Bike the Bruce

This past weekend was the Bike the Bruce road O-cup up in Wiarton. Headed up there Saturday morning with Justin so we could do our Saturday ride on the course. It felt silly to be pre-riding a road course, and it was really was not necessary, but we got our lines dialed in anyway. Max met us for a lap and I showed him the way around...

I liked the course layout. It seemed to have more climbing than I expected, with a 50m ~10% pitch before the line and 1km climb on the Bruce road stretch. The laps went by fast, so that was a good sign as I was scheduled to hammer out 24 of them Sunday. 132km would be the longest race I have ever done; distance wise and my first crack at an S1/2 road race.

I wanted to make it to Sauble beach Saturday afternoon, but lost my motivation to make the drive with the dark sky and decreasing amount of time to just chill out. I decided to hit up Sauble after the race instead, as it was on the way home anyway and a swim would be the perfect way to clean up and cool down. We did check out Owen Sound's Kelso beach after dinner, but it was weak and only hung around to play fetch with a guys dog for bit.

Sunday we made it to the race on good time. I somehow managed to drive straight past the course for the second time; dummy. We watched the Cadets finish and it was exciting to watch Etzl kill the sprint and Hopkins take 3rd. I set up our cooler in the shade to watch the S3 race, which was very exciting. A break went early with Jug and a few others. They got pulled back, but only close enough to have others bridge up and make them stronger. Max got up, but unfortunately, Justin missed his chance. This move pulled away and In the end Max totally dom'd the sprint with Jug coming in second. Justin cramped in his sprint and had to sit up ....way she goes? Next time I'll get another bottle to ya.

1:30 came around fast and my race began shortly after that. I warmed up for 30mins, but not as intensely as I would for a shorter race. I felt good at the start, but as soon as the attacks started going I was red-lined. The pace was all over the place. A guy would attack, we would surge to 50, then after the catch we would slow to 30. repeat this what seemed like 100 times, and that was the first half of the race. After a group went clear the pace steadied a bit as a chase formed. This was the fun part, because I was able to settle into a fast tempo and catch a good draft. I was always at the front, and did some work up there when we started to rotate through. Then, more attacks and surges began. God dammit! I hated this style of racing. I was getting sick of sprinting after an attack again and again and so were my legs. They told me to stop by cramping up on me. I started to drink a shitload of fluids, and in the end I had drank 8 bottles. 4 with Heed, 2 Gatorade and 2 with Coke. After some other groups got clear the main pack slowed way down, and shrunk in size every lap. Everyone must have been hurting because we were crawling along, guys were still getting dropped and surprisingly the gap to the leaders was not growing fast. the 10-15 of us that were left in the pack all worked, but not hard. Some would skip pulls, and when I pulled hard I would gap them. If it wasn't for the damn cramping I would have takin off from this group for sure. In our sprint for 17th, Ryan and a Darkhorse guy went early, and I pulled the group chasing after them. I said "pull through" to the guy on my wheel, and he said "no, thats my man up there". So it was all me, and of course Dark Horse #2 rocketed out of my draft to take 17th and I finished just behind Ryan getting past Dark Horse #1. I could not believe that they were using team tactics to beat me in a sprint for 17th. What dicks! Oh well, I was just happy to make it to the line, after fighting cramps for over an hour.

I was very happy with how I performed in this race. I felt like one of the stronger guys there, and always heard guys breathing harder than I was. My muscles will need time to adjust to these longer races because red-lining it at this fitness level, for this long is new to them. That is my only explanation for the cramps. It was not hydration for sure. I don't doubt that I could have finished top 10, because I had to sit up when the key moves went to avoid my legs seizing.

Its sad to say that the road season is nearly over, and I want to do Elliot lake now. It is far though and between the last two MTB o-cups. I will have to decide soon and determine which ones I want to be fast at. I don't think I can be strong 3 weekends in a row.

All for now, peace out.