Haha, oh boy. Ron Burgundy, you make me laugh…
But this past weekend really was a deep burn. The Scott Boys headed out to Baie-Saint-Paul on Friday for the GP Charlevoix. We arrived with no issues, settled into our hotel and got ready to go for a spin. We rode the TT course, which looked like it was going to be pretty good. We went to sign-on, headed back to the hotel, got cleaned up, and got some food.
All of us started the TT after noon, so we had lots of time in the morning to get ready. I’m not really used to warming up on the road, but I’m pretty happy with how it went. I got to the start with no issues. I headed off and started too hard (what else is new?!?). It was a little bit tricky to pace, but it also wasn’t very long so you really didn’t want to hold much back.
I ended up with what I thought was a decent time, if not the greatest power file I could have had. My ride slotted me into 17th with a time of 20:59. I think Adam would say that ride was on par; not spectacular, but certainly not bad. My goal then was to move into the top 15 on GC by the end of the race.
We had a few hours before the crit, so we all got our bikes in good working order and most of us went to drive the road race course. I think it was good to see what was in store for us the next day.
From there we ate some more food (of course!) and started to get ready for the crit. From what I could tell it was going to be a FAST 25 laps. I think the plan for most of us was to just stay in. I was going to try and conserve and not lose any time. Unfortunately I found myself too far back and with a strung-out field and guys opening gaps, I then found myself off the back. I chased really hard and pretty much as soon as I was just out of reach, the field seemed to bunch up. I chased as hard as I could, but it was all for nought.
A group containing Marc and Luc caught up to me and they rolled it with me sitting on the back trying to limit my losses. We ended up holding the gap for most of the rest of the race, but I still managed to lose 55 seconds. Thanks for the effort boys!
Then it was recovery, shower, FOOD! Then bed. Despite losing time, my goal was still to hang on in the road race and defend and try and move back up in the GC, after falling to 29th post-crit.
I think I may have been just a little anxious as I woke up before my alarm on Sunday, or else the adrenaline was just still flowing. But I felt rested and ready to go. We packed our pockets full of food and rolled down to the start. We were set.
The race started off relatively hard, with a break trying to establish itself. Mike was there, fighting to get into the move, but the field just didn’t want to let anything go and the one he missed was the one that went. I guess that’s life sometimes, eh?
I can’t say that changed a whole lot of my game as I was just trying to conserve energy. Luc helped me out a ton moving around the peloton. We rode near the front and only had a couple scary moments in the first hour or so of racing. I was starting to feel pretty decent, but as we rode through the feed zone just after 50km/h, it got strung out in some crosswinds and some climbing… I was not ready for that! But, with lots of effort and some good pulls from Marc and Luc I managed to close enough gaps to fight my way back into the front group. I don’t know forsure how many guys were there, but I knew that this was the race.
From there it wasn’t too ridiculously hard, through the second sprint point, through some more crosswinds. I didn’t realize that Charles had escaped off the front, which is what made for a bit of frantic chasing through the crosswinds. But he and his fellow escapees came back as we came down the descent into the town before the super-steep climb. So we noodled through the town and the climb didn’t actually spur on any massive accelerations, so I was ok.
Now that I think about it, I can’t remember what happened from there until I got popped with just over 10k to go… I think it was rolling and there were some accelerations, but nothing ridiculous, so I just kind of sat in the group, conserving as much as possible.
As we crossed over an earlier part of the course and caught up with the cyclo-sportifs, I suffered over some of the rollers and came off the back. I chased as hard as I could, but it was all in vain. I was almost back into the small caravan a couple times, but just not quite close enough… I just needed those 30 more seconds, or even 10 seconds, over the top of that one roller to hang onto the group. I think I held the gap until the finishing climb, where I just suffered as hard as i could to not lose too much time.
I think I would call that another par ride. I mean, if didn’t lose 55″ in the crit and hung onto the back of that lead group I would have made my top 15 on GC. But that is bike racing. What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger, right?
I’ll say lesson learned, if not one major point, I learned what I did right, what I did wrong, and what I can do better next time. Tomorrow is another day!
Thanks again to all my supporters for the love and care and giving me the opportunities to do this, to learn, to have fun, and just to do what I love! THANKS!!!
::SAdamson
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