to the front and we got off the front a bit before getting reeled in. I stayed towards the front for a bit then found myself again towards the back of the pack...

The main problem I had on the hill was getting boxed in and getting pushed back. This was a big problem on the second last lap. I was boxed in by two female riders and the side of the road. They lost contact with the group before I was able to get out. I got to the front and tried chasing back. I tried flicking my elbow to get help, no one responded so I tried my other elbow (there was faint hope that they just couldn't see that side :p ). No help. We turned the corner into the head wind and finally a guy came up and helped. We were able to catch back on just after the third turn with the two girls holding our wheel. When we came around the corner we weren't back on yet, and one girl picked a better line through the corner than me, got ahead of me, pulled in front and slowed down. This was frustrating, I don't care if you don't the energy to chase back on, but don't prevent someone else from doing so. I got around her and sprinted to catch back on. In the end those two riders ended up a few mins back so I am doubting they caught on. Anyway this was all caused by my bad positioning and then I had hardly energy left for the last lap. I got around just hanging in the group.

This was a pretty tough races with my two attacks and then trying to catch back on the second last lap. We had an average speed of just under 42km/h which is one of the fastest races I have done. It was definitely easier than provincials which I am grateful for. My whole body ached when I was done, a clear sign of a good workout accomplished!

Things to take from this:
-work on pack positioning, even more so on hard sections of the course and as the race gets further along and people get tired
-attacking before a downhill doesn't seem to work, especially on a straight. Save your energy.

Next races will be a set of crits in Toronto and London following the youth cups. Hopefully I stay trouble free!

Results:here
Garmin Data: here