Provincial Road Race

So I have this new warmup that I have been doing before most races as prescribed by Coach Dino which has been helping a lot to get me ready for racing.  It has been helping so much.

So yes provincial road race as a master A just like nationals unlike Ontario cup races where I race as a Senior 2.  We line up on the start line and start waiting.  Four different categories are starting together the master As and Bs, the junior and cadet girls.  You can tell whom the junior and cadet girls are but figuring out who the master As and Bs are is a little harder.  You’ll have to wait for the finish for me to explain that.  So the start line we are waiting for our follow car and well to let off a little nervousness I let one ripper of a belch off whowa that helped a lot and well all the girls and ladies laughed a little which was nice to see.  Oh yes I have to also say that this race started with a neutral start on a gravel piece of road because of where the start line was at the top of a roller.  So we are off I get my clip in foot in right away but others have problems because of the types of pedals they are running.

Finally on the road and rolling and under way with the race.  The course is pretty rollie as we had already come a few weeks prior to the race to look at the course and wow what a shock to the system.  It was a pretty warm morning to start already pretty humid.  Oh yes I forgot racing in the masters category gives you a pretty early start time 8:05am to be exact for this race.  Up really early to get there and get ready.  So back to the race, nothing really happened in the first lap just a few jumps that were covered right away.  Coming into the start finish line was fun it was on top of one of the more major rollers.  I had to make note of that as to where to position myself well within the group.  All of the jumps usually happened going up the rollers and nobody really got away and if they did they were covered.  I tried some jumps myself to try and get away and me & Julie the lapdog girl got away for like a bit of time but no luck.  I think I tried every kind of jump possible.  No luck but I tried and I was happy with that.  As for the whole race I think this was my first race that I actually raced a smart race.  Not on the front too much not off the back.  Moving around with in the group.

Now about the finish and the different categories racing together.  The master A and B women race numbers were not really highly different from each other like a completely different series of numbers like 400 and 500.  The only difference was second digit like 576 and 586.  So you had to be really paying attention as to where everybody was and I told you about the start finish line.  Well I knew on the last lap I had to get myself close to the front, on the front or off the front to get myself up to the finish line as close to the front as possible without everybody coming around me.   I am just not a great sprinter and then make the sprint go up hill oh boy that’s even more fun.  So in the end some of the juniors and some of the cadets went around me and well a couple of the master B ladies and of course the one master A lady that kept herself really well hidden in the group.  So good job to her and I was second step down from her.  It was a fun race and I hope the next one is just as fun as this one.

Of course the next race is Terra Cotta which mass start of both men and women.  So I slightly different style of racing and women get to work with the men which is always a plus.

Til the next time.

Shell

The weeks after masters nationals

It’s been a couple of weeks after nationals now and have only done a couple of races since then.  Road race (Ontario Masters Association Club) last weekend and time trial (Hamilton Cycling club) today both were club events.  Been ramping back up the training for the coming races in the next few weeks.  Provincial road next weekend, an OMAC time trial, Terra Cotta the following weekend and then the Tour of Catskills starting in the first week in August.  These days I’ve started doing some hill repeats on our local hill to get ready for some of these races fun times.

So a little recap on Nationals. 

The time trial was on the Thursday, the crit on the Friday and then the road race on the Sunday.  Hamilton Cycling Club is the club I race for and they asked me to do race reports and give them some pictures from all of the races for their webpage.  So here is the link to that:

http://hamiltoncycling.com/?p=2371#more-2371

A couple of days after nationals it kind of felt surreal.  It was like Christmas time when I was a kid you know that feeling like wow it’s all only a certain number of days away and then it comes goes and you have to wait til next year to do it all over again.  At least next year I will probably just do 2 of the 3 races at nationals but you never I may change my mind again lol.  I am thinking I’ll probably just do the time trial of course and the road race next year.


Til after the next race.

Shell 

10 days and counting. errr 3 days...

Had a minor little tumble last weekend.  One of those things that I guess just happen wasn’t paying enough attention I guess.  Now 10 days (correction 3 days) until the masters national races start.  Been busy at work and busy training and racing.  On that note I have not yet reported on my K-W Classic race.

I am a little over due for a race report on the K-W Classic.  I was quite surprised to see the pre-reg list for this race up at 26 ladies.  This has been the biggest field yet this year.  I should have known better to even go towards the front of that field.  There were so many fast and smart riders in the field but of course right off the bat I am up there too close to the front of the race and then off the front.  What was I thinking?  Well in the long run I was burning up matches but heck I had to try and get off the front what’s the hurt in that.  I know I could burn too many matches too soon right…I have to remember this for the next race.  We also had a tremendous wind going down the backstretch of the race course there were also little lumps that apparently were trying for me too.  So let’s just say I was off the front way too early in the race I forget which lap it was now but once I was caught and then I was spat out the back of the race.  At that point I started fighting to get back on.  I did not get back on to the main again this day and didn’t even see the back end of the main group again that day.  I did catch up to a little group of 4 that came off the back end of the main group.  It took me a good 2 or 3 laps for me to catch up to this group.  Finally I did catch up to them phew.  Stayed in with these gals for a few laps then as we were starting to go into the turn around the out and back portion of the race course which was fine in my race with 26 but not in the guys bigger groups later on that day but I digress.  We were going into the out and back turn around and I just accelerated a little bit out of the corner and I was off the front of the little group and moving away from them towards the main group.  I think it was 2 or 3 more laps going at it by myself again in no mans land.  Well I at least I have come to the conclusion I’ve got the "I don’t give up" attitude right down pat even when the guy at the finish line said I had another lap to go after I asked him on the previous lap if I was on the last lap.  Oh well such is life.

Elite nationals just finished up yesterday.  It was great to sit back and watch the races go on and cheer for all the local girls that I know and a couple of girls from Alberta.  I was even successful at giving a feed to Katy so I was extremely happy about this.  

Having house guests this past weekend has really helped keep my nerves under control about the racing this coming weekend. Frankly it also helped that they were so laid back it was like we had gone away for the weekend but stayed home and were able to sleep in our own bed.  Thank you Katy and Pepper for a great weekend.  Hopefully we’ll see you again in the fall at the big cyclocross race in Toronto.

until after masters nationals...

shell :-)

19 more days til the start of Masters Nationals

I was looking on the Ontario Cycling Association website last week and the tech guide was up for nationals..wow…Instant nerves…Interesting…I’ve now done the time trial course on three different weekends.  Twice with marshals and the other time for more practice on certain sections that I thought were going to be problem areas.  Of course I’ve had all different kinds of weather for the three times that I have been on the course.  First time it was cold and with not much warm up to do the 2 laps of the course.  Next time on the course it was a practice session and fog and drizzle was on tap for this time. Almost a 100k on the course, 2 full laps of the course, and then shorter laps to go over some problem areas.  The most recent time was the second time with marshals and police at the corners and cross streets.  This time a storm rolled in just as I was supposed to start.  I was the first rider off for the day at 9am.  They had the full set up for the race start house ramp and everything.  Was not nervous coming off of the start ramp cause I have done it before and I find it quite fun coming of a ramp to start the race instead of just a hold.  Well even before the race had started we had almost a full-blown storm happening.  Thunder, lightening and rain for all the laps.  It got dark enough for the street lights come on.  It was a wild time on the bike.  Rain so hard that I couldn’t see.  Lightening so close that I was seeing little sparks of light next to me.  Even with all of this kind of weather I had renewed faith in myself going into the corners that I really wasn’t slowing down that much going in and out of them.  I was able to get around the course for 2 laps and reduce my time again on the course, which I was extremely happy about.  Let’s hope the weather is much nicer day of the big race. Please oh please.

Next  race K-W classic.


til next time.


Shell

Nith River Road Race

Another Sunday has come and gone and another race in the race schedule is done.

This past Sunday was the Nith River Road race in Wellesley close to Waterloo.  We didn’t know the race distance until we were actually started racing it with only a maximum time showing up in the technical guide for our category of 2hrs.  The course was 16.25k long with lots of rollers and some kind of technical corners aka more than 90 degrees.  With that being said Mother Nature had to put her own touches on the race too.  Basically half hour into the race she started to pour on us with extra treats of thunder and lightening and then on the last lap the rain finally started to subside.

Now for the race here we go I thought it was going to be like the previous weekend’s race with a slowish start to the race because almost half of the women’s field was at the UCI Gatineau races from Thursday to Saturday.  Well that wasn’t the case as soon as the neutral start was done within the first couple of ks the first attacks happened…I learnt at this point I have to better place myself within the group to sit in with the front half of the race and not the back half if I want to stay somehow with those girls.  Another lesson learnt. So then I was left in a group of 3 other girls to go around the course.  Oh and then the rain started oh and the thunder.  Oh gosh how this was a fun race.  The group was one kalisto team member and 2 p-k team members and the one p-k member didn’t seem like she was having fun at all.  Both of the p-k riders had done the Gatineau races and the one was fried.  So in the end our group became 3.  The weather got heavier and we kept on going around the course right til the end and then the sun came out for us to finish under. 

One of these races I’ll figure out whose wheel is a good one to stick onto and then maybe I will finish with or actually have a chance at the end of the race.

So many things leant in this race that now all are stored up in my head for the next go around which will be the K-W Classic.

Sorry this race report is coming so long after the race but here it is.  It was a busy tting kinda week.  Many ks rode on my tt bike to get ready for nationals, which are coming up so quickly.

Shell

Bike the Bruce

What can I say but I moved back up to the senior ½ category and my first race was this past weekend in the great north.  Bike the Bruce was the race and it was done on the long course. 32 fun kilometers of fun filled time with wind coming into our face going out and cross winds that kept on trying to blow us off the road.  Wow.  With the length of time I had before the race I should have got in a better warmup but I was freaking cold.  It is May right?  Well my coach because of the length of my race told me this weekend I didn’t need to get as long a warmup so well I kinda went with that notion but I still got on the trainer.  Lining up at the start looking around thinking do I belong here again?  Sue P and Leigh H was a couple of the ladies on the starting line both former Olympians.  I was interested in how they race and work within the group. 

The race started off fairly slow considering that we were suppose to do 3 laps of the 32k course.  So the first lap was a good warm up for us all.  After the first lap finding out how strong the wind was how slow we went into the wind on the way out the race promoters shortened our race to only 2 laps.  So coming around through the finish line we were told that it was our bell lap.  The pace of the race didn’t really change much until a rolling section of the road and then the attacks started.  I was actually able to put in one attack myself, which I was kinda proud about.  Almost came out the back end of the group then but still managed to stay in.  After the attacks settled down for a little while we were going down division st going towards Wiarton and some how I got myself towards the front of the group again.  I was taking cover beside Sue P on her inside cause the wind was coming from the left side.  For once I figured out where the wind was coming from and was in the right position at least for a little bit.  Sigrid Z and Sue P were paired off at the front of the group and I was just behind them.  Sue P slide back and I somehow took her spot at the front of the group with Sigrid Z and then took over the front.  Well I should have figure out for myself that this was a bad move on my behalf.   I had spent too much time at the front of this race and at this point in the race I should have drag my butt off of the front period.  The road started to rise up a little and then a left turn onto McNaughton which also rises up and well the gas got turned on within the group and I didn’t speed up and I lost the back end of the group.  So after that point I had to buckle down and ride my hardest back and try and try some more to get back onto the group.  Well that didn’t work this time.  I could see them down the road but I could only go as fast as I could and it wasn’t fast enough.  I rode my butt off back from Wiarton to Sauble Beach.

Like I have said before every race you learn something new and every race you learn something not to do the next time. At least I didn't get dqed like at last year's race.

Shell

Prerace of Masters Nationals time trial course

This weekend was all about testing my legs out on the masters nationals time trial course.   

When I do this race in July I will only be doing one pass at the course so 21.66k not the two passes that I did this weekend.  All I have to say is wow.  Tough course.  I wasn’t sure what to expect from the course.  I know it’s nationals and they can’t just give us a simple out and back course.  I understand that.  All of the time trials that I have done to date is an out and back type except for the one time trial I did in Georgia.  The Georgia time trial had 2 turnarounds and a hard right hand corner into the finish line.  This course for nationals has 5 right turns, a left hand turn, 9k of rollers and almost right out the gate you have a roller that has a part at an 7% ave grade.  It hits you like a sack of bricks.  Or at least that is what it felt like to me.  The not knowing the course was killing me.  The second time around the course was good and knowing what was coming up was good.  Knowing the corners was insane almost not having to brake going around them was great.  Some practice is needed going through the front half of the course especially through the rollers. Oh my gosh.   

Time will tell for me, on this course for me.