Journey of a Thousand Kilometers

So, I’ve entered the wonderful world of cycle racing. To get my pack cycling skills in order I have competed in the first two spring road series races. $5 and an ABA membership is all you need to race and give the sport a try. I have to say… I’m HOOKED!

The first race, put on by ERTC was on April 11. A nasty late season snow storm with crazy winds threatened to cancel it… but by Sunday morning the winds were only 10kmh and sunny skies warmed things up to ~0C at race start. BRRR!

I woke early that morning to catch the end of Paris-Roubaix on a pirate internet feed. Almost 265km, with 16 sections of nasty cobbles… I can`t imagine how tough that would be! Fabian Cancellera rode away from the pack for a well deserved win, the guy is an animal. Filled with inspiration from the pros, I set out to the west end of the city to have my first go at bike racing.

A small, but larger than expected group showed up despite the freezing temps. Each Category (A,B,C) had approximately 10-15 cyclists. I rode with the newbie C group and our race was pretty uneventful, a few modest attacks. I even had a go a few times, but my legs were not cooperating at all! As we rode up the last hill, I was at the front and made a bad shift, losing my momentum…. and everyone blew past me for the final 2k sprint to the finish. Doh!

After a cassette swap to 11-23 from 12-27, replacing the rear derailleur cable, and fine tuning the derailleur adjustment, I was feeling confident my bike was tuned properly for the Prairie-Roubaix, race #2.

As soon as the guys at Speed Theory announced the Prairie-Roubaix course, I wanted to do it. A unique event in that each 14.5km lap has about 3km of gravel… and not the hard packed stuff.. some of it loose and sketchy! Included were some pretty decent hills as well. I love tough unique courses.. so had to make the trip for this one.

I drove down on Saturday afternoon to Calgary, and was able to get to the new Speed Theory store before it closed. A nice shop, with plenty of nice bikes.

After an extensive search for an open pool for lane swimming (tough to find in Calgary on a Saturday night), I drove way out to the Westside rec centre for a little swim with a kick set to loosen me up from the drive. Then off to supper at Sharwama King, Kensingtons finest Lebanese take out! Mmm… donair platter.

After a not long enough sleep on Carson`s couch, Carson and I headed out the door at about 7:25 for the 30km ride to the race start for 9am. With a brief stop at Timmie`s we ended up having to push the pace to get there in time… there was quite a bit of elevation gain. We seemed to be the only crazies who rode out there though, as we didn`t see another cyclist until we got on the course, and were happy to see that other people were still arriving. As we approached the registration area, it was NUTS. Almost 150 cyclists in a middle of nowhere rural road! Quite the sight!

As were almost the last to arrive before registration closed, I saw the signup sheet for A,B,C races… all had close to 50 riders. I was afraid the C race was going to be all women and I was going to get killed in the B race.. but the sheet showed at least half men. A very big women`s turnout overall though.. I`d estimate about 25-30% of the field. I put my name down on the C sheet, dropped my cycling jacket in the registration area, and rode to the start line.

After the A and B groups left, we waited the three minutes for our start. As the course starts up a decent hill, I expected a relatively moderate start, and the real action to begin about 2km in as we turned on to Lochend road. Oh, was I wrong, it was hammer time from the beginning! 3 or 4 guys got a gap, but another 10 of us or so formed a group a couple seconds back. The Cat C pack was strewn out in a long line behind us and completely shattered in 3-4km of racing. Only 42km to go….

As we made the turn on to Willow Road, the top bunch of about 15 guys came back together. The pace slowed, and I ended up on the front only doing a modest pull.. I wanted to catch my breathe after the opening salvo. As we turned west on 262, the attacks started again, and again. The top 3-4 guys were quite strong and started to ride away from the chase group. The guy from RMCC was already looking to be the strongest in the field, followed closely by two Synergy riders working together.

The final right turn on the course put us on the gravel. It was a choice.. follow the wheel in front or try to find a harder packed smoother line for yourself. Everyone seemed pretty cautious the first lap, although I heard that in the A and B races guys were attacking hard on the gravel.

The second lap came and went in a blur. I ended up riding anywhere from 4-7 position, mostly on my own. In the top 10, i think there were only two guys on the same team (Synergy), and as I came across the finish line to start lap 3 and crested the starting hill, I finally cracked one of them I had been going back and forth with for much of lap 2. At that point I was pretty sure I was in 5th, but with all the jockeying of positions and race brain, I could have been wrong?

The guys behind me finally organized a chase and picked me up as we entered Willow Road. The 4th place guy was dropped from the lead group at this point and stood up to sit in our group for the final push to the finish. So, with a group of about 7 we turned the final corner on to the gravel and 3km to the finish. I was sitting about 5th wheel and resting. I didn`t want to make the first attack, so after about 800m, I moved over to another good line in the gravel and the pack all followed on to my wheel. I then made a couple fake surges, and started easing the pace and weaving across the road, daring someone to make the jump.

Sure enough, the guy who had been in 4th earlier, made his move. Everyone went nuts at that point as we were also approaching the start of the pavement and the final 600m to the finish line. I was unable to catch the lead guy, but got on to a wheel and powered on by for a strong uphill, upwind finish for 5th. That had to be the most fun I`ve had racing in a long time… a big smile on my face! And boy… was I tired! I spent most of the 46km redlining it.

That`s how I remember the race… hopefully I got it right! There was a bit of confusion at the finish line… so can`t verify official results…

Anyhoo… more racing to come this weekend at Spring Series 3 and the Velocity Stage Race May 1-2. Woo!