UCI Racing in Toronto

This weekend, it was like the pond exploded, and there were a lot of much bigger fish around. The UCI C1 races brought out a host of American racers, who really dominated the elite fields.

Day 1 was on the western side of the park, with lots of short, punchy climbs, off-camber, and lots and lots of mud. Also: it was freezing. And I almost missed my start, jumping on the line with 2 min to spare, and being lucky that Carolyne and PP were on hand to take my jacket and tights, and just calm me a bit. I ended up racing the whole time with my arm warmers in my pocket (handy, eh?) because I just didn't have time to get them on before the start!

Anyway: muddy, wet, lots of off-camber and short climbs. Overall, it was pretty good. Although I was riding with the girls I am normally close to in a local race, this local race had a much deeper field... and we were pretty much all at the back! Still, it was an exciting race, and the conditions made for the need to constantly reassess how certain sections should be tackled. Some of the rides were rideable, but sometimes not. One, in particular, had a watery mud pit at the bottom, that was surprisingly deep. I realized pretty early on that if I decided to ride it, I would probably slow down so much, I would be faster on my feet. This paid off, as I was able to pass two riders in exactly this way. A second climb was rideable, but barely, and I was also able to get up it on foot just a smidge faster than the girl on her bike. She passed me while I remounted, but it was such a good reinforcement of the Kelso Day 1 lesson: just because you can ride it, doesn't mean you need to.

Finished up 15th (of 20) - not great, but happy with my race. Totally not within 10% of the winner, but pretty consistent lap times, within 30s of one another, so that's a bonus.

Day 2 we were on the ski hill side, so I was ready for lots of climbing. Lots of climbing! I was there earlier, since karma dictated that I should use the fact that I was driving for good and give someone else a lift. It was relaxing to be there early, with lots of time for numbers. Only got in a couple of pre-ride laps, but wasn't keen on going up the hill more than necessary, so I was ok with that. Watched Ms. P and the Teammate put in excellent races. It was windy and cold, so I warmed up on the trainer for about 20min, determined to get to the start in plenty of time for call-ups.

After some last minute tire pressure advice from DD (who was still racing, as he called to me on the trainer), I hit the starting area. Had a pretty good start, probably not as aggressive as I need to be in a larger group, but not that bad. First time up the hill, though, I got some bad chain suck, had to get off the bike to fix it, and ended up at the very back. Didn't take long to chase back into the group. It was a pretty exciting race - I was very close to MelB pretty much the whole time. We exchanged places a couple of times through the race, but she was ahead on the last two laps.

At the top of the final climb on the last lap, the Teammate, her boyfriend and her dog were cheering like mad for me to make an attack. Which, I did, and amazingly, carried through the last half of the course. I was confident in my decending, and knew I could probably come out of that section ahead. I don't think I've ever worked so hard - and it was for 13th place! I definitely followed PP's advice from the previous day that I could go harder.

Still outside of 10%, but I did improve my placing, finishing up 13th.

The rest of the day: warm clothes, recovery spin, beer tent, men's race, mad scramble back into the city, dinner & race talk with others. good. times.