I did the Paris-Ancaster pre-ride this year, and actually had to talk a guy down from using his mountain bike. I wonder what he did in the end? He had borrowed a cx bike, but after seeing the Powerline Mudslide, thought his mountain bike might be better. Sure, for that section, but distance on road >> distance of mudslide (or, "Slide of Death", as renamed by Helen Wyman). The best part of the pre-ride was meeting Kona Pro Helen Wyman, who was really nice and encouraging.
Race day was a bit on the chilly side. I always find the pre-race was to be a challenge for getting dressed because you can't make last minute decisions. Or you can, but you have to hope you can find someone with a car to give your stuff to. I had a terrible start. Seriously terrible - I felt to unsure and cautious in the corners with the pack, and ended up pretty far at the back, missing the big train as it hit the rail trail. The rail trail still went by quickly, and I felt like I was making up good ground, moving up from group to group, but never caught back on to anything really big. I ended up seeing Barry a couple of times - I'd pass him, get stopped for some reason or another, he'd pass me, and we'd do it all over again. I had few other mishaps, except for a bobbling on a small rock pile, and getting rear-ended (literally in the rear) by DD and Chris on the tandem. I also got a kinked link from some poor power application, and had to stop on a very open, always head-windy section of rail trail. DD stopped long enough to throw a chain tool at me and confirm that I knew how to use it, and it wasn't long before I was off again. I was starting to feel the race around the 2:10 mark, and got a leg cramp at the bottom of the final hill that had me wonder if this would be my first year to walk it. Nope - I turned a corner and some people were cheering me on by name, making dismounting far too embarrassing a proposition to even consider! Done - and in 2:36, only 6min off my best time.
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