Grey Country Road Race - Death by Wind and Hills

This was a new race for this year put on by Bruce Bird, and some guys from Wheels of Bloor. First off, they did a fantastic job as the race was superbly organized. It was held on the roads close to Blue Mountain, so you know it is going to be hilly. The one thing I would have liked for the Elite 1/2 race would have been a neutral feed. There was a big time in between feed zones, and as you will find out I suffered because of it. Other than that everyone stayed on course even if they were split off the pack and they were no where in sight. Usually when that happens you will get people taking wrong turns.

One of the many great shots by Jeremy Allen. A view from a far of the Scenic Caves climb. 

Anyways, the weather was nice enough for shorts and a jersey, but it was very windy. We had a wind of around 40km/h or at least the gusts were. On the board for the day was 162km with a finish climb up scenic caves, which is about 2km at 10 percent grade. The race started with a nicely paced neutral start that brought us out of Blue Mountain Village and on to the race course for around 4km of neutral zone. After this the pace was pretty tame for the first 40km or so. I know a bunch of people felt that first climb hit their legs near the beginning. On the back stretch we had a strong cross wind and a few punch climbs and this saw the back of the pack get strung out and lose connection a few times. Once we turned right, we had a tailwind. Normally this is a good thing, except you get little help from drafting. The guys on the front were still doing their pacing but now everyone else had to work just as hard. By the time we got to the feed zone some people were starting to crack from this, myself included. I got through the feed, grabbed a bottle from my brother (who so kindly offered up his Saturday to help me out), put it in the wrong pocket and went to chase back on. I happened to put it in the same pocket as my clif bar so it didn't go all the way in. As I was out of the saddle it came out and I was now down a bottle...

I was able to catch back on in time for the head wind. I have never been so grateful for headwind. The pace slowed up, and a group of guys caught back on after I did. This small victory was short lived as we quickly made a left hand turn into the murderous cross wind again. The strong riders moved to the front and wanted to have some fun. The pace picked up and the group was strung out across the road trying to get some sort of draft to hang on. This blew the pack apart. By the time we got to Grey Road 19, I was solo off the back with a small group ahead of me. I was able to catch up to them before the downhill. This included some strong guys like Andrew House and Luke Vanlauwe. This group worked together pretty well, we got through about a quarter of the second lap before we started to see a small group ahead of us. It took us a while longer before we finally caught them. In this group was the always strong Grahame Rivers. This made me feel a little bit better about being in that group. By this time of the race I was sucking on my bottles trying to get the last drops out of it. I couldn't eat my second clif bar because I needed some liquid to be able to wash it down. My legs weren't feeling great either...

We got to the back section and House pulled a little attack. Not sure of the purpose of the attack as we were still so far out from the finish. This dropped a rider or two however. I popped off the back just before the feed zone, with the group in sight. I got my water but by then was already dehydrated. It didn't last long as I drank it over the next 10 mins. Unfortunately I wasn't smart enough to use it to get down my clif bar. I started working with Biran Falk-Dotan to try and catch back onto the group. His turns kept getting shorter and shorter and my legs weren't getting any better. Once his pulls were down to about 15 seconds I just sat up and let him ride away, I was dead. I kept trying to convince myself I could make it through to the end, I just had to finish...

By the time I finished the decent on Grey 19, I was really needing some water. I could feel my quads on the verge of cramping so I tried to keep my pedalling consistent after someone previously had told me that once you stop then they will cramp. I slowly approached the wall that was going to end me, Scenic Caves. For the duration of the climb I was in 39-28 gearing with a cadence of about 52. I have never felt so bad before on the bike. I thought there was no way I was going to get up to the top. It took what seemed to be forever until I started to see people, signifying that I was close. My brother was there to cheer me on, and he ran beside me for a little ways. I couldn't quit in front of him so I gave it everything I had left to get to the top. I spun it around the corner to the finish. Shortly after I set my bike down and laid down face first into the ditch. Rivers and some of his teammates were nearby and checked to ensure I was alright and gave me some water to keep me alive. The camaraderie in cycling is what makes it such a great sport to be apart of. Also worth while to mention that Ryan Roth is an absolute machine on the bike and was somehow able to take the win with a 3min gap. That's the kind of tale that makes a man into a legend.

At the end of the day I was happy I finished. Next year I will be better prepared for the distance and the hills. And I will probably start off with 3 bottles of water just so this scenario doesn't happen again. I felt hungover for the rest of the day, wasn't too fun! Next up on the calendar is Niagara classic, which was once seen as the hilly venue on the OCUP calendar, but may not seem to be so much after this past race.

Results: here
Garmin Data: here