This past weekend was the Mississippi Mills Stage race (if
you have no idea where that is, it is close to Ottawa). It was quite the drive from Brantford so we
ended up staying Friday and Saturday night at the Brookstreet hotel in Kanata.
I felt out of place almost as it was a really fancy hotel, but I had a great
stay. The top tier guys got to compete in a 4-event stage race, and due to lack
of volunteers the rest of us were able to compete in 2 of those 4 events. Saturday
was the OCUP time trial that covered 37km (my garmin says it was longer than
results page noted). Sunday was the Pakenham road race that covered about 85km.
Saturday’s time trial was the main reason I came down
because I needed to get enough upgrade points here to move up to Elite 2. The
course was an out-and-back style that we did two laps of. It was hillier than I
thought and I think that could be why my speed was slower than I was used to at
the HCC time trial events. Andrew House caught me before I started and gave me
the team disc to use so I got some free speed. I gave it everything I had, and
at each turn around I saw Grahame Rivers getting closer and closer to me (he
started a few minutes back from me). I passed one rider just before the half
way mark, and then tried to annihilate myself for the remainder. With about 3km to go I got a wicked cramp in
my side but I tried to push through it. At the finish you could most likely
hear me screaming in pain. At the end I managed 2nd to Mr. Rivers
who did an outstanding job on his beautiful P5. He put up just over 2 mins on
me, and I had a slightly bigger gap than that on 3rd. My goal will
be eventually to TT over 44km/h!
Coming into the finish!
Podium Shot!
Sunday’s race was just supposed to be a fun race. I talked a
lot with the Dark Horse Flyers team at the start line and we joked about
attacking from the start. The race started ‘neutral’ but I never noticed a
difference between the neutral start and the rest of the race. About 15km in we
hit a gravel section that was really hard pack. We moved fast through it, and I
could see people were a little uneasy taking some of the corners, scared of
sliding out. Once we got through that I knew the race could go really bad. It
was an open style race so anyone could join it. People were all over the place;
the women riders were either being too aggressive or just riding really
stupidly. There were also a few masters guys that looked like they felt no one
was around them and could ride anywhere. I was definitely scared at points that
there would be a big pile up. We got through the first 43km lap safely, with
the peloton neutralizing all attacks. For the second and final lap I made my
way to the front (to get away from the crazy riders) and to try my luck off the
front. They wouldn’t give me much room before bringing me back. Grahame again
was a monster on his bike building pretty big gaps before people started to
worry and bring him in. Not sure when it happened but a successful move found a
break of 3 guys go with one Big Tree team rider. We were never able to catch
these guys and they ended up with a 27 second gap at the line. Coming into the
finish (which was a lot sooner than I expected), I found myself further back
than I wanted and again people all around riding like idiots. We came around
the corner and I let people go for the sprint. It wasn’t worth it potentially
crashing for nothing when the top spots were already taken. At the end I finished midpack in 27th.
Start of the race, talking tactics
At the end of this I learned that people could always work
on their group riding skills. I’m not saying I am exceptional at it either but
there is some common sense to it, and nobody wants or needs to get hurt. One
girl ended up leaving in a stretcher and neck brace, and another junior rider
was wrapped up for road rash.
The one thing that I love about cycling is that when the
race is all over and the people you were just trying to make hurt as much as
possible can come up to you and talk like you’re best friends. Everyone suffers
through the same experiences in the races so you automatically have something
in common. This weekend I made friends
with a couple very strong riders, which I am sure, will come in handy in the
future!
Also a big thanks has to go to my mom for planning this trip out for me and finding a great place to stay, buying me food, manning the feed zone and for doing pretty much all of the boring driving!
Also a big thanks has to go to my mom for planning this trip out for me and finding a great place to stay, buying me food, manning the feed zone and for doing pretty much all of the boring driving!
The OCUP season is over and I managed to finish 6th
in the standings! Not bad for having a bad start to the year, a crash in one
race and a mechanical in another.
Not sure what is next for me. One thing I know is that I
will be switching disciplines to mtb to compete with a CoachChris.ca coached
team at the 24 hour summer solstice!
Garmin Data:
Road Race: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/325598564
Time Trial: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/325598586
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