39.3 km Individual Time Trial

Day 2 was the 39.3 km individual time trial. This would be my second of the season, David's 100th and Mehdi's first. The course was gently rolling, 20km out and back with a fast downhill finish. The wind was from behind on the way out, road conditions smooth except for the 5 km before the turn around.

Mehdi was second out of the gate for the Flyers putting the pedal to the metal for the whole course and wrapping up the ride in 1:14.44 minutes with an average speed of 31.5 km/h. This included the time needed to take his helmet off, remove a bee that had stung him and then contrinue on. Congrats to Mehdi on a great weekend of racing.

I was the first Flyer out of the gate, feeling as strong as I possibly could given my crash at the Tour de Creemore 160 only a week before. My strategy was to go out slightly harder than I planned to, get into my groove and then push the pedals hard enough to go under 1hr 10 minutes. The first 20 km went by in 32 minutes and change, completely on track with plenty of energy left for the very strong head wind. I saw David only a couple kilometers behind me after the turn around and I thought for sure he would be breezing by soon. I wrapped the second lap up in 33 minutes, total time 1:05.54 and 5th place in my category (35.8 km/hr average).

David was the last Flyer to leave the gate and made quick work of everyone in front of him. His first lap was a lightening fast 29 minutes and then the wind took its toll. David asserted his team dominance as the lead time trial artist and finished in 1:04.18 minutes (36.8 km/hr average).

Day 1 Recap

The road race was set on a relatively gently rolling course, about 1/2 of the course with the wind at our backs and the rest of the time nearly head on. Lap 1, younger riders were already making short breaks on the 15 KM circuit, but none of them were successful. Other riders would try the same but the head winds were so strong that no rider could make it off the front. Lap 1, Edgars and I were still in the front pack, and Mehdi led a group that formed just off the back.

Lap 2, and the group of about 50 riders really started to spread out across the road, throwing caution (and race rules) to the wind and rode on the left side of the road. This led the peleton to stretch out quite a bit, leaving the right side of the road nearly clear at the front and making it relatively easy to zoom back into position if you needed to (and I often did). In general, the racing strategy of the racers was slow down into all the corners, sprint like mad out the other side, back off after about 100 m, zoom down the hills and slow down signigicantly on the short uphills. Edgars went off the front again with a younger rider, I found myself occaisionally at the front and soon to be swallowed up. Mehdi's groupetto continued to hammer around the course which is much more difficult than riding in the main group.

Lap 3 and the pace picked up significantly as riders started to get eager for the finish. Edgars stuck it out at the front and I was about 1/3 back. The final 3 kilometers of the course starts with a slight uphill and then winds quickly down to the finish. I got stuck behind 2 very slow riders and boxed in by the yellow line and the "train" on the final roller and had to scrub nearly 10km/h as the peleton sped towards the final lap. I put my head down for the next 6 km trying to get back on, but to no avail. I eventually grouped together with another rider and we picked up and dropped all the others who could not keep the pace of the peleton. We lost sight of the main peleton and after a short chat the two of us decided to zip up our jerseys to show off our sponsors and ride across the line together rather than contest the 32nd and 33rd position.

Edgars was waiting at the finish line for me, having finished 3rd (after safely navigating the final turn despite the recklessness of another rider on a team with a name that rhymes with Cornellas) and then Mehdi led the final group across the line.

Flyer On The Podium!

Quick report. A hot and slightly windy day on a gently rolling course. Edgars, Mehdi and Paul came to mix it up in the little town of Warsaw outside of Peterborough.

Edgars came in 3rd, Mehdi not in last(as planned) and Paul in 32nd. Full details on how it played out on Monday. Time to relax and recover for tomorrow's time trial.

Mud Cup

The O-Cup series was in Gravenhurst this past weekend at the Buckwallow Cycling Centre. Thanks to this summer's generous amount of rain (especially lately) the trails were pretty much turned completely into mud.

Image of Emily Batty posted by "BlackCanoeDog" on www.mtbr.com

I was once again riding in the Master (35−39) Sport Male category and was very happy with my top 10 finish. I ended up finishing in 9th place (same time as the 8th place finish, but he nudged me out at the line in a photo finish!) which was my best result so far this season. My time was 1:32:54.10 for the 23 km race.

Edgars Apse was also racing but i am not sure what happened as he is listed as a DNF.

Coming up next for me will be the Mountainview 9hour race in Midland (i am going to try going solo) this coming Saturday and then will be hitting the Provincial Championships in early September.

-pary