Our last day of 'cross in Ottawa for the year would finish with the second event of the day. After getting ready and heading out onto the course for a warm up and a quick view of the layout, things were looking OK. Expectations were not to high, as the season is winding down for the year, and the legs are fading. While finishing up a warm up lap with Matt S., I noticed that he'd peeled off a moment earlier, and no one else was around! So I was quickly on my way over to the starting queue hoping not to have completely missed it. Everyone was lined up and pretty much ready to go, Bob was kind enough to hold us for 30seconds extra while I peeled off a warm-up layer.
So were off like a rock, not the best start position, but again, not too worried about it. There was nearly a mishap however, as I could feel handlebars bumping my leg in the bunch, fortunately no incidents. as we got around the first few corners, I was able to work my way up to a chase group of four or five of us, with 7-8 riders off the front. Matt, myself and a couple of others would spend the next few laps chasing around. Nothing terribly eventful happened until (I think) the third lap, on a rough decent I snapped a spoke in my front wheel. Fortunately it happend just before the run-up, and the pit was the top. So on the run-up, I shouldered the bike, took the front wheel off (all while running) tossed the wheel off course and kept on running to the pits. Once I got to the top, I could pit and grab my spare wheel. From there it was head down and try and chase back on to the small group I had been riding with. There was lots of cheering on the run-up and decent, so it was extra motivation to start off the chase.
It would take about a lap for me to come up, and our small chase group then somewhat came back together, we lost one, picked up another, it pretty much balanced out. Marc L. had fallen off one of the lead groups, he, Marcel and I would finish off the second half of the race together. I was riding a bit sloppy for a fair amount of the race, but as I was tiring late in the race, it was extra motivation to focus on riding smooth, and attempt to keep lap times consistent.
Coming into the final lap Marcel rolled a tubular, casualties were really starting to add up, he would pop it back on and finish off, surprisingly not very far behind Marc and I. The final lap the two of us would kind of cat and mouse it, trying to keep the pace up, but no real attacks, which meant it would come down to a sprint, both of us have a decent sprint, and it was uphill, so it would come down the line. At the line it was me by half a bike, thumbs up!
A great race, well done with the course, Mooney's Bay (both times) this year has been tops, a nice change!
Next weekend we are off to Warwick, Rhode Island for the Verge Series finals, the NBX GP, looking forward to it, a good weekend of racing in the US is always fun. I'll try my hand in the Pro/Elite race, should be a fun one.
Monday, November 30, 2009
eastern ontario finals - first race
Sunday was the final race of the season, in Ottawa. Amazing how many times (almost every weekend it seems) I've been saying what nice weather we've been having.
The build up to this race was very... well non-existent. The weather hadn't been the best, so little to no riding all week, and forecasts for the weekend kept changing. So overall it was going to be an "expect the worst and have fun with it" type of scenario. No problem with that, good way to cap off the season! That being said, the weather would turn out to be great!
There was plenty of hype surrounding this race, well around the water cooler that is.. a few of the gang at work have been neck and neck all season, and another would make his debut Sunday, so the odds were posted, they hype was building, we could only hope that this wouldn't be a Superbowl style letdown.. Martin had been regularly leading the so called "group of four", Kelly has been getting faster every week, Peter hasn't raced in three weeks so hard to say how he'd feel, Phil has been right behind Peter all seaon, so was poised to beat him. Geoff is the newcomer to the race and a bit of a dark horse, so the odds slotted him mid bunch. No one would disappoint!
Geoff turned out to have a good race, despite convincing himself he had a flat early on and ran off course in a confused heap, he would get back on and in the end did quite well. Peter pulled off a great crash, almost taking me out in the process... I was taking pictures on the sidelines at the time. Phil was right on his tails and would slide past. Martin blew out his tire and would be forced to DNF. He would race the second event to redeem himself. Kelly steadily worked her way up through the pack finishing strongly and on the lead lap!
Melanie had a pretty good race, and was looking fast most times I'd seen her, although I hear she wasn't much liking "the hill". Another newcomer to the event was Matt "I'll make it out to a race sometime" McLean. He also had a really good race, finishing just in front of Kelly. He's a runner, and fast on a bike too.. just a natural athlete, but he's hooked on 'cross now (that he's finally gotten to a race) we'll get him more next year!
I missed the final couple of laps, as I had to head back to the car to get ready for the second race, but everyone was all smiles by the time they were done..
next up the second event...
The build up to this race was very... well non-existent. The weather hadn't been the best, so little to no riding all week, and forecasts for the weekend kept changing. So overall it was going to be an "expect the worst and have fun with it" type of scenario. No problem with that, good way to cap off the season! That being said, the weather would turn out to be great!
There was plenty of hype surrounding this race, well around the water cooler that is.. a few of the gang at work have been neck and neck all season, and another would make his debut Sunday, so the odds were posted, they hype was building, we could only hope that this wouldn't be a Superbowl style letdown.. Martin had been regularly leading the so called "group of four", Kelly has been getting faster every week, Peter hasn't raced in three weeks so hard to say how he'd feel, Phil has been right behind Peter all seaon, so was poised to beat him. Geoff is the newcomer to the race and a bit of a dark horse, so the odds slotted him mid bunch. No one would disappoint!
Geoff turned out to have a good race, despite convincing himself he had a flat early on and ran off course in a confused heap, he would get back on and in the end did quite well. Peter pulled off a great crash, almost taking me out in the process... I was taking pictures on the sidelines at the time. Phil was right on his tails and would slide past. Martin blew out his tire and would be forced to DNF. He would race the second event to redeem himself. Kelly steadily worked her way up through the pack finishing strongly and on the lead lap!
Melanie had a pretty good race, and was looking fast most times I'd seen her, although I hear she wasn't much liking "the hill". Another newcomer to the event was Matt "I'll make it out to a race sometime" McLean. He also had a really good race, finishing just in front of Kelly. He's a runner, and fast on a bike too.. just a natural athlete, but he's hooked on 'cross now (that he's finally gotten to a race) we'll get him more next year!
I missed the final couple of laps, as I had to head back to the car to get ready for the second race, but everyone was all smiles by the time they were done..
next up the second event...
Friday, November 27, 2009
weather not helping much these days
Well it is more and more late in the year each day, after a slow week last week, the past few days have not been much better. So far a couple of rides to and from work has been the best case scenario. The body is feeling like it is starting to settle in for the winter too. We can only hope that all will come together for the race on the weekend, and after that, its looking more and more like I'll have to break out the rollers for a few rides next week. Today was cold and rainy, and tomorrow is not looking much warmer, in fact the rest of the week is looing pretty cool. All is good, two more weekends of racing for the season, and I'd have to say I'm about ready to hang 'em up for the winter.
The skiis are waxed and ready to go whenever the snow does hit, so I'm sure it'll be a nice change of pace!
rambling complete...
The skiis are waxed and ready to go whenever the snow does hit, so I'm sure it'll be a nice change of pace!
rambling complete...
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