Update

Well this one will be condensed, but a bit of a catch up over the past couple of weeks.
Starting with the first race back in Ottawa for the season, it was nice to be closer to home for a change, as its been some time! This would be a round of the Eastern Ontario Series, held at Mooney's Bay in Ottawa. It had rained a horrible amount the previous day, but the course other than a small couple of wet spots, was pretty dry and fast. The start was usual mayhem, an Ottawa trait that I'd forgotten, halfway through the first lap things were sorting themselves out.
The race was a long one, with only four and a half laps, it would be a grind. Halfway in our chasegroup of four would implode and we'd mostly end up on our own. A lap later I had two catch up to me and we'd gain back a spot or two by the end. On the final lap there were three of us, and it was going to come down to the wire. with half a lap to go, I made a move to be on the front, and lead out the end of the race, this would either be an advantage or kill me.
It did however work out as planned, I was able to lead off the second half of the course, and be in best position for the final set of turns before the sprint to the finish!
Result: 1st MA (6th overall)
The next week, we would be in Kanata for another round of the Eastern Ontario Series. This was the first time racing there, but first impressions were good. It was an awesome course, one of the best in the eastern series yet! a nice open fast course, a small hill and some twisty switchbacks on the decent.
Had a bit better start than the previous week, was nearer the front. I was uncertain of my condition as minimal riding the previous week, and a bit of illness had taken its toll.
After a couple of laps, I settled in and gained up to a few riders, where we had a good group of four and trying to chase up to some of the leaders.
The group rode well and it would come down to the final lap again, a bit of a slip by Ryan Atkins would allow Thomas (forget last name) to get away as Greg Hawkes and I were behind Ryan when he went down. I managed to hold off the pair in the finish, for another win in the MA category!
Result: 1st MA (6th overall.... again)
We're off this weekend, "vacation" in Florida, Kelly will be competing in Half Ironman Worlds, in Clearwater Florida, then on the way home a brief stopover in Trenton NJ, for the USGP weekend!

Quebec Provincial Champioships

Kelly and I headed over to Laurier Station (near Quebec City) for a weekend of cross racing, Saturday was Provincial Championships, and a second race on Sunday would be part of the Quebec provincial series. The course on Saturday was perfectly flat, and very tight, narrow, twisty and a few questionable corners would make for a challenging course to say the least (We had a few choice words to add to the description but I wont post them here in case any kids are reading :)
Kelly had a rough go, as the course didn't suit her well. She was feeling a bit under the weather, so that didn't help much. The Elite Men went at 12.30 and the we (the MA's) went off 30 seconds later. I had excellent start, and got the holeshot which was key as the start was a 75m straight into an "s" bent narrowing. Halfway into the first lap Luc Proulx - Xprezo (4 time prov. champ, former National Champ) caught up to me and the two of us would ride away from the group, exchanging the lead for a few laps. On lap two, my front brake cable slipped, and this would leave me brakeless in the front for the rest of the race. Kelly said this would make me faster, I was more worried about controlling the bike in the corners! Luc was riding strong, and I was fearing my chances were going to slip away (no pun intended).
Halfway through the race, I was really into a rhytm and started to put a small gap into Luc, and would then continue to gain a few seconds each lap, evetually nicely taking the win by about a minute 40! The race would turn out to be a really strong ride, and an awesome win, despite no front brake! Also really awesome to win a provincial championship, and get a nice new blue and white jersey to go along
with it!!

Sunday was pretty much the same course, only run in reverse, with a few modifications to widen some spots, and even make the course a bit faster. Kelly had a bit better day than Saturday, improving a few spots finishing 4th in the women's race! The afternoon race would be bunched together (Elite and MA's single start), with a more open start lane and course, but a small slip up on the start would put me a few spots back and chasing a bit more. By the end of the first lap Eric Lemaire (Taxi Mode) and I would respectively be chasing for 5th and 6th overall (1st and 2nd Master). By lap three we'd move up a few spots, and both be insid the top 5 (overall). nearing the end of lap three Eric thought he flatted, and let me around, I was anticipating him to pull into the pits, but he stayed right on my wheel for the next three of four laps. It would turn out everything was fine, and no flat tires, so we soldiered on! In front of us were three Elites, Benoit Simard (bluberi) Ugo Lapierre (2peers.com) and Marc Andre Daigle. I spent most of the race about 15-20seconds behind Ugo, and unable to bridge the gap. Eric would be about the same behind me, with 3 laps to go, where Eric seemed to be dropping a bit back. Two laps to go I tried one more time to brigde to Ugo, this would also put a big gap on Eric. Ugo had Marc-Andre in his sights, and kept his lead on me solid right to the end.
On the final lap, Ugo and I both caugth and passed a struggling Marc Andre, he'd gone off the start really hard, and blew up nearing the end, after passing him a third of the way through the final lap, it would put me in third overall for the race. Another solid day, a second win in as many days, (and what would have been third in the Elite race) is deifinately a career highlight!

Moreso, I'm really happy to have won a provincial championship, that's been a big goal for a long time, so it's kind of a nice feeling to scratch that one off the list. Looking forward to defending next year, and hopefully maybe going after some even bigger races!

Next week, finally a race close to home! Mooney's Bay, Eastern Ontario series, maybe I'll wear the new jersey for kicks!
oh and still waiting for pics from the weekend, as we didn't have our camera.. hope to find some soon.

Rochester - Cobb's Hill CX

Sunday would mark the first cross race of the year, and a return to Rochester NY, for the Cobb's Hill Cross Race. Last year, we took a chance and attended the first running of this race. It was organized by the guys at Full Moon Vista (of Rochester Twilight series fame), it turned out to be a fun well organized event, with a lot of really nice people there, not to mention, the win made it even sweeter.

So no pressure, first race of the year, and a title to defend... yikes! I started the morning with usual uncertainty regarding form (as I usually do at the start of a season) and one week after returning from holiday in Italy was still heavy in thought. The weather however would be fantastic, low 20's (Celsius for all you non-metrics) no wind, and lots of sun! Gorgeous!

Kelly would take the start of the women's race in the morning to a great 5th place finish, Darren was traveling with us and would join me in the main event!

I would start with a bad spot on the grid, third row, boo to a non call-up! I was caught behind a couple of weaker riders, and kind of got stuck for a bit of the first lap, there was a small section of single track, with no major bottle neck which was good, and on the big climb, I was able to make up a few more spots. By the end of the first lap I caught up to the lead riders, there would then be five of us. I immediately put pressure on, thinking I did well to make it up here, might as well go with it. We were immediately down to three and by the top of the big hill on lap two, it was a local rider Erik (Grimm - Full Moon Vista) and myself. I would then spend the rest of the race on the front. I was really unsure of Erik, he was definitely super strong, but very unwilling to take the front. I would find out after the race, this was his third or fourth 'cross race, and he's a machine! Big into adventure racing, and xc skiing (look for him at the Keski!). So my guess is he was riding smart, just hanging on, and trying not to get dropped, which for all my efforts I couldn't do!

                      

We proceeded to put in 15-20 seconds a lap into third place and would lap all but 13 of 47 starters! On the final two laps I decided to really test the waters, on the hill I was pushing a bigger gear, working the downhill a bit harder, and really pushing in the tight spots. Erik to his credit did really well to hang in! He would make a move before the barricades (3-400m from the finish, we went over pretty much side by side, I noticed he slipped up, but so did I (don't watch others, watch yourself!!) and we'd go into the final corner together, but I had the outside line, which would give him just enough advantage in the final 50m sprint.

All in all, a very good race, a bit of a bummer not to repeat, but second is still a very nice way to start the season!!

Next weekend will be another weekend of firsts, first double of the year, First 'cross race (ever) in the province of Quebec, and Quebec Provincial Championships to top it off at that!!