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
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
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| Picture of my brother in the Cadet race earlier on in the day |
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| Looking fresh midrace? Not sure when this was taken |
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| Pushing the pace at the front |
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