St. Malo Provincials Report

It feels strange now that cyclocross season is over. Since it pretty much takes up the majority of my fall, between weekend races, cleaning and tuning my bike during the week, uploaded photos after the race, etc... I can feel a noticeable absence when there isn't the next race to get excited about. And it's really too bad, because I feel like I'm just getting to the point where I can really compete now. I guess that's what happens when the race season is also your training for the race season..

All that said, the last race ended on a pretty high note for me. Since it was Provincials, I wasn't racing with my usual gaggle of B-racers, but rather with a bunch of dudes who are a whole lot faster than I am, including Craig, Daniel, and Dylan. And I was also racing for over an hour, rather than 45 minutes. With a total of 9 guys in my age category, I was guessing I'd place around 6 or 7th, with the three A-racers taking the top three spots and a couple B-racers above me who normally leave me in their dust.

I got off to a surprisingly lucky and great start - sitting right behind Craig in 4th position. This is only notable because I'm normally starting races around 20th place, or as in the case of Dark Cross, 70th place. This is the fist time I've seen what it's like to ride at the front of the pack. And man, is it ever a lot nicer to see a train of people behind you instead of fighting to get past people who bottle neck the course. Unfortunately, I quickly became one of those people when I got tangled up in the super-strong course tape (AGAIN) and ground to a halt in the middle of the nauseatingly twisty colon section. I immediately lost 10 positions before I could get back on my bike.

However, all was not lost. A lap or two later and I caught up to Josh and Phil. We had our own race within the race for the remainder of the event, with Josh giving a huge attack right after the run-up that nearly ended it for the rest of us, until Phil and I put some distance over his single-speed on the straights. Then on the last lap, Josh caught us again just before the colon, and passed us on the run-up. I knew it was important to be the first one out of the sandpit on the last lap heading into the finish, so I passed at the elbow in the sand and rode to the finish. I think my overall place was 4th (correction it was apparently 5th). That's what I find most addictive about cross - there are so many races within the race. That and the excellent heckling courtesy of Thomas Epp.

I didn't take as many photos this time, likely due to the fact that I wasn't watching a 60 minute race as per usual. For what it's worth, here's a few.





Great expression Hal!





It was hard to tell if Brad was pushing Tomek up, or using him as a ladder.


My hope for next year's cross season is a lot more sand pits





Not sure how they are smiling while going up this thing.


After much heckling, Tomek attempted to ride up the run-up