As the third year of the Steaming Nostril, this race has quickly become one of the iconic races of the spring season. With the typically windier, cooler March weather, and questionable trail/road conditions this race is always a challenge...and worthy of a story or two. So....here is my version...
At 5am...the weather actually didn't look so bad for race start at 11...
The day started up with the typical carpool...CptSydor and VVagabond pulling up to drive after dropping off their puppies at the dogsitter...and started pulling out their gear from their truck...
Me: "Ummm...aren't you guys driving??"
CptSydor: "I thought you were driving..."
Me: "Okay..."
Apparently, maybe it's not a good idea to drink whiskey while planning these things the night before?? Nah...drinking whiskey is hardly ever a bad thing...unless you are driving or flying I guess. Anyways...it was all good, Lois grabbed our keys, we threw the bike rack on our truck, loaded it up, and picked up Kyle...and we were off.
After a few wrong turns (mostly my fault, cuz in case you don't follow this blog regularly I am apparently more of a warrior than a scout)...we eventually made it to the race venue...and geared up. Here is our team-for-the-day...
We head to the start and meet all the usual characters....and some new ones...like this guy...
Mr Pinoy, good to meet you!! I hope you enjoyed the race!
Even Jeremiah was here...didn't expect to see him at this race. He was racing on a mountain bike...I expected he would still beat me...
Anyways, we lined up at the start....and after the usual instructions we were off...with a 2 km neutral start. Neutral start?? This was the unneutralist of neutral starts...fast...and so many people taking chances jockeying for position...
Then we hit the gravel and the race really started...FAST!!! It was a rocket of a start!! Especially in such a tight group. I just tried to keep my group of anyone-I-know in sight. Unglued, Giant, Duke I could see...Kyle was gone...and I lost BrentSpinner, CptSydor, VVagabond, JennR, and MarkR...
I fought to keep pace...but I wasn't feeling strong...the recent calorie restriction to get my weight down was weighing on me (see what I did there?)....so I pitted in to the back of the pack to hold on.
Then poof!!! There was a mess of dust, feet, hands, and bike off on the left shoulder of the road. Someone had gone down!! As I fired past the incident I noticed it was Giant. Oh no!! I pulled over to the right shoulder to see if he was OK. He was getting up, and collecting his bike...and seemed to be all in one piece. I think it was Unglued that knocked him over....Unglued insists it was this guy...
Anyways, it was all good. And so I soldiered on....but now I had lost the group....and I was alone.
One.
By myself.
Alone. Oh yeah...I said that already...
Actually it is quite agonizing to see the group a half km ahead....slowly pulling away, as you are giving it your all to catch them. And my all, was not enough....I was feeling very sluggish.
Then I passed MarkR who was on the side of the road with a flat....but he was in good hands being very quickly tended to by the sag wagon.
MarkR is fast....and he quickly caught me...he was too fast for me to hold on to...and he wanted to catch his wife JennR...who is REALLY fast!! But he did drag me up to another group that had fallen off the lead group...and CptSydor, VVagabond, and Duke were in this group. And eventually Giant caught us...nice work Giant!!
It was so good to be in the group, and somewhat protected from the wind. The wind was fierce!
On the far-too-short stretch where it was at your back, it was awesome!!! Barely pedaling to go 45km/hr!! Otherwise, however, it was flipping demoralizing!
Whether it was from the side or head on, if you were solo out of the group it was all you could do to gun it to go a measley 19km/hr.
And the constant sound of the scream in your ears...
Yeah...something just like that...
Anyways into the wind, and up a hill our group fell apart...Giant and Duke were towards the front of the group...and as our group fractured I couldn't catch them....as I worked my way from racer to racer they slowly pulled away, and I lost sight of them.
And here I was, again, alone...
I eventually caught a fella in Strava kit...and we worked together for a while, until he decided to check his cell phone...or something stupid like that...seriously. So off he fell, and on I went.
And its in these lonely times where you suffer and force yourself to go harder, faster, to try to bridge to that next group or rider you see ahead. Some people try to force the suffering from their mind with images of the food and beer that waits at the finish, or of kittens and unicorns....
I don't think you want to know what kinds of things go through my mind....
Doh!!! Sorry, that thought got out!!
Anyways, as I suffered on alone, I had been pounding Clif Bloks and drinking the Skratch in my bottles to try to fire up some energy, and I started to feel a surge of strength coming back to me.
Several hundred meters ahead of me there was a rider in a blue and white jersey, I desperately wanted to catch him because I knew that we would soon be turning headlong into the wind before the course turned back east to the finish. And just as we turned the corner into the wind I caught him....and we actually worked well together, taking turns pulling and drafting.
And as we did so, I began to feel stronger. And with about 10km to go, I said, "Let's finish this off strong!", but he was done, and he as much as said so. So, with a strange sense of strength for this point of the race I powered away. As I dove into the farm lanes towards the end of the course, I saw a LapDogs rider ahead...was it 14Stone?? No it was Unglued!!
As I passed him I told him to hitch on...but all I could here was his scream of "NOOOoooo!!!"
Then past a couple of more racers and on to the last 2 km....which was rail trail along the river bank...still feeling strong, but this trail was a rough ride...either frozen rough ice, or frozen rough mud, or puddles of soft melted mud. My bike was actually clean until this point...
Then the stairs!! The stupid stairs!! I don't even know what to say, but stupid stairs!!
Then the last little loop to the finish....and done!!! Time of 2:37:48.
As it turned out I finished 20 seconds behind Giant, a minute behind Duke, 2 minutes behind MarkR and JennR, 2 minutes ahead of Unglued, and 4 or 5 hours behind guys like Spinner, or Kyle.
I learned my lesson. I will be properly fueled next race.
Then the food, drink, and awards.
Special congrats to VVagabond, JennR, JJMisfits; all taking big money and big medals on the podium!!!
So....another nostril in the bag. I have to say, in the three years this race has been held, it is always such a well run, pleasant, challenging event. Well done and Kudos to the folks at Cycle Waterloo/WaterlooCylclingClub ??
So then, home to wash the bike, and put it back on the rack...
With lessons learned, and more work to do!! Until next time...
Stay posted!!
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