Niagara Classic

So it’s been quite a summer of racing.  I’ve had a few more races since my last post and still have a couple that I want to blog about to remember down the road. 

Niagara Classic was one of those races.  It was threatening rain kinda the whole day.  Only 13 of lined up on the start line that day which I was surprised about.  Pretty much the cream of the crop showed up.  We settled into a moderate pace on the first lap until we hit the climb on the course.  Well the girls flew up that first climb.  I made sure that I stayed in the group not on the front not on the back but that didn’t help on that first climb.  So the time trial was on middle of the climb no less.  The fight was on now to get back to the main group and there were a couple of girls in between the main group and me.  We did some work together taking turns and rotating to get back up there and we finally made it up to the group.

At that point I had 2 options merging into the group again.  To put on my brakes and filter into the back of the group or go past the group and see how it went.  I chose the latter.  I went off the front from the back of the group rode really hard to get away.  Someone told me a while ago if you try to get away from a group go as hard as you can for a good 30s to see if you get away and look back to see if anybody or the group has come with you and if you are free don’t look back.  Thank you G it worked this time.  So I was off and running.  Up the climb by myself this time around with family and husband on the side of the road watching and wondering what the hell I was doing off the front.  At this point I just wanted to ride it like I stole it.  I think I had a full lap by myself and Sue P came like a cannon was shot off past me.  Sue P was looking back at me seeing if I could catch up to her to latch on to her to go a couple rounds on the course but I couldn’t match her speed.  So off she went and now I was between her and the main group.   On that lap going up the hill I was caught by and past by the main group and now I was out the back of the race a very similar situation for me.   

Off the front, in the pack, and then out the back of a race but the fight was still in me.  I could still see the group in front of me so I continued on fighting to get back up with them.  I went another couple of laps by myself trying everything I had to catch back up to the group.  Which I did on the last lap on the last corner going up towards the last climb of the day.  Sara B's reaction of me getting back to the group was priceless and awesome…”Shelly you’re back” yes that was a great feeling.  They then speed up a little bit and I was gone again but at this point it didn’t matter to me I just loved the factor that I got back and that I was close to end of this race.  The last climb was torture and pushed so hard my asthma didn’t like me by the end.  Oh well another Niagara Classic in the books and this time I was very happy with my 7^th placing a very well deserved placing.

Tour of Catskills

Now this is an unreal stage race 3 stages.  Stage 1 19k time trial, stage 2 105k road race including devils kitchen climb and stage 3 95k road race.   

I cannot believe how smooth the time trial course was it was unreal.  I’ve never been on a smoother course ever.  We were on 1min start gaps between riders.  Now since I have left it so long I can’t remember if I pasted riders on the way out but I know I passed riders on the way back.  At one point I was playing a back and forth game between another rider we were so close and on this course we couldn’t go outside of the white on the shoulder of the road or we could get disqualified.  The rule made sense cause of the traffic on the road.  So finally the last time I was behind this one particular ride she said not to draft her and I wasn’t trying to because I know the rules about drafting.  So the fire got lite under my butt but I guess it wasn't enough of a fire at the end of the day I was in 5^th place only 5s out of 3^rd place and couldn’t believe it.

The next day I wasn’t really looking forward to stage 2 because of the devils kitchen climb just not knowing the climb was killing me.  I almost got dropped a couple of times out of the main group at the beginning of the race but worked really hard to get back into back of the group.  I played it smart in this race I didn’t stay at the front for very long when I pulled.  I do believe the switch in my head went off at the provincial road about the amount of work I did in the race and controlling myself which was perfect timing.  So back to stage 2 and devils kitchen.  I have never ridden/raced up a hill like this in my short little racing career.  WOW. It was funny when I turned the corner and saw this hill it was like holy crap you want me to go up this how the hell am I going to do this??? Had to definitely mailbox up this hill, which means I had to criss cross on the road to cut the steepness down but atlas I had to at one point get off my bike because I just couldn’t breathe.  So once I got my breath back and was able to find a somewhat flat part of the road I got back on my bike and started going again.  At some point of the climb I was pulling so hard on the handlebars that my shoulders were slightly coming out of place and yup I was definitely using muscles climbing up this hill that I have never used before.  Once I final got over this climb I thought for sure I was going to get a decent down hill nope I was not so lucky.  More rollers and some roads that was still slight going up sheesh but I finally found the finish line on this stage and went over if.  The weather pretty much waited till the last few ks to start raining, which I was very happy about.  So that was stage 2 of 3.  Finished 8^th in the stage and slid back to 6^th place in the GC.

Sunday was another road race that started and finished at a ski lodge of course now I can’t remember the name of the place but very nice location.  Started this stage with 26 women from the 30 that we originally started with on stage 1.  I do have to say being in the top 10 of a stage race is pretty neat because each stage you’re in the top 10 you get a call up at the beginning of that stage freaking cool.  So we were off and running into the last stage.  It was feeling more like a group ride at the beginning, which was nice because I think everybody was pretty baked from stage 2 race I know I was.  The race profile kinda lied a little bit about this stage cause with looking at it it didn’t look that rolly but oh my gosh there were no really flat parts on this race.  The road was either going up or going down and it felt like every corner we turned went towards another hill.  The group was pretty much stayed together until we got into some super rollers and of course the one time that I was not close to the front of the race was when 3 girls just rode off the front of the race and were gone.  I was pissed with myself about that but what can you do I wasn’t in the right spot this time.  So as the rollers continued a long the course the group kept on getting smaller then it was just 2 other girls and me.  This change up happened after the 2nd kom and after another major steep climb on a road called airport road.  This climb was similar to the devils kitchen steepness but this time I did not get off of my bike to walk I made sure that I did the mailboxing going up the climb and got myself to the top and was able to pass a couple girls because they were walking a portion of the climb.  That was a huge boost to my confidence for climbing and being able to get up that hill.  So the other 2 girls caught up with me and continued to share pulls on the front but when we were going down the descents I was getting down them at a faster speed then the others but they would catch me on the up hills.  I was hoping I wasn’t driving them crazy with that but it’s just how it played out.   Now we were finally getting on to roads that I was recognizing so I knew the finish was coming which I was extremely happy about…On the final stretch of road into the ski place we were still sharing the load of being on the front and then once we got into the parking lot it was on…And since I have such a great sprint lol especially going up a slight hill I rolled over the finish line from the group of 3 last.  Overall I was extremely happy about my performance for this race.  It was great racing with girls that I was competitive with and that I was not out classed completely.  Final finishing was 8^th place on the last stage and 6^th in GC.

At this point I can’t wait til Green Mountain Stage Race which now is only 5 days til the first stage.

to be continued again I know...

So many races

I have been a little delinquent with my blogs lately yes I know it’s been over a month since the last posting and I have done so many races since then.  Hmmm how many races has it been eek. 

Master club time trial, Tour of Terra Cotta, Tour of Catskills, Niagara Classic and the Provincial time trial wow do I ever have to catch up.

Tour of Terra Cotta was a mass start road mixed mens and womens race and of all different levels from P1 men to M1 men to P1 women and so on. This was such a hot race all around holy crap wow.  Hot weather and hot pace.  I managed to get in with a good group people after I got dropped from the main group pretty much going up the first hill on the first lap.  We worked quite well as a group and then we gained some guys from the Midweek club and well the rotating paceline that we had going on was out the window.  Not a big deal stayed in with this group until the end of the race. Picked up more people as the race went on including my husband and Sara from the Juvederm-Specialized team.  In the end Laura from P-K, Sara and I sprint for the finish because we were all in the same age category cause this race was age based.  Managed to actually win some money at this race, which was pretty cool in the overall women’s classification.

to be continued...

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