After about four days of continual nagging from fellow cyclists Adam Jamison and Eric Johnston I decided I'd participate in Road O-Cup #8 (Provincials). A decision I have yet to dictate a good or bad one....
111.8km was the race with 1100m ascent. Decent - if you race road regularly.
After a long first lap and taking to the front to pick up the pace I realised this was going to be very hard...
By the second lap (of five) I was feeling it in the legs. Mountain bike races are normally 1h30m at max. By the time we hit 2hours I was pretty much cooked.
With the lack of long climbs every up we hit was a sprint. I was consistently getting dropped on each climb from the third lap on. But somehow managed each time to rejoin the group. I don't know how I managed that. With multiple attacks and gearing issues with my bike (not being able to drop into the hardest gear) the last lap was miserable. I got wrecked on the second last climb of the race and dropped from the group. Tucking I was able to catch the group by the bottom. I blew past them with speed - this was my chance, if I could find my legs. With the help of some of 'The Boys' slowing the group down I managed to get a 100m gap. On the last climb I dug deep and crested with about 80m gap. On a slight down (and my gear issue) the group slowly closed the gap. I was spinning at 150rpm doing all I could. At the 1km to go sign the gap was 50m. About 150m from the finish I got caught, completely popped and finished about 10 second behind the group. Oh well....
Buckwallow O-cup tomorrow
Got to recover!
