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!!

Back on Continent

Just got back from vacation, a nice on too.. ten days or so in Italy!
Trip started with arrival in Bologna, a quick drive to Rimini, where we stayed for 5 days, not a terribly exciting town, mostly beachy tourist, (we were told it'd be the Fort Lauderdale Florida of Italy). While there we competed in the World Duathlon Championships, it was good, my runs were horrible, the bike was stellar, pretty much as expected, 'nuff said!
From there off to San Marino, Very Nice city/country. Wickedly perched on a mountain top, wonderful scenery, and things were cheap (I love tax havens!)
Our day trip on San Marino was part of the drive to Montecatini Terma, just west of Firenzi. An awesome drive through-over-under-around the country side of southern Emilia-Romagna Region into eastern Tuscany and past Firenzi.
We stayed in Montecatini, and would day trip from there.. was nice and central, relatively cheap, and beautiful!
day 1 would be a quick bike ride in the AM, and then to Vinci in the afternoon. Really nice country side, small town, home of Leonardo da Vinci.
day 2 we went off a bit farther, down to Sienna, once we got there, found parking (litterally an hour later) toured the town, very nice! very busy, I cannot immagine what it would be like there in peak season!
One of those two nights we went up to Montecatini Alto, there is a small train that climbs the hill (about 5 min ride) to the old city, which overlooks the main town and valley below, got the sunset ride up, ate dinner, and then twilight ride down! wonderful!
day 3, would be a ride day of sorts, weather sounded good, but so drove to San Marcello Pistoiese, after another twisty hilly drive, we arrive to a gorgeous area, and weather that did not clear off. so a bit damp and cool. Great mountain ride, long climb up over, and flew back down into town!
day 4, we'd opt for another 'close to home' day trip. This time Lucca, another gorgeous old city. We'd then hop on the bikes for a quick ride/side trip to Piza, heavy headwind climb to the tunnel, popping out the other side to a heavier headwind across to Piza. Saw the tower, its still leaning, and cruised the tailwind back to Lucca. Highlight would be the 950m long tunnel, dont know which was more fun, trip one or two through it.. we'd pop out on the way back to Lucca with that tail wind from the headwindy ride over! and a nice downward facing slope! awww yeah!
No Cippolini sighting in Lucca..
day 5 we'd leave Montecatini, and headed for Bologna, with a stop in Porrette Terme, for one last ride, this one up the Corno alle Scalle (staircase to the horn?). It was the finale of an epic stage 3 of the 2004 Giro d'Italia. 30km up, pictures, and 30km DOWN! we'd start in Porretta Terme (350 meters above sea level *msl) drop down to Silla (300msl) and head upwards topping out near the Centro Servizi (around 1500msl) Epic!!! Over 1200 meters of climbing, beautiful terrain! absolutely gorgeous!
From there to Bologna for the night, and up to catch flights back home in the early am!!
excellent trip!
Cross season starts (for me) on sunday!