Ontario Cup - 2 - Kelso

As bad as Dagmar was (weather and condition wise) Kelso was good. Sunny, 18 degrees and a light breeze. The trails were bone dry and totally sweet.

Day before had pasta for lunch and dinner and drank lots of water during the day. Morning of had fruit and yogurt and granola, then a little bit of coffee and half a scone.

Changed my tires to pythons from the nokias – good decision re: conditions and I discovered that the plastic covering under my rear cassette was starting to break – would have been a major issue on the trail.

Note: always perform a pre-bike check-up as soon as you arrive, go through everything again to make sure it’s running ok.

Warmed up on the trainer for about 15 mins escalated my heart to 160, then rode the rode for another 5 to 10. Got to the start with 10mins to go, had to bud into the front to get a good position. Had a good start and stayed in the top 3 into the climb, felt pretty good. By the end of the first climb I had a small lead on the pack (not much). I recovered in the forest for a bit while building momentum and then started to open it up.

Rode alone from that point until ¾ through the 2nd lap, I was going through the farmers fields when I flatted in the rear. Jumped off, rip the tire off, tube out. Blew into the spare tube with my mouth – this was tricky, then CO2’d – got about 30 psi in – little soft but ok. Was up and running in 2-3 mins.

Note: investigate Zeflal puncture proof inflate – would have saved me 2-3 mins.

While I was fixing the flat a lot of people went by, I knew that wasn’t going to be able to hold the lead. But I didn’t know who had passed me. Got back on, took a bit to get the legs gelling again, and then just pushed and tried to make up time.

Ended up being neck and neck with the 3rd placed guy on the final “wall” climb. Ian was yelling for me, this guy had someone yelling for him, we were neck and neck – very intense. I beat him by a hair to the top, but then he passed me on the top – while I was recovering. I kept on his tail though until we came up to a rise with a good rolling downhill section. I built up speed and passed him like he was standing still – floating over a bunch of roots – it was one of those incredibly exciting moments. I knew he would try and stay with me so I just kept pushing through the single track, standing up when the small rises in trail came.

After about 3 mins or so I took a look back and couldn’t see him anymore, but I still just kept pushing, thinking that there was no more climbing and this was is it. “Leave it on the field” went through my mind a couple of times. My right quad and left ham started to cramp a little so I had to ease off on the standing – still did it on the rises but only for one or two pedal strokes.

Taking the final downhill I took a corner a little too tight and caught my bar end, flew maybe 5 or 6 feet with the bike and landed on my side. It was soft though, so I was ok just a little rattled. It’s always tough to crash and get right back on and not crash again – have to forget about the fall and get back to the flow.

From there I just hammered on the final flats chasing a guy in another category through to a sprint finish. It was fantastic.

In the end I was 30 seconds ahead of the second place guy. Don’t know where he was, or if I passed him or what. What a close race.

Time: 1hr 32mins
Max HR – 182
Ave HR - 168

What did I learn in this race?

1. Pre-riding and planning pay off
2. A more structured warm up will continue to help – keep doing this – with the power drink
3. My pedals and cleats squeaked – oil them before the race
4. Always stay focused and ride your own race, give your best performance possible, can’t ask for anything more than that
5. Buy some of that zefal flat stuff – that would have saved me at least 3mins
   
   

   Finally, this was an amazing competitive experience. Can’t describe the feeling
   of mid race when the “flow is on”, it’s pure escapism to feel that dialed in and
   focused everything on auto-pilot and just flying. I’m getting tingles as I write
   this. I wish there was a way to experience the day again – like in VR or
   something. Photos, words and memories simply don’t come close enough to
   describe.