T-Bones Rare

Well after what seemes like an endlessly crappry spring a nd winter that felt like I wentto the Jan Ulrich scholl of training it was off to my first weekend of bike racing this past weekend. This weekend feature three events for myself and some of cycling buddies from Cycle Logic.First up was the Velocity Road Race. This year Velocity did not hold a stage race, which was unfortunate as Iwas lookig forward to crit, especially since the course they use usually use has been re-paved over most it. The morning of the race was beautiful, sunny, warm and not too windy for a change. Cat 5 was full and at the start line there was strong represntation from a number of team. This year from Cycle Logic there was myself  and Sky in the mix. The race got off to a good start with a good pace being set by some the guys from Speed Theory and Velocity. I was hanging back for the most part trying to get a feel for what was going on. As we hit the turn going west we we into the wind. This year I tried a new tactic of staying back a little from the front, as I’ve spent too much time getting beat up in the wind in previous years. I thought perhaps there might have been a bit of a serious attack heading north but the tempo was only increased a little a bit. I made a move to front before we headed into the final corner  and tried to see if some of the guys up front wanted to make a break for it. This time it turned inot a solo break. As there seemed to be no concerted effort to chase me down I decided to try and make a break for it I got a few hundred metres ahead of the pack and trying to make further gains when a rider from Hardcore blew by me. Unfortunately I was unable to grab onto his wheel. This rider went onto win the race 4 minutes ahead of the peleton.

Heading into the south for the second  lap I was unable to keep my break going and was caught by the pack. By then I was starting to wonder if trying for the break was a wise idea. I felt like I have burnt my book of matches entirely and would have nothing left if something interesting developed. With that in mind I decided to keep back from the front as much as possible to conserve my energy. The only other exciting thing happening in the second lap was a dog chasing the peleton for bit on the north leg of the course.

The third lap saw a bit of a pick up in the tempo of the ride as we passed out of the feed zone. The tempo was disrupted very suddenly just as we headed south when several riders went down.  I saw the riders collapse and the person in front on me but the binders on to avoid the crash. I was on the right side of the pack as this happened and had to head off the road into the ditch to avoid hitting the person in front of me. I thought I was going to go down but I managed to pop back up on the road with out any problems, surprising myself. The peleton regrouped in a couple of minutes and we continued on. Rich from Jueventus provided a couple of entertaining moments when he went off the road twice into the ditch. His bike handle skills are second to none and he got back up of the road without missing a beat both times.

As we headed onto the north leg for the last time  the tempo started to increase as riders started to jockey for position going into the last corner to line up for the final 1.5 km. A number of riders started with a hard attack as expected coming out of the turn. I managed to hang on and wasn’t sure if I’d be able to continue to do so. However as some riders started their sprint too early I was able to get into the bunch sprint as riders started burning out. A couple of deeks up the right side and I managed a 9th place finish.

Sunday I raced in both time trails hosted by Aerobic Power out at Seba Beach. The course was interesting one as the climbing was done on the way out for the most part. There was a delay in getting the riders off in the morning for the individual time trails by a 1/2 hour. need les to say there was a bit of grumbling from the riders. For myself I ended up having to restart my warm up. Having warmed up I headed out to the start line and realized I running late. Time to panic. I got to the start line and had missed my start time. The race organizers tried to fit me in a gapped but this wasn’t allowed by the race officials. As a result of my own actions I had to wait around till the all the other riders had started for a new start time.

Starting the race cold was not a good thing, but I did get road reports from fellow riders giving me an idea of what to expect. I got off to not that bad of a start. As I expected the hills and gravity slowed me down, but I managed a good effort on them. Although Bruce Copeland started behind me and 3 minutes into my race he passed me like I was standing still. Once I hit the turn around my descending muscle came out in all it’s glory. I find a fast descent hitting 60 kmh to 70 kmh is a real thrill. I pressed effort home and finished with a respectable time of 31:36, good for a 6th place finish.

I raced the afternoon team time trial with Kris, Mehgan and Petar. We entered the race just to have some fun. Considering we nevered practiced for the race we did quite well, completing the 40 km in 1:08:15. We worked well together and made sure we gave each other lots of encouragement and held our group together. We certainly followed Cycle Logics creeed of we start together and we finish together. Kris was an absolute monster leading the pulls on the hills. Which was a good thing as I was really hurting. I managed to get my 3rd or 4th wind back for the last leg of race an put in a monster pull for the entire leg. Once again my descent muscle came into good use.

Team Cycle Logic

So it was a great weekend of racing, lots of fun and some good finishes for myself. I very happy with my results and my season is off to a good start. Thanks to all my Cycle Logic friends who came to watch or participate, your support is much appriciated.