The clouds cleared by the start of the race and our small group of 101 racers started off. As with many races in this category it started off at a break-neck speed and soon riders were hitting the deck. The S4 and M3 group is definitely a mixed bag of nuts when it comes to group riding in a race.
My goal for today (after Saturday’s 105 km) was to support the Flyers who were out on the road, have a little fun with the first few laps (of the 13) and then hold on for dear life and try not to get lapped. I was training through this one (next goal race is later in the season) and would be back on the hills on Tuesday so I knew I had to stay safe and that I would not have the legs to keep me with the group.
On the second lap I was ferrying Emile up to the front, and Vince (Darkhorse Flyer in disguise), yelled out, “Quentin’s off the front alone!” So I squeezed up the side of the bringing Emile with me to get Quentin a break and to see what we could do. We three crossed the lap/finish line together at that point and I hope someone got a picture of that.
As we started the next lap I decided to go back and see who else I could bring up to the front. Mark looked great and in a good position, so I continued to coast back through the group looking for Vince. By the time I found him, we were both very far off the back and I decided to just go and try and get myself back with the group. This was a tactical error on my part as I had to bury myself for the next 5 laps just to keep the lead pack in sight. I would never get back on.
Another rider and I decided to do some steady work together (screaming fast downhills, taking corners at just about their max and then nearly bursting our legs on the short but tough rollers on the back half of the lap), picking up riders and lapping the women’s race. The women’s leaders decided to hop on our wheels and use our momentum to pick up their pace. NOTE TO OTHER RACERS: IT DOES NOT MATTER IF YOU ARE LAPPING THE WOMEN’S RACE AND THEY ARE DRAFTING OFF YOU. IF YOU COME DOWN THE LINE ANYWHERE NEAR THEM, THE COMMISSARS WILL ASSUME THAT YOU ARE DRAFTING OFF THEM AND WILL CALL YOU BACK. We were left with no choice but to hold back for a couple minutes to let the ladies go do their thing and get out of their way. We had 2 laps to go at that point.
Mark’s group soon came and got us, and were lapped shortly thereafter by the main group. Emile and Quentin were still in the running. Even after the pack when by, it wasn’t a Sunday ride to the coffee shop, and I decided give it a little go up the last roller and start picking up speed for the sprint with no purpose. We crested and soon saw the road strewn with cyclists and bikes and I saw Quentin in the and told him I would be back in a second to get him. We went through the chicane before the straight away, I put all I could into the pedals and 2 riders from another team clung to my wheel and then passed me in the final 100 metres. Lots of fun but Quentin was down. And I guess you know the rest.
Congratulations Emile! You held it together and had a great first race.
Congrats to Jordan K for a great race and getting 3rd. Truly an outstanding racer (he lapped me)! He is in 7th place in the Cadet Men Ocup standings. After KW, I slipped 1 place down to 6th in the Elite 4 category.
Quentin's Report
Hello All,
Well the sister team - Darkhorse Flyers - were up in Kitchener taking on all comers as the 6th ocup was being run. Emile, Paul, Mark and yours truly were outfitted in the distinguished darkhorse colours. Vince also joined us as did Graham Jones who is known to those of us who ride tuesday nights but competes with Sweet Petes.
An interesting course. The start line was about 150m back from the first turn which was a hard left, at which point there was a yellow line rule (if you cross the centre line you are supposedly disqualified, I say supposedly as I saw nobody tossed). This road was a nice screamer that that went for about 700m almost downhill before a small climb and a right turn that took you into a subsidivsion. Top speed here was in the high forties, which made the right turn, a bit tricky but I saw no accidents here. Then it was all down hill will a big sweeper of 700m to the left hitting speeds in the mid to high 50s before a right turn and a tight 250m climb that plateaued then steepened for 100m. Then it was all down hill again moving to a sweeping left, through a "back stretch" that was a "false flat" of about 1km where we averaged speeds in the mid 30s, this then was followed by a gradual but short climb of 250m veering to the left, before we flattened out for the 400-500 meters before we came to an ess turn and then hit the home stretch of 600m to the finishing line. The total loop was about 4.6km and we had to do 14 laps.
The race was done in good weather, overcast and while cool early, was perfect for racing. The group had no material breakaways. On loop four I tried to see what would happen if i broke away and built a 10 second lead on the group, only to be swallowed back up in under a lap. At that point Paul gathered me back in and kept me in the thick of things. Paul and Emile took to the front for a few laps and kept things going steady. For a road race with limited real challenging areas there were a lot of crashes. The ess turn saw a particularly bad one where one female competitor lay prone for about 15 minutes. The etiquette of racing seemed to be thrown out the window by some as riders were blasting away coming off the accident rather than allowing for a steady progression, not using someone's very serious injury as an opportunity to break away.
With the counter bringing down the laps, emile and myself were well positioned in the top 20 riders. It had been a reasonable pace - looking like last year's avg speed of 38km/hr. The final bell rung and the peleton was surging hard down the home stretch, the first turn was dicey as was turn two as the riders started to heat it up. i tried to break into the front five or so as we head into the subdivision and the big sweeper left. I got there and now was able to cruise hitting my max speed of 63. Emile was just behind at this point, we were still in the thick of things.
The last major two step climb out of the subdivision saw a couple of sweet petes guys surge ahead (inlcuding graham) and a waterloo university racer who seemingly still had tons in the tank. This was the positioning through the back stretch through the small climb. Once on the flat again, the group surged and my day ended. The third rider miscalculated the surge, took his wheel into the rider in front of him, went sideways and took out graham, another rider fell, causing a fourth to be ejected into my path. I tried to avoid left and wound up hitting the guys legs, going butt over teakettle, landing on my head again (another new helmet in four weeks) and landing squarely on my left shoulder again!!. The rest of the group finished safely with Emile putting in his first successful race with a solid finish in 18th, just 13 secs behind the leaders with a 38.7km/h avg speed. A fantastic finished considering he had to slow for the bodies strewn across the tarmac! Great job. Mark and I had Not Placed's in the master3 group. Paul showed np in the senior 4 grp.
After xrays of the shoulder back in toronto, there is a hairline fracture, we just dont know if it is today's crash or the last one that is the culprit.
I will nurse this one now for a couple of weeks. I look forward to seeing you all again in the middle of july all decked out in the new BCC gear.
Anyways, a great day save for the bad finish. Thanks to the darkhorse riders for putting on a good show.
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