Its been a very nice spring so far, weather has been great, and now the racing season is back underway.
Two weekends ago, we headed out for the Clarence Rockland Classic, a great new event in the Ottawa area. A cyclosportif, half paved, half not, and at 85km, it would be a day to hang on as long as possible. Winds were strong, and things were good till the first flat midway through. That left me to swap tires, and ride it out for fun. A great day, very nice event, will go next year!
Last weekend was the Calabogie classic, and I was hoping to improve on last years top 5. 15 laps of a pristine 5km race track, twisty turny fun. The first half the goal was get in or chase down breaks, if nothing works, sit in second half and sprint it out. A break or three or four would go second half, and the chase was not motivated, I was content to sit in and sprint it out for remaining spots.
With two laps to go I moved up near the front and began wheel hunting as I did not have any team mates with me this day. Coming into the final km, I tagged onto a good pair, an we'd take the final turns well lined out. I was third wheel with 200m to go, when I pulled out and gave it full gas to the line. With the headwind, and great set up, it was a perfect finish to the race. Turned out there was only one S3 in the break putting me in second place for the day. Nice way to start off the season.
This weekend the racing begins for real! Ste. Martine is the first event on the Quebec Calendar, and here's hoping for another good day.
After Ste. Martine, I'll be flying out the next morning to join team Spydertech at Tour of the Gila, as their mechanic for the week. It'll be a great week of racing, very much looking forward to it! It has also been confirmed that Mellow Johnny's will be present again this year, featuring Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer, and Jason McCartney, that'll bring out the crowds. Look for me buried in the back seat of the Spydertech car.
