Ontario MTB Champs

Woodnewton was pretty cool. The course grew on me during Saturdays pre-ride, and I kind of wanted to do a fourth lap, after a very fun third one. There was a lot of not so fun grassy doubletrack climbing, but the downhill singletrack following was all very fun. Nothing was very technical, but there were a lot of dips and loose turns. The berm'd downhill section was very very fun. We noticed that there was almost no singletrack climbing, and that passing on the ST would be tough. This meant that you had to go hard on the climbs to make your passes, and not be slowed by lapped traffic.

Justin's parents got us a good deal at a B&B in Port Perry. We had the whole house to ourselves, with a fully stocked kitchen to cook ourselves a pre-race feast.

We cooked some eggs and pancakes, and also ate bagels, cereal, bread and fruit. I think I ate a bit too much, maybe one bagel too many, because I felt full during the whole race, and my stomach was a bit upset from lap 3 to the end.

My start was good, and I made up some spots on the opening climb. I was about 15th after lap 1, with a bunch of guys just ahead. I caught up to Anton, and worked with him for a while. We caught Kyle D together and worked with him for a while. Together we caught and passed Souter, Then I got gaped a little by those 2, but closed it down. I was starting to hurt on lap 4, and when Anton hammered the early part of lap 5, he was gone. I had a weak last lap, and all I could do was hold my spot. I had some gas left, but with a lot of tension in my lower back, and an unpleasant feeling in my tummy, a fast lap was not going to happen.

I was soo close to the top 10, and set myself up for it early in the race, but couldn't finish the job in the end. Oh well, I am very pleased with 13th, considering that almost all the big guns were there. For that reason, I feel that it was a slight improvement on my Kelso result. Also, I never gained spots because of other racers mechanicals, or off days. It was all me.

Congrats to Justin who had a great race, finishing second in Senior Expert. That tops my best result last year, and he is still working on the farm. Also Etzl, who won the Cadet race, in what I heard was a very thrilling sprint. way to go man. And, Meg won the cadet/junior sport race, another great result for her.


Next stop: Windsor for the provincial crit.
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