A Long Weekend of Racing

This past Victoria long weekend I had my third Alberta Cup Race and first marathon race near Stoney Plain. As well Nadine's Parents and Grandma were over for a visit and to help out with some gardening.

Sunday was the Bacon ABA Cup #3, for the expert men it was 4 laps around a 6.3 km course with a short prolog. Our start time was @ 2:15 which allowed things to warm up to decent racing temperature. As planned I went hard off the start and got myself in the top 5, but not long after I slipped on a root and went of the trail and was dropped to the back (I think 15th). Luckily I was feeling really strong and immediately started attacking and worked my way back to the top 5 by the end of the first lap. On the second lap I continued to move up and passed Simon for 2nd, but that didn't last. I held that position till half way through the 3rd lap, but I was starting to feel the earlier work and was slowing down. Simon took back 2nd and soon put a gap between us that I would never make up. I finished the race in 3rd happy with my come back, but curious how things would have turned out if I didn't make that early mistake. First went to a fellow teammate Brian Robinson.

The next morning was the Trans. Stoney Supper Hero Challenge, which was the first marathon race of the ABA season. We would be lapping a modified version of the Bacon course in reverse for 6 hrs. It was a less technical course, but nice to ride something different. We started at 10:15 with nicer weather then the day before. I did a poor job watching who was in front of me and never new where I was in the race. I think it was lap 11 when Gabor Csonka (finished 1st) lapped me and lap 13 when Jon Nutbrown (finished 2nd) lapped me. I also new Ryan Correy (finshed 3rd) was in front of me riding strong, so at the best I would be 4th, but figured there was more ahead of me and was happy to just finish with a good effort. The top three guys did 15 laps with Pat Doyle finishing 4th with 14 laps and myself in 5th with 14 laps. I was happy with my result and effort. I was doing some experimenting with food in preparation for 24 hrs solo and had really bad stomach cramps for the last 5 laps and know a few more things that don't work for me.

All in all it was a good weekend, I believe my 3rd place at the Bacon was fast enough to count towards being upgraded to Elite, now I just need a win... The Tran. Stoney was a good test and I think I have come away with a few more things to add to my 24 hrs menu.

Thanks to all of the volunteers, organizers, feeder and racers for a great weekend.

Perogy XC

Some weekends you have it and some weekends you don't! This weekend I definitely didn't, I finished 12th of 21 in the Expert. I've been going over last week in my mind to see if I can think of anything that would have contributed to my lack of power and energy and have come up with a few things that I will do differently.

The first lap went as planned, I had a good start and was in 2nd or 3rd after the initial sprint. I thought that we were moving at a decent pace, but then one of the guys on a cross bike got the lead and pushed the pace a bit more and I fell back a spot or two. I was hurting really bad, my mouth was dry and we were only a few minutes into the first lap. I started to have doubts about the race, but pushed them aside and hammered on. I think I finished the first lap in 4th place and grabbed a water from Nadine, as I couldn't get my energy drink down. About a km into the second lap I made a wrong turn. Ryan Correy was just behind me and let me know my mistake, but it took a bit for me to realize what he had yelled. I knew exactly what he said when I turned around and saw no one there. I turn myself around and hammered on my peddles to make the time I had just lost and realized that I had been passed by at least 5 expert racers. I worked really hard to try and get with the chase group, but blew up on one of he hills. I was dizzy and my vision was blurry and I almost called the race. I turned down my effort and drank a lot of water and pushed on. I think Tom passed me at some point as well. Nothing much happened for the rest of the 2nd lap or the 3rd. About halfway through the 4th lap I started to feel stronger again and picked up the pace. Unfortunately I was unable to catch anyone ahead of me.

The race didn't go as I had hoped or expected. I think after finishing the Coulee Cruiser and feeling so strong I had a lot of expectations for myself. I feel hungry for the next race and hope to redeem myself.

2010 Coulee Cruiser

I almost didn't make the 7+ hr drive down to Lethbridge for the XC season opener, but decided to go for it in the end. I broke up the drive by staying in Calgary for both Friday and Saturday night with Nadine's parents. Being in Calgary also gave me lots of opportunity to hang out with friends and have bit of a social life again. Staying up late the night before the race wasn't the best idea, but I was well rested that week and it helped me relax.

I was pumped when I got to Lethbridge and saw that the course was in decent shape, as I was expecting it to be a big mud pit. I hung around watching the youth and novice racers loop the course while chatting with teammates and other racers for a little while.

The Expert men started a couple minutes behind the Elite's around 1:30. I had miss heard the race organizer, I thought I heard something like"I'll give you a 30 second warning before you start", but what he said was "you start within the next 30 seconds". I was not ready when he said go, and got stuck near the back of the group. Luckily I was positioned on the left side the racers and we had a quick sharp left turn which allowed me to move up a couple spots. I moved in just behind Ryan Correy in the middle of the pack as we ascended the first climb. Not long after that most of us were caught in a tangle where I was stopped dead, but luckily I didn't unclip and some how I was able to ride out of the mess in 4th place. I attacked on the next small climb and was in 3rd place, and was amazed that I could be in that position after such a bad start. After the first big climb Simon Williams (Speed Theory) had the lead with Jonathan Benskin (Hardcore Racing) in a close second and then I rounded out the top three. The three of us would stay in the top three for the remainder of the race, but we did move around a bit. on the next big climb I attacked and passed Jonathan for second and a bit later I tried to pass Simon, but picked a bad line and had to back off. Nearing the end of our first lap on a sharp hairpin turn I got my drivetrain tangled in some brush and could not peddle, while I was removing the bush Jonathan regained second and at some point soon after took the lead (I didn't see the pass). I worked hard to catch up to Simon and made my move to pass him on the same hill I passed Jonathan earlier in the race. I spent the rest of the race trying to real Jonathan in and did eventually catch him on that last lap, but without any more passing opportunities it was to late. I was just under 4 seconds behind him with a time of 1:12:28.1 (Jonathan was 1:12.24.2 and Simon was 1:12:56.4).

I was extremely happy with my result, not only was it my first podium in Expert, I also believe it was fast enough to qualify for one of my podiums that I will need to upgrade to Elite. Apart from the results I felt great and that I could have kept that pace going for a longer race. My next race is in Edmonton for the Perogy XC, it is a much longer race at about 40 km compared to the 24 km we did in Lethbridge.

Thank you Headwinds Cycling Club for putting on a great race!