Racing in Saskatoon

First chance I've had to post this here, so sorry for the delay.

Bikes On Broadway, Saskatoon Saskatchewan. 3 stages, ITT, RR, Crit. 8 hours of driving to get there.

Stage one ITT
I didn't get a chance to do more than just drive the course before hand, so I didn't really know what the course had in store. It looked pretty flat. John and I got there with plenty of time for a good warm up. The course was a point to point course, on closed - to partially closed roads (no having to watch for cars - YEAAH!) Short - only 8.2km. Only one real turn, and that was just 1km into the race - what APPEARED in the car to be a sweeping right-hand. My target it to break 12 minutes, as that has won this in years past.

I had a bit of a rough start - too tall of a gear, but I quickly got on top of it and then laid out on the bars and went hard. Before I knew it the Right hand turn was coming - I had figured I'd be able to just lean it and stay in the aero-bars, but as I drew close to the approach I realized that this was alot tighter corner at speed than I had planned on. I barely made the corner. 2km in I caught my 30 second man. 5km in I caught my 1 minute man. Ahead I could see my 90 second and 2 minute man. I hammered hard to try and catch them. (nothing better than a rabbit to chase!) I missed catching them at the line by about 20meters,

Results: 8.2km Time 11:39, Aver HR 175, Max HR 179. Turned out to be good enough for 2nd place - just missing first by 2 seconds.

Stage 2 RR

I got NO sleep. Didn't fall asleep until 2am, and then got up every hour on the hour until time to get up at 7:30am A little over an hours drive to get to the course. This course will be 60km, an out-and-back. On the drive out it looked like it was pretty hilly, not long, not steep, but lots of them. Should prove interesting.

The race didn't start good for me - 10 seconds before the beginning of the neutral start, I realize that my front tire is going flat. I drop back to the wheel car, change, and was able to get back on before the neutral zone ended. Sheesh! Unfortunately, that now put me at the back of the pack, not where I wanted to be.

I worked my way up, and finally got up to the front 5-6. Slooooow. Suddenly an attack goes off from the outside. nobody responds. That surprises me. Usually in Alberta it's impossible for an attack to get away cause nobody will let 'em go. I quickly learn why - after opening a gap of 50-60meters, the rider sits up. This pattern soon emerges - young guys go hard for 20 seconds - if a couple of guys go with him NOBODY pulls through, and they sit up and no chasing has to be done. The funniest one was the guy who attacked with a tailwind on a downhill. Before he sat up the peleton had swallowed him up just coasting!

The turn-around was pretty dicey - narrow, packed in tight. I almost had to unclip. Oh well. The turnaround was SUPPOSED to be neutral 50 yards either side - yeah right. However, the previous pattern re-asserted itself and within 1km we were all back together again. Things started to get a little dicey as some of the weaker riders got tired, but not tired enough to get dropped. I went to the front and decided to do a little pacemaking to see if we could spit a few off the back and make it safer for everybody.

Up front I go - nice little headwind to fight, but I'm feeling pretty good. I pull hard for a couple of minutes and ramp the speed up to 40km/hr. I flick my elbow to signal I'm done - nobody comes through. I flick again, nothing. I turn-around and nod my head - nothing.

Enough of this, I think, I'm not doing all this if nobody else is gonna come up here. So I slow down. Nobody comes around. I slow down some more. Still nothing. Fine, I'll really slow down and move to the far right of the road (wind is coming from the left, so I'm eliminating any draft.) Nothing. Johnny is sitting about 10 wheels back just laughing his head off. He could see what I was trying to do, and as I had moved to the left, the line just snaked around behind me and nobody moved. I slowed down to 21km/hr and still nobody would come around. I did the "move to the left" move twice and the same thing happened both times. Finally someone came around. I was ready to stop and see if everybody would unclip or what! Come on guys, this is supposed to be a race!

With 5km to people finally start to pick the pace up. I'm in the top 3, but feeling like I'd like to drop back a spot or two - the 3 guys I'm watching are all behind me, and I hate having to play swivel neck to see when they're going. Speeds finally get up to the 45km/hr + range and people start getting spit out the back. Sheesh! Why wouldn't anybody do this earlier??!!

At 1.5km to go the guy who beat me in the TT goes. He opens a huge gap by coming around the inside - right as I rode into a box. First thought that goes through my head is "hey, nice move, if you can hold that, it's a winner!" Oh, BTW, the guy who came up and boxed me? Mr. one-leg. Yup, that's right, this guys got one leg and he is HAMMERING!

Two guys go off my left to answer the attack - teamates, and they're working together. I try to grab their wheel but just miss it. We've got the first attacker - last 90 degree corner coming up and then it's a straight shot for 300m to the finish. I start to turn and have got the wheel I want for the sprint - I could get this one! Suddenly Mr. One Leg flashes through on my inside and pushes me outside - off the wheel I want and I have to break to stay inside the yellow - scrubbing even a little bit of speed kills my sprint. I manage to sprint for 5th, but because it's a sprint finish the only thing I lose is the bonus time for top 3 - and they are all far enough back that I'm still 2nd over-all.

Stage 3 Crit

Another sleepless night. The crit is over some pretty ugly pavement. My first crit of the year, and I really haven't had a chance to get my crit bike outside. I did a quick tune-up after the RR, but...

The crit is pretty short, just 25min +3

Got a decent warm-up in, but my legs don't seem to be feeling too snappy.

Off we go. There will be 2 primes - one for a 5 second bonus, and one for coffee.

I didn't have a great starting position, but quickly moved up into the top 6. #179, winner of ITT and currently in 1st GC takes a flyer early and I end up being the one to chase him down. I do, then I sit up. Another attack goes off the front, and I wait. Finally someone else chases it down. This goes on and on, but I'm having the most fun I've ever had in a crit! This is the first time I'm animating. I attack, I counter-attack, I chase. Sure, my legs don't seem to have alot of snap, but they're good enough so far!

The course is 2 blocks long by one block wide - the two stretches of one block have broken pavement and potholes everywhere. Picking your line in the corners is extremely important. We're taking these corners way faster than I'd have guessed we could. Diving in, hammering out. It's really FUN!

First Prime bell - 5 second bonus. I lock on to #179, no way I'm letting him get that one. Second last corner before the line and #175 comes flying around me - I let him go.... he keeps going and makes a concerted attack. Oh no! I want that 5 seconds. We turn the corner and head for the line. I lunge... NOT ENOUGH! #175 gets it, and drops back. I follow him back.

The coffee prime comes up, and nobody goes hard for it, though we do push the pace enough to split things up a bit.

Just a few more minutes left to go and I'm starting to plan how I can finally add a victory to my palmares. I know I've gotta get some recovery in, so I slip into 3 wheel and sit. Finally, 3 laps to go.

I'm second wheel, and don't want to be there. So I ease up a bit and force 2more to come around me - there's 6 of us. 2 laps. We're keeping the pressure up, and I'm pretty sure that I'm gonna be able to pull this off, my HR is way down and I'm feeling good. Last lap.

We take the first corner fast and tight - sprint into the second one - everything is playing out nicely. Coming into the 3rd corner I'm getting ready to make my move and I hit a pothole I hadn't seen - I hit it so hard that my handlebars turn forward on me - I'm sure I'm going over the handlebars and ease up on the pedals (though I don't grap the breaks - probably because they're turned so far forward that I couldn't possibly reach them. But, it's enough to open a 10 foot gap to the #5 guy coming into the 4th corner. I sprint hard, but carefully and manage to nip him at the line for 5th. The dirty rotten #175 that got the 5 second prime also got the win and picked up another 15 seconds - enough for him to win and push me down to 3rd on GC. So, it's my first podium finish for cat 5.