Paris Ancaster Bike Race 2008

The 2008 Paris Ancaster Bike Race may prove to be an event that gets this bike racing rookie hooked.

The annual race between towns west of Hamilton is modeled on the famous springtime Paris-Roubaix race which takes place on rough cobblestone roads in France. With cobblestones hard to find in Ontario, the race website (www.parisancaster.com) describes the Canadian version as a race “over the roughest farm lanes, trails and gravel roads we can find”.

I signed up for this annual event just two days before race day on April 20, 2008. I had heard about the race and tucked it away in the back of my mind, and thought that I’d missed the 2008 version. I was pleased to see it listed as an upcoming race on a weekend with a great weather forecast.

The race offered two options – the 60 km race from Paris (with 1,064 finishers this year), and a 35 km version from another town (with 394 finishers).  In the 60 km event, there was a first wave open to the top 250 finishers from last year plus licensed racers, and a second wave of everyone else.

Most of the more competitive racers rode cyclocross bikes. I was riding a Specialized Stumpjumper hardtail, newly tuned up after a March break in Mexico.

I had a great time at the race. Being a bit unsure of myself in a crowd of hundreds of cyclists at the start line, I opted to start near the back of the crowd. The hundreds of riders in the second wave soon strung out along a fast rail trail along the Grand River for several kilometers before veering up an embankment and onto a farm trail. From there it was a constant variety of lanes, trails, gravel roads, singletrack and well-policed and marshaled highway crossings. There were some muddy sections, highlighted by the “Powerline Mudslide” near the finish, which featured ankle-deep mud on a long downhill stretch. You can’t complain when you get to play in mud.

With no experience in this kind of race, my measurements of success were modest. I handled the bike well in the crowded sections and bottle-necks, and gained some places on some of the road sections where I could pick up the speed. It’s not a technical course but I managed to ride smoothly through some stuff that would previously have made me nervous. My finish time wasn’t anything to brag about at just over three hours and approximately two-thirds of the way down the relevant categories. Had this race not coincided with my first road ride of the season on the previous day (approximately 100 km), I would have had fresher legs and kept a better pace in the second half of the race.

I did end with a personal mark of success. The race finish was at the top of a big winding uphill. By the time I reached the climb, most riders were walking their bikes up. I remembered some of the tips from TRF members Bob Miller and Denise Rispolie at the recent Frontier Adventure Racing “Pico2Playa” adventure race training week in Mexico (highly recommended by the way), about balancing the bike while spinning steadily up steep climbs rather than blowing up by trying to climb too quickly. Recalling that advice, I pedaled strongly through the many walkers and spectators to the finish line.

This was a really well-organized event and I’ll be back next year. It’s an event which presents a great racing opportunity to experienced riders, and a good chance for racing rookies to get on a bike and race.