Jon Barnes: Buckwallow OCup

So after a quick rest at the cottage after Nationals, it was time to get ready for another race... Buckwallow's OCup in the beautiful Muskokas. Always a great course... and hopefully good weather.... will result in another good day. I did the weekly race on the OCup course the thursday before .... and it took me about 250m of going hard to realize that i wasn't yet recovered from Nationals... damn my Master legs... they don't recover quickly any more.... But i took a few easy days and had a nice short / hard ride the day before the race... and it took me 250m inot the race to realize that i was feeling again. The rest of the 'boys let me lead out most of the very long double track start..... but they never let me lead the first part of the single track!!! Rob Parniak came around and let myself and Eric Jobin for the first few sections of single track... i was very happy to sit in for a bit... before pulling my usual "I'll lead for a while Rob" trick. I created a bit of a gap in some the rocks and trees.... but they worked well together on the double track to catch me again.... but just seeing them close again gave me the ambition to go hard for a while. Once i got another gap... i just kept growing it.... finishing about 1:30 ahead of Rob who finished about 1:00 ahead of Eric. Buckwallow usually beats me up pretty good... but the worse part of me was my back... the power on the flat sections is always hard. I felt really good at the end of the race... and the days after. It was nice to have Sue and the kids there again... they both did the Kids Race just before i started... i'll post some pics when i get them off the camera.... so fun to watch and i can't wait until they are both racing in the Big Leagues... Now i've had a pretty nice week and a few hard bursts... and i think that i'll race Ontario Road Provincials... my first road race this year but it's a course that should be suited to me... lots of climbing!!! I'll let you know how it goes....