My second stage race, on the May long weekend, was Bikes on Broadway in Saskatoon. The weather forecast leading into the weekend was not promising, heavy rain and wind. I was feeling a bit under the weather on Thursday and Friday as well, and almost called off the trip.
Saturday morning I awoke to do an easy 60min spin to see how the legs were and was surprised by how good they felt. So, with the nasty weather report, I went down to WayPastFast to see if I could find myself a rain jacket, and Tom just happened to have an extra small in stock. WOO! I also picked up Naomi’s new Lazer Tardiz aero helmet, very nice.
The drive to Saskatoon was fast and uneventful, but with plenty of traffic on the holiday weekend. The weather was overcast and in the high teens for the entire drive, until I was within 20km of Saskatoon. Then, the sky turned gray, the rain started, and the wind was picking up. At package pickup I learned that my planned accommodation, a room at the U of S, was not going to happen, they were full! By the sounds of it, most places were booked solid for the long weekend. Thanks to Rob, one of my Cat 4 team-mates, for offering me the spare bed in his room, I was a bit worried I would be sleeping in my car!
8.5km TT
The first event was Saturday night, an 8.5 Time Trial along the river-front (Spadina Cres). As I warmed up on the trainer in the warmth of the room, I could hear the storm intensify outside. I pulled on my new rain jacket and headed out the door to ride to the start which was just across the river in front of the Sheraton Cavalier hotel. Crossing the bridge, I thought I was going to die. The winds were gusting over 65kmh, and my deep Zipp wheels on a wet road was making things very sketchy.
I managed to make it to the start line about 8mins before my start time. The starters told me I couldn’t wear my rain jacket as they couldn’t see the numbers clearly, so I stuffed it in my back pocket. I wanted it at the finish line! I went hard, just wanting to finish, but I don’t think it was my best effort. I was overly cautious, trying to keep the bike upright. I managed 4th place in the Cat 5, about 16s back from 1st. ERTC was sitting 1,3,4,10 on GC after the TT.
BoB TT
Battle of Batoche (the Road Race 60km)
Sitting back in the room after the TT I told Rob that I really wasn’t interested in starting the road race in the same conditions. 8.5km all out is one thing, over 2 hours in that was suicidal in my opinion. If the weather didn’t improve, I was going to DNS and head back to Edmonton. Luckily, the morning brought clearer skies, although it was still overcast and intermittent showers.
The race started and finished at the historic Batoche site. Very pretty area along the North Saskatchewan river valley. The Cat 5 race was 60km, mostly flat, with an out and back across the river, providing a selective hill. Being Cat 5 we were second last to start (Cat 6 was last) just after noon. Temps were reasonable, sitting around 10c, with some very light intermittent rain.
The first 10km was heading south with a slight tailwind. As ERTC controlled most of the top of the GC, our plan was to do as little work as possible, cover attacks, but work when needed to make a selection in the field, and of course, try to win the race! 3mins before the start, BANG! Brett’s tire blew! Luckily he had a spare wheel in his car and was able to change it with a minute to spare. Lucky timing! Two mins later and we would have had to team time trial him into the race… although that might have been fun. 
Speed Theory was the only other “full” team, with 4 riders. They started at the front and seemed content to let the group roll out at a leisurely pace. About 2km in, one of the women riders in the group half-wheeled Reid and went down, but I think she wasn’t hurt and continued. As we turned east, a tailwind increased the pace a bit, but noone really wanted to do any work on the front. I started to take a couple of easy pulls, and decided to do the work for ERTC and let my teammates, both higher on GC and better sprinters stay in the draught.
15km later at the turnaround the pace was still really low, noone was attacking, and there were a few poor bike handlers causing some grief amongst the group. 5km later, boom… our second crash victim, another female rider. Enough was enough, time to get things moving, races get dangerous when everyone is dawdling!
After a few long pulls at the front, noone else seemed to want to help with the work. I would pull off only to find everyone just following my wheel. I decided to attack off the front and see how everyone would react to that! After getting a 150m up the road and getting into a rythm I was joined by a Speed Theory rider looking to go on all out break for the win. I let him know up front that I wasn’t too interested in pulling him in front of our GC riders, but I would work with him to the bridge to stay up front where his wife had a camera.
BoB RR
At the big hill after the bridge, the chase group brought us back. I went to the front again and didn’t let off the gas to the finish. I led a selection of 7 riders into the final left turn and 10k to the finish… all 4 of us ERTC, two Speed Theory, and a Synergy rider. Everyone was content to sit in until about 1.5km to go, when the Synergy rider attacked, and all hell broke loose. I missed the acceleration, failing to grab a wheel… and everyone was gone.. although I only end up losing about 45s at the line. The Synergy guy nabbed first, while Bruce got his best result yet.. a second. Reid,Brett and I came 5-7… I think we need to work on better positioning for the sprint next time.
Broadway Crit - 25min + 3 laps
First lap went out fast. Plan was to push the pace early and drop the weak riders. Lap 2, Reid was leading, Brett in second, when we went into corner 2 which is pretty tight. BOOM! Brett went down hard… sounded nasty too but we continued on. On the next lap, Brett managed to get back to the start/finish and get back into the race. After that it was simple attrition.. by the end of the race there were only 12 riders who managed to not get lapped. Our lead pack was only 9 riders. I didn’t fight hard enough for position and came into the final sprint in 9th… and finished there.
All in all, a great weekend of racing. With some luck, some tactics, and some hard racing, ERTC nabbed 2-5 on GC. For my 4th place I earned my first paycheque, $105. Gas money paid for! Now to continue improving… in CAT 4! We all scored enough upgrade points to get upgraded this past week.
Next race.. Banff Bike Fest Crit and Tunnel Mountain road race, June 19-20. Oh wait… I guess I have a little triathlon in Oliver on June 6 first. Happy racing.
Awesome work, Love!!