Christopher Rowley: KW Classic from Hell

It was a beautiful day for the race. No wind, no rain but it was super hot. The course was roughly a 4.6km loop that was a little hilly (no true flat sections) that ran through a suburb with some nice houses, and then through an industrial area. There was a fast downhill corner into the suburb that got me scared every lap that something was going to end bad. The only other sketchy corner was the right turn out of the suburb heading toward the hill. There were a few bumps between riders here but from as far as I know, no one went down in our group.

The entire race my legs felt terrible. I could feel it in the warm up. It felt like I just couldn't get my legs to wake up, but i'm at a low in my training plan having just peaked for Niagara classic. That could account for it. But enough complaining, I came to ride bikes!

Still not wanting to DNF from a race a pushed through it. I didn't want to look weak to the other riders after looking so strong at Niagara so I took a few turns at the front hoping it would 'wake' my legs up. There was a solo breakaway that went around the third lap (out of 13). Not sure when we caught him but I guess he made it a lap or so. A few laps later, on the back stretch the masters had a bad crash. There were a few guys on the road and a truck blocking the road. Our group started yelling to get the truck to move. Andrew House was able to squeeze through with his speed and kept hammering. This caused everyone else to have to navigate around the truck and then have to sprint to catch back up.

The rest of the race I was trying to stay safe, and hang on to the group. On the last lap, I thought Id have no chance at the sprint. Coming up the last hill the right side of the road was open. I was a little scared because last time I did this at Springbank I got taken out. But it was worth a shot, so I took the right side of the road up from the back of the group to about the top 10-15 riders. Now every other race, I always started to sprint too early and end up getting passed by 5+ riders. This time I planned before the race, to start sprinting when I passed a certain road sign.We flew out of the chicane, and people started sprinting. I grabbed onto someones wheel, waiting patiently (sitting around 15th). Passed my sign and then opened up. It felt great! I flew by people the whole way up to the finish taking 8th overall and top under 23 (avg 38.7km/h over 60km incase you were curious on the speed). Andrew House ended up passing Jordan Broad on the line due to an early celebration that nearly got him disqualified (can't take both hands off the bars). This ended up giving him the victory.

Overall, with the conditions and how I felt I was very happy with my finish. My best OCUP finish so far! Happy with the sprint planning and finally having self control. The one thing I really need to work on is holding my place in a pack. I find I am yo-yoing from the front to the back and probably wasting a lot of energy in the process.
In case you are interested, heres the link to my garmin page for the ride! http://connect.garmin.com/activity/187757493

Heres a few pictures to thank you for stopping by! (Photo cred to the amazing Lise Munsie)