Road Nationals..Aaron and RWR take Elite Title!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Since my Dad tells me that my blog posts are way too long I'll get right to the point.

Tasha did the
TT on my bike, she went pretty well but had a slight mechanical at 4km to go as the shifter slipped out of the bar end as she hit a speed bu,p at 50km/hr it kind of freaked her and she tried to put it back in while coasting on the downhill but still salvaged 12th position after not pedalling for a bit. Not a bad way to spend her birthday...we had to keep

Aaron in the middle, RWR Elite National Champ!

celebrations to a minimum as the weekend was pretty busy, but we'll eat some cake soon.

Her road race started off the gun, I rode up part of the course to watch the women's field that shattered in the first 10km. It came to a bunch sprint at the end and Tasha got boxed in and finished up 11th. She said she had to start her sprint late as she knew where she wanted to be but just couldn't get there. Good thing is she realizes that the tittle was there and a few little changes here and there and she would have been in it for the win, even in a group kick.

Mens race. Well...I'm still shocked. All week, I've been preparing myself for the possibility of winning the title. I knew it was possible, I believed in myself and I was not scared to risk loosing it in order to win it. Aaron and I drove to the course together in the morning and went over some scenarios and we discussed what the best case would be. He basically asked me how he could contribute to help me win. So we set up our game plan and let it roll. It played out perfect the tempo oin the first climb was super easy, the main thing we were worried about is the race going off too fast and Aaron not being there in the first little bit as too many people would be in the way. I was right at the front on the first climb, as in first wheel I wanted to attack, but as I didn't see Aaron, I just waited and let others play it out. SO I started covering and some moves went, Aaron covered a few and then it just went. I tried to go across but guys were on my wheel and there was no way in hell I was just going to roll away. I tried a few more times to go across, but the numbers just didn't work and I just let it go. I was a perfect scenario, have a guy in the break, sit on, counter if it gets caught. Although you would think that rolling in the pack is easy, it's still pretty hard, especially when the surges in speed are just so taxing.

Anyways, gap goes up to 8 minutes, I smile, I know that there is a bout a 60% that they will stay away, the gap goes to ten minutes, I was about 90% sure that it was going to stick. So I covered moves and just let Aaron do his thing. Boy did he ever, although he didn't win the sprint, he came 4th, but he ends up being the Elite National Champion. So RWR colors fly the National Jersey for 364 more days and Aaron has to figure out if he is going to go to Worlds, get carded by sprot Canada, good thing it's not an Olympic year or else he'd have to go to London!

Man, who knew? Well turns out I did. Oz Bakker was also in the break and I knew those guys would roll it so hard. Obviously the guys from the other teams underestimated a bunch of guys they have never heard of.

In a perfect scenario, I should have came 3rd in this race as I would have had a ticket to sit on the guys chasing, but a lot of attacks can happen during 180 km's and I did alot. You may not hear about it on Canadian Cyclist or Pedal, you may not see any pictures, but I know I did a good job and although I wanted to win, Aaron is great guy he has been at this forever and I'm glad that I have contributed to help him win the biggest race of his career and truely the crowning moment in his Cycling career.

I'll tell you why it happened though. It's because we were both willing to let the other win and we both had the ability to do it in different ways. Neither of us were selfish, we just stuck to the plan and did what we had to do. Good on Osmand for coming 2nd as well. I know there has been some friction between the clubs and personalities and stuff, but all that BS aside, he's super strong and as far as racing hard goes, man the guy races hard...so good on him.

Not bad for a bunch of 30 so0mething guys with full time jobs and families. Aslo notes that Warrnen Mac cracked the top group in the TT and rolled in 5-6th I was told, I hadn't looked at the results yet.

So yah, that's how I see it. It was kind of wiered though casue after the break went I just had a feeling that it wasn't really the DSJ day...I felt it during the week, but I wanted to win under sunny skies, like I always do...crazy, I know but I would rather win the sun.

Last thing...as an aside, I did manage finishing 7th in the Elite race, so actually that's somehow a really great result as well. But funny enough I cracked pretty bad and cramped up during the last lap and I was dead last in the second group and a few guys opened up gaps that were just a little too big and I got caught. But I just waited and drove it at the right time and somehow made it back to the first group then rode right through them. So moral of that story, even when you feel like shit just hold on, don't panic cause maybe you just need a few minutes and everything will work out.

DSJ