Thursday, May 5, 2011

Defi Sportif 2011



In the weeks before my first UCI race, I went from nervous to calm and back to nervous again. I knew that some of the athletes I would be competing against race Cat 2 on the road. I knew there were some National and World Champs in the mix. After reassuring myself, knowing I had a great coach who had prepared me well, and the fact that I have a decent pedigree in triathlon, I felt better.

TT Race day: I arrived at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal about 5 hours before my race. I wanted to get an idea of what I was in for. I took a few easy laps and felt great. The course had a long straight section with a wicked headwind. As race time got closer, the butterflies came back. I chatted with a few people as they arrived, ate my lunch, and checked in for the race. As I wandered around, I ran into a few familiar faces. Two of the guys I knew are paratriathletes from Quebec that I went to Budapest with. They were also doing the TT but on their handcycles. I saw one of the few UCI classifiers in the world who happens to be from my home province of BC. She was going to do my technical evaluation while I did my TT. I also met a couple of the US National Paracycling Team that I knew via Twitter. Social media is awesome!

I was hanging out by the registration tent and a guy rolls up in a Guinness kit. The only place I had seen that kit was Portland, so I introduced myself. Turns out Mark Gyulafia is from Portland, is a Cat 2, and works at River City Bicycles. I had no idea there was another paracyclist in Portland. Looks like we might be doing some rides together.



Anyway, race time rolls around, with riders off every minute. I started right behind a Colombian, an above the elbow amputee, and right in front of a fellow Canuck. My two minute guy was US National Team member, Sam Kavanagh. He is in my paracycling category, C4, but he's a Cat 2 (I'm a Cat 5). I had two goals, not to get passed by my one minute guy, and catch the guy in front of me. I achieved both goals, however, I was passed by Sam towards the end of my last lap. The headwind on the long straight had turned into a tailwind which made my first lap approximately 7 minutes. The headwind caught up with us at the only elevation on the course. My speed never dropped below 20mph which was another small goal of mine. It turns out, during my first lap, I took the wrong lane, and it might have been a little longer than it should have been since my second lap was 6:30.

I was very happy with my performance. I finished the 17.6 KM in 26:53, averaging 39.27 kph, which is 97.68% of the national standard. All of the times were compared to the national standard and listed on the results in the order of highest percentage instead of the time. I finished 6th in my category, 18th overall, which was not where I wanted to be but not much I could do, I had the road race to think about. The winner was Sam, who started two minutes behind me. He's a fast kid.

The road race was a little more stressful for me as I had not done many prior to this. All 23 riders, regardless of classification, were racing together. The C1, 2, and 3's were doing 11 laps and the 4's and 5's had to do 15 laps. The first lap was pretty slow and we only hit 20 mph because of a tail wind. The next five laps were like a typical Tuesday night 4/5 race at PIR. Every time someone took a flyer, everyone would chase it down. The peleton yo-yo'd every time but I hung on. The advice from Coach Abers was to stay at the front so when the accelerations came, i could drift back but still have wheels to follow, then make my way closer to the front again. The US National team worked well together and every time I tried to grab a wheel belonging to a red, white, and blue jersey, i would lose it because they would open up a spot for that person to come in. At the end of lap 8, after going around the 180 degree turn near the start finish, the speed went from 15 mph up to 32 mph. I was caught without a wheel to follow and was quickly gapped. I tried to chase but even at 30mph, I couldn't get back on. I slowed to a more manageable speed and was able to catch another rider that was dropped and we worked together for the next two laps. Since he was a C2, he had to do less laps than I did but I did get him for one extra lap as the officials forgot to pull him after his 11th lap. I did the last two laps on my own and finished with an average of 23 mph.

Overall, I was happy with my performances on the weekend. I had a PR for my TT average speed and I felt that I did well in the road race, considering I had not done any road races other than PIR. I had a good chat with the National Team Development Coach, and I know what I need to do to achieve my goal of being a team member. With the coach I have and my desire to succeed, I think my chances are good.

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