Mixing it up
This race is otherwise know as the Good Friday race, but Flamborough Classic sounds cooler.
So we headed off to Natasha's parents in Belleville on the way to drop Armstrong the cat back to the Elliott Spa. Then Kevin Hazzard was nice enough to put us up for the night in Burlington.
Natasha's race was actually quite descent, but I think when it's not crazy hard, she falls asleep a little and she got boxed in during the sprint, so not quite what we were hoping for, but she has been having some problems with her calf and she has spent lots of time trying to get her cleats right and just can't get it dialed in. Well they were dialed in but then on a ride the other day they had slipped a few inches when the screws became loose. Her foot actually popped out a few times during the race, so she was a little hesitant in the sprint as well, as last time my foot came out during a sprint I spent a month getting rid of road rash. It just goes to show, that sometimes when you have a little bit of uncertainty, it really hurts your confidence and it's hard to perform at your best. So we'll be taking care of her foot issue this week and I'm sure she'll be able to unleash the sprint very soon, trust me she almost came around me the other day in training after a 100 km's.
So Kevin and I rode to the race from his house and he was burning rubber on the way there as it was a little harder than I wanted to go for 30-40 km's before a race, but whatever.
The objective of the race, for me was just to get a race in the legs, and try to use as little effort as possible, and capitalize on opportunities if they presented themselves. I was happy to see that there was actually a really great turnout for the race and it was going pretty hard up the climbs, so that was good, I was a little surprised to find myself towards the back here but used the lulls to reposition.
I did get a little impatient near the end and went off the front with a few guys with 18.5 km to go. The field was already shattered and I knew I was going to have to do do something about Randall and Roth cause no doubt at some point they were going to work me over. I attacked the other guys I was with and tried to go it alone with no else in the picture, but it may have cost me. Sure enough Randell and Roth came across with Ivey who I tried to drop on the climb, he missed a pull and opened up a gap, they took advantage of me being just a few meters too far back and I just couldn't close the gap. I knew as soon as they got the gap it was over, there was no way I could go faster then both of them to catch on, shit.
I was captured by the field and played my cards right in the sprint, following wheels and took the sprint for 3rd. I was almost DQ'd for an "irregular" sprint as during the sprint, my tire hit a rut and swung the back wheel over a little. Mainly cause I was on the rivet and seeing purple by the end. I was given a warning and all was good as Ivey saw the back wheel jump during the final meters and helped my case with the commissars. Man I think they dq'd half the field for one thing or another.
So, it was a decent result, and I'm content that the prep coming into the season is on track. I can't wait till we get Tasha's stuff straightened out, as it's nice when we're both going well. But as you know the dynamic duo have never seemed to both have great races on same days. Those are rare occasions for us and if one of us has a not okay race you know for sure the other is going have an awesome race.
We also got to see our friends Peter and Hailey and their new home in Ancaster. We played some rock band and I clearly demonstrated my vocal talents although Tash says my "singing" gave her a headache. Poor Tasha, she had to hear old nursing stories as I met Pete in NC as we both worked at the same place and his wife is also a nurse.
Shout out to Marc Boudreau, who I'm told rode a great race and also captured 3rd in the M1.
Back to Cornwall, next up Battenkill. Don't think that I will be in the mood for Rock Band after that one though.
DSJ
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