Ocup Lucky Number 7 (Denis' Report)

Saturday (Aug 21st) pre ride was fun and fast. Thanks Chico Racing for keeping the Ocup circuit interesting and adding new courses such as Woodnewton.
But all weekend I had been crunching the numbers trying to figure out if it was at all possible to be first overall in Master Sport 30-34. Ocup 5 (flat tire) Ocup 6 (no legs) both writeoffs… disasters, and I was down to second position. Unless the 1st place rider finished behind me a few spots there was no way I could catch up. That said I was OK with 2nd overall so I set my focus to take the win for this last race.
During the warm-up I was all nerves and big time stressed out trying while trying to decide on a strategy. Do I lead out? Do I draft the leaders? Do I attack on the first lap or wait for later?

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!

Keg night before ocup 7

Gotta eat before the big day tomorrow so it might as well be the Keg.

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Where is Steady Eddy?

There has been a lot going on lately. I have continued to cycle quite a bit and will update everyone on my results from this last OCup race. I did miss OCup #5 (Buckwallow) as my Dad passed away in early July at just 67 years of age. It wasn't unexpected but perhaps sooner than we thought. Many of you know that my Dad had been experiencing health issues for sometime (dating back to July '09). It simply progressively got worse and his condition deteriorated substantially over his last 3 months or so.

Fortunately, I was able to spend quite a bit of time with my Dad in the months leading up to his passing. Thank you everyone for your support and words of kindness!

So what happened at OCup #6 - Kelso?!? Well, as typical we headed south to Milton on the Saturday morning - making a couple stops along the way (to pickup those wobbly pops Deny mentioned in his post). We arrived at the race venue around 3:30pm and proceeded to do our pre-race ride of the course. Aside from the steep climb up the Ski Hill access road, it was a fast course - and once you got to the top, well it made the climb worthwhile with all the sweet flowing single track. IMO - a much better layout than last years course even though the course changes were relatively small.

O Cup 7 2010 Provincials Soon - OCup 5,6 Race Reporrrrr

This weekend will be it for Ocup racing in 2010.  I am looking forward to the Ocup 7 Provincial Championship race... and the new Woodnewton venue. It should be fun.  I have my legs back so I am looking forward to redeeming my once mighty race footprint.  Its a battle for 2nd and 3rd overall with 1st likely not an option. If I have a good race there should be a final standing spot for me on the pode.

I haven't talked much about the last 2 Ocups likely due to my disappointment in the outcome of both.

Mountain Training at Sea Level

I decided tonight to head out and rip my legs off. I had lots of energy to burn off for some reason and I wanted to test my legs to see how I am feeling for this weekend's Ocup at Kelso. I was going to go mountain biking, even got my bike all prepped, but ...

Blackberry Cronicals - nordic group ride

Nordic/Bill/Bull trails.
First to arrive at 6:10 but its raining.
It cleared within 10 and Dave and I are good to go.
Met up with the rest of the riders about a K into the trails then head to the pipeline. We made it to bulls trails for a loop up top.

It got dark so we booked it back down.
Dave had some tire trouble with a few burps and a flat. Many Co2s and tubes and he was back on track.

Great ride. Dave change those tires soon.

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Georgian Bay Ride

I was visiting family near Midland this past weekend, and I brought my road bike to do some training on the open country roads. It was a nice ride out there - I saw quite a few cyclists out, some were out for fun, and a few were out for some training. None of them were travelling in the same direction I was, so there was no drafting to help fight the headwinds.

I needed some horsepower to fight the headwinds. All I found was this sign.

The traffic was pretty light on the roads. Most drivers passed with respect, but one old man in a white truck decided to drive as close to me as he could, even though there was no oncoming traffic. I heard him coming so I was ready for it. The one I was not ready for was this one car that buzzed by me really close, and he was obviously speeding. I though, what a idot. Then about 10 seconds later a OPP cruiser came by me with its lights on - I can only imagine that cop was after the car that just blew by me.

 Pretty nice view at one end of Concession 18

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.

Buckwallow Ocup 5 2010

Dave Jen Amy and I (Deny) arrived in Bracebridge around noon and headed to Lake of Bays Brewery for a tour and a tour four of LB beer. After a quick primal lunch we headed in the other direction toward Muskoka lakes Johnston's Cranberry Marsh. It was Amy's turn to stock up on her favourite mood modifying substance... wine; Cranberry wine. No tour just a video and a wine tasting. I liked the desert wine and Amy liked them all.



We pre rode the course around 230, just one lap. It was backwards from previous years and I quite enjoyed it though race pace won't be so enjoyable. Its going to be dry for the race... Ya!

Our next spot was Wabora for Dinner. I reserved a hibachi table way back in May just to be sure we would get it for this weekend. I had to re-reserve in early June because they lost the reservation. The hibachi table is one that the chef cooks for you on a hot right in front of you. It was a fabulous dinner.



We retired to the Sleep Inn for some TV and some blogging. Forget it competitors... I am not giving up my room number.

See you at the race tomorrow.

Fixin wheels before Buckwallow

Bike shop got the tread direction wrong so I'm just swapping direction and re-stans'ing my tires. The BH are heading down to Bracebridge Saturday AM for a pre ride.

Of course we have 2 scheduled brewery stops and 1 winery along the way.

We have a habochi table reserved at the Wabora as well. Can't wait!

See you there.

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Happy Canada Day

Happy Canada Day from the Burnt Helmets!