Home once again from a VERY long drive to nationals this weekend... did the drive with Cindy Batty on thursday (12.5 hours of on the road / montreal traffic time) and then split the drive home after racing. As bad as the drive was... it was totally worth it!!! i've been racing for 14 year and all the time my favorite course has been Canmore... until i rode St. Feliciene.... man was it great. Some really tough climbs, fun descents, fast switchbacks and a few totally fun spots in the "Velo Park" with rock drops, berms and a waterfall!!! So i pre-rode with the rest of the Trek Store Crew on Friday... loved the course and then decided to feed everyone for their races on Saturday. Congrats to Emily (U23 Women's champ), Eric (8th Pro Men), Peter (10th Pro Men), Adam (11th Pro Men), Cam (2nd U23 Men) and Mical (4th Pro Women)... (a special thanks shout out to Mark Batty who stuck around to feed me, encourage me and keep me company on the long drive home... you're a great friend...) and yes congras go to me.... Master Expert Champ!!!! A very tough race to go fast on... as much fun as it was.... but Mathiew Bouche (who won Bromont's Canada Cup) was out like a shot up a very tough start loop climb. Even if i wanted to... i couldn't have ridden with him up that hill. So i settled into third for a few minutes and then jumped to second... not wanting Mathiew to get too much of a lead. After a lap he had 30sec on me... and for the rest of the race i heard either 30 or 40 seconds... a few spots he was better at, a few spots i was better at. So i decided that if i was going to catch him... i had to go like crazy on the 3rd lap and bridge it up to be able to ride with him / pressure him in the last lap. But as hard as i went.. i never really got closer.... but in the last lap where i was just trying to keep the same pace as the earlier laps... i think i was catching up a bit... until i caught him running his bike half way through the lap. Turns out he flatted his rear tire and didn't have anything to fix it. So i went like mad again to get a lead in case he was just looking for flat ground to fix it or had wheels in the pits.... and then was careful not to lose it all on the descent home. What a great feeling getting on that top step of the podium and putting on the Red and White jersey.... been dreaming of that for 14 years of racing.... funny to think now that i'm old... and still fast... it happened. What a race... what a trip.... and now we get to do it again for Buckwallow this weekend... only a 5 minute drive from my parent's place in Gravenhurst so that will be a nicer trip!!! Next post is just all pics... enjoy...
Monday, July 13, 2009
Nationals Report
Home once again from a VERY long drive to nationals this weekend... did the drive with Cindy Batty on thursday (12.5 hours of on the road / montreal traffic time) and then split the drive home after racing. As bad as the drive was... it was totally worth it!!! i've been racing for 14 year and all the time my favorite course has been Canmore... until i rode St. Feliciene.... man was it great. Some really tough climbs, fun descents, fast switchbacks and a few totally fun spots in the "Velo Park" with rock drops, berms and a waterfall!!! So i pre-rode with the rest of the Trek Store Crew on Friday... loved the course and then decided to feed everyone for their races on Saturday. Congrats to Emily (U23 Women's champ), Eric (8th Pro Men), Peter (10th Pro Men), Adam (11th Pro Men), Cam (2nd U23 Men) and Mical (4th Pro Women)... (a special thanks shout out to Mark Batty who stuck around to feed me, encourage me and keep me company on the long drive home... you're a great friend...) and yes congras go to me.... Master Expert Champ!!!! A very tough race to go fast on... as much fun as it was.... but Mathiew Bouche (who won Bromont's Canada Cup) was out like a shot up a very tough start loop climb. Even if i wanted to... i couldn't have ridden with him up that hill. So i settled into third for a few minutes and then jumped to second... not wanting Mathiew to get too much of a lead. After a lap he had 30sec on me... and for the rest of the race i heard either 30 or 40 seconds... a few spots he was better at, a few spots i was better at. So i decided that if i was going to catch him... i had to go like crazy on the 3rd lap and bridge it up to be able to ride with him / pressure him in the last lap. But as hard as i went.. i never really got closer.... but in the last lap where i was just trying to keep the same pace as the earlier laps... i think i was catching up a bit... until i caught him running his bike half way through the lap. Turns out he flatted his rear tire and didn't have anything to fix it. So i went like mad again to get a lead in case he was just looking for flat ground to fix it or had wheels in the pits.... and then was careful not to lose it all on the descent home. What a great feeling getting on that top step of the podium and putting on the Red and White jersey.... been dreaming of that for 14 years of racing.... funny to think now that i'm old... and still fast... it happened. What a race... what a trip.... and now we get to do it again for Buckwallow this weekend... only a 5 minute drive from my parent's place in Gravenhurst so that will be a nicer trip!!! Next post is just all pics... enjoy...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment