It was nice knowing that I would get to race the Velocity Stage Race, the first major race of the Alberta road season, before I headed out to Ottawa. As I write this I have clothes and stuff all over my room getting ready to be put in my bag for tomorrow.
I finally finished putting my TT bike together Friday morning and rode it work and back to make sure everything was working, but man was my back going to be sore!
The Saturday morning time trial was set with little wind and sunny, somewhat warm skies. It was going to be good. No Bruce, no Jamie, not sure who was actually going to take it. I guess it wasn’t a surprise that Chris won with a 21″ buffer. I managed to ride my way into 4th.
I came home, too amped to have a nap, but I had lots of time before I had to leave for the crit. Then in the hour before it was time to go I started getting really tired… oops.
The crit was relatively uneventful. I think there was one crash and a couple close calls; Nick J clipped a pedal in the last corner with a few laps to go and almost ate a lot of pavement. No major breaks, a couple good attacks, but nothing stuck. I wasn’t too worried about the sprint, but Mack and Peter set me up pretty well and I finished 4th again.
Now is where the title of this post comes into play. Over the last few years I have had pretty good time trials, usually putting me somewhere in the top 5, but never at the top. I found this left me far enough up to not risk too much, but far enough down that I wasn’t going to win. So I spent Saturday night and Sunday morning trying to figure what was going to happen in the road race and how I was going to risk losing in order to win. I didn’t want to finish 4th again!
I didn’t really have it figured out going into the day, but I was feeling pretty good. Peter and Mack were both willing to sacrifice themselves to help me and cover attacks and anything else that might be necessary. Thanks guys!!
The first couple laps had hard parts with a break trying to establish itself and eventually a group of 3 got away, with Nick J, MarMac, and ERTC (I forget who it was now). Their gap was never huge, but it could have been a threat if nobody was willing to chase. From there the race was relatively uneventful with H&R Block’s strength and ERTC’s power in numbers mostly roaming the front. Only the usual northbound crosswind section was typically difficult.
On the 5th lap, the break was coming back and we were coming into the big crosswind section so I knew it was going to be tough. All the strong guys started throwing in attacks and a couple could have been been threatening, but nothing stuck. The last lap wasn’t too bad, with a few more relatively fruitless attacks, until another group of 3 rolled away. This time I had Peter up there and there was no green. It wasn’t really a GC threat and, but solid enough that I didn’t have to do anything. The crosswind section wasn’t too bad as a few H&Rs worked to slowly bring back the 3 leaders. There were a few more attacks, but I think most people were waiting.
I was watching Dan, Kris, Chris, Bunnin for any attacks, but nothing came. Just before the last corner Aaron threw in an acceleration and I jumped on it. I sat there for a second, but when I looked back and saw some space I jumped again and caught the 3, yelling at Peter to go if he had anything left. Jon jumped from that group as well, but I think I was already going pretty fast. I just kept going as hard as I possibly could, grabbing gears and standing up whenever I felt myself slow down. I kept thinking I was going to get caught and kept looking back, but I saw 1000m and then I saw the next sign and thought 200m, I can do it!!! But it was 500m… oh boy… Just keep pushing. I held it to the line!!! I was super excited, but kept pushing for every second I could get on GC and didn’t really know what to do when I crossed the line… (maybe I should win more bike races…)
I thought there might have been some time gaps, but I had no idea if they would be big enough. And I didn’t think there was time bonuses, but I got 10″ for the win. I was followed in by Jon and Bunnin, so now it was just wait and see. No gaps in the road race, so I was stuck in 4th… no complaints though about my form though!!
Turns out I also managed to get myself a 5″ penalty for a yellow line violation, along with 4 others… REALLY?!?!? I mean, yeah, I crossed the “yellow line” (there is not actually a yellow line on any parts of the course, making it a judgement call). I don’t like to not follow the rules, but ultimately you still have to race your bike. You can’t possibly perform while riding on the right side of the road, by yourself, in the wind, while everyone else is on the left side of the road. I talked to Andy about it after the race and he told me that any time I want to start commissairing they would be happy to have me. Fair enough. I’m not complaining to anybody or the rules or anything, I’m just disappointed. Maybe even just disappointed in myself.
I understand that the rule is there for a reason, not just to annoy the racers, it is a matter of being able to race on these, or any other, roads again next year. So I like to think that I try to ride within the rules, staying on the right side, as much as possible while still racing my bike. In that sense, I am disappointed; whether it be in myself or in the rule enforcement and delivery of the consequences. All that being said, it didn’t change the GC, so it doesn’t really matter.
In my opinion, you need to enforce the rules and the consequences right from the start. As soon as you lose control of the players, you can’t bring them back in line. I remember that from playing and refereeing volleyball and refereeing soccer. So if the first violation results in an immediate disqualification, everyone says, “Oh crap, they’re serious, we better really follow the rules.” Everyone wins! Well except for everybody that didn’t…
And then there’s the prize money… but this post is already too long and that’s enough ranting…
A HUGE thanks goes out to all the volunteers, organizers, and commissaires!!! Thank you!!! I know you all take all the flack and no glory and without you we wouldn’t be able to do what we love!!! So thank you!!!
And thank you Alberta! What a sendoff!!
::SAdamson
