Niagara Classic and Grey County TT

I will try and shorten two reports into one. I am running behind with pretty much everything as my comprehensive exam date for my Ph.D. draws closer.

Anyway, both of these races were quite successful and very well run. Niagara Classic took on Steve Bauer's name and the organization was superb. Traffic was only allowed to run the direction of the course, allowing us to use the full road on the narrow roads. A great safety measure taken that made for a great day. Grey county TT had tons of signage and volunteers on course to make sure you could find your way through when you are pushing so hard that you can't tell left from right. Albeit the cost of the time trial was rather high, maybe to do with it being a UCI grand fondo qualifer, but it would be nice if sponsors came forward to subsidize costs as it would allow for bigger fields.

Back to the racing. Niagara classic featured a hill top finish on Effingham, and we had to do it 11 times (one time was "neutral"). The first 4 or so laps were relatively easy. A break of 3 was up the road and there was the occasional attack from someone trying to bridge. The next few laps, gaps started to open on the climb (wind wasn't a big factor today), and I should have moved up. On lap 7, we overtook the women's field on the climb, and with me at the back of the pack, it allowed for a nice gap to form between me and the leaders that had a clear shot through and hammered it. A group of 9 really strong riders made it over and down the road. The rest of us 25+ riders ended up together in one group by the bottom of the hill. Unfortunately no one wanted to work (ok maybe 5 people max were) and the group was still in sight. Frustrated I was helping to pull 20 people back to the lead group, I dropped back for a little rest. A few km's later I moved back up and put in a good pull, Phil Sheffield came through, and then no one came through on him. You could tell he wasn't happy. I came through again and put in a good pull. He just sat up, and when I looked back, no one came with me. The chase group was just up the road, but they had too much horsepower. I finished the race with a 30km TT, and held off the peloton, putting a minute into them, but lost 4-5mins to the winning group that caught the break. Those last few climbs were some of the hardest climbs I have done; going in pre-fatigued made it a survival climb. I was fairly happy with this race, but a better result was possible had I been better positioned on the climb.

A happy and sore Chris to have finished solo for 13th. 

Moving onto the TT. I had bought a new TT bike coming into this. And by new I mean a old Cervelo Dual aluminum bike. I have had stiffness issues with TT bikes, so I figured aluminum was a good way to fix that. It was a hot night, without much wind. I started off maybe a little too hard, with the excitement of going through all the city corners. As it went on, and I settled in, I sweat a lot. By the time I got to the top of the hill 20km in, I couldn't see with the sweat streaming into my eyes. To be safe, I ended up tucking on the big descents because I couldn't see the potholes. Just before the final descent with 3km to go, I passed my 2 minute man. He spun by me on the downhill, and once it flattened out I was able to put the hammer down and make up some time. I really need to get a crank or pedal power meter so I can use a disc and have power data. I can pace and push myself a lot better when I have that number in front of me.

Anyway, I ended up finishing the TT in 5th! I beat a couple people that had passed me last year. A great result for me. I knew I had the power for this result after a hard winter of training, and it was thoroughly satisfying to see the training paying off. 

Results for Steve Bauer Classic: here

Results for the Grey County TT: Here

If you want more pics, or faster updates on race results, check out the team's facebook page! : Here

Mid-spring reset after Mother's Day Criterium

My training was going great, I was approaching my rest week and then started to get super fatigued. At first it felt ok riding endurance pace, but then I wasn't able to hit the high end watts. Then on Thursday, my heart rate wasn't climbing as much as I expected when doing some Sydenham repeats for my watt output. This was made even more evident when we timed an all out effort and I was beat by a new teammate, and another member of the Hamilton cycling club. Both of these guys are strong, but I know I should have been at least 20 seconds faster.

Friday came and my legs felt like death. I took the day off asides from an easy half hour spin on the Hamilton SOBI bikes, hoping it would help speed the recovery. I just needed to feel good by Sunday.

Saturday came and I still felt sluggish. I decided to sleep in and ride easy with my brother. 170 watts felt like a struggle, despite a low heart rate of around 120bpm. I put in one, 2-minute effort over 400watts to test the legs and then I convinced myself that I would be good to go for the race. I finished the ride with a nice protein smoothie, and tried to eat good for the rest of the day. I also made sure I got to bed at a good time to allocate myself an extra hour of sleep. I usually don't put this much thought into recovery.

I got to the race super early as I wanted to get a long warmup in and some extra miles. I cruised for 45km at 210watts, and my heart rate was right where I expected it to be ~135bpm. I thought I had done everything right, and somehow I pulled off a great recovery.

The race started with attacks and I felt ok for the first 10km. I even put in a little attack myself that was quickly neutralized. But this whole time my heart rate was well above threshold. After a couple laps I wasn't able to keep up with the attacks, and drifted back, and then off the back. My heart rate got up to 190bpm by the time I got dropped (the highest I have seen this year is 192). I thought maybe they would sit up and I could catch back on, but no dice. After a while of hammering myself into the ground, the breakaway caught me and I was pulled 26km into the 60km race.

The next morning my resting heart rate was 47, compared to its usual 56. It was a very disappointing race, as I have been training like crazy and there was no reason for me to not have finished the race. With my big races still ahead of me, I decided to make sure I get extra rest this week so I don't suffer the same result in the races ahead. Physically I needed a reset, and definitely a mental one too. I am using the Giro to get amped up to race again, and this is helping me use up time that I would otherwise use riding. Also school has been pretty hectic, so it was good timing for a down week to stay on top of things.

So this post is more of me making a commitment to myself, that despite a terrible race, I WILL be back for more. I will leave you with a nice little quote that always gets me fired up. No idea who it came from originally.

Be the type of person that when your feet hit the floor in the morning the devil says, "Oh shit, they're up."

Springbank - First race of the year in Ontario

This was supposed to be a rainy day, but luckily it held off for the afternoon. I was mainly using this race to build fitness and to figure out things I need to work on. Having crashed here twice (no real injuries) I was a little hesitant coming here. Judging by the small field size, I wasn't the only one. Ryan Roth came back from his touring with Silber to do this race, and Jeff Schiller came with 5 teammates, so they were both going to be big factors in the race. I can't figure out why they call it a road race, but then run it like a criterium. One day maybe I will open a fortune cookie that will provide me this answer.

Pictures provided by my wonderful sister Kayla

Made sure to get a good warm up before the start

Things were moving fast!

The race started off quick. It took my legs the first 2 laps to warm back up. Nothing was getting away. Ontario racers love to race to not lose, so there were lots of people covering attacks, but only a few people willing to launch them. Lots of riders felt the need to be glued to Ryan and Jeff's wheels. I did manage to get myself to the front after about 10 laps and tried a small push off the front, but I was quickly latched on to.

Off the front or off the back? Lets go with the first option :) 

After another 5 laps, things slowed down and I found myself at the front again. After a little bit of work I dropped back. Bad idea. Shit hit the fan and the group started to break apart. I was on the wrong side of that split. There was a lot of fire power in that front group. At the very least, if I couldn't get back on, I wanted a good workout. At the most I believe we had 6 guys, but it got dwindled down to 4. Over another 6-7 laps we worked hard to stay in the race. We got lucky as the front group sat up. We were able to catch back on, but we were all pretty tired from that effort. The pace picked up again soon after and I struggled to stay in the group. The pace slowed just before the final lap. Oh yeah, Casey Roth was around 40 seconds up the road. Not sure exactly when he got away, probably when I was doing a nice breakaway off the back.

Larbi attacked going into the final lap and everyone just looked at each other. They let him go. I was stuck at the back, and my legs were dead. Halfway through the lap it started to pick up again. Just after the chicane, people started launching their attacks. It was too late, Casey got first, and Larbi was too far up the road. This split the field again, and Schiller finished off with what he knows best, a good sprint. I strolled into the line for 11th, amazed I managed to get back into the group to get that.

No crashes in our race on that devious corner

Lots to work on moving forwards. I need to learn my drops more. And as always, my high end needs some work, although it is much better this year. 11th I believe is my best OCUP result so far! Next weekend I will likely head to Markham to do a criterium before I switch over to finding some races with some hills. Having Rob Rice there today was great, as he was able to point out some things for me to work on. Now hopefully I can do something with this information!

Also thanks to my mom and sister for being great race support. Great to see Komar at the beginning, he is starting to heal up, a good sign!

Garmin data: here
Results: here