After last weekend I had to take it easy for few days as I was pretty destroyed. 2 days of chasing a group of fast guys into a head wind proved to be hard on the legs. But Maybe it was good training because when I got back on the bike I felt really good. So as long as I could keep that good feeling I was confident that I would have a good race at provincials.
Lets skip ahead to race day. Turns out the good feeling stayed with me and I woke up dying to get on my bike. hmm... pretty uneventful up until the race. Just rode the course a bit and chatted with all the good cross folk while watching the 11:30 race.
Got lined up next to Andrew so that I could get in his head a little bit before that race. Don't think it worked though because he went off the start and took the lead right away. I had a good start and was able to get right on his wheel with no trouble from anyone else. Through the first set of corners I was content to just sit on Andrew and let him set the pace. There were a few passing attempts by Mr. Hughs but I had to shut them down as I did not want any separation between me and Andrew. Sorry Zack. Once we hit the hill section of the course Andrew and I had some separation. Then he took a fast sweeping corner wide and I ripped it on the inside and past him. May have been some smack talk going on. But When we got to the top of the course I blew a corner and he was quick with a come back.
After the first lap we had a good sized gap. That would mark my most successful attempt at staying with Andrew to date. And I was still feeling good. Going into the second lap Andrew upped it. I reacted and stayed on him. I had a feeling he was hurting more then he was showing so I stuck with it. Coming back into the hill section again. Put it in the a small ring and SNAP goes the derailleur hanger. Got off my bike, sat down and pouted like a 5 year old for a bit. After watching the rest of the field go by I shook my head and said what are you doing you fool! Picked my bike up and ran it into the pits. Got on the old ridly and tried to restart my race. Legs felt weird after the run and the bike felt really awkward. Took me a few laps to get used to the added weight and different position.
With 3 to go I got a bit of a second wind and picked it up a bit. I really started picking guys off after that. It wasn't long before I had moved into 4th in the u23 and could see 3rd at some of the cross over sections. By the beginning of the last lap he was just up ahead. Once I caught him he put in a good effort to stay with me. So I punched it to try and break his spirit a bit. Before the finish I managed to catch and pass Peter Morse which would have put me 7th Elite.
So not what I had in mind but definitely not disappointed. It gave me the chance to work on some mental toughness and made me push harder. After looking at the lap time I noticed that my last 3 laps were faster then every ones. So There are a lot of good things to take away from this race.
Today I chose not to race and just do a good endurance ride which I need to get started with. It's gonna be a cold one I think.
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