Racing in my stomping ground

This past weekend was the Ontario Marathon Championships for the cross country marathon discipline of racing. The race took place at the local trails here just north of Kingston; a two lap 79km course. Marathon races are a true game of attrition, and it was 28 degrees (before the humidity) on a technical, rocky course. I was feeling pretty confident, hoping for a top 3 result, figuring that local knowledge and good preparation would let me show my true fitness for the first time this season.

Riding the trails the day before with Taylar and Colin

I stashed my bottles in the barn for Colin to find and pass to me and hustled over to the start line. Marathons don't usually start overly fast, but I was on a mission that day, and got to the front position in the first few hundred metres. The course was farm lane for a kilometer before getting into some fast single track. Guys tried to get by me before the singletrack, but I kept the pace up and didn't let anyone by, and led my way through some really twisty trails. My good friend John Cauchi was riding my wheel in second place, and Luke H was on his wheel, with a whole stream of rides behind us. We got to a section int he trail that was a slight uphill and I put some accelerated, and now my group was less than five people at the breaking off the front of the group.

We popped out of the forest with a group of about 6, and I rode a good tempo across some very bumpy farm lanes/horse trails, and when I motioned for another rider to come forward and pull us in the wind, nobody came. I checked back and had about a 10 meter lead on second place. My options were to slow down and let those guys do some work while hiding from the wind, or just keep building my lead. I felt aggressive that day and kept moving away from them, and it was a beautiful thing to be on my Felt Edict 1 on that bumpy stuff! 

The next trail involved a quick left hand turn that nobody ever rides, and I made a mistake and got caught, so we were a big group riding through the soy field toward the first chance for a feed and the downhill jump track. Luckily Colin was on the ball, handed me his own bottle of water (no need for a repeat of the last provincial championships with the threats of disqualification). I led into the berms and jumps without looking back. 

Oldie but goldie, coming out of the pump track last year

Some kids from the Boys and Girls Club that I volunteered with doing the first set of pumps

When I finally did look back, I had hit all the jumps and berms so hard that I couldn't even see second place. See ya! I didn't plan on letting them find me either. I threw a savage first lap out, I knew where to go hard, where the hills were, and where it really wasn't worth the extra effort and to take a break. I had the proprietor Rob giving me time splits, and I liked them. I was solidly pulling away from second and third place with a minute and twenty seconds between me and second place by the time that I was going into the last trail of the first lap. I had a few goals that I thought would help me to wind; keep out of sight, use extra energy only on the hills or inclines, and ride smoothly. 

I came through the start/finish area and the crowd went wild! It was amazing, the people that knew me from Ontario Cup racing were really excited for me, the locals that ride at Kingston were screaming my name, and I was just looking for a water bottle. 

Unfortunately Colin wasn't there to hand me anything, but I'd be back through the feed zone in about half an hour, so I didn't stop and just kept going (trying not to be seen by anyone of course). I just spun my legs faster instead of pushing them harder, and kept out front with no sign of anyone else until I started lapping people. Not taking a bottle was a bit of a mistake, as I really felt dehydrated in the after the first third of the second lap, but I was being driven by something that hasn't happened all season - I was finally winning. 

This is how I looked after the race...Foreshadowing?

I stopped at every aid station after that, going crazy with how long it was taking to fill my water bottle, refusing to eat food, and hopping back on my bike. Being in first place brought me to a new level focus, it's amazing what optimism and reaching your potential can do. I even started planning my victory salute - all the big shots do it right? I was totally going to reel in the finish line like it was a big trout, and I did cross that line first. Everyone cheering me, yelling that I was a beast, and saying my name. I put my arms up and crossed that line, thinking that all of the work, injuries, frost bite, and perseverance was worth it. I won by 10 minutes, though my biggest competition didn't have the best races. 

Beer, great prize!

It was a tough haul, I make it sound like it was easy but that race, and the dedication that it's taken me to get through this season took some real grit, full of highs and lows. Highs are things like sauteing everything in butter the day before, eating things like rice cream (just ice cream on rice), having great shakes (thanks Progressive), and having an excuse to sleep 10 hours/night. Preparation and the proper support is key, I don't know where I'd be without MTB Kingston building these awesome trails, or always having Clif bar products at my disposal (I LOVE shotblocks, those kept me going through this race bigtime!). It's hard to say what makes me ride so much after nerve problems in my back, and with no good results this season, but it's a lifestyle and I really enjoy it. Motivation also comes from knowing that people are reading my blog, and when people ask me about my racing or grad school. 

Thanks guys, I'm now the Ontario Mountain Bike Provincial Champion of the World, or OMBPCW for short. I'll be racing Marathon Nationals this Sunday at Horseshoe Valley, hoping that aggressive tactics can bring me another great result, but the best kept secret in cycling is finally out - I'm actually fast!

Baie St. Paul Canada Cup, travels through the Quebec countryside

We're coming up on a week into our trip to Baie St Paul and St-Félicien for a Canada Cup and National Championships and I've been to a lot of cool places and done cool things! I'd love to be publishing some sort of hero post about how I was magically fit again, back problems didn't slow me down for long, and how I'm going to crush it at Nationals because I'm back to my regular season fitness. But things don't work out that way for me usually, so I just keep pushing through and enjoying the places that I get to be!

Baie St. Paul was a very tough course; it wasn't so technical that I was worried about any particular section, but the entire course was either uphill or downhill (nothing flat), and it was all very gnarly rooty, rocky. A super fun course that keeps you on your toes, but if you falter and lose focus - it was very hard to regain your momentum. The day was above 30 degrees and we were racing at 3:15, which is almost 2 hours later than my usual races.

The following is a video of basically the same course a few years ago, flip through it to see some of what we ride!

I honestly fell off the pace right from the start, unable to keep the pace going even in the uphill single track, I tried to push the negative thoughts out of my head, thinking that surely nobody could keep this pace in this weather on this course; unfortunately I don't think that I could either. It became a game of attrition, just trying to keep grinding at it until other riders wore down to the point that I could catch them. I was confused about where I was on course, messing up my lines through the technical sections, and even so weak that I couldn't shift my gears at points! But I finished. There was only 1 finisher behind me, but 5 guys didn't finish (that's a pretty large amount for the pro field in a Canada Cup that we all traveled a long way to get to), so I'm proud of just finishing given my health and recent setbacks!

Trying to maintain composure in this race was tough (thanks Scott Lynch for the photo)

The days following the race were spent watching other spectacular races like the Mountain Bike Criterium, which is mayhem! It's a lap that takes about 2 minutes to do, raced for 20 minutes or so with big groups. My favourite was watching the small kids ripping the course.

My buddy Dylan and I were making bets on these guys - I could totally be a bookie

We headed off to Mt. St. Anne that day, and I got some great riding alone in the forest, not worrying about race courses, or stopping for other riders, or where I was in the world. Turns out you can find some pretty neat places.

Not my usual worn out race face :)

I also love camping, which is how we got by from Thursday till Monday.

Our site at Mt. St. Anne was right by the trails (thanks Scott for the photo again)

Road tripping through the Quebec countryside has been fun, I'm bilingual so it's nice to have a chance to practice my french, and now we're in St-Félicien, Nationals is in two days, and I'm hoping to have my fitness back to how it was before my back disk/nerve issues. I'm loving the courses in Quebec, and the break from university, so good results would just be a bonus I guess!

Road tripping through Quebec and watching out for the bears that we saw

Some of the coldest water I've swam in in the summer (Scott Lynch photo)

On hot days, I don't discriminate where I get my water (Scott Lynch photo)

Spring Epic 8 hour

Before my disastrous attempt at the first Ontario Cup of the season and the following flu, I had committed to an 8 hour race the next weekend. 8 hour races are more like festivals really than races; teams of 1, 2, 4, or 6 can be entered and they are raced as relay races. Because there are so many people allowed on each team, you end up with a whole lot of people at the course, all set up with tents, coolers, bikes, and music. Sure there are serious guys and serious teams, but it really just like a festival. Team Progressive/Superfly/Maverix was set up in true style with the Progressive Nutrition girls handing out electrolyte drinks and recovery shakes.

I still didn't really have a stomach that could eat much, but I tried and had an egg and a couple bites of oatmeal, and we got on our way. I was set up to tag team the race with Jasiu Kocemba (also known as Junior), a wicked fast junior racer. We did 2 laps at a time each, alternating while doing the 200+m of climbing. Maverix Racing also had Ryan and Lindsay racing the tag team mixed category, and some guys on a 4 person team, plus Matt and Kelsey testing their legs on the course solo (8 gnarly hours in 30+ degrees!).

Start line stories

The race start was a bit chaotic, I did have a front line position, but I was basically starting in a sandbox and got crashed into by two other people before I could properly clip into my bike and get moving in a straight line. I got pretty flusetered after that and by the time that we had climbed up the first major climb, I was sitting pretty in 4th place - I knew this was pretty aggressive for a tag team rider, but my ego needed it after last weekend. Here I was cruising in the top 10 riders and hear some familiar joking coming from beind me, Kelsey and Matt had made it onto the back of my wheel - for bettter or for worse. I reminded them that their goal was to finish all 8 hours of the race on their own, but I guess we got a bit caught up in the moment. By the last quarter of my first lap I was starting to feel like throwing up and it was a long day after that. I slowed down and let Matt and Kelsey ride away from me, which is never an easy thing to do, but I benefitted in the long run from putting my ego aside and pace more moderately. I still came in from my first two laps in good standing, and Junior was a perfect partner for the race.

Smooth handoffs of the timing chip and safe storage (up my shorts) is important!

I had trouble putting back any food, but between the laps I would eat a half of a CLIF bar and some of the phytoberry and vegegreens product from Progressive nutrition. This small amount of sustenance was enough to keep me motoring as one of the fastest riders all day. Being teammates with Jasiu meant that I was treated like royalty and taken care of by his dad Simon Kocemba, who made sure I always had cold towels after my laps, that we knew when to get the timing chip, and that my bike was always in order. By the end of the day, Jasiu and I managed a collective 15 laps, lapping second place!

A gold medal on my birthday!

The Maverix 4 man team did quite well, with another solid 1st place finish, but I can't say the same for our poor boys out riding on a solo mission. Matt unfortunately had a big crash which resulted in a broken bike and staples to put his knee back together (he has made an unbelievably fast recovery since then), and Kelsey paid for those early sprints with some serious cramping. At one point in the race I passed by Kelsey on the side of the trail bent over his bike all seized up, I wanted to help him but he told me to keep riding. About 10 seconds later my leg seized up too. Real bros have sypathy cramps for eachother.

Happy team going home with lots of hardware, I missed the picture though..