A lot has been going on the past few weeks so things fell a wee bit behind on the blog. Sunday the 13th was OCup # 2 in Uxbridge
Pre-ride went swimmingly. I thought the course had really improved since that last time I was there 2 years ago. Of course last time the course was soaking wet and my front brake started leaking DOT fluid the moment the race started. That race was a DNF so I figured I must be able to eclipse that one easily, right? All I need to do is finish. The course is far more technical than the one at Mansfield. The 1:30pm course has some really gnarly bits that keep you on your toes and take away any chances of resting a bit before your next effort. Steep drops through rocks, really tight switchbacks and some nice off-camber downhill cornering. The final rock garden is way easier than it looks as you can skip the first half of it if you just stick to the right then cut across halfway down. My overall impression of the course is that it's gonna be a harder race just because there's no long downhill like at Mansfield to rest on. It's gonna be high heart rate and effort all the way through to the end.
So race day. Well so much for eclipsing last year's result - DNF on the second lap. At the furthest point on the course while coming out of a section of single track I went OTB (over the bars) I don't know how it happened or even what I did, all I remember is that my legs were hurting like hell. I crawled to the side of the trail and managed to get my bike out of the way. Everyone who rode by asked if I was ok but I waved them all on while trying to compose myself. I was on the ground for probably 5 minutes. At that point I realised my race was over. I limped all the way back to the start line and came home. Blegh.
Even now 5 days after the accident I have a 6 inch diameter bruise where I impaled myself on my handlebars. It's not causing any problems so I can still ride and push as easily.
I also did the Trek Wednesday Night Series at Hardwood Hills. I wasn't able to get off work until later so I was late getting to the venue. By the time I got my registration all sorted and number plated zip tied on, they were calling the one minute warning. I came up to the start line with absolutely zero warmup and no idea what the course was. The pace was pretty easy off the start so I had no trouble moving up right away. I found another senior expert rider and stuck with him for a bit before I crashed. I simply lost control when I came into some obstacles and I had no idea what line I should be doing. Trying to push a hard race pace without any prior knowledge of the course is crazy hard. One moment you've got the throttle wide open before you realise that you need to be slowing down for a blind corner. Made for some hairy racing. I settled in between two riders so I could pace off them and stay on the trail. They were going slower than I would have liked but the race was just for fun anyway. The finish was a lot of fun. I could hear someone catch up to me really quickly and try to stay on my wheel. As soon as I hit the finishing straight I let off the gas to see what he would do. He stayed right behind my waiting for me to attack. Instead of doing the waiting game, I attacked off the front with about 100m to go. He got right up behind me but couldn't make the pass.
Preparations are underway for the Canada Cup at Hardwood, so these Wednesday night races are nice to help familiarise myself with the course. I'm hoping for a really good result so I've got a lot of work to do.
Friday 18 May 2012
Thursday 3 May 2012
OCup Number 1 - Mansfield
OCup number one was at Mansfiield Outdoor Centre this past Sunday and what a doozy, I had forgotten what is was like to race short XC races after a year hiatus from them. Yeah, they still hurt like hell.
Starting with the preride on Saturday I was feeling pretty confident, the weather was perfect and the legs weren't complaining. The course starts with a massive double track climb that's meant to thin the pack a wee bit and then gets right into the singetrack once you crest the top. A few techy sections here and there but nothing you need the brakes for. The first downhill snakes its way left and right as speeds approach 35ish. I expect them to be higher come race pace. The downhill section ends in a sloppy hairpin with really lose dirt, definitely a place for overtaking if you can find the traction before anyone does. Doubletrack allows for some more rest if needed before you hit the techy ups. They're the only real difficult part of the course and once you clear them there's plenty of flat all the way to the final downhill. The downhill to the finish is adjacent to the opening climb, speeds are approaching 60km/h with a few bends and some sandy bits that can catch you unaware.
What I really liked about the course was just how smooth and groomed it was = hardtail all the way.
Race day - So luck my start time isn't until 1:30! Means I can take a chill morning and not worry about getting there on time. Once I arrive, the parking lot is packed! 677 total participants in the day's races. I show up to the start line 15min before the gun goes off and I can barely find room to line up - this will come back an haunt me come race start.
On the line I'm basically starting from last. We're given the go ahead and the field takes off fast, I immediately try to move up so I don' get caught behind the slow guys in the single track. Unfortunately the guys are going too hard and it forces me to settle in mid pack. Maintaining my position isn't difficult through the first singletrack but I was being held back by some slowpokes. Now the first big surprise, the downhill that was so smooth yesterday is now riddled with brake bumps from the previous races. It becomes really difficult to hold my line through the turns. One guy goes careening off the track in front of me as he hits a bump while banked in a corner and loses control. No time to see if he's ok as speeds approach 35km/h and we're all still wheel to wheel. The hairpin is a mess. I take an early apex while most go deep into the turn but are forced wide when they all start to fishtail in the loose dirt. Turns out most of the guys are already out of gas from the fast start so I move up the field quite quickly.
Second lap begins and I finally have so open space in front of me so I decide to open it up. One other Expert rider gets on my wheel and we work together to move to the front. Unfortunately we now run into traffic with the Masters field in front of us. From this point on we never had any open space to try and close the gap to the leaders. I get on a train with some others from my class and follow their pace for a bit. Come the third lap we're already passing some of the Elite women who started 6 minutes before us, the traffic is incessant! Someone at the side of the trail yells that the group I'm with is 5, 6, and 7. Cue the attacks. Last lap I lose 5th place half way up the last climb but already held an attack off from 7. I maintain my place all the way through the lap and finish 6th. Not bad for first race of the season but could have done better.
Looking at the lap times of the leaders I basically kept pace with them all throughout the race. The only difference is that they got off the front on the opening lap.
Next race is Woodnewton on May 13th! 15 hours of training this week, time to go to work!
Garmin data from the race - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/173114982
Starting with the preride on Saturday I was feeling pretty confident, the weather was perfect and the legs weren't complaining. The course starts with a massive double track climb that's meant to thin the pack a wee bit and then gets right into the singetrack once you crest the top. A few techy sections here and there but nothing you need the brakes for. The first downhill snakes its way left and right as speeds approach 35ish. I expect them to be higher come race pace. The downhill section ends in a sloppy hairpin with really lose dirt, definitely a place for overtaking if you can find the traction before anyone does. Doubletrack allows for some more rest if needed before you hit the techy ups. They're the only real difficult part of the course and once you clear them there's plenty of flat all the way to the final downhill. The downhill to the finish is adjacent to the opening climb, speeds are approaching 60km/h with a few bends and some sandy bits that can catch you unaware.
What I really liked about the course was just how smooth and groomed it was = hardtail all the way.
Race day - So luck my start time isn't until 1:30! Means I can take a chill morning and not worry about getting there on time. Once I arrive, the parking lot is packed! 677 total participants in the day's races. I show up to the start line 15min before the gun goes off and I can barely find room to line up - this will come back an haunt me come race start.
On the line I'm basically starting from last. We're given the go ahead and the field takes off fast, I immediately try to move up so I don' get caught behind the slow guys in the single track. Unfortunately the guys are going too hard and it forces me to settle in mid pack. Maintaining my position isn't difficult through the first singletrack but I was being held back by some slowpokes. Now the first big surprise, the downhill that was so smooth yesterday is now riddled with brake bumps from the previous races. It becomes really difficult to hold my line through the turns. One guy goes careening off the track in front of me as he hits a bump while banked in a corner and loses control. No time to see if he's ok as speeds approach 35km/h and we're all still wheel to wheel. The hairpin is a mess. I take an early apex while most go deep into the turn but are forced wide when they all start to fishtail in the loose dirt. Turns out most of the guys are already out of gas from the fast start so I move up the field quite quickly.
Second lap begins and I finally have so open space in front of me so I decide to open it up. One other Expert rider gets on my wheel and we work together to move to the front. Unfortunately we now run into traffic with the Masters field in front of us. From this point on we never had any open space to try and close the gap to the leaders. I get on a train with some others from my class and follow their pace for a bit. Come the third lap we're already passing some of the Elite women who started 6 minutes before us, the traffic is incessant! Someone at the side of the trail yells that the group I'm with is 5, 6, and 7. Cue the attacks. Last lap I lose 5th place half way up the last climb but already held an attack off from 7. I maintain my place all the way through the lap and finish 6th. Not bad for first race of the season but could have done better.
Looking at the lap times of the leaders I basically kept pace with them all throughout the race. The only difference is that they got off the front on the opening lap.
Next race is Woodnewton on May 13th! 15 hours of training this week, time to go to work!
Garmin data from the race - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/173114982
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