Provincial Road Race Aug 15th

Had some interesting news 2 days prior to the race.

The carbon on my trek frame chain stay was delaminating & was serious enough for the boys at Calgary Cycle to take my bike away & tell me it needs to go to warranty.

Luckily Brad Smith lent me his sharp looking Scott CR1 to ride. I was pumped to ride on this machine as a substitute for the Trek.

Race was 95km long with a big hill on the course where a break away created.

I happened to push majority of the hill climb in the front with about 5 other riders so when 3 ERTC riders went at the top I jumped on the train.

We got a gap & a few other riders joined us as we tried extending the gap.

Unfortunately our work was in vein because 2 km later the entire group reintegrated which was frustrating. This seems to be inevitable in almost all of my races this season which will be a lesson as I race in the lower Cat's trying to make my way up.

I am on the fence now of wether I should go at all in a break as establishing a break needs every rider to be committed & have the ability/"desire" to spend time at the front.

So I have to wrestle with the idea of conserving even more than I am in order to have a chance to place well in sprints. Or I can attack late in the race & see If I blow up or not? Either choice will result in glory...or the "shoulda coulda woulda" effect.

I was feeling great majority of the race. Bonked a bit based on hydration as I began to sweat salt on my face which is always an indication I needed more electrolytes earlier in the race.

The race came down to a sprint & the final stretch had an initial hill in it that popped a few riders then a downhill led to a flat straight away.

I originally was in the top 4 but figured I'd drop back to get a draft which led to me being boxed in at the end. With the automatic DSQ if a rider crosses the median I had to contain my sprint. I originally wanted to follow the eventual winner from Bicisport (Justin Warsylewicz Silver Medalist in Turin 2006 for Speedskating!) but he was boxed in so I launched on the other side & was met with an ERTC rider going at the same time where we rubbed wheels & I had to wait for an opening then I could finally go through! Damn It!

7th place I am happy with for sure however left some "sprint room" out on the road today due to inexperience. The Scott bike was awesome but the raw reality is you have to race the bicycle that you train on in order to be completely confident in any race you enter.