Man-O-Mansfield

Well, the first mountain bike race of the season was definitely not my best. The race started out with me feeling very 'flat' and the first climb was a little too fast for me. My first two laps seemed terrible, and I was unable to settle into my rhythm. Then the third lap seemed to start to flow a bit better.
By the start of the fifth lap I had caught several guys, and was moving up steadily. Pouring on more and more gas, with about 2km left, an expert category rider fell right in front of me. This caused my rear derailleur cage to break off. I spent about 3-4 minutes getting my bike so that it was rideable again. I finally took off, after several people had passed me. Anyways, I finished the last lap, with half a derailleur, and a front flat. Oh well. I think I need to revise my warm up protocol, and really come out strong. Other than the last lap, the bike felt awesome. All I can say is that its "game on" for Albion.

Calabogie

Wow, what a fun race. It started off with an early morning, because I had to pack all my stuff. My mom was coming up from Oshawa to help me move out of my apartment for the summer. So, after moving all my stuff from the 3rd floor to the trailer in the parking lot, we heading off to Calabogie. My roommate/best friend was to be joining us for the day, but unfortunately he wasn't racing... just cheering, feeding and playing with my dog, Caesar.

The race started, and I must say, we were all looking pretty shard in the new kit. Anyways, there were lots of attacks, and it was kinda hectic from the start, then i decided to start throwing down a bit. I chased down a few attacks, then I made a bridge (which soon thereafter got caught). Tried to get something going with some team mates, Warren, and Doug, but it didn't stick. Then I did a a big long solo bridge attempt, which was probably a dumb move. Anyways, everything came together, and I was breathing really hard. Then, a break of about 10 guys went up the road. They hovered there for a little while, and since Osmond and Doug were in it, I wasn't going to chase.

About 2 minutes later, and they were maybe 100m up the road. I tried to bridge up to them, and was successful! No one followed, and now the group was pretty decent. I guess we all decided that it was "go time" because for the next hour, it was fast, and furious, rotating echelon, and put some good time into the pack. Pretty soon they were out of sight, and we just kept trucking.

I must say, i'm 100 times more comfortable on the road bike this year than last. I was finally the one offering advice "stay tight guys!" instead of the one being yelled at. This felt good. The break stayed together, allthough Doug got dropped, which was a bummer. Towards the last few laps, attacks started, and a guy in yellow named "Patrice" took off with a few km left, and no one answered. Then with about 600m to go, and after I had taken a decent pull (again, probably a dumb move) Osmond took off, and stayed away to nab 2nd.

Finally Colin took the lead, with me on his wheel, and the fact that I have no sprint became obvious, as I took 7th, out of the 8 guys who were in the break. I guess i technically finished 5th in the sprint, but it was still pathetic. I need to work on that...

All together it was an awesome race, and I felt super strong all day. I set several new power records, averaged 298W for the 111 km, and never really felt that I was on the rivet. Can't wait untill Mansfield!

Easter weekend

Well, this had to have been my best Easter weekend yet...
Thursday: Classes end. Woohoo!

Friday: Good Friday OBC TT. My time online seems to say 22:03, but my power tap had me down for 21:20. I trust the powetap. It was a good effort. Good power. Second ride on the clip-ons. I just can't seem to leave them on my bike, due to the geek-factor. After the TT we waited around for about 2 hours, then went on a group ride. I was feeling super good, and hammered a little hard at the start. I hadn't eaten since 10am. By about 90km into the ride, it was about 3:00 and I had nothing left in the tank. I limped back home. 135km.

Saturday: Cyclelogik group ride. lots of fun, but a little cold at the start. Afterwards, I rode out to stittsville for some easter dinner at James'. Good times. 129km.

Sunday: OBC group ride. Very cold at the start. Let me re-state this. Don't go for a group ride when its -4, and sunny. The sun lulls you into a state of false warmth, and makes you wear a lot less clothes than necessary. The ride was very cold. Anyways, we rode from stittsville out to billings bridge for the 9am ride. Did a tour down south of ottawa, and then rode back to stittsville. After the ride there was another eater dinner. SOOO delicious. thanks to James' family for feeding me! 127km.

Monday: Took it easy today. Rode starting from stittsville, out to Carp, then back to stittsville, and finally back to ottawa, to do some studying. damn. studying sucks. Riding is much more enjoyable. 77km.

well, this easter will be hard to top, but we'll try next year.

Uxbridge Ice Breaker

Well, the first race of the season has been and gone. It was sweet. This is a definate race to mark on your calendar. Greg Z. and I pre-rode the course on Saturday, because we could, and didn't want to road bike in gale-force winds. The pre-ride was actually a lot harder than the race. Driving wind, snow/sleet/rain, and temperature hovering around 1 degree celcius made the pre-ride very cold, but I still loved every moment of it. I seem to thoroughly enjoy rippin' on the mtb, a lot more than I remember. Too much road bike lately!

Well, fast foreward to the race on Sunday. The Icebreaker is the "oldest MTB race in Canada". All the snow from the day before was gone. Super, nice warm, about 12 degrees, sunny, beautiful. So, the race started, and I went to the front right off the bat. No one seemed to want to blast past me, as is usual in these types of races. I just rode tempo for the first km or so. Then there was a Matt Surch, that blew by me. I jumped on his wheel. Then Mike G. went by. Jumped on his wheel. Then I re-took the lead after a snowy section knocked the 'Cross riders off their rigs. I pretty much rode at the front for the rest of the first lap, with Mike sitting on my wheel. We were briefly joined by Greg Z. and Mitch Bailey, but I stayed up front the whole time. Second lap started, my casette was icing up, and Mike pulled away on a downhill. This is basically how the race finished. I ended up around 4 minutes off of Mike, and Mitch was in third at about 3 mins off me. A great first race. It was so wonderful to get out on the MTB, and on some trails. The new Specialized Epic is sweet. Swallowed up the bumps, and let me pedal through anything. I think this race would have been better on a 29er, but the Epic is going to be amazing for MTB racing this season.

Well, 2009 is going to be the best season yet. I know I say this every year, and every year, it proves true. Next race is Calabogie, where I intend on actually conserving some energy, and showing the Roadies where its at (MTB obviously!)