Brossard

We headed to Montreal for the crit "cross the bridge in Brossard. Tasha left early and I hooked up with the Despatties for a quick shopping trip at Ogilvy's before my race, well I watched the shopping.

Tash raced in the morning and her team pulled off another one. Tash wasn't 100% as she has been fighting off an illness(please don't be mono) and she rolled in the pack as the win was secure with Audrey and Karol Ann up the road.

I told young Matt D that crit racing was unlike anything he would have ever done, and I think he had a good time, but found himself a little further back than he would have liked, he'll do some time with us and we'll have him up there in a few weeks. He comes from a tri background, and he's a super strong kid, it just takes some time to get it. I told him a few stories, but I should have just showed him my bilateral hip scars from learning the ropes or the pavement the hard way...oh well.

The RWR Elite team assembled in the car park for a quick meeting before the crit and layed out the plan for the day. I think we did a fairly good job at representing. We definitely need to coordinate a few things a little better, as we arn't racing entirely as a team, but part of that is my fault. I have to say I'm used to racing as a little bit of a mercenary and I get a little excitable when I'm feeling good. I think if Marc and I would have better coordinated our efforts we had potential on a podium for sure, as opposed to both of us rolling for the top ten.

I started to crack the whip the last ten minutes but maybe hit it one time too many on the last lap and got behind one of the VW lead out guys who sat up so my chance of really mixing it up in the sprint were about 0% as he opened a 6 foot gap into one of the last corners. I decided to have a go a few times in the last couple laps cause I knew Charles D had done "the square root of nothing" all race and he would light it up in the last 300 meters. But the pace was pretty high and my 90% attack was a little futile as it just got me out of what would have been about 3rd wheel and the perfect place to dispute the sprint. It's easy to say I should have done this or that, but if I would have waited for the sprint and not won either I would have said, ah I should have hit it in the last lap. So what is the moral....win and then there is no question...ez enough right...sure.

So I was actually pretty happy as the pace was high (44km ish ) and the speed work has been paying off as I didn't feel under pressure until I started attacking and mixing it up. THe preperation is coming along well and I feel like like tools are there, just have to balance the patience and desire a little. ALso with Marc riding strong and Greg coming along, there is some extra fire power to work with this year, it's just to be able to capitalize an all the skill and strength.

WE stayed over at Elisa's (Natasha's teammate) place around Mont Royal, nice place has a really cool Japanese vibe to it. We did a little spin and Tash hung out at the Power Watts spin studio, training facility for the press conference/presentation of her team. I rode another bit along LAke shore and magically ended up in St Ann. If it wasn't for all the stop signs that would definitely be perfect riding. I was amazed at how nice of a ride it was through Lachine and Dorval. It looks way different on the waterfront than on the 20 a few hundred meteres over.

I even ended up having a chat with a guy on the way back, which is kind of rare for me, as most of the time when I ride, I just like to do my thing, but I tried dropping the guy a few time on Lake Shore and he kept on coming back, I mean he was blowing stop signs at 43 k an hour, but still, I was giving it some gas. Funny enough he was the National Team director for Swimming and he had a mutual friend in MR Louis Garneau.

Grabbed a little sandwich at the Atwater Market and headed back to the Wall. I had an hour before the hockey game started so I went to the driving range and proved to myself that I am no Tiger or Happy Gilmore for that matter. I'm supposed to go play golf with my ex brother in law, Ethan's dad and he's an awesome golfer, so gotta show up ready.

My secret plan is to perfect my swing, then maybe do some mini put to practice putting, do some bench press to get the power in my swing, watch golf video's and maybe get an Arnold Palmer shirt from Sears. I'll take one of my bad weather cycling gloves and just write "ping" on it with a sharpie and I should look the part. I'll cash in all mulligans and I should be good, right.
I'm seriously, I'm part Scottish and we invented that sport, so golf should be in my blood!


D