Following the Tour de Bowness in early August, I usually wind down the road season and start drinking more beer in preparation for #crossiscoming. But this year Dezz and I decided that since we still wanted to make our annual pilgrimmage West, I may as well do the Kicking Horse Cup in Golden. Turns out that was a good decision.
We arrived at the townhouse up at Kicking Horse resort about 10pm Friday, had a beer and chocolate cake for Ari's birthday, and got a few hours sleep before lining up for the first of three stages, a 5.9km time trial. With just enough elevation gain to make it hurt, my legs and lungs were both screaming at the 5.5km mark. 8 minutes and 22 seconds after I started, I was slowly making my way back to the parking lot at Reflection Lake, reflecting on the first of 3 stages. I knew I hadn't left much on the course and was happy enough to learn I had taken second place in my category.
A recovery meal and some rest later, Ari and I were spinning down the mountain, only to turn around and ride back up. As fast as we can. My plan going into the 13km hill climb was simple...ride my own pace at a high cadence without worrying about the competition. I'm ok at climbing. The longer the climb, the better I get generally. So this longer, mass start climb was better suited to me than something like the Silvertip Hill Climb in Canmore. The group started off together with a 2km flat section to warm up, across a wooden bridge, annnnnnd...GO. A group of 6 jumped off the front. I sat in the second group and watched a couple more guys jump. 6km into the stage, I was sitting in about 12th place. But as planned, I kept that cadence high and started reeling guys back in. And on each section that the road started to flatten, or even (aww yeah!) tilt downwards, I quickly shifted into the large chainring and attacked. With 3km to go, I had moved into 5th place in Sportive men, not sure who was in my under 45 group and who was 45+. But I just focused on keeping those lead weights attached to my hips going in circles as smoothly as possible. With a kilometre to go, my heart sank when I realized there was one more gut punch at the end. But then Dezz and Domino yelled encouragement to finish strong. (Well Dezz did. Domino just looked disappointed and a wee bit confused since I didn't stop to say hello.) Once again I rolled across the finish line, this time in 3rd place.
After being awarded a couple of Whitetooth Brewing beers for my two podium spots, we headed down to meet the Bici crew for some well earned dinner. A burger and two beers later, we headed back up the hill for a hot tub and another night of not enough sleep.
Starting the 62km road race on a chilly morning, I held an 11 second lead on general classification (in stage races, cumulative time from all events is added together to give a total time. The fastest overall time wins GC). This was something brand new to me. We started with the 45+ field as both groups were quite small. (And within the 45+ group, a similar sub-race was occurring. With Ari down 7 seconds on GC.). I knew who was 11 seconds behind, and my game plan was to minimize the work I did while marking any significant attacks. But just keeping second place within 10 seconds wouldn't be enough as the top three get bonus seconds (i.e. First place would have 10 seconds subtracted from their race time). Most of the course was either up or downhill, with very few flat sections. Asides from an early mock attack to test the group, I sat about 7th wheel and watched and waited. And finally I had to put in some work at the 52km mark...when I got spit out the back on the longest hill. Although I could see my GC aspirations riding away up the road, I just kept a high cadence on an easier gear and stayed relaxed. And then another rider jumped off my rear wheel and started to lead me back to the first group. Phew. And no later had I caught back on than there was another attack. Another gap opened. But 398 watts and 8 seconds later, I was back with the pack. But obviously the back of the group was about as safe as (insert dangerous situation here). So I jumped to the front with 2km to go. And with about 200 metres to go, I watched the sprint develop in front of me. Thinking my legs may not have the power left for the sprint, I complacently allowed myself to get boxed in. But then a huge gap opened (and by "huge", I mean big enough for me and my bike to hammer through) with 50m to go. And with 20m to go I had the road race and GC wrapped up.
Shout out to Nate & Jana for a great event in their first year as race directors. Come do it next year!!! And of course, thanks to Dezz and our pup for being the best race support crew. Congrats to my Bicisport teammates for another solid weekend full of podiums.
We arrived at the townhouse up at Kicking Horse resort about 10pm Friday, had a beer and chocolate cake for Ari's birthday, and got a few hours sleep before lining up for the first of three stages, a 5.9km time trial. With just enough elevation gain to make it hurt, my legs and lungs were both screaming at the 5.5km mark. 8 minutes and 22 seconds after I started, I was slowly making my way back to the parking lot at Reflection Lake, reflecting on the first of 3 stages. I knew I hadn't left much on the course and was happy enough to learn I had taken second place in my category.
A recovery meal and some rest later, Ari and I were spinning down the mountain, only to turn around and ride back up. As fast as we can. My plan going into the 13km hill climb was simple...ride my own pace at a high cadence without worrying about the competition. I'm ok at climbing. The longer the climb, the better I get generally. So this longer, mass start climb was better suited to me than something like the Silvertip Hill Climb in Canmore. The group started off together with a 2km flat section to warm up, across a wooden bridge, annnnnnd...GO. A group of 6 jumped off the front. I sat in the second group and watched a couple more guys jump. 6km into the stage, I was sitting in about 12th place. But as planned, I kept that cadence high and started reeling guys back in. And on each section that the road started to flatten, or even (aww yeah!) tilt downwards, I quickly shifted into the large chainring and attacked. With 3km to go, I had moved into 5th place in Sportive men, not sure who was in my under 45 group and who was 45+. But I just focused on keeping those lead weights attached to my hips going in circles as smoothly as possible. With a kilometre to go, my heart sank when I realized there was one more gut punch at the end. But then Dezz and Domino yelled encouragement to finish strong. (Well Dezz did. Domino just looked disappointed and a wee bit confused since I didn't stop to say hello.) Once again I rolled across the finish line, this time in 3rd place.
After being awarded a couple of Whitetooth Brewing beers for my two podium spots, we headed down to meet the Bici crew for some well earned dinner. A burger and two beers later, we headed back up the hill for a hot tub and another night of not enough sleep.
Starting the 62km road race on a chilly morning, I held an 11 second lead on general classification (in stage races, cumulative time from all events is added together to give a total time. The fastest overall time wins GC). This was something brand new to me. We started with the 45+ field as both groups were quite small. (And within the 45+ group, a similar sub-race was occurring. With Ari down 7 seconds on GC.). I knew who was 11 seconds behind, and my game plan was to minimize the work I did while marking any significant attacks. But just keeping second place within 10 seconds wouldn't be enough as the top three get bonus seconds (i.e. First place would have 10 seconds subtracted from their race time). Most of the course was either up or downhill, with very few flat sections. Asides from an early mock attack to test the group, I sat about 7th wheel and watched and waited. And finally I had to put in some work at the 52km mark...when I got spit out the back on the longest hill. Although I could see my GC aspirations riding away up the road, I just kept a high cadence on an easier gear and stayed relaxed. And then another rider jumped off my rear wheel and started to lead me back to the first group. Phew. And no later had I caught back on than there was another attack. Another gap opened. But 398 watts and 8 seconds later, I was back with the pack. But obviously the back of the group was about as safe as (insert dangerous situation here). So I jumped to the front with 2km to go. And with about 200 metres to go, I watched the sprint develop in front of me. Thinking my legs may not have the power left for the sprint, I complacently allowed myself to get boxed in. But then a huge gap opened (and by "huge", I mean big enough for me and my bike to hammer through) with 50m to go. And with 20m to go I had the road race and GC wrapped up.
Shout out to Nate & Jana for a great event in their first year as race directors. Come do it next year!!! And of course, thanks to Dezz and our pup for being the best race support crew. Congrats to my Bicisport teammates for another solid weekend full of podiums.
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