A rockin' good time, I had at the Paris to Ancaster bike race today.
Finished it it a respectable 2:14:13. 1st in the single Speed Cat.
I'll start of with a bit of pre-race happenings that contributed to the good time I had.
I finally registered for the race on Thursday evening. Last chance for online registering. Meaning I would have to start in the 3rd wave. Which would have been a lot harder to hit my goal of 2:15 finish time.
I figured I'd hit the wave transfer table on Saturday and wait for the 1st available spot in the 2nd wave and hope for the best in the race.
Saturday I went to register and was thinking positive about getting in. Well it went better than I had hoped for. I got to Ancaster at 1:15, registered and went to the transfer table and started the line up waiting for a spot in an earlier wave. I was 1st in line to transfer and I told the girl who was doing the transfers that "I was willing to wait all day". Then I heard a rumor that there would be no transfers up because all the spots were full. It wasn't looking good but I was still hopeful and thinking positive.
As I was waiting, I was explaining to the next people in line, whom had now started to line up as well, how the transfer process works. Then out of the blue, one of the organizer dudes walks up to the table and starts talking to the young lady. Then he says "just give the spot to the first in line". YES! A spot in the first wave. Sweet! Better than I had hoped for. And I only had to wait for 10 minutes. Pretty Cool!
Now on to the race prep. So on the way home I hit up Value Village for some material for a good get up to wear in the race. Since the Cave Man costume would be too much of a handicap for 60 km. I ended up getting a good sized piece of yellow stretchy fabric for $2. Then I went home and turned on the hockey game and busted out my room mates sewing machine. I quickly cut out a cape and fabricated some shoe covers and matching arm warmers. Lastly I cut out some lightning bolts to add some flash to the out fit. Now I was ready to fly through the race using my super Single Speed powers, and bring some enthusiasm to the event.
Everything went as planned for my warm up and I got staged pretty good in the 1st wave. Off the horn I just went with the flow and passed when I could, but mostly just took it easy and stayed out of trouble. I'd say that when we hit the first climb up the rocky hill I was in the top 150 and feeling pretty good.
Now things were getting stretched out a bit more, so I just tried to work with the other riders when we hit the road sections and I would pull away in the off road sections only to be caught again on the roads. I mostly let myself get caught, so I wouldn't have to work all by myself. I'd usually get dropped on the steeper hills, since I was pushing 42X16 for a gear ratio. And climbing was a grind.
I was feeling good for the most part and the kms were just flying by.
I think I got passed by around 50 riders all race, but I passed a few who fell off the pace.
The one highlight of my race was some Wicked air I caught over a driveway beside the highway. I hit it hard and almost cleared the whole thing. My back wheel cased it a bit, but I got around 3 feet of air. It was so fun.
The whole race I was getting cheers for my cape and the lightning bolt I put on my helmet. There was a few people who said "way to go Superman". But I quickly corrected them and said I was "Captain Lightning".
After the last feed station was a bit of climbing. I was feeling pretty good still only a little tired. Then some dude passes me at the top of the climb and asks me haw I was doing then suggests that I was cramping or dehydrated. I says No, but he sabotaged me and now I felt the first twindg of a cramp right after that. Just prior to that I had taken some power gel, a banana and the most of my water. So I had just barely staved off the cramps with 8 km to go.
Shortly after that I hear "MCGYVER" being yelled from behind. It was Jon Toews and Sara Byers-Oglvie. Fellow Short Hills Cycling teammates. I didn't really have the power to keep up with them but they never really got too far ahead. And they were only 100 meters ahead of me on the final climb. So I had the opportunity to cheer Sara on and it was a good distraction from the suffering of the steep pitch ahead.
I dismounted for the steep part but managed to not cramp and keep my speed up so my cape would flow in the wind. As evident in the picture Derek Mc took at the start of this post.
On to the finish. Well I crossed the line and noticed the clock wasn't showing a time so I looked at my cyclo computer and it said 2:14...
After a bit of a rest to catch my breath. I went over to the hill to cheer on a few riders and see some friends finish.
Later on inside, I got my food and was hanging out with the SHCC gang. Then I went to check my placing. WHAT! I wasn't on the list where I had finished. So now I had to go and get it straightened out. Mostly because I was the 1st Single Speeder across the line. After a bit of nervous explaining and confirmation from the guy who finished ahead of me. We figured out the timing sensors didn't catch our chips and everything got fixed. WHEW!
WOO HOO! I took the top spot on the podium and won a cool "race winner" Paris to Ancaster jersey. Awesome!
A thanks goes out to everyone in the Short Hills Cycling club who helped out. And a thanks to the officials and volunteers who helped make the race happen.
And so ends another mis-adventure of a single speeder.
