Good Friday Cycling race

Nothing tests your resolve and commitment to improve than waking up at 6:30am on race day and checking the weather forecast: -5C and flurries.

And so it was on Friday morning as I made my way to Hamilton for the Good Friday cycling race.

Standing for a good 20 minutes in the freezing wind, waiting to pick up my race numbers, did an excellent job at lowering my core temperature to somewhere close to freezing point. It’s always good to get to that numbness point before a race as you don’t feel any pain anymore. Well at least until you start thawing.

With the numbers in hand I quickly went back to the car, changed into racing gear and waited until 25min before the race to start the warm up. I figured in that weather there is not much point in warming up much sooner.

Halfway through the warm up I decided to go back to the car and add a few more layers. With running it’s easy to overdress but with cycling you can never have enough layers.

As it turned out, adding layers was a wise choice, especially throwing on an extra pair of booties!! I actually felt very comfortable throughout the race and at no point in the race did I feel cold. Even my toes and fingers stayed warm!!!!

The race unfolded more or less as I expected. The first lap went relatively slowly as no one wanted to go out front in the frigid wind to do any pulling. I launched a couple of short attacks to test out the peleton’s response and then tried to push the pace at the front for a bit in hopes of thinning out the pack a bit. But overall we had a pack of about 50 guys together through the first lap.

The second lap was a bit more eventful as some snow started to come down (but thankfully it was not sticking to the ground) and a couple of teams started to launch some attacks. But I never felt in any danger of being dropped. I tucked in the pack, ready to attack on the last lap (the race was shortened from 4 to 3 laps due to the weather). 2 guys broke away at the front, but were eventually caught at the beginning of the 3^rd lap.

Going into the final lap the pack had thinned out a bit more down to maybe 35. I was still feeling very comfortable and expected the race would be won in a sprint finish. There was not much of a chance of a small breakaway to succeed on this day.

And then the inevitable happened!! A crash… This one had the peculiarity of occurring on a climb and at the front of the pack!! I was making every effort to stay in the top 15 throughout the race as most crashes usually occur further back in the peleton. Apparently 2 riders on the same team had locked bars. 6-8 riders went down. I actually managed to stay upright on the bike but someone’s pedal got caught in my spokes and it took us a good minute trying to pry it out. I hopped back on the bike only to realize my chain fell off. I quickly put it back on and got a nice push by one of the mechanics as I was halfway up the hill. And the chase was on. There was a group of about 15 riders out front, and then a bunch of straddlers in between. I managed to reel back 2 riders and as we tried to work together I found much to my dismay that my chain was stuck in the small ring. I was spinning at 130rpm on the flats trying to keep up. It was very frustrating as I was still feeling well within my threshold zone. We eventually caught one more rider and were closing in on two more before hitting the finish line.

All in all I was a bit disappointed but it turned out to be a decent training race. I was pretty happy with how easy it felt, especially the hills. It was a good sign that all the base training over the winter was paying off.

I also got to try out the Gu gels for the first time. I brought a few flavors with me: Vanilla, Lime and Espresso. I had already tried them out in training, but things always taste different on race day!! So it’s always a good idea to pick a training race to test out new things. I wasn’t particularly crazy about the vanilla as it tasted a bit on the bitter side (although that is my favorite with the power gels). The lime went down without problems, but the surprise was the Espresso!!! Even though I’m not much of a coffee drinker I particularly liked the flavor. I think I will make this one a staple of my pre-race food!!