The Ups and Downs and Ups of Racing Bikes

Remember when you were a kid and you got home from school on a Friday and you could either do your homework right away, or you could do fun stuff and forget about the homework until Sunday night? I always did mine on Friday so I could enjoy the rest of the weekend. Some things never change. But not this. This one has definitely changed. So without further adieu, here's a quick recap of the last 7 races over the last 4 weekends aboard 3 bikes.

Ghost of the Gravel (118 km gravel race; 2085m/6842ft of climbing)
This race feels no less grueling than it sounds. Approaching this as a long training day, I lined up near the back of the group with Rocksi (cyclocross bike), not worried about speed or placing. And then we started. It was at that point my body divorced my brain. I surfed up through a few groups until I found one that was the pace I wanted; a quick group that would make me work to stick with them but not too fast that I was out of my element. Perfect weather, bike floating over the gravel, legs feeling good. And then my foot started to float around. Thinking I had a loose cleat, I decided I'd slow at the top of the hill I was climbing to adjust it. Only to be maintaining my balance a few pedal strokes later, with my right pedal still attached to my shoe, but not to Rocksi. Stripped thread on my right crank meant my day on the bike was done 50km in. Time for a burger and a beer.

Rundle Mountain Stage Race
Crit
Canmore is a beautiful setting for anything. But to race bikes there is truly a treat. Saturday started with a 4:45am wake up call, giving Rick and I plenty of time for our 8am criterium. With 30 guys lined up at the start line, I wanted to make sure I had a good start. I had good position going into turn one and tried to make sure I didn't slip off the back at any point in the race. I almost failed at that on laps 5 and 6, with a couple of required surges to hold on. But after that my legs settled in. By lap 15, the second last lap, the pace of the lead group picked up. A few more risks, the pierce of a few thousand dollars worth of carbon skidding across the road somewhere behind me, a few twitchy lines...it still amazes me how attuned my senses have become without seeing any of these things directly. Halfway through the last lap I was too far back, jumped out into the wind and onto the pedals to avoid being boxed in, and turned onto the finishing straight in 10th spot. Too far back to sprint for a podium, I had to be content with 8th place. Another couple of upgrade points. Another couple of confidence points.

Hill Climb
Here's all I'll say about this one. The beer was worth it. 1.94km as fast as you can up a hill that maxes out at 21%? Not my strong suit. Post-crit, post summit-cafe lunch, Rick and I went for a beer. Yeah, you read that right. Not ideal prep, but I don't think any type of prep would have helped at that point. Line up in fours. Go. Go too hard in the first 300m. Heavy breathing. Wait, is this thing working; I can't be feeling this gassed after 70 seconds. Lungs burning. Legs burning. Mentally hold on until the road flattens a wee bit. 1.4km mark. Almost there. Big ring. Accelerate. Ignore the burn. Few more meters. Phew more meters. Phew. How does 7 minutes 25 seconds hurt that much? My name was much further down the results list this time. But yeah, the beer was still worth it.

Road Race
After a soak in the hot tub, the steam room, and a solid sleep, I was feeling fresh(ish) Sunday morning. Last year I was spit out the back halfway through the hilly 63km race. Today's goal, don't get spit out the back until the last 400m. With 36 guys starting the race, there was no chance of a solo breakaway, but there wasn't too much struggle to hang with the lead group either. Held the surges, closed the gaps. And as we approached the final punchy hill of the day, I moved myself up to about 8th wheel. Not because I thought I had a chance of competing against these kids with legs 20 years younger and bodies 40lbs lighter. I just wanted to make sure I held on until the final 400m. Halfway up, someone jumped, and then another and another. I fought to the finish line, but that fight was with gravity. Good day in the saddle; 15th across the line.

Canada Day Criterium
This was a points race, meaning points were awarded to the first 4 riders across the line every 4th lap (20 laps total). With 38 of us lining up at the start line on the smooth, residential roads, the first lap was always going to be a bit twitchy. By lap 2 I wasn't happy with the "feel" of the race so I jumped to the front and picked up the pace despite having no teammates.  We shed a handful of riders, giving me a better shot at a top 4 finish on at least one points lap as the race went on. But 12 laps later, I was the one off the back, watching the group get smaller as they rode into the distance. I put the hammer down for the rest of the race, surfing my way from solo wheel to solo wheel for a quick draft  before continuing on. There was no hope of me ever rejoining the lead group, but the course allowed me to keep an eye on the peloton at various points, fighting off the dreaded "1 lap down" as I maintained 38km/h.  I crossed the line ready for my beer and burger.

Suffer Like a Dog ITT
Our annual Bicisport club race on a hilly 16.3km course. I've always faired better at time trials than other disciplines in general due to my triathlon background. But I underperformed on this course the last couple of years. (20th in 2015, 8th in 2016). Going in 6 points shy of an upgrade to Cat 4 this year, I was confident in my ability to put up a good time. And by the time I made the first turn at 8km into the race, I knew that long overdue result was going to materialize. The wind was favourable and the speedometer was showing I was well ahead of my target pace. As I crested the final hill, I dropped back into the hardest gear and The Flying Scotsman hurled me towards the finish line at 71km/h. Just over 2 minutes faster than last year! Final result - beat by a couple hundredths of a second to finish second overall. First podium of my cycling career, and enough points to move up to Cat 4! (Also, congrats to Ari for taking the top step on his first ever ABA race. Jammy wee bugger).

                                                                     Higuchi Photos

Stampede Road Race 
I finally decided to sign up for this hilly 99km race two days beforehand. Being Master's Provincials, my goal was to hang on as long as possible. We started at a fast pace, averaging 39km/h over the first 20km. Climbing one of the hills that I fought with last year, I was firmly seated mid-pack and feeling good. And then I didn't. My legs, for lack of a better description, decided to take a unionized coffee break on the downhill. I watched one, two, three bike lengths open up. By the time I made the right hand turn into the headwind, the peloton was about 10 seconds ahead. The legs decided at that point to return to work. Had there been a tailwind, perhaps a big effort would have gotten me back on. But the efficiency and speed of a 30-man peloton riding into a headwind far exceeds a solo rider. As I watched the group pull further away, I settled in for a long, hard effort. Over the next 78km I reeled in a few guys off the back and worked with them for a few minutes, only to see them fade off the back as the road pitched up. The "enjoyable" thing would have been to sit up, share the work, and ride it in with a bit of a chat. But where's the fun in that? And yeah, I sprinted to the line. In slow motion.

If you made it to this point, congrats and thanks. That would have been a harder slog than any of my races. I'll commit to getting back to timely post-race roundups and save you the pain.

Allez, allez!
David

Leg Day

Race season is back. And with it comes a long overdue post. Before I get into my race recap, let's quickly touch on the last 5 months. January through March I was training with Coach JvD; Two hours/week group session on the bike, and the other 4 or 5 nights a week logged in Training Peaks . By the time April 1 rolled around, I was feeling stronger on the bike than I can ever remember feeling at the beginning of April. Four days later, we were on a plane to Europe for a 3.5 week vacation. Yes, a bit of cycling time ensued. But mostly it was beaches with our nephews and riding city bikes to the bakery (morning) or pub (afternoon & evening) with Dezz. In other words, a lot of that cycling fitness was replaced by Trappists and pastries.

We returned to the humdrum with 4 weeks to get back into race shape. Was 4 weeks enough? Well, kinda.

The Alex Stieda Classic Road Race was on Saturday on some rolling roads just outside of Leduc. With 35 guys starting the Cat 5 race and big representation from two Edmonton teams, it was always going to be a tough day with limited post-vacation miles and no Bici team mates. We shed a few guys on the first climb of the day and I embedded myself in the middle of the peloton as we headed into the headwind. Through the first 18km the race was uneventful and I got the legs into it and took a turn at the front. Then we turned right, hit the start of the 7km gravel section, and things got interesting. Settling into one of two smooth lines, the group quickly strung out. I was sat on 3 wheels only to realize a few bike lengths had opened up ahead. I'm quite comfortable on gravel, even hitting a top speed of 50km/h. But if you've ever drafted before, you know how much faster a big group usally is. In other words, there was no closing the gap. By the time I hit the pavement 7km later, I had dropped a few guys and been dropped by a few guys, leaving me solo on lap 1. Fortunately I was joined by another guy from Velocity and we paced each other to eventually form a group of 6 by the start of lap 2. We formed an echelon in the crosswind, hammered the gravel, and pace-lined our way down the final 10km almost intact. With 500m to go, as I moved up for my final pull on the front I just kept accelerating and opened up enough of a gap to take the sprint for minor placing. Overall, 16/35. Not my best day on the bike, but happy enough with the effort and it felt good to get those legs racing again.

After a healthy turkey dinner and water with the family on Saturday night, I felt ready for Sunday's criterium. Again, being the only Cat 5 Bici racer, my game plan was to embed myself within the group without burning to many matches early on. I  was a bit too close to the back early on, but matched any accelerations and didn't lose contact with the group at any time in the race. But those accelerations were few and far between. Despite big squads from the Edmonton teams again, no one was really willing to put in an effort and challenge the group. Small attacks were marked and then the group just settled back. On the bell (last) lap, I expected a few individuals to jump, but again the group just sat in. Finally on the back half of the last lap, 3 guys jumped off the front. My positioning wasn't great, but I worked up through the group and, tired of waiting for something to happen, decided to try bridge the gap. I came onto the home stretch in 4th place, but unable to close down the gap. My legs felt the metres tick by and with about 50m to go it was clear to me that Saturday's race, combined with the previous 250m surge, meant these 40 year old legs weren't going anywhere. I saw two guys go by me and tried to give one last push. But there was no push to be had. My 4th place position quickly dropped to 8th or 9th...or maybe 10th. As I crossed the line I may have let out an expletive. Caught up in the adrenaline, I was disappointed in myself. I'm still not sure if that initial disappointment was in my effort or my tactic. Neither was great. But on the day, that's all the legs could muster. And at the time, I thought the tactic not necessarily the best one, but the best at a chance for points. With everyone having sat in for the last 45 minutes and many of the guys not having Saturday's race effort in their legs, I thought there would be some faster sprints than mine. Guess I was right. Chatting with two experienced crit racers afterwards, it gave me a bit of reassurance that I'm starting to wrap my head around this whole criterium thing. Thanks Masa & Brent.

The goal hasn't changed; Cat 4 or bust. There's work to be done. But I'm about to get doing. And as my 5 year old nephew just reminded me..."the important thing is to participate, not always win". 

WTB: Velociraptor claws

As I looked out the window Saturday morning, I was glad I had swapped the Clement file treads for my Specialized mud tires the night before. This was gonna be fun. And cold. But mostly fun.

After a small detour, we arrived at Fulton Ravine in NW Edmonton with plenty of time to sign on and get dressed for a chilly, snowy Velocicross. Not enough time for a pre-ride, but  I don't think it would have helped anyway. Racing a smaller field than I'd seen a week earlier, it was a fairly sketchy start with a few guys going hard off the front but most of us sitting back.I was hesitant to push the bike too hard given the slick conditions, and it didn't take me long before I was making my first snow angel. I went down another 4 or 5 times in those first two laps. I quickly realized three things: (1) I was running  the wrong tire pressure,  (2) My back tire is worn out and needs replaced, and (3) I need to stop blaming equipment and learn to ride more technically sound. The course itself was awesome and would have been pretty well suited to me had it been dry. But much like last weekend, it wasn't dry. There was one long section I could really open it up, and that's exactly where I took advantage. After settling into a rhythm, it must have worked alright. I was disappointed after my race, but was pleasantly surprised to find out I'd finished 10th, so at least I was in the points. Thanks to Dezz and Domino for keeping me going fast up that hill! (For the record, Domino LOVES the snow. Dezz, not so much).

Sunday I lined up at the start line with a practice lap under my belt. The clothing choice on Saturday was perfect, so nothing changed for Sunday. Again, poor start near the back. But I kept the rubber down all race, and half way through was feeling much more confident of a result than I had 22 hours previously. My last two laps were a good back and forth battle with another rider, and on the last lap we took a little escapade into the forest just before hitting the muddiest hill around. I came out the better of the two, with no dropped chain and just a clogged up cleat. The weather conditions made clipping into my pedals  an issue all weekend, so no surprise  my efforts to clip back in while trying to ride a straight line on a muddy uphill was (to quote TLC) damn unpretty. But when you're battling for position on the last lap, you find a way. I was happy to hold my position to the line for 6th place.

So overall? Yeah, neither performance will end up on a YouTube how to video, but fitness continued to be my ally. Learning what line to ride? Well, that's coming along slowly.  The weekend goal was to steal a few upgrade points... mission accomplished. And I was stoked to get the email today with my upgrade. With that in mind, the goal for the last couple of races of the season has changed. Don't be DFL.

Waffles and Wobbles.

Disclaimer: No waffles were consumed within the timeframe of  this blog post. It's merely a reference to belgian waffles and Belgian cyclocross racers both being the best in their respective categories. I am better at eating belgian waffles than I am at racing cross.

The Dark Knight cyclocross race.  It's one of those races I put on the calendar for next year the day after the race.   It's more about having a good time while trying to avoid serious injury to self or bike than winning.  Well, at least that's MY race plan. We lucked out with some dry and pleasantly warm enough weather, but rain earlier in the day led to fairly slick conditions. The course at Winsport's Canada Olympic Park is already the most technical on the calendar, so throw in some mud and soggy grass along side the flaming jump and narrow pump track and you had an interesting night. As I was kindly informed last year (thanks John Santos), I have pretty good bike handling skills for a triathlete. However, I have mediocre bike handling skills for a 'crosser?. A congested 60-person field means there are gonna be some bumps early on.  After avoiding a crash in the first 250m, I wasn't quite so lucky on lap two with an off-camber spill leading to 12 people passing me as I dealt with a minor mechanical. And that was it for any serious thoughts of a top 10. I moved up a few spots but too many mistakes on technical sections kept me from gaining anymore lost time back.  I did at one time (lap 5 I think) shout at Ed, the race director, that he was trying to kill us with this course design. He shouted back "I hope so. But you're still smiling".  I finished 20/60. An improvement over last years 38th place.

Finishing the night off with a big dose of chaos, I jumped into the Arkham race - shortcuts, beer shots, and costumes and chaos! Nuff said.

After 5 hours of sleep, I was up washing the bike before heading back to Winsport for the Cadence Classic Cross race. Good thing I'm full of youthful exuberance.  A muddy course from all the Saturday racing and some early morning frost made for an even trickier course Sunday. I probably hit the ground more at Cadence than I have in my last two years of racing combined. No serious falls, just some off camber slips and slides, with mucky shorts and some grass stuck in the pedals to prove it. But fortunately I wasn't the only one finding it a tough go. (The sun came out and dried up the course for the later races, but I guess that was payback for us having the best conditions on Saturday night). Again some silly mistakes knocked me back a few spots that I couldn't recover from. End result: 19/50. And a whole lotta fun.

Off season goal? Practice off-camber in wet conditions. And take those aero bars off my cyclocross bike!

Run-ups & Downs of Cross

#CrossisHere Everyone's favourite part of Autumn (or more accurately, September til November). My spoken goal at last year's cyclocross races was not to be last. But my secret goal was to be a mediocre middle of the pack. I know, lofty, right. This year, my road racing season went much better than 2015 and thus I thought to myself "Self, you should have a few better CX results this year".
With that, my season started with consecutive 9th place finishes at the Natural High CX in Okotoks. Previously I hadn't even flirted with a top-10 (that includes my wife...I had no game in 1995 and since we've been together since 1995, I never had to develop game. I'm not sure why she even started dating me. Anyway, I digress...). So I was happy to pull out consecutive top-10 results and the corresponding upgrade points. I could have been more aggressive, but a good start to the season nonetheless.

After limited training asides from racing the speedy guys at Midweek Mayhem, I was pumped for Synergy's Pumphouse and Bici Park Cross races this weekend. I did a clinic with HotSauce (for those not in the know, suffice it to say if you are gonna get some course tips from someone, HotSauce is a pretty legit dude to provide said tips). Saturday morning my big ring decided to act up, so I got the Velofix guys to take a quick look. They dropped it off to me as I stood in the starting line, which meant I was about 6 rows deep and ready to pass a few people. The race was pretty well suited to my style - not too technical with some flowing power sections. I made my way up the line with only one small crash (potholes affect cyclocross racing too) and by the last lap I was up to about 8th spot (I didn't know that until the end). But about 250-300m from the finish line I dropped a chain. Jump off and fix it or shoulder the bike and run. I opted to put it back on, but got passed by a couple of guys. Final result - 11th place. One place out of the points. Last year I'd have been stoked with that placing. This year...not so much. No worries, I had my game plan for Sunday's Bici Park Cross.

And then it started raining. And raining. And raining. By 7:30am on Sunday I stood in Stanley park with Brent and Simon and the Bici crew, and we all agreed the race would have to be cancelled. Cool and wet is perfect cross conditions if you live in Belgium and have dedicated cyclocross courses. In Calgary, however, 200 racers riding in a waterlogged inner-city park will not do much to win you favour with the city parks department for future races. But the calendar still has a lot of racing left to be done. There will be lots of run-ups and even more downs. Which is good....it helps me go faster.