Had a great day in Toronto on Sunday.
It was my first time ever racing the TO crit. I had heard a lot about though........."its very fast". "Its super sketchy". "The fencing around the course will grate you up like cheese if you go into them". - Sounds like a good time to me.
The race seemed to have lost a bit of its prestige from previous years as it was now a morning race, with less prize money and fewer "pro" racers. It was still run quite well though, crowds came out to watch and seemed excited, everything was on time, the only negative I can think of was unclear instructions. When they said 4 to go, 4 to go! I thought there was four laps to go. Seemed way to soon, but hey they said it. Turns out it was for a prime.
My race went well. I made one critical error, lining up too late. Had to start from the back and use the first couple laps just to get to the front half of the pack. By then, the winning break of 6 had gone clear. Shit! I new they were gonna lap us. 6 strong guys, one or two from each team there. Who was gonna chase them? It was left to the independents. When I felt good I went to the front and drilled it. Ended up spending a few laps hovering off the front as I would gap the field on some corners. I was riding well and feeling very confident in the tight corners.
Once we were lapped things slowed down a bit as the teams tried to protect there riders from the lead group. A bunch of primes were called, and made for some fast laps, but I never went for any. They separated the leaders from us to have the field sprint, which I got 6th in, thanks to Justin getting me close to the front on the backstretch. The lead group did another lap before there sprint which was taken by Kyle Fry. Congrats Kyle and the Garneau team on a great victory!
Post race Toronto stuff was just as thrilling as the race. Started off with some beer and a burger, then migrated to the Kensington market (spelling?) to explore. Saw some interesting things/people, got more beer then made our way home.
For sure a race I'd do again, I know I can do better than 12th. Sprint could use some work, but its time to focus on the MTB now, Hardwood is just around the corner.
Going to race the Liberty! 12mile tomorrow night. Should be fun!!
Later
Nice work out there. You were almost always positioned well when I saw you. I didn't find it nearly as sketchy as people made it out to be either.
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