All things considered, this past weekend was pretty much the perfect weekend - I mean what more can a guy ask for? Good health, great support, camping, and fantastic weather. Oh, and giant inflatable pretzels, they're important too. As my last blog post says, I was off the bike for 2 weeks, stuck in bed due to a disk problem in my back pinching on my sciatic nerve. Luckily I bounced back so quickly that it alarmed the physiotherapist that I was seeing, who didn't look like he believed me when I told him that I had got back on my bike. This means that in the 3 weeks leading up to the race, I rode my bike 4 or 5 times. I wasn't really going for a good result; I would just be happy to finish the race, to support my friends, and to have a good time camping!
The race was at Albion Hills Conservation Area near Bolton, Ontario - which is a sweet course that hasn't been in the Ontario Cup circuit for 3 or 4 years. Another perk of racing at Albion is that the trails area awesome, and it is attached to a campground. I camped out with the Wolfpak crew, Sarah from Two Wheel Racing, as well as Davis and Hannah from AWI racing - couldn't have asked for a better crew!
I'm the lucky guy on the left, getting my legs stretched out
If we weren't joking by the fire or eating, we had the luxury of swimming to cool off (it was so hot this weekend that I was melting, but maybe that's because I'm used to days like these.
Alex and I are sharing the most buoyant pretzel in the world (thanks Mary Lynch for the photo)
The race course for the elite race was tough! There were two outstandingly unforgiving hills (the Green Monster and the Wall of Pain), as well as a bunch more hills, and insane sun that I just couldn't get away from - but at least there were gnarly features to huck off of in front of the crowds!
On the race start I was thinking mostly of how badly I just wanted to finish such a tough race, especially after being in bed for 3 out of the last 4 weeks or so. Once the gun went off, I was't too aggressive, and filed in near the back of the pack - waiting to see how the long, hot race would unfold.
I had a couple of pretty good laps, with a big collision with a tree, and fell into "no man's land"after that. "No man's land" is that part in the race where the guys behind you aren't fast enough to catch you, but you have lost enough ground on the guys ahead. It's a tough place to be, especially when you're not feeling good and you know that these guys have trained 30+more hours than you over the last 4 weeks.
I kept confident however, and really enjoyed having a cheering section at most places in the course! The tech features were a positive as well, and though there are no photos of me, this is what doing them looked like.
Big shout out to Andrew, who trusted me with his super expensive wheels not to do exactly what Sarah does in this video. It wasn't completely misplaced trust, I landed smoothly and a little closer to the rocks - his wheels are fine.
Currently I'm on the course for the Baie St. Paul Canada Cup bike race, staying at a campground with wifi...weird right? So I'm sitting in the shade by my tent, waiting for the race to start in like 4 hours - hoping to have my legs back to how I was feeling before this back problem!
Big shout out to CLIF bar for fueling this 2 week trip, and Thule for making me able to pack so well!
This year in Canada (especially in Kingston - why did I move here?) we've had a drawn out and cold winter. I managed to get down south for some road bike races with the Queen's road cycling team (not really a focus of mine, but nice to get onto moving bikes outside), followed by an amazing race called the Uxbridge Icebreaker which was the first real mountain bike ride of the season for me!
The weather down south wasn't much better (this is Boston) -Philippe Tremblay photo
The trip to Vermont was amazing, thanks UVM for hosting me!
Second mountain bike ride of the year - Uxbridge Icebreaker - Hannah Clarke photo
There are a few reasons that I didn't cover these races on my blog - school (I've been working so much here that I ended up growing a "paper beard" that I wouldn't let myself shave until I finished a paper)
A quick selfie in my office at Queen's - what do you think of the beard?
And because I wanted to give some coverage of the exciting new team that I get to be a part of; Team Progressive powered by Superfly/Maverix Racing! Small bits of info and teasers have been coming at me all winter from Jay, our main man/team manager and it all came together for me when last week I was invited to a nutrition seminar at the Progressive Nutrition headquarters. I met half of the team there (some of them for the first time), and was greeted in the parking lot by Jay, who had some important things for me. Firstly, he had a burrito, the Jay E. (he's kind of like Jay-Z) special from Mucho Burrito (you can ask for it anywhere in the country, I like mine with a little extra spice), next he had some fresh kits (what bikers call uniforms), and finally he had some AWESOME swag fro POC.
A hood full of awesome new things (good thing for THULE to make my car an SUV right?)
The nutrition seminar was great, but at the end I had to ask "So how big is my shopping list if I want to get all of these things?", apparently everything I need except DHA and EPA fats (which I can get in fish oil) come with 1 shake per day of VegEssentials - not bad. I'm pretty excited to be working with Progressive Nutrition because for a guy like me who's always busy and doesn't exactly have tons of time for shopping and cooking, it's nice to just have a shake and worry less.
Missing tons half of the team here unfortunately
We got all set up on the Saturday of the weekend with a new tent/expo area to hang out under, and it was great to have such support at the race. Saturday a few of us Maverix guys took groups out riding on the course to build confidence on the trails, and I was really enjoying the beautiful day - I really didn't want to leave (and spent a bit too much time in the sun).
Riding with these guys was a treat, So great to see their improvements after just one lap!
On Sunday, I showed up with a perfect bike, but 5 minutes after I got there I had a flat tire, and then a brake issue. I put my bike into the stand under the tent to get to work on it and I was almost pushed out of the way by our MVP this weekend Simon, who fixed and cleaned my bike.
On the start line I was calm and ready, I had trained harder than ever this winter, and some some pretty great fit things - time to reap the benefits. The race start was fast, but not out of control fast until we reached the first steep climb of the lap, and that was when it started to really hurt. I told myself that I would settle in, and that I could do these efforts, so I pushed it hard to keep my position in the pack. I was gasping for air and definitely not going as fast as I thought I should - but I pushed, thinking that the efforts would feel more reasonable once I had raced a bit longer.
I really couldn't manage a smile - not feeling good at all (Thanks Elissa for the photo)
By the second lap I had been passed by more and more riders, and I knew that I wasn't feeling good. My back seized up, and I really contemplated dropping out of the race. What was the point of all the work that I had done if I was even slower than last year? I started to think about all of my goals for the year and how they were all so unlikely now, and really got down on myself. I knew that I was racing for dead last, and it was painful that that became obvious to me in the second lap of a five lap race, but I stuck it out. I thought that maybe all that I needed was to train at the super high heart rates that a mountain bike race brings on, so at least I would be "racing into fitness" (using races to get performance gains). Besides, I'd rather finish DFL (Dead eFfing Last) than have a DNF (Did Not Finish) beside my name, at least I'd finish with my integrity.
Even my hoverbike didn't help me that day (Thanks Elissa for the photo)
Maybe a smile would have made me ride faster? Probably.
I tried not to show how unhappy I was and be a good sport, but all of the pictures of me in that race I have this same dumb unimpressed look, sorry guys.
This is what grouchy Chris sprinting on to a lonely sprint finish looks like:
I'm convinced that I will be racing a lot faster in the future, and that this is an isolated incident (I was in bed for the day 3 days later with the flu). Thanks Mom too for coming to watch me race and hand out water bottles, love you! I'm planning to be back on top of my game for the 8 hour race on Saturday at Mansfield. It's my birthday and 8 hour races are almost like bike festivals for the day, so I invite anyone to come out and race a few laps! Mostly it's a great social event to get out, try a race course, and meet lots of people.
PS throw my new team some "likes" on Facebook and Instagram, we've got some great media and love to see the support!
The past week and a half I've been travelling around with my lovely girlfriend and our bikes, with the goal of finishing inside the top 20 at Nationals. First we set off for Sudbury, which is close to 8 hours drive from where we live in Kingston. The visit to Sudbury was great, I got to hang with some of my all time best buds and the trails were phenomenal, my racing however left something to be desired. I was super strong in flat and uphill sections, but for some reason, I couldn't find my mojo in the rest of the course. Friends said that I looked strong technically through the descents and spectator sections, but I just wasn't going fast enough. To me, the bad race didn't really matter - I was having problems gripping my bars without my gloves, I had to get off and fix my bike once, and most of all, I felt strong again. Any uphill or flat section where I could lay down some good effort I accelerated away from riders nearby, this means that I was in good shape for Nationals 6 days later.
I got down south and practiced the nationals course until I had it pretty well dialed in. I would be racing the elite, 6 lap race at Hardwood Ski and Bike on what will be the Pan American course for the upcoming competitions in 2015. The course had a lot of really cool and intimidating features, and plenty of places to hurt yourself...
This may seem over the top, but it's great!
Unfortunately, Thursday night just before Tori was participating in the Eliminator race, I took a bit of a spill. I came at a feature called "Endo Rock" at a way higher speed than I should have and got off balance mid air. I crashed down about 20 feet after I took off, smashing my chest on my handlebars, and skidding my head along the ground until I hit a log. This left me gasping for air for what seemed like an eternity, and my helmet was cracked in 14 places. I managed to get back on my bike and ride it down the jump track somehow, to make sure that I wouldn't miss Tori's race. When I got there everybody could see that something was wrong; I had blood down the side of my face, my eye was swollen almost shut, I couldn't stand up straight, and breathing pained me a lot. I had the medics on my case right away, checking to see if I had broken my neck, and trying to get me somewhere more stable. I had to watch Tori's race, however so I was a bit of a pain for these guys. I agreed to get out of my spandex, sit down and ice my ribs, but I was not leaving the action until all of my friends had finished racing.
After the racing had finished, my girlfriend and her mother took me in to the big hospital in Barrie (about 20 minutes away), and this was an ordeal. They rushed me straight to the trauma unit, and took 3 vials of blood, got a urine sample, and hooked me up to IV. This was all even more complicated that it should have been because I was quite dehydrated, and the nurses had to work hard to get the needles and tubes into my small blood veins. But I was not allowed food or drink, so that's just that. I was like a child in the hospital, arguing a bit over the IV especially (I don't like morphine), but I've learned that nurses, no matter what, get things their way. This massive intrusion was because they were pretty sure that by the sounds of things I could have damaged my liver or other organs in the area.
All smiles all of the time
The doctor finally got me X-rayed and decided that my organs were fine. Upon looking at the X-rays he showed me what looked like a cracked rib, and explained that the x-rays that he used weren't the highest quality, so we can't really tell what's broken or not but he figured that I'd cracked a couple of ribs and done lots of damage to my cartilage and musculature in the area too. Turns out that they don't really treat cracked ribs anyway, so I just had to wait for a nurse to take my IV out and I would be on my way. The nurse was a no nonsense kind of girl, and when I made mention of the size of my IV tube, she admitted that they put the biggest one in me and pulled it out quickly.
I got talked out of competing in the Nationals race by some good friends, but was pretty bummed to miss my chance, and to come so far and train so much without racing, but at least I could still support my friends while they raced! I'm just really bummed that it shoes a big DNF for "Did Not Finish" beside my name on the results, I hate those..
The next day I was actually recruited to help Pedal Mag with live feed of the race to their website, and got VIP media treatment for the weekend! It was nice to have something to do, and great to be involved, this way I could cheer (though yelling hurt), and do help the magazine all at the same time!
Much has been happening this summer, life is a little
different now, during my first summer as a grad student at Queen’s (taking a
two year master’s program in Civil Engineering). Of course I’m finding the time
still to train on my bike, and this year I’m training with a power meter every
day, which helped me to train this winter and get the speed that I had found in
my legs for the first O-Cup. The downside however of being a super motivated
guy with a few good results in the bank is that I was pretty sure that I knew
everything: I knew that I was fast, I knew how to train really hard, and I knew
that I was invincible. Looking back on my training I’m not sure how I did do so
well in the first Ontario Cup of the season, but with my boosted confidence I
began to train like a madman, pushing myself to my max sometimes four days in a
row watching my power output and designing workouts to push myself. I adopted
the attitude that if I wasn’t getting to the power I needed, I simply needed to
push harder through the pain and keep training, I was on the cusp of racing at
pro speed after all, right?
Pretty soon I'll be simulating rivers in this flume!
Tremblant Canada Cup
This attitude led me to some rough racing. There was the
Tremblant Canada Cup, a mudslide of an event – and the race to end all bikes.
The weekend was fantastic; I rented 3 condos for all of my buddies and I and we
had a great long weekend. My nervousness/sore legs showed the night before the
race as I was doing an ice bath, I didn’t ride a fast lap (which I always do
the day before any race), and I wanted to go to bed early.
I wanted some company in the bathroom to keep my mind off the cold water, then this happened. Good thing I'm the best man at his weeding, right?
On race morning I
pushed myself and stayed in the race for two laps, but my fork was totally
seized (I was riding an incredibly technical and demanding course with no
suspension), making my bike hard and dangerous to race, and I didn’t see the
point in racing the whole race because I was damaging my bike, I was letting
people pass me in any technical section because it wasn’t fair to slow them
down, and one simply can’t race properly if they’re only treating 1/3 of each
lap like it’s a race. I dropped out after 2 of 4 laps, and didn’t think much of
it. I did however write in my training diary “Not on point” and that was all.
"Racing" up through the village, sometimes a facial expression speaks volumes! Thanks Joe Bailey for the photo
Check this video my buddy Kelsey put together of the Tremblant descent last year (imagine this with more mud and no suspension)
Mansfield Ontario Cup
The following weekend was the Mansfield Ontario Cup.
Historically this has been a fast course for me (it was my top result last year
– 18th place with two flat tires), and I had 4th call up
(meaning that of the racers at this O-Cup only 3 had beaten me in the first
one). I had a great day with my buddies the day before, and was very sure of
myself in my ability to handle the course at speed. I had a freshly rebuilt
fork (thanks Trek Toronto), and loved being called the 4th fastest
guy of the day (before the race). The race begins with a long hill, which I
made sure that by the top of I was 4th, and by the time we came
through for a spectator section of tough drops and turns, I was sitting in 3rd
position – ready for my time in the spotlight. I was racing one of my favorite
sets of tires, the Bontrager XR0 tires – they have minimal tread but work well
and roll fast if you know what you’re doing with them even though my friends
thought that it was a bit bold to use them on the sandy course. Anyway, after
making it though the intimidating drops and smiling for the cameras, I totally
slid out on the corner right afterwards (still in the middle of spectators),
and lost 4-5 positions just like that.
Droppin like it's hot (thanks Hannah Clarke for this one)
I got back on my bike and tried to bridge the gap back to
the leaders, and just couldn’t gain any momentum. I watched my power as I was
pushing hard, and even my best efforts up the big hills were about 30% below
where I should be. I was pretty disheartened the next lap, and even considered
dropping out of the race as people kept passing me who I knew I could beat. By
third lap I knew I wouldn’t drop out (rather Dead F****g Last than Did Not
Finish show up on the results), and in the 4th lap I began to have
fun again, and found my pace for the day. Ironically a spectator can tell my
mood during a race by how done up my jersey zipper is. I rode into a 16th
place finish, a far cry from my 4th place expectations, but still a
very good result.
Undone jersey, unimpressed look on my face (Scotty Toucanlife photo)
After I pulled myself together and deciding that I'd better look presentable (Scotty Toucanlife photo)
There was this beautiful surprise though, and she even took
me out to dinner with her race winnings!
That's my girl in 2nd place!
Sir Sam's Ontario Cup and Eliminator
Fast forward a few weeks, I’ve had bloodwork done, I’ve been
on my own in Kingston (Tori had been at conferences in Halfiax and Portland,
Oregon), I’ve been not training much (but also not sleeping much without Tori),
and was hopefully fresh ready to race again. I had even practiced the course,
on a special weekend training camp with the Mansfield Ontario Cup champion
Kelsey Krushel, shredding the course and camping and swimming.
It was a great
course at Sir Sam’s in Haliburton, and though I knew I wouldn’t be close to
riding my fastest yet, I was ready for a weekend of fun, camping and swimming,
and maybe some racing, including the eliminator.
Good times on the beach with the crew, next OCA calendar cover photo for sure!
Eliminator racing is a short course and it’s a knockout
style of race: 4 go into each heat, and two move on until there is one final
heat and one final champion. There’s a qualifying round where everyone rides
the course (about 2 minutes long) and then we are assigned our heats
accordingly. I was somehow ranked 5th after the qualifier (which
surprised me because I didn’t go quite as fast as I could), and was in a great
heat with my nemesis for the year Scott L., good buddy from Guelph Will C. and
the up-and-coming Theo (who is about 10 years old and half my size).
Qualifier over the rocks Jim Cassel photo
The
eliminator course started in a small straight section then turned 3 times into
a pump-track with rocks, then led us out and back in some fast open trail.
Unfortunately for me, I didn’t quite get my shoe clipped into my pedal quick
enough, and Theo got the holeshot on me! I could have bowled him over to get
into the race with the other guys, but really, I’m not about to ruin some kid’s
first ever race with some big fast guys. I bided my time and waited until it
was safe (by which point the other guys had close to a 100m lead on me (in a
900m course), and called a pass to Theo once the course straightened out. I
shot off with an acceleration that even surprised me, and actually caught the
other guys pretty quickly. The problem is that I used my “race winning effort”
at the start of the race, where Scott and Will both had some gas left in the
tank, and handily beat me when it came to the point that mattered; the finish.
I had a great time regardless watching the heats go by and I gave Theo a high
five, told him good job, and even stuck around to watch his race and podium the
next day. Is there any point in being good at a sport if you can’t be a good
sport? I don’t really think so.
Bringing up the caboose in the eliminator Jim Cassel photo
The race started with a bit of a mess, and I was not in good
position to climb the hill (well all look like ants climbing up it). The hill
is about a 5 minute ordeal of zig-zagging up, which was a good opportunity for
me to do some hard work and make my way up toward the front of the pack. I had
a great first lap jamming with long-time friend Alex Lefebvre (you really
impressed me on the downhill buddy!), and bridged away from him up to the next
group on lap 2. Lap 3 I spent my time riding with Robin W. and it took me most
of the hill on lap 4 to pull far enough
away from him, but then I rode most of the lap on my own. By midway through lap
4 I was beginning to feel the heat, and I was completely aware that I had not
had enough to drink (shivers mid-race is usually a great indicator of
dehydration/heat exhaustion), but I had no idea what was how bad this was going
to get. By the end of the climb on my 5th lap I figured that I had a
good distance on the next guy back, and as long as I rode clean and safe and
didn’t fall I’d have 16th position in the race secured for another
week.
It can be a lonely ride up sometimes! (Hannah Clarke photo)
On the technical descent however, I realized what dehydration on such a
technical course could mean. The backs of my arms were seizing somehow, along
with my quads. Ever get a footcramp? Picture that in your triceps and quads in
the middle of a technical race – I’ve had more fun on a bike that’s for sure!
At the end of the downhill I was shocked to see that Mike
H., the Norco XC/Downhill rider had ridden like a bat out of hell to catch me,
and that I wasn’t so guaranteed that nice 16th position after all. I
had two notable sections to keep him away; a few minutes of technical twisting
uphill section, and then the long downhill into the finish area. I picked up my
pace as fast as I could through the uphill, and kept him at bay, but once we
had gone down a bit of downhill, he was right on my tail again. I shut the door
on him a bunch of times, being as wide as I could in the trail so he couldn’t get
by, and right before the last technical downhill by the finish I yelled
“NOTHING STUPID, OKAY? WE’LL SPRINT THIS OUT.”
Signifying that passing me on the downhill would get us both
hurt and that we had enough flat space down at the bottom to sprint to the
finish though the crowds.
No shennanigans on this hill, thanks Hannah Clarke for making my legs look so great in this photo!
Just as I was about to lay down all my force on my
pedals to sprint the finish, my chain popped off. It was as simple as that, no
sprint for me. I yelled “awwwwwww!” Mike yelled “awwww!” clearly he was looking
forward to the sprint finish too, but not enough to wait for me.
Running her through, bike held high and proudly! Jim Cassel photo
Well it’s finally happened! It seems to be *summer* in that
the race season has started! Sure there are no leaves on the trees, it was
pretty cold and rainy the day before the race, but it was really great to see
my friends and get back onto the Ontario mountain bike scene! I can’t even
explain how happy I was to see my buds with their revamped Wolfpak racing
squad, or just to heckle back and forth with people I haven’t seen in 6 months,
tell them it looks like they got their new bikes at the ladies bike store, or
that I didn’t know Canadian Tire was sponsoring people etc. etc. The weekend
started Friday for me after finalizing my conference presentation (Oh yeah, I’m
a grad student now at Queen’s), Tori and I headed out for the race and pre
riding the course.
A bike selfie, the lightest sweetest bike at any race no doubt! I wouldn't ride anything else even if it was offered to me!
I was excited and smiling ear to ear, the way that biking
makes me when I got to the course, got the bikes out and did a slow lap,
working with tori over all of the obstacles and working on skills to boost
confidence and get all set up for the race. I had a great second lap with local
cycling legend, University of Guelph student, and world cup winner Peter
Disera, oh and the (now injured) up and coming Braedyn Kozman. It sure was
awesome to be riding quick in a group of guys in the trails, dipping and
hopping through the trails, chatting, and acting as one quick caterpillar
snaking through the forest. Saturday I was back to the course and reunited with
the Pack, the Wolfpak. I was stoked to see the boys all out with their new
kits, new bikes, and rejuvenated love for cycling. I got 4 laps in Saturday,
which may have been a few too many - but that didn’t matter because I was back
on the bike! Saturday night was the familiar feast (I only ride to eat really),
then up to bed. I was a bit nervous about how much my legs hurt just walking up
stairs and about an awful injury below the belt that I can’t discuss the
particulars of in a public forum, so I filled up an ice bath and sat in there
for 8 minutes. No more, no less!
Wet pre riding on course
This was the World Cup of Ontario Cups, and Quebec
brought their best riders too (in addition to other racers from all around
Canada). I was amazed to see that some guys who really haven’t raced at Ontario
Cup races in years (too busy travelling Europe racing, I assume), and I was
pretty amazed by the speed and smoothness of the race start too!
Canadian mountain bike celebrities at the front of the race start
(Thanks to Mr&Mrs Bailey for always posting such great race photos online)
As the gun went off the whole group (44 of us) sped forward,
trying to get into a good position before the singletrack. I was actually
surprised when the course kicked up in a steep hill and I was passing people,
making my way up the field to secure a good position into the first piece of
singletrack. I focussed on riding smooth and being powerful where it counted,
and found myself riding with a different group of people; guys who had always
been able to beat me by a fair amount of time. Coming through for lap 2 I was
more or less in the mix of the fastest non-world cup racers. It was exciting to
be playing a dominant role in the race, right up in the mix.
Focus (another taken from Mr&Mrs Bailey's album)
Lap 2 was a bit of a turning point in the race because we
began lapping other racers midway through the lap. This is because my poor
buddy Braedyn went down (needing 36 stitches) at the start of his race,
delaying the other starts. The late starts introduced a whole new type of
tactics to the race: get ahead of the other riders and use them to block
people. Unfortunately it didn’t favor me, because I would rather coach someone
through the trail so that they can ride it faster themselves than make a
dangerous and selfish pass. I continued to race my hardest and make fast passes
any time that the course opened up, and pass only when I felt that it was safe
to do so in the singletrack. I still managed to race a good race, and though a
few guys got away from me in all of the lap traffic, I’m happy to say that I
finished 21st! I managed to beat guys by more than 5 minutes who had
beaten me by more than 5 minutes at the same race last year. At first I was
disappointed by the number 21, but putting it into perspective (on a regular
Ontario Cup last year I may have even made the top 10), I’m proud! All the work
over the winter has paid off, and next race I'll be even faster, with less lapping to happen!
Anyone who followed my blog post a couple of days agoknows that I was lined up to race in a crazy Redbull event called “Race the Place”. It was a race targeted at the crazy
international non-sanctioned bike racing community – a lot of whom are ex track
racers and messengers. There were numerous guys from different places in the
world – including “The Fish”. As the day went on I kept hearing stories of this
legend called The Fish...Ex National Dutch Track Champion...Just won the
Alleycat race in Spain...Tattoos...You know, typical stuff, right?
Why do you think that they call him The Fish? (hint: look at the gears)
Pic borrowed from RedBull article spoiler alert
The event was a mixing pot of all people who like bikes and
crazy things – with a large amount of messengers. There were dudes in jeans,
cutoff jeans, baggy shorts, short shorts, flannel, all the way to guys dressed
as if they were in an international road race in full spandex and logos with
team tents. The course was opened in the morning from 7-10am for practise laps,
and there were plenty of riders there early. Everybody seemed to have their idea of what bike was best for the course, but I think that I chose properly with my Trek Madone, I took everything that me or the course could throw at it!
The course began with a small
straight section, then there were 4 more tight turns before any passing or
anything could happen. Then there was a thin pot holed section that ran along
the water into a tight 90 degree turn. The following section was a designated
no-passing zone because it was tight, had another incredibly tight 90 degree
turn that was about as wide as a sidewalk, and led into an uphill with another
180degree tight as sidewalk turn onto the bridge.
The bridge led to the abandoned theme park island and
finished in a downhill that spat us onto another skinny potholed path along the
mainland side of the island. This led into a couple of tight turns that skirted
the outside of the island that were fast, but if you made a mistake you may end
up in the lake! The final section before the amusement park and crazy features
was a dirt section right by the lake, then it was a outrageously tight turn
that sent us flying into the amusement park (there were many close calls
through this turn). In the park there were a few tight switchbacks then the
cave. The cave was like a sudden lights out, and about as long as two parked
cars, and there was a left turn in the cave. A pack of 80 riders through this
gave me nightmares. Out of the cave was another insanely tight turn then a long
sweeping S bend which sent us out to the straight flat back section back along
to the start. The end of the lap was a zigzag then some “whoops”. Watching the
time trials it became painfully obvious why there were called the whoops.
It was a good thing that there were lots of paramedics around
(David Albert-Lebrun Photo)
This guy in the track category had the right idea!
(David Albert-Lebrun Photo)
Taking a bit of air through those (David Albert-Lebrun Photo)
The whoops were taken out of the course for the actual race.
After open course practice time were the qualifying time
trials; the top 24 track riders and 56 open riders were taken for the final
race, each seated according to their ranking on the in rows of 6. I thought it
was of utmost importance to be in the top few rows to avoid dying in a crash
(too bad it didn’t work out for me!). I unfortunately had an incident before my
time trial; while not paying any attention and only riding with one hand and
turning around on the bike, I hit a big piece of electrical conduit and as on
the ground before I knew it with a scraped knee, a chunk of the skin missing
from my palm, and a potentially broke wrist. IT WAS SO EMBARASSING!
Getting all taped up (David Albert-Lebrun Photo)
After the time trials I was sitting pretty, ranked 4th
fastest of the day, within seconds of the second place rider, which granted me
a position in the front row and spotlight! The real race didn’t start until 6:30pm
but it was great to hang out on course with all of the sponsors and exhibitors
at the event. Redbull knows how to throw a gig, and with the big Oakley pavilion
and giveaways it was just an exciting time!
Watching the live feed standings as I warm up for my qualifier
(David Albert-Lebrun Photo)
When it came down to race time the crows showed up in the
thousands! The energy was pumping and I loved the call up, I thought that I
looked good and prepped, but some adorable little girl voiced concern for me
“Do your legs hurt?” She said looking at the bleeding and
scabbed legs
“Yeah, thanks! I think that I’ll be fine”
The adorable little girl nodded and smiled and walked back
to her Dad, but it was really nice to feel like someone was watching out for
me.
80 riders all lined up for one hell of a time (David Albert-Lebrun photo)
Now the race was
really about to start and people were throwing money down as primes on laps -
$200 for the first guy across the first lap, and $50 for several others. This
last detail made me nervous, I knew that the race would be crazy, technical,
and overly bunched up – but with money people tend to get pretty stupid. I know
I would.
At the start it was The Fish, trackstanding (which I guess
is ok because it’s an unsanctioned race) gave him a quick jump right from the
gun, but I managed to reel him back just as we were blasting through the
technical bits.
(David Albert-Lebrun photo)
I went into the cave second place, and absolutely screaming
fast. This feature was pretty nuts because it was a bright day and suddenly
lights out! You had to remember and do the cave by feel just hoping to make it
out the other side with the rubber side still down. Unfortunately on the first
lap I leaned too hard while cornering through the cave and I slid out and was
down. I smacked the ground hard and didn’t even have a second to skid before I
hit the cave wall, or to even get worried before Richard who was right behind me
at the time (and won the $200 on the first lap) almost hit me. I still don’t
understand how he managed to plant a foot and pop his bike up over me without
even hitting me. The other guys were amazed at how fast I got back up and out
of there (panic of being hit by other riders spurred me), and then the race was
back on!
Leading the lead group zigzagging into the cave (David Albert-Lebrun photo)
A quick damage check revealed some serious pain in bumps,
bruises, and scrapes, as well as a back brake that was making seriously odd
noise and I figured was not to be trusted. I considered abandoning the race, it
was suicide to try to race without a rear brake, right? Well there were other
guys doing it and I was way too jacked up and determined to stop. So now I
couldn’t use my shifting with my left hand (I could big ring it anyway, right?!),
and lost the brake in my right hand, but my wheels still turned and I had come
a long way to shut the show down early.
Sitting 3rd wheel in the chase group after my fall, just waiting for the moment to spring back to the leaders as we wind through the picturesque and haunting abandoned theme park (David Albert-Lebrun photo)
It took a few laps for me to catch back
up to the leaders, but when I did I went hard and didn't look back. I stayed in
the rotation with the top 3 riders in the breakaway group, always weary that if
someone did anything crazy in the technical sections of the course they could
either drop me behind the group or drop me to the ground (again).
It didn't take long until we had a group of 7 guys
established as the breakaway group and other riders started to get pulled from
the course as we were lapping them – this group was next level on anyone else
it seemed.
Lapping riders and staying focused on each corner (David Albert-Lebrun photo)
I pulled through and drove the pace hard so that nobody would have a
chance of catching us, and realized that
this race would be decided in the last lap, so for the remainder of the race
was to stay ahead of the rest of the field. The middle of the race went with
the same crazy guys doing the same crazy pace through the tight sections, over
the bridge, through the tunnel, and along the back stretch, we got into a good
groove as a group, and I never thought that I was wasting too much energy at
the front. Every time we pulled through for a new lap the crowd went wild,
people everywhere were taking pictures and yelling – I loved it.
Riders crossing the narrow bridge to the theme park island
Coming through the start finish for the final lap is where
the whole race really unfolded, I was leading through and then my buddy Jon
just rocketed by me, and on him were The Fish and the rider from the East Coast
Richard, and me? Well my legs were apparently tired and didn't have any real
snap to them! One more guy made his way by me, and I managed to catch him back
through the technical section. Here was some guy who had been sitting with the
lead group and not lead the pace or touched the wind once, I didn’t even know
that he was there and now he was ahead of me, keeping me just out of the money
in the last lap. When I caught him I yelled “short pulls, we’ll catch them back”!
And we started working together and closing in on the leaders who had broken
away with about 2 minutes to go in the race. We were getting close and I had
just done a solid pull as we went into the turns close to the finish when this
guy just sprang away from me. I sprinted my best for a hopeless 5th
place overall finish, as the crowds raged.
Congrats to the guys who definitely outplayed me, I have
much to learn about road racing and when to take a break or when to pull hard!
I may need to relax more, but finishing 5th place overall was still
total rockstar status at the race, the afterparty, and on the RedBull website! (Check photo below from their site)
