(This is a pic of me holding on for dear life on one of the technical downhills. The picture doesn't capture the panic that I was feeling but I pulled it off.)I wasn't going into this race with a whole lot of expectation. I had been having abnormally large levels of stress at work and my relatively small 2 bedroom apartment was being occupied by anywhere from 6 to 8 guests due to a visit from my in-laws (I love them visiting but it takes it's toll on the energy levels). I didn't have a vehicle to get up to Devon but fortunately I hooked up with Erik, Mike and Geoff to carpool there. We left bright and early at 6:30 Sunday morning after a coffee and muffin from Second Cup (not exactly the breakfast of champions but I'll take what I can get).
We arrived at the racecourse with just a few minutes to get changed and jump on our bikes for a brisk pre-ride before the first wave of racers were going to be on the course at 10:00. The four of us got ready and started the course. My first impression was that it was very fast but then when I found the quasi-Transrockies style hike-a-bike section I thought I had gone the wrong direction. As it turns out, I hadn't. It was true, we were going to have to carry our bikes up a hill that must have come close to spanning the entire elevation of the course. Once done the hike-a-bike the next half of the course continued with its super-fast characteristics of flat and slight turns but that was to end after the feed-zone. Then the course gets much slower and starts some of the climbs that it boasts (not long but steep). The singletrack gets tighter and twistier and there is one downhill that I'm sure took out more than one or two racers... Overall this course had something for everyone. Nice job organizers!
There weren't a huge amount of Elites there since there were still some guys out east for the Canada Cups but the field was still very good especially with guys like Tim Heemskerk and Corey Wallace. Its good to race with a top notch field.
I got an awesome start. It was a perfect clip in where my shoes instinctively found my XTR pedals and not a Watt of energy was wasted. So I holeshotted. It doesn't make or break your race at an ABA but it sure is sweet. I held to the lead until the aforementioned hike-a-bike but Tim and Andre passed me at the top. I pedalled as hard as I could manage while the sting of my muscles seemed to be handicapping my quads on the flats. Sure enough a few guys passed my at the feedzone. I realized if I'm going to do well I'm going to have to control myself on the fast flat section (it always seems like everyone can ride faster than me on those sections...). I stayed steady and throughout the next couple laps I worked my way back to fourth place. I was right behind Jeff Neilson in third (who has been flying lately... Cape Epic definitely paid off in fitness gains). Every lap I would get within 5 to 10 seconds of him on the singletrack and every lap I was just short of being able to get in his draft for the flats so he would pull away. The last lap he put the hammer down and gouged about a minute out of me. Nice work Jeff! I'm stoked that you got your first Elite podium!
The results for Elite men were from 1st to 5th: Tim Heemskerk, Corey Wallace, Jeff Neilson, Jon Nutbrown and Andre Sutton.
Congrats to everyone who competed. See ya next race.
No comments:
Post a Comment