Calabogie Classic 2012

I signed up for the M3 category. It is a little confusing having a Quebec license and racing a lot in Ontario as Quebec is aged based and Ontario seems to be a mix of age plus ability based. Since I don't do much road racing and they say you need 10 points to move up to M2 I don't see a real need for me to move up and I will need much improvement to be anywhere close to a sandbagger in this category.
I was wondering if I would have problems staying with the group once I saw the rider list. I new a few guys and  new that I had trouble not going a lap down during cross season. But road racing is a different animal.
I really really like doing this race as it is on a closed course race track. No cars, curbs or potholes. The track is very smooth and has lots of tiny rollers and corners.
We also had a pretty good turnout of Euro-sport guys for our class. At least 9 of us I believe. Most of us don't race together so we could have really used a team pre-race meeting, but most of us were here for fun.
I felt unusually calm for the start of this race. I was pretty sure that I could hang in the draft as I managed to stay on the last time I did this race and I have actually started training this year so I should have improved.
Once the race started  I was feeling like straying with the pack was going to be a walk in the park.
It certainly was a dicey group and with 20 corners it stayed that way for most of the race. People had trouble holding their lines in a lot of corners. It was also quite windy so that didn't help the situation.
There seemed to be quite a few attacks but nothing went far at all. The group really slowed on a couple of the very short hills and this caused most of the attack to come from the back. I even gave it a shot on one of the early laps. I gave a big dig on the bottom of the longest climbs, which was probably less than 30 seconds, and pulled a nice gap. I kept looking back to see if anyone would come and no one did. I was hoping to pull a couple of guys out to come help me as I knew for sure I could not last 2/3's of the race out on my own. It was fun to try and a good learning experience.
There was a bit of confusion within the team and we made a very bad rookie mistake and miscounted the laps. We did not realize we were on the lead lap. I saw a couple guys off the front, but not too far, about what the other attacks maxed out at, maybe 500 meters. This was with about 1 minute to go in the lap. It was at this time that a crash happened and about 7 teammates got stuck in or behind this crash. I managed to avoid hitting the falling bodies in front of me and came to a stop beside a teammate and checked on him. He told me to go ahead but the pack was long gone and in full flight. So a few of us finished off the back. I think I was a minute back.
So all in all it was a good race. I was starting to feel a bit fatigued but still had jump in my legs. I think I would have had some fun in the sprint.
Looking forward to next year :)

Cheers,
Paul

Clarence Rockland Classic 2012

Clarence Rockland is not my favorite race of the season but it is usually the first one I do. I do think it is growing on me as I am already trying to figure out where my mistakes where and how I can do better next year. Of course after the fact I am thinking I could have done better.
I was feeling pretty good going into the race. I was not nervous as I didn't really have any real goals other than to finish faster than last year, factoring  in weather conditions of course.
The weather was great. Was supposed to be raining and turned out to be lightly overcast and warm. I rode with shorts and short sleeve jersey with arm warmers. I kept the arm warmers on as the sun never really came out, but if it did I am sure they would have been off in no time.
I ended up starting about 2/3rds back. I am always feel like my fitness level is not high enough to start higher up. After doing this race I think for sure I will try slot much closer to the front in future races.
This race is a mix of 50/50 gravel and pavement altho some sections of pavement are rougher than some of the gravel sections.
The race starts off with a pretty steep pavement climb and I ended up having to come to a complete stop twice! I was able to track stand for both but still used a lot of energy to get past and close the gap to the main group after the top. This may have been the difference of staying with the pack down the road as I was redlined for the next little bit.
Last year I was dropped on this first gravel climb about 10 minutes in. This time I managed to stay in the pack. Farther down the road was another steeper and longer climb that I ended up blowing up on about 1/2 way up the hill. I went from the top 1/3 right out the back. I believe it was fairly flat for a bit after this so if I could have made it over this hill with the group I think I could have sat in and recovered and finished 10 - 15 minutes sooner.
I tried to stay with a few other people that where also off the back. After another 10-15 minutes of trying to form a group with stragglers I was all alone in no-mans land. I could see some people up ahead a km or so and about the same behind. It was pretty windy so I eased up and ended up hooking up with a group of 6 guys out of North Shore Montreal. They had came up and planned on doing the ride together. The group suited me well and I could see I was stronger than a couple guys but there were two other guys that seemed to be doing most of the work on the front. I think we could have gone a bit faster with a more organized rotation and maybe cut 10 minutes off our time. We were still rotating through but not as much as I would have liked for a race.
One guys asked if I wanted to go with him after a small group that flatted re-passed us. I said I was happy with the current group but in retrospect we should have gone as the worst that would happen is we would sit up and wait for our group again.
One of the stronger guys flatted about 15kms from the finish so we all stopped. I figured it would be a good time to check my sugar, which was perfect. The flat was fixed quickly and I barely had time to do my check and we were off again.
About 5 kms from the finish one of the stronger guys was off the front a bit and started to pull away. I decided to go after him but he was a good ways up the road. Maybe a km. It was windy and I wasn't sure if I should stay with the group or not. I decided to keep going.
There was a steep paved climb about 2 kms from the finish and I got passed buy the other fast guy at the top. I was too gassed to stay with him and the rest of our small group had gained back on me because the faster guy pulled them to the base of the hill. Once at the top I recovered pretty fast and just started grinding out at my threshold power. I think I would have stayed ahead of the other 4 guys but one of my team mates that had flatted for a second time came by me and I hopped on his wheel to the finish.
I just cracked the 3 hr mark so I was pretty happy about that. this was about 10 minutes faster than last year and I think I was over hr faster than the year before. Was 97th in my cat and 110 overall. The flat near the end probably cost us 15 spots or so.
So all in all it was a successful race for me. My first race with my new insulin and some training with the coach. My training was not going as good as I hoped to to busy at work and sick a few times since Christmas as well as working out the new insulin regime.
On the plus side I was still riding 3-4 times a week which is much better than 0-1 times a week from previous years. I can see for sure my power is up from previous years. Just a little more power and I should be able to hang with the main group.
I tried out my carbon RHUS wheels with powertap that I got from the shop(www.euro-sports.ca). They worked well and had no problems with the rough roads and large new gravel.
Tire choice was easy as I basically only had one set. It was the Schwalbe CX Pros wire beads. I ran around 50 psi. I normally run a little lower when it's rough but I really didn't want to flat so went a little higher. Lots of people were on slicker smoother tires than me so I am not sure how much more resistance I was doing with the knobbies vs other guys smoother smaller knobby stuff.

Cheers,
Paul

Winter Training

Been a while since I posted. It's been a pretty rough winter. Been sick more than normal and also still working out my insulin dosage since starting this summer past.
The good news far as training goes I finally got a coach in December . The bad news is it took me several weeks past Christmas to start feeling comfortable and get my blood sugar under control.
I am happy to report things are finally lookng up.
I am back up to 7+ hrs a week on the rollers and with the weather improving it looks like I will be able to get outside in the next couple weeks.
The plan is to do a Threshold test next Thursday and see how much I have improved. With all the ups and downs health wise I am sure it won't be up as much as I would have hoped but as long as it's up I will be happy.

Currently signed up for Summer Solstice 24 hr in the Solo catagory. Also looking forward to 3 races coming mid to end of April.
1.)Clarance Rockland
2.)Calabogie Road Race
3.)Almote Paris Roubaix

Well off for a couple hrs on the rollers....

Cheers,
Paul

New Year 2012

Another year has come and gone. I am hoping this will be my 'breakout' year with lots of personal bests.
I didn't start the year well and it was a bit discouraging but now I am back on track. I carried over a 2 week cold from just before Christmas.
Was a bit hard to get motivated again. I started using a cycling coach in December, Jim Glover.
I am finally over my cold and back on the training plan. I had a a tough workout last night with intervals and was not sure how it would turn out with the 3 week layoff and only a couple easy short days of spinning.
I am happy to say that it went well and that on my last interval I was really hurt'n to finish it so I think the workout was perfect.
I actually prefer the interval days as I find the time passes better with that silly little machine constantly telling me what to do.
Rest day today then some of my highest output intervals on Thursday, not that I have really done that many.
Cheers,
Paul

Cross 2011 Eastern Ontario Series Perth

I really like racing in Perth. The course is one I like a lot. Could be a bit more technical but quite twisty with no really long straights.  A very nice little hill that gets used very well with a steep run-up and two steep climbs and a twisty fast decent !
With the Fall Back time change I had an extra hour to get ready and made good use of it. Rolled into Perth with more than an hour to get warmed up. Was a beautiful day.
Set up the tire pressure just a tad about 35 psi and went off for a warm-up lap. Course had a couple slight changes but over-all was very similar to last Perth race with the sand pit included. It was very dry and hardly even any dew on the course.
Wore my one-piece kit with a t-shirt under and was plenty warm during the race with only a bit of a chill waiting for the start.
We started on the pavement and I initially had a good spot but we got moved and I ended up caught out for a good spot on the inside. For some reason there was a lot of room on the out-side so I decided to go there knowing I usually get a good jump. I had a good start even though Bob said "We go on 3" and I didn't realize he was going to count in his head ! Even with the bad jump I was onto the course probably in the top 20 for a large field of over 120 riders.
I have been having great starts and I have not even been on the front row. Too bad my power only lasts for 1/2 a lap. Once I hit the redline it's all backwards from here... Ended up 31st of 41 for cat and 90th of 134 overall.
I think I missed being on the lead lap by about a minute which was my goal for the season, to be on the lead lap. This was before all the insulin issues arrived. Two more races left  to at least finish one race on the lead lap.
Was a bit of a crazy start and one guy cut me off 3 times, the last into a tree which I had to brake hard for and then lost about 4 spots in 2 seconds. I also lightly bumped against a tree at speed as a rider somehow went down in front of me. I think throughout the race I had to dodge about 4 other riders that lost it in front of me. Didn't cost me much time and stayed up myself so no complaints.
After I settled in a bit I ended up having a good battle with one of the younger lads and a teammate, Dom, for most of the race. Dom slowly caught me and passed me in the first two laps. I fought back and forth with Jonathan(I believe) up until near the end of the second last lap. I had passed Dom about the middle of the second last lap when he missed the turn and went wide off course. I could see he was slowing down and probably toast trying to stay in front of me and thats why he missed the turn.
The 3rd lap was an awful lap for me and my  time showed it. At one point my HR was almost down to 150 when I normally keep it close to 170(max 185). After this I was slowly feeling a bit better and I was starting to attack a bit out of the corners and then ease power up and hold as much speed as I could. I could see my HR finally creeping back up into the 160's.
It's a bit of a blur what part of the end of the race that I decided to make my move and drop the young lad that I was battling with all race. The course zig-zagged over a couple of pavement sections and this is where I made my move. We all know we roll faster on pavement so I made extra hard sprint efforts as soon as I hit the pavement and tried to get up to speed quickly knowing that it would not require that much power to maintain it here. I quickly closed the gap and passed putting in a gap. I hit every exit harder than I did on previous laps and ended up with my fasted lap of the day. If I did this every lap I would have easily made the last lap. I am hoping to apply this strategy of fast exits up to speed the next 2 races and see what happens.
The finish of the race is at the top of the hill and you hit the hill a couple times right near the end of the lap. I hammered fairly hard on the hills as I could see that Jonathan was trying hard to reel me back in and I dared not let up. Turns out we both had our fastest laps at the end. Being the carrot and chasing the carrot sure helps push yourself.

Dragging to the Finish, sadly down a lap.
Photos by Bernard Durand

Was disappointed again about my time but the last lap felt good. Sugar was a bit high at the start of the race but dropped a bit during the race. Ate lunch right away and my sugar came way down so that was good.
Stayed and watched the second race and chatted with some people during and after. Also helped take down the course. Bike is amazingly clean so only oil the chain again. Think this is a first for 2 weeks in a row....
Headed home with a nice sunny drive on the cruise!

Cheers,
Paul

Cross 2011 Eastern Ontario Series Cornwall

This season is not going well. On the way to the race I hit a pothole and damaged one of my MOMO rims on my SVX. Bent bead and caused a crack and would not hold air. Luckily I was close enough to home to limp back and swap the bike and gear into the Jimmy. By now ETA for Cornwall was 9:10 and race started at 9:00.
I decided to not try make  the first race and do the second race.
I ended up in Cornwall at 9:18 and unbeknownst too me the race hadn't started and would not start til almost 9:40. I could have raced the B race after all!
So starting the A race in my current condition I knew I would be fighting for that DFL spot. I wasn't sure if I should start at the back or try for a good start near the front. In the end I decided to try get up close to the front and have a good start as I figured this would be the highlight of my race.
3,2,1, Go! ! ! I was off and jumped into a pretty good spot. I managed to hold my position on the freight train for a few minutes and then my heart rate near maxed out and I started going backward.
I had a couple of team mates that are close to my level so I figured we would have a good fight for the race. I wasn't disappointed and did have a good battle all race long.
I was racing against Pat and Adam and because of my start I was ahead of them. I took a few glances back and saw them coming and by now I had recovered enough from my shotgun start that I was hoping that I could hold them off for a lap or two.
Near the end of the first lap I had my chain come off on the inside of the front ring and jam there. Normally I can switch to the big ring and pedal and keep going without stopping but it was not the case this time. Pat and Adam both went by me while I was calmly trying to un-jam my chain. The chase was on !
In about half a lap I caught back up to Adam but Pat had pulled a gap. Adam and I traded places a couple times a lap for the next 3 laps, once when I didn't turn in time and went off course about 75 feet.
I would see Pat about the exact same spot every lap. It was a bit frustrating to not to gain any ground but it was fun to yell at Pat every lap to slow down :)
In the mean time Adam would pass me on the two run ups and one set of barriers and I would jump past him on an inside line on a technical spot. I teased him that if would could gel as one we would be able to catch Pat.
Near the end of the second last lap I decide to make my move to get away from Adam and I jumped the rear wheel of a couple guys who passed me and held on as long as I could. I also did extra hard efforts on the 2 run ups and 1 barrier where Adam was normally eating back a chunk of time on me. I think I broke him a bit on the first run up when I think I got up and over faster than him, and there was a bit of technical sections leading up to the barriers that I think I went through fasted of the race so far.
At this point shortly after starting the last lap and giving a big dig only to see that Pat was probably outta reach and I had a good lead on Adam I decided to ease up ever so slightly.
Its too bad I dropped my chain as it would have been interesting to have been closer to Pat. It was a windy day and there were a few spots that drafting was definitely helpful and being small I get a  better draft than I give :)
In a nutshell I had o be happy with the race. It was fun battling it out and pushing hard. My sugar control turned out god and I had fun talking to a lot of people. It was such a nice day that I didn't have to wash my bike. All it needed was a chain lube.
There were a few locals out wondering about the race and I think I explained the whole cross thing to about 5 groups of people.
Another race in the books,
Cheers,
Paul

Cross 2011 Eastern Ontario Series Renfrew

Another race in the books. First race on the newest insulin regime. Looking like I am finally getting my sugar under control. Hoping that I will now be able to start training properly cause I am not happy with my performance level.
I guess I should be happy that I am able to race so trying to keep a positive attitude. My racing results are about on the level as my beginning races on the MTB a couple years ago.
It was our team Eurosports day to set up so I was up at 4:30 a.m to get to the course to help set up. I was at the course around 6:45 and it was still dark. We started set-up at 7 by looking at the map and seeing how the course was laid out. Having not done the race before makes visualizing the layout a bit difficult but it becomes more clear as you go.
We ended up farting around with one final technical section and I only ended up back at the car for 8:40. Our race was 9:00 and I like to have 45 minutes to get ready for the race. I ended up rushing around and my sugar was starting to be close to low, but still in a good range. I downed 3/4 of a Gatorade rushed with my suit and numbers. I was just topping up the tires and putting pump away when they called up for the start. I guess no pre-laps or warm up for me.
The course was fairly dry and was a cool sunny fall day. There was a lot of dew on the grass and some spots were still wet for the race making some of the off-camber sections and some corners a bit slippy. A couple of run ups had a bit of sticky mud and caused some people some grief trying to climb and clogging up their cleats in the shoe. My MTB shoes have deep tread as well as fairly large toe spikes so I had no problems. I am also used to running on my toes for sections like this which helps the toe spikes dig in as well as keeping the cleats free of mud.
There was a couple of good climbs on this course and I was wanting for more gears after the first lap. The corners and off-camber sections were a bit slippery so all in all I really enjoyed the course more than what I thought I would from looking at the set-up map. Weather was warm and sunny.
My sugar control was good for the race so I am happy about that. No crashes other than once sliding out the front wheel on one corner but got my foot down in time to make it just look awkward  :)
Stayed and watched the second race and helped take course down after.
Was a good day all in all.
Cheers,
Paul