OCup #7 - Scott's Race Review

Well, the seventh and final race in the Ontario Cup series for this season has come and gone. This season definitely had its challenges, but I did realize many improvements in riding ability and fitness.

This season saw me with 3 top ten finishes with my best finish only 2:57 behind first place. For this last race at Woodnewton in Uxbridge I finished 10th at 4:30 behind first place. So what's the rest of the story...

We arrived Sunday morning at the venue to find overcast skies but the rain held off - at least for my race. I had a good warm-up and arrived at the start pen with about 10 minutes to post. As we began rolling up to the start line I picked my position behind the wheel of my nemesis. The gun went off (well, not really but it sounds better than 'Adam yelled GO') and we were away - I was right on the wheel of CSB down the long double track straight-away as we rounded the bend nearing the first hill we pasted a couple riders and a couple more on our ascent. We entered the first bit of single track and CSB gaped me but once exiting the single track we hit another hill and I had his wheel again. As we passed the half way point in the lap I was feeling good and so I attacked on the big double track hill and didn't look back. I never saw CSB during the race again. During my last lap I kept the pace as high as I could sustain and caught the rider in front of me. We played cat and mouse for the last few kilometres but I wasn't able to break away and he was able to dropped me just before the last single track leading up to the finish. I put a big push on to the finish line to come in 10th at just 40 seconds behind 9th place.

Looking back, it was a good race season - but plans for the upcoming off season are in the works to include a little more serious training. At this point, I'm looking forward to Crank the Shield and then some relaxed fall MTB and road riding to enjoy the fall colours. Thanks for spending your 30 seconds with Scott!

They were Good Times, They were Flat Times

Sorry for the late race report, I totally forgot to type one up till now. This is for Ocup 5 at Buckwallow.

I'll skip all the Saturday activities prior to the race on Sunday, as it was the usual - visit a brewery, preride course, drink a few beers, go out for dinner, have some more beers, go to bed.

Sunday morning we arrived in time for Amy to get warmed up before her 9:30 race. I watched her start, and come through for her second lap. Isabel came to see the start of the race; she is a OPP officer working in the area, so Chico made sure everyone know there was OPP on site, so watch your speed out there.

After Amy started her 2nd lap, I headed back to the truck to get ready and go warm up. There is a nice long road beside the race course, so Deny and road out and back on that for about 1/2hr to warm up the legs. It was pretty hot out, and one of the things I like to do to cool off abit is to stick ice cubes in my helmet vents. So after the warmup, I headed back to the truck to get some ice cubes, and I downed a 5hr Energy drink for good measure.

Beer Goes in my OCup

OCup#4 was in Midland, at Mountainview Ski Hill. I have family that live in Midland, so it was nice to stay and visit with them while being so close to the course.

Saturday on the way down from North Bay, we stopped in at Highlander Brew Co. to stock up on some fine IPA, and we also stopped in to Muskoka Cottage Brewery for a brew house tour and stock up on some of their fine products as well. After we got to Midland, we headed over to the race to check in and preride the course. We opted to ride the singletrack climb instead of the opening climb 'cause we were all familiar with it from previous races there. The track was in great condition, in our opinion, but we suspected that was going to change. We had a potluck bbq dinner at my Grandpas, and enjoyed many of the fine brews we purchased that day.

Sunday morning, it was pouring rain. A cold, constant rain.

Scott raced at 8:30, and Amy at 9:30. Deny, Julie and I headed over to the course, boots on, umbrellas in hand, to cheer Scott and Amy on. The course was deteriorating due to the rain, and I wondered if they would be cutting any sections out - turns out the cut the rock garden out for Amy's 9:30 race time.

After Amy started, we had to get back to base camp at my Grandpa's and get ready for our 11:30 race. I suited up, got some coffee in me and headed back to the race. The rain had stopped and the sun was out - the course should be drying out  I hoped. We saw Amy after her race - she did not look happy and I suspect she had a awful race - she won't talk about it. I don’t blame her, the conditions were bad and its hard to have a good race when you can barely keep traction.

I warmed up by spinning the legs up around the feed zone hill, off the course. About 5 min before start time, I headed over to start line and found my category's pen. I chatted with a couple guys as we waited for our turn to go. For the start, we had to race up the ski hill on some double track. I wanted to try to stay close to the leaders going up the hill, so that I had a chance at a good position before we hit the singletrack. Hills are not necessarily my friend, and I know my limits, so after the start I tried to hold my position, without causing any crashes and tried to ride within my limits without going into the red zone too much. I got boxed in abit going up the hill so it was hard to get to the line that I wanted up the hill but I didn't panic, and just rode till I no longer had traction in the slick muck. I hopped off the bike ran up the rest of the hill and got back on the bike at the top. I think almost everyone had to run up the hill at one point cause they lost traction.

Two guys slipped by me before the singletrack; I just wasn't able to fight them off after that hill. The organizer cut out a significant part of this first bit of singletrack due to the muddy conditions, and I was thankful for that, cause it was a tough piece that goes almost half way down and back up the hill in a short area.

We hit the rock garden all single file, I was mid-pack I believe. I was hoping no one would get hung up on the rocks, including myself. We all made it through fairly well, with only a small hang up near the end. Then on to the flat double track along the farmer's field, I passed one guy but I could not bridge the gap to the next guy before the next bit of singletrack.

We soon approached the worst of the muddy trail - just before the "wall". It was sketchy to ride and I got off the bike and ran it out. There was a guy on the side of the trail cheering us on, yelling "Giver!" to anyone who attempted to ride the wall. The wall is just a short but steep bit of doubletrack, and with the slick conditions, it was tough to find traction to ride it. I opted to walk up it so I didn't get a "giver!".

The rest of the first lap went well, I was feeling good and riding well. Part way through the lap we come out by the start/finish area again, and I was able to see my uncle who was able to come out and cheer me on. Coming through the feed zone starting the 2nd lap, Scott handed me another water bottle of eLoad, and told me I was in 8th. 8th, what?! That is something I don't recall ever hearing in a Ocup. I thought ok, I am doing better than I thought I was - I better keep motoring cause there are some guys closing in on me. After the feed zone, its back up the hill, this time all up some singletrack. I had a guy in a white jersey behind me the whole time - I noted to myself how much I don't enjoy being chased, I'd rather be chasing (and passing). I could not shake him. In the singletrack Amy and Jenn were cheering me on, which helped me for sure. Once we got to the top and out in the open, white jersey guy snuck by me just before the rock garden. I tried to catch him on the double track, but he just slowly pulled away - I ended up passing another guy though, so that evens’ it out right? haha! I finish the 2nd lap with no real change and started the 3rd lap up the hill. This time Jenn and Amy surprised me as they were in the bush in the rock garden taking pictures. On the third lap, the trail was drying out and I was able to ride most of the track before the wall this time, though I still didn't attempt to ride the wall, so again, no "Giver!" for me. I really started putting some effort into finishing, I was feeling good and mentally strong - something I need to work on still though. Near the end of the last lap I saw a guy in my category just ahead, so I really tried to catch up to him so that I could try to out sprint him to the line. Coming out of the woods and out into the finishing area I started my sprint on the last corner, but I started too late and I didn't beat him - he was about a bike length ahead of me at the line. Oh well, it was fun, I enjoy a sprint finish. When I look at the results they have me down as finishing 7 whole seconds after him, I have no idea why that is, but I ended up being 12th so it really doesn’t matter, but it’s still puzzling how the timing system can mess it up by that much time.

I ended up 12th out of 23, finishing 6 minutes behind the leader. I looked at my past results and this was my best Ocup race in the last 3 years, based on finishing time - most of the time I am at least 10 minutes behind the leader. Scott figures that when he told me I was 8th starting the 2nd lap that there were a few guys with one day OCup plates and he didn't know to count them. Either way, it was certainly motivating to hear that I was in 8th spot at the time!

On the way home we stopped in Bracebridge to check out the Griffin Gastropub. Ok that was awesome. We're definitely stopping there again. If you like beer, and pub food, do yourself a favour and go out of your way to visit this place. I was able to have a few pints of, what I consider to be my favourite stout, Mill Street Cobblestone Stout. I can't get it in North Bay, dammit.

So again this was a fun weekend of visiting with friends and family and racing. I had my best Ocup race, probably ever, so I am not gonna mess with the formula - good beer the night before the race, and good beer to recover after the race.

Next race is the 24hr of Summer Solstice. Burnt Helmets have a 7 man team going this year, just for fun. I am looking forward to it.

Wood chips were flying

Here is my race report from OCup#3 at Hardwood Hills.

We arrived at Hardwood Hills about 7:45am, in time for Scott to get ready and warmed up for this 8:30am race. This race our start time was 9:30am instead of the usual 11:30am. I wanted to get a really good warm up this time. I got geared up and started warming up on the gravel road beside the race course about 45 min before the race start.

There were over 60 guys in our start pen this time, as they started my and Deny’s master sport categories together. We were the second wave to go at 9:34am. If you’ve never been to Hardwood Hills, the start of the course is all on wood chips. The weather has been pretty dry and hot for awhile, so the result of sending 60 guys racing down the course at top speed creates quite the dust cloud – I’ve been in some dusty races, but I’ve never seen that much dust before at the start – it was like a fog, I could barely see the riders up front for awhile. Someone crashed right in the middle of the pack; thankfully I avoided the pileup and continued on. I didn’t want to be at the back of the pack before we hit the singletrack, so I pushed to keep up. I guess I was doing ok, cause when we got into the singletrack, I saw Deny only about 4-5 riders in front of me (usually he’s gone out of my view by now!).

A rider in front got hung up on a rooty corner and took a few of us out – we were all pretty close, so this hold up ended up letting a bunch of guys get by and that’s the last I saw of Deny. That sucks, but that is racing so you deal with it and move on. It’s why it’s so important to get the hole shot on the start lap.

The rest of the first lap went pretty well for me, I started reeling in guys from my category and I was feeling great - I am not saying it was easy, but I wasn’t dying out there so I think my warm-up certainly helped this time. I struggled on the larger climbs, but I paced myself and got back into a groove on the singletrack. On the double track sections I made the extra effort to pass guys – in the past I would usually take time to recover and drink on the doubletrack, but not this time and I think it worked well for me.

2nd lap started up those dam wood chips again. Scott was in the feed zone handing out our bottles to us – he was easy to pick out in the line-up of feeders with his fancy white shoes. This lap went well, I could tell I was tiring, but everyone was I think and I just kept motoring along. Jenn was out filming and I saw her as I was flying down the ‘coffee run’ – I let out a ‘woop’ to let her know I was having fun. I was starting to catch up to some of the women who started behind me. They only had to do 2 laps, and I was obviously not thinking straight when I said to one of the ladies ‘you’re almost done!’ and she looked at me and said ‘I still have one more lap to do DUDE!’ – I obviously can’t count during a race, she was still on her first lap. I had a good laugh at myself, but I was just trying to encourage her as she looked to be struggling.

3rd lap started up those damn wood chips again, grabbed my last bottle from Scott. I was riding up the trail, and this guy up front was just slowly pulling away, and I thought if I could just push a little harder I’d catch him – I clicked down one more gear and it was enough to catch up at the top of the next climb. The guy had a cool number plate – he got the number ‘888’, which I hadn’t seen before, I had no idea what category he was in at the time, cause I was in the 300’s.

I passed a few more guys, putting the effort in on the double track to be in front when we hit the single track sections again. There was one guy whom I could not quite pass, he was not in my category, but I still wanted to pass him. I instead just tried to stay close to him and then I would try to pass him on the final stretch to the finish line. I hugged his wheel going down the bmx track, and as soon as I got on the wood chips, I put the bike in big ring and started to sprint around him – he wasn’t gonna give up easy though, he heard me coming and started sprinting too – we went right to the line, wood chips flying up behind us and I pipped him at the line – I beat him by 4 tenths of a second – ½ a wheel I believe.

For me it was a very satisfying and fun race. I finished 15th out of 37. I am looking forward to the next race, OCup #4 at Mountain View in Midland.

On the trail again... just can't wait to get back on the trail again.

The Burnt Helmets are off to OCup #3 this weekend at Hardwood Hills. Weather is looking good for the race - we're racing at 8:30 and 9:30am on Sunday. I am trying out some new tires this weekend - Maxxis Aspen's. I've used the Maxxis Monorails for a few years now, and I thought I'd try some new tires out.

Race report coming on Sunday (or Monday).

Here is a video from our local group ride we attended from May 20. There is a group ride ever Thursday, starting at the Nordic Ski trails parking lot. This is just from the start of the ride, video taken using a Go Pro HD camera attached to my seatpost

OCup 2 - Warm Ups are Necessary

So here is my account of this past weekend's Ontario Cup moutain bike race. This was #2 of the series, held at Albion Hills.

We usually drive down to the races on Saturday to pre-ride the course. We woke up Saturday morning to a snow storm in North Bay - on May 8th. There turned out to be a record snow fall that day of 9.2cm apparently. I checked the race website in the morning while I was packing the truck, and Chico said preriding was closed till 2pm as they were fixing up the course after the deluge of rain they have had. So we decided to not leave so early as there was no point in preriding. We've raced there many times, so the course would not be much of a surprise.

We got rolling down the highway about 11am; I had to put the truck in 4 wheel drive for the first 60 or so km down the highway for safety. The bikes on the rack where getting a good coating of snow and ice on them. We stopped at Albion Hills to register - no snow here, but we could see that it had rained alot. We registered for Sunday's race and then headed to our hotel and then to go get some dinner.

Sunday morning we awoke to some chilly temps - I think it was -2c. I was kinda happy about this cause it meant there would be no blackflies to bug Jenn. Deny and I watched Scott's race at 8:30, and Amy's race at 9:30.. shortly after Amy was done I looked at my watch - 11am! dammit, I wasnt leaving myself much time to get ready and warmed up for my 11:30 race start. I rushed to the truck to get dressed and get my bike ready. When I was done, I had about 8 minutes to warmup and get to the start line - definately not enough time for a warmup - I did a couple sprints up a hill by the truck and headed to the startline. I had enough time to get there and in the start pen, as I was in the 4th group to leave I think.

The start gun goes off and I hold my line to get to make sure I got the best line up the hill. Everyone quickly files into their 'spots' and and we formed a paceline up the hill and towards the singletrack. By the time we got to the singletrack, I was near the end of the pack, which is what I expected for my fitness level (this was only my 5th time on the bike this year really). I then set about trying to get warmed up but for the first 3/4 of the lap all I could think about was quitting. I was not having fun at all. Near the end of the 1st lap I started feeling alot better; I think I almost smiled, and decided not to quit.

2nd lap goes alot better - I am able to knock over 3 minutes off my first lap time. I start catching guys, whom I can only think were in my category. The expert ladies are catching me now and I ride with one for most of the rest of the race.

3rd lap goes even better and I knock another 30 seconds off my 2nd lap time. I am climbing the hills now in a larger gear and passing a few people. Near the end of the lap I see 3 guys just about to crest the top of one of the larger hills, as I am hitting the bottom of the climb. I stand up and use whatever power I have left to try close the gap on them as it was the best return on effort for me. My legs were not happy, but I am able to pass one guy before the next singletrack and I catch and pass the next 2 guys shortly after. I don't know if they were in my category or not, but they were my targets regardless. I soon see the 1km to go sign and I start giving all I have left and I see one more rider ahead of me. I pass him on the grass just before the finish line. Thankfully Amy was cheering me on and told me to go to the right - to the finish line, as I had my head down and was headed to the lap line - that would of been embarassing!

So its three weeks till the next race, at Hardwood Hills. I will try to get some structured training in before then, I know it can only help. I have a powertap on my road bike and  I plan on putting that to use, as its worked for me before. I will also make a point of getting a really good warm up before that race, as Hardwood can be a little tougher for me with its short punchy climbs.

OCup #1 - Had some Fun

Last year I tried racing in the Master Expert category. I was always in the bottom part of the pack. This year I switched back to Master Sport, were I am usually mid pack. I haven't been able to train this year and I just want to take a more relaxed, fun approach to racing this year. Sport category is 3 laps instead of 4, and starts earlier.

I started up 'the hill' at Mansfield, trying to hold my position in the pack. I got about 1/2 way up and realized that I was not going to be able to sustain that pace, so I slowed to a pace I knew I could maintain to the top of the hill. Lactic acid was building up in my gut. By the time I got to the single track, there was only 1 guy behind me, so I settled into my pace and started working on catching guys in the singletrack sections. After the first lap, I caught a couple guys in my group and by this time, I was caught by some of the top expert females who started behind us. I tagged on to one of the ladies who was setting a good pace for me and we started reeling in more people. Every time I got to 'Devils Drop' I had someone in front of me, so I never really got to open it up on the downhill, but I wasn't really slowed up much - as you exit the forest at the bottom of the hill, if you time it right, you can pass on the inside of the right hand turn and I got the pass I needed each time there. I leaned into the corner too much one lap and my tire folded over, but thankfully it held and didn’t burp its air out (running tubeless). At the end of the second lap I caught up to two more guys in my category, but I could not bridge the gap right away as we had to climb 'that hill' again to start our final lap. I tried to keep them in sight up the hill, but not blow up at the same time. At the top of the hill I set a goal to get past them before the first singletrack, as I knew if I could do that, I could put some distance on them before the next hill. I got by one guy, the other one was a little faster than me so I settled into a grove in the single track and tried to reel him in. At the next doubletrack section I was right behind him and got around him before the next bit of single track. I started big ringin' the sections I could to get as much distance on him as I could. One of the expert ladies was right with me and we kind of worked together I think to keep the speed up. Near the end of the last lap, I could see one of the guys from Team Speed - he isn’t in my category, but I knew he was in Deny's category that started about 2 minutes before I did. I set another goal to pass him. I wanted to get around him before Devil's Drop so I could have a clear line to the finish, but I couldn’t bridge the gap in time, so I settled in behind him to set myself up for a pass at the bottom of the hill on the right hand turn. It worked out and I sprinted to the finish where they were handing out chocolate milk to everyone.

I felt great with my race because I had fun. I know I didn't have a great finishing place, but I finished smiling and feeling strong. I don't know what was up with the results, I know they had some issues in the timing tent, but my first and second lap times are messed up - my second lap was just over 8 minutes apparently. I felt stronger as the race went on, but I can't tell if I actually was, because the lap times are messed up.

All in all, I had a good time, and I am looking forward to OCup #2 at Albion