The third race in the O-Cup series, Hardwood Hills was the Burnt Helmets second race this season. A bit of a slower start for BHR this season, but that was the plan.
We departed on Saturday morning (June 2nd) as per our usual routine - with some carpooling involved. The resulting drive south was uneventful as usual and upon our arrival at Hardwood Hills we headed to the Chalet to register and browse the wares at the onsite Bike shop. After some window shopping we headed back to the vehicles and prepared for the pre-ride. It would be an interesting course, as some of you might know I took a header during the pre-ride which left me shaken but unscathed. Being not just an Ontario Cup race, but a Canada Cup race - the course would be challenging... Hardwood has always been my nemesis dating back to my first ever race in September 2007 (which was also in the Master Sport category).
After the pre-ride we packed up just in time to avoid a lite drizzle of rain and headed to Midland where we would be staying at Grandpa Campbell's House (Dave's Grandfather has always been a gracious host whenever we've been racing in the area). A few of Dave's relatives joined in for what was to be another impressive BBQ feast. Seriously, we just don't take photos of the food - cause you'd simply wanna eat the photos!!
It was an early night, but thats only because some beverages were consumed earlier in the day. I must confess that racing at 10am has been a refreshing change - that extra hour of sleep has been joyful.
Arriving at the course, the weather was overcast. All four of us (Dave, Denis, Amy and Myself) would be starting at 9:30am. This is due to Hardwood being a Canada Cup series stop. This results in the Senior Elites required to ride an UCI approve course length of approx. 6km per lap (instead of the usual 8-9km) but of course they do more laps with totals between 30-36km depending on gender. Anyway, as we all started at 9:30am it was important to have support in the feedzone. Jenn and Julie were instrumental in fulfilling this requirement - with out which we racers wouldn't have succeeded as best that we did. Unfortunately, the rain only held off for so long as a light drizzle began around the start of lap #2.
Everyone persisted, and Denis achieved a top 10 finished (10th place) in the MasterSport 35-39 category with Dave, in the same category, just 4 minutes behind to finish in 13th place. It was a deep field of racers with 32 competitors of which 6 did not finish (DNF). Amy, racing in the Women's MasterSport 30-39 category, finished in 7th place. The women aren't as well represented with a field of racers totaling 9 racers of which just one did not finish. Great job Denis, Dave and Amy!
As for me, well Hardwood continues to be my evil nemesis. Prehaps I was spooked from crashing during the pre-ride or just an overall head game that Hardwood has over me. I did not make the cut-off and finished just two laps, which placed me DFL. So that's two O-Cup races down, leaving just one last O-Cup race this year in which to achieve redemption...
As always, thanks for spending your 30 seconds with Scott!
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