Steaming Nostril 2015 - Great Barrier Winds!

The race this year took on a slightly different route, with mainly a change in the start and finish. The dreaded rail trail section was removed for an all-road opening. The last 15km had a cool spring classics feel to it going into farm lanes and a little bit of rail trail. It finished off with a climb of 69 steps and a little crisscrossing through a park. The race went all right as a fitness test, but I couldn’t help but be incredibly angry with myself with the result…

So like all mass start events, I always say but never do, show up to the start line early to be near the front. During the neutral start I didn’t fix my mistake and kept the same position in the pack. I was too far back and watched the group split ahead of me as I worked hard to move up the field as it was ripping apart. Would be much easier to do this when the pace is lower.  I kept the lead group in sight but I wasn’t able to bridge.

A group behind me started working together and they caught up to me. I joined in to take a break for a bit. This lasted a few km’s before there was a crash at around 25km into the race. I was able to brake hard then unclip and jump off my bike. Might have tweaked my ankle a bit but otherwise didn’t do much damage to myself. There was someone else was on the ground in pain, hopefully they aren’t too bad. I looked up the road to see that the group carried on without a second thought to the fallen soldiers.

I chased hard for the next 30mins, periodically picking someone up that had fallen off the group and then dropping them and continuing on. I finally made it back on just in time for some insane crosswinds. It was hard to get a draft and my legs were already feeling fatigued from the chasing and extra work I did (that could have been prevented with proper placing at race start!).  A few guys broke off the front of our group and I didn’t have the motivation to chase them.

Things were starting to get fun again towards the end with the mixed terrain. Then we got to a farm section with less that ideal path conditions. Being fatigued and not thinking properly, I saw that the other side of the path looked smoother and more packed down. I forgot that I was in a rut and when I went to cross over I went down hard, right into a puddle. Luckily I was hot from anger and racing, otherwise I would have been very cold in my now soaked jacket and pants. From here I lost all remaining motivation to push hard and just rode safely through the rest of the farm section and rail trail. I found a bit more drive when I hit the stairs just because there were spectators.

I finished off 32^nd, and got 3^rd in the 20-29 age group category. Not terrible with the two crashes I suppose and the extra chasing I had to do. Terrible though for what I had hoped to accomplish and from what I thought to be totally preventable circumstances. Oh well, live and learn! I get to retest my fitness this week at the Good Friday road race. If I find some pictures from the race I will be sure to post them! Thanks for reading J

Got a silver medal because they took the overall winners out of the age group results!

Results: here

Garmin data: here

EDIT** Found some great event pictures @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/77260130@N02/

Here is two that I happened to be in:

All bundled up. Trademark pink scarf coming out again this year. 

Aaron and I on the male 20-29 podium!

Training update

So big news! I finally got a ride in outside this year! Well it isn't really big news, but a great sign that warmer weather is on its way. I am sure everyone can't wait to have this long winter over with and have warmer weather and sunny days back. I am certain that I have been losing my mind with all the indoor rides. I find myself gazing off into space more frequently and becoming unaware of my surroundings. It was nice to ride on the gravel roads today with ice and mud, forcing me to stay mentally alert for once. Hopefully I will snap back into it as training continues to ramp up for the seasons beginning. I have been putting in some quality efforts on the spin bikes, but I still need to drop some weight as time continues. These damn roll up free donuts keep getting the better of me. It would be a lie if I said that was my only over indulgence though. I need a good friend to follow me around and swat at me every time I look at a sweet. Or maybe a cattle prod and give me a nice ZAP!

I have updated my race schedule with my races so far. I think I have enough money saved to race those races as long as other life expenses don't surprise me along the way. Provincials was moved to August which is a nice touch, spreading out the calendar a bit more. I am excited to see the crowd that Grey County RR brings being the world champs qualifier. With all that climbing I will definitely need to get that weight down!

I will keep you guys updated with the season, and hopefully postings with cool ride scenes once I start getting outside. Enjoy the warmer week ahead!