Yesterday was the fourth Road Ontario cup in the circuit starting at Deerhurst Resort way up north in the small town of Huntsville and I decided to give the road racing side of things another shot since it was just up the highway from me and it was on roads I had ridden quite a bit in the past. Little did I know it would turn into a mid-May snow storm that forced many riders to pull out due to the freezing cold and wet conditions.
The race started out with a neutral 1.5km rollout so I decided to use this as my warmup although it was far from warm given the nice refreshing hail and snow to keep us moving. I also noticed pretty early on that I had made a rookie mistake and didn't check my brake pads well enough before the race, my front brake was almost worn out and was starting to make a delightful grinding noise against the rim and my back brake pads wore out before the end of the day as well just to add to the excitement. There were attacks pretty quickly after the neutral start that continued on throughout the lap and I definitely had to dig deep a few times to stay with the group on the short punchy climbs in the rolling hills of the opening 20k or so.
Once we got onto the wide open hwy 60/35 the group spread out and slowed up a bit so everyone could grab a drink and gel before driving on again. The sun came out as well so this made it seem as if the day wouldn't be quite so bad.
This brief clearing continued for a bit but a little later along this section, just as we were coming up a gradual hill, the paved shoulder ended abruptly and a rider didn't correct in time so ended up on the gravel shoulder. This would have been alright normally but unfortunately there was a nice little ledge to get back onto the road and so when he tried to get back, he fell onto the road and took a few other riders out right in front of me. I noticed in time luckily and put the brakes on but still ended up hitting the dirt. Once I picked myself and my bike up I saw that the field was moving away quickly and it would be tough to chase back on.
I dug deep and pushed hard to get back but realized I really wasn't making much ground on the group. There ended up being a group of 4 of us as a few riders had dropped off the back of the field that I caught up to. Luckily a follow car offered to pace us back to the field since we were in a crash and let me give them the thumbs up or down to dictate the speed. After some tough work I was finally able to get close to the group, I looked back and realized the other 3 in my group had managed to drop off of my wheel, I then gave a quick sprint and managed to get back onto the group for some much needed rest on a downhill.
The lap continued with more attacks including a few right after the feed zone in Baysville, which probably caused a bit of havoc for some of those getting musettes for a feed. It was really strung out for a while along Brunel and South Portage rds and the pace was pretty high. My legs were definitely starting to feel the efforts and it seemed as if the cold had really sunk into them. Along South Portage we hit a super steep little section and I worked hard to stay with the group up it but unfortunately I had cooked myself for the next little climb section right after. I dropped back from the group along with Steve N, Yuri and Conor and we tried to work together to pace back to the peloton ahead but I was pretty destroyed and couldn't be of much help. Once we realized we weren't getting back the turn to head back to the finish line was coming up and the policeman directed us that way anyway so we decided to turn back since we were freezing and the group had hammered away from us.
This was the end for me and I quickly realized I probably wouldn't have made it much further as I struggled to even make it up a couple steep hills on the 10k ride back to the finish line. My legs felt horrible and could not put out any power. Once I got back I notified the commissaire of my DNF and headed straight for the car to put on some warm stuff and get a bite to eat. I was feeling a little better but still shivering quite a bit and my legs were cramping like crazy. When I got changed and some food in me I went into the registration/awards building to find that there were a bunch of others like me that hadn't headed out for the second 70k lap and there were only 16 who had. This made me feel a little better about my performance that day and I realized I was one of the last ones left in the group before the turnoff.
It sure turned into quite the wild day of racing and was definitely one of the hardest I have ever experienced, big props to those that finished on that crazy day. Now its time to rest up and prepare for the trip up to Tremblant and Baie St Paul for the first two mtb Canada Cups!
Once again will add pictures if I find any of the race in the next couple days.
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