Tour des Vallées

Ok, finally. I have been struggling to find some time lately to fit everything with this being my last week and all, but I have decided to take a little break and update my blog.

The Tour des Vallées is a 3 day, 4 stage race in the mountains just North of the Cote d’Azur. Almost every stage starts and finishes in the little valley town of Andon. The race has lots of climbing and was quite big with a field of 130 starters. Teams showed up from all around, the farthest being from Belgium.

The first stage was Saturday afternoon and was the flattest stage. We did two laps of a 40 km course with some minor climbs. The worst is a false-flat of about 4 percent for 12 km with a steeper 4km climb up to the finish. The descending, however, was very impressive with a long descent through rock tunnels on the side of a cliff. I was positioned well throughout the first lap until the major descent. At this time it was slightly raining and many people were scared to descend fast. This caused large gaps to open and I had to bridge from rider to rider and work my way up to a group that managed to slip away. I worked very hard to catch the group and did so just before the climb. At this point, the Cavignal team went to the front and decided to ride tempo. This put me into difficulty because of my previous effort. just before the top of the climb ending in Andon, I slipped off the back. A teamate caught up to me shortly after and we chased hard to get back on. About 10 km later and we had caught the group.  I stayed there this time without much difficulty and finished with the lead group 15 seconds behind two riders.

The second stage was Sunday morning and was a time trial. It had a 2 km climb and the other 7 km were rolling. I was 15th in general classification, so I started near the end. I had a good warm up and had everything under control before the race. The race however was different. I rolled up to the start line and the holder was someone who worked for the Sprinter Club (my team here). He is not really the image of someone involved in European cycling as he smokes and drinks perpetually. At the start I got on my bike and spun my cranks around to the position I like. As I did this, my chain dropped. I asked the holder, Henry, if he could lift me up so I could spin it back on. He wouldn’t. I did hand motions and everything i could think of, and I new he could as he did to the rider starting in front of me. He still did not lift me. With  15 seconds to go, I got off my bike and put on my chain by hand. I started as slow as possible to not drop my chain a second time and then was off. I panicked right after and rode so fast up the hill that I almost blew up at the top. Throughout the entire race I had chain skipping problems every few pedal strokes. I finished very angry, even though I had put in a fast time. At the awards for the stage, I had taken second in the stage behind a strong Belgian and also occupied both 2nd overall and the white jersey for best espoir(under23).

The next stage had quite a bit of climbing. The team’s aim was to protect the jersey. I stayed at the front with relative ease until the long 12 km climb at an average of 5 or 6%. I was near the back of the then 20 people pack and had to work my way past people getting dropped at the start of the climb. Attacks started going and I had to catch small groups of people forming from the pack. I worked my way up to the second group on the road behind my teamate Julien who had paced me up to them. I stayed with them to the summit and then it flattened out, so a group started to form again. More teamates arrived and went to the front as no one else would pull except for them. We flew down a descent and then arrived at the finishing 4 km climb of the first stage. We rode to the line with only one other espoir in the group, but had lost substantial time to the leaders. I was still in the white jersey by 51 seconds, but was now fifth overall and 5 minutes back.

The last stage on Monday was incredibly hard. It was unbeleivably windy with gusts up to about 70 km/h. I was very tired from the previous days and was suffering a lot. The first time up the 5km 7-8%  Col de Bleine I got dropped from the leaders and the racer from Monaco who could potentially take the jersey from me. My teamate Julien was setting pace on the front, so I had to call out to him as I was getting dropped so he could come back and pace me. We crested the climb about 30 seconds back and I just sat behind as we chased on the descent. On the flats, I pulled as well as the headwind was unbearable. When we finally caught the cars in the caravan behind the front group, I sat in and recovered. I needed to protect my jersey. On the second time up the Col de Bleine, I limited my losses. I got dropped near the top and lost only 10 seconds. On the descent we easily caught up. We started an eschelon with the 7 or 8 of us in the second group and this is where my legs started to contract on me. I managed to make it to the bottom of the final climb without problem and started to become confident. Up the Col Bas, I stayed right with the rider from Monaco. I watched his every move and when he went with 500 m to the summit, I went with him. At 300 m he went again and I couldn’t keep pace. Julien was there once I got to the top and then we began to chase hard. He was in sight, and I wanted to either catch him or limit the time he gained on me. For the last 5 km to the finish it was false flat and tailwind. It was Julien, myself, and another generous junior chasing on the front of the group. We closed the gap substantially and when I sprinted to the finish, he had only 30 seconds on me. I had won the white jersey. I was extatic.

Three jerseys and three trophies, not to mention a bouquet of flowers. Now I was really extatic.

Nice – Saorges

Thursday’s race was a hard one. The course covered three cols (mountain passes) and finished in Italy. The first col, the Col de Nice, was 4 km long at an average grade of about 6-7 %. The second col, the Col de Braus, was 12 km at an average of 8% with sections over 10%. The third and final col, the Col de Bruis, was 11 km long with an average grade of 5%. After that climb is a 20 km descent into a valley from which there is about a 3 km climb to the finish.

The day started in Drap, close to Nice. I was keeping my eye on the favourite for the day, Vors. He had won the ITT I placed second in and so I obviously wanted to beat him. He was also a continental pro a few years back. The race started with about 90 riders in the Cat. 1/2/3 regional race. I made sure I was at the front of the peloton for the first climb in case any attack went. Almost immediatly my legs filled with lactic acid and I began to suffer. Less than a kilometer later Vors was on the front out of the saddle and raising the pace at an alarming rate. I stayed within the first 10 riders, slowly falling back, hoping that my legs would start to feel better and that this pace would slow soon. By the summet of the climb, a small group including Vors was ahead of the group I was in by about 30 seconds. There was a minor descent, and then we started the next col. This one caused an exceptional amount of pain, and just about half-way up, I felt myself being dropped again. I fought to stay with them, falling back, and then reeling them back in, but finally the elsatic broke and I was alone. I was caught by a few riders here and there, and caught a few riders here and there, but from then on I was determined to catch that group again. Near the summet, I had caught a rider who was hanging on to my wheel and I started to feel good. I dratstically increased my pace and left him behind, making it to the top feeling like I was gaining on the front group who I could occasionally see in front of me. On the first part of the descent, I rode fast and took lots of risks. Every switchback I would hear my brakes squeel with the speed I was experiencing. At the halfway pount of the descent, it flattens out a bit. Here I was caught by a group of about 8 other riders and I was glad to see someone to work with. The second part of the descent is faster and less technical, but there are some technical and dangerous parts to it. The group I was with either did not know how to descend or did not want to take any risks. We were coasting along with hands constantly on the brakes and probably lost a great deal of time to the first two groups. This made me fairly angry. We came into a town where there was a festival of some sort going on and this made for some tricky navigation. We had a support motorcycle with us and heard him lean on the horn. The streets were packed with cars and there were also vehicles waiting for a light to change. The motorcycle quickly weaved through the cars and the group split apart with riders trying to find the best line through the traffic at the light. After that interesting experience, we began the thrid col. I was still angry from the descent and my legs began to feel really hard, so I decided to make the group suffer. I went to the front and rode a fast tempo pace. I had a teamate in the group who told me to slow down, so I did and let another rider take the lead. After a few kilometers I felt strange as if my legs were bored and I surged ahead. I rode off the front and forced the group to pick up the pace. Near the top I dropped back to them and crested the col in the group. On the descent following, I wanted to make sure the same problem as the last descent did not ocur. I went to the front and rode as fast as I could, taking risks and pushing the pace down the hill. It strung out the group and forced them into the same rythym I was in. I reached the bottom of the descent feeling strong and continued to push the pace of the group. We were now in a valley right on the border between France and Italy. A couple of times other riders would ride up beside me when I was on the front and say “Tranquil, tranquil”. I understood they wanted me to slow down, but pretended to not know what they were talking about. Soon I realized we were approaching the finish line. I let someone else pace the group and rested for the finishing climb. We made a right hand turn up hill and it fully hit me that the finish was now. We were just entering a tunnel when one rider drastically picked up the pace. In the tunnel I saw 500 written in paint on the road. I now prepped myself for an attack or sprint to the line. With 200 to go a rider put in a rather weak attack and I was the only one able to follow him. He then proceeded to sprint at 100 m in which I did little more than surge to beat him to the line. I finished best of the group I was in, but still was back two groups from the lead.

This was my first real mountain race and despite the pain it caused, I enjoyed it. I did not do as well as I hoped I would, but I will be ready for next time.

Tour de PACA stage 5 – Entrechaux

The race on Sunday was in Entrechaux at the base of Mt. Ventoux and was four laps of a 23 km circuit. It was another Junior National race in the Tour de PACA series. There was lots of climbing, about 12 km per lap. The rest of the course was either descending or a false flat. The race went very well for me. Once again it was an Abitibi size field and the race was really fast from the gun. I moved myself up to the front on the first climb, and found myself at the front without a huge amount of effort. A few breaks went away and I started to chase because the green jersey was up the road and my teamate was 2nd in the sprint competition. I stopped chasing at the start of the big GPM climb on the side of Ventoux when I realized my teamate had been dropped. For the rest of that lap, I suffered up the climb and made sure I stayed with the front of the peloton. On the next lap, we pulled back a few riders and I thought we were in contention for GPM points. So I attacked before the summet and pipped an Aqua & Sapone rider at the line. We had established quite a gap and I decided to continue to break away. There were three of us in the break and I thought we were first on the road. The time gap motorcycle came up beside us and I saw we were the second group. The gap grew fast and we gained on the first break quickly. On the second climb of the third lap I started to really suffer. The only guy in the group feeling good was the rider from A&S and he was the only one putting in good pulls. The first break was in our sights now and I couldn’t keep pace so I was dropped on the next climb. After that I felt horrible and expected to be caught and dropped by the pack. On the descent that followed, I tried to recover and also make up time on the lead group as no one was taking risks. On the big climb, I was passed by a commissaire car, the press car, the photo bike, and an espoir scout team car. This made me ride as hard as I could when they were in sight despite how much pain I was in. I actually gained on the lead group and was kind of playing tag with the cars. Soon I heard a bunch of honking behind and realized a group was catching me. I thought it was the peloton, but it turned out to be another breakaway group of maybe 5 riders. I jumped in and felt good. Just after the summet we caught the lead group. I was now feeling really good as I was in the lead group with about 10 other riders. At the start/finish there wer sprint points and I sprinted to get second and steal some points from anyone close to my teamate in the sprint competition. After that I was in a lot of pain and my legs would cramp/spasm every time I stood or accelerated to respond to an attack. On the third climb, 5 riders attacked and I couldn’t go with them. My muscles seized up and I couldn’t go with them. I rode with the second group up it and was obviously feeling the best of everyone in the group. I kept on pulling and accidentally dropping the group on the descent. I waited for them so I didn’t do work on my own only to get caught and passed before the finish. On the big climb I kept doing little surges to test the other riders and see who was responsive. On the descent we caught a rider from the attack and dropped him hard. The course kind of flattened out and I was on the front. I did another surge and no one resonded. I turned it into a full on attack with 3-4 km to go to the finish. They hesitated, then chased, then hesitated some more. I hit them with perfect timing and continued to hold a surprising pace of over 50 km/h. I suffered hard with about 1 km to go as it turns into a bit of a climb back up to the town. I just put my head down and suffered through the pain. All the time this was going on, I was having massive lower body cramps. Quads, calves, glutes, they all were seizing up and contracting (on the climb, I would yelp becuase of standing with my calves fully contracted). I saw the finish in sight and started to really die. Looking behind, I saw the group about 15-20 seconds back and let up just before the line. I managed to get 5th in a French junior national  race.  I was told the riders in front of me were from Russia, Italy, Latvia, and then France. As I went to the team car, I was congratulated by the Aqua & Sapone team manager, the president of the FFC (for the region I think), and many other people.

There was also a lack of knee problems which made me very happy.

Tour de PACA (Provence-Alpes-Coté d’Azur) stage 3 – Velaux (near Marseille)

Last Tuesday was a French national junior race with about 130-140 starters. It was another circuit race 90 km long with laps of 6 km. There was a hill of about 1.5 km and a really technical descent with a huge crosswind. The wind was really strong and allowed breaks to form. It was a stage in a series race called the Tour de PACA. I was suffering a lot at first and then after about 3 laps (18 km) I started to feel good. The pack would yo-yo every time on the hill and even worse on the descent. I figured out how the pack worked and stayed at the front for pretty much the rest of the race. I tried 3-4 attacks with not much success in getting away to brideg up to the breakaway group that had a minute on the peloton. I started to feel really good, and I had two teamates in the break so I was happy with how the race was progressing. With 6 laps to go, my knee started to hurt as the pace would jump to sometimes over 50 km/h on the hill and I had to spin my biggest gear fast, putting a lot of strain on it. I was fighting with myself because I could stay in the race and continue to gain experience, but my knee would be worse off then if I stopped. I went with my gut feeling and pulled out of the race to prevent further damage. I talked to Jacky (club president) immediatley and then Yanick and said they would have a doctor look at it the next day.

The race reminded a lot of the Tour de l’Abitbi. For those of you who don’t know, it is probably the biggest junior race in North America, being the only UCI junior World Cup in North America. It is a week long stage race in Northern Quebec and is very difficult. It is known for its large pack sizes(about 160 riders), excessive numbers of crashes, and criteriums. The biggest differences between the Tour de PACA and Abitibi are the lack of crashes, the constant attacking, and that the pack breaks up because of the course. Other than that, the races felt very similar.

GP des Collines niçoises

Saturday was my first Time Trial of the season and it went very well. The course was in Nice and was a 10 km half-mountain, half-flat ITT. Once again I was racing Cat. 1/2/3 with senior riders, espoirs and juniors. There were about 50 riders competing. I rode the course before the race and finished kind of frantically just before my start. I don’t exactly know the program of when we arrive, what is on the schedule, etc. and this is where the language barrier has been the worst. I have managed all right with understanding what is being said to me and can speak enough French to get by, but figuring out exactly what we are doing has proved to be difficult. Anyways, I finished pre-riding about 10-15 minutes before my start and began to get ready. I got changed and set myself up with all the aero stuff I had with me. I went to the start where they told me I had 4 minutes. I did a quick interval and then tried to figure out why nothing on my SRM was working. I fiddled around with the super sensitive sensors and was unsuccessful so decided to head to the start again. I had about 2 minutes and waited patiently before starting.

As I started I went hard. I was immediatley on the mountain at about 7%  grade and knew Yanick was behind in the car as I heard the turkey horn. I kept a really high pace up the mountain and soon heard a different horn only ceasing to honk momentarily every 5 or 6 seconds. Yanick went back to the start and Jacky, the president of the club and good friends of Vinokourov and Kashechkin, was the new horn I heard. I could also tell by his yelling constantly shouting either “middle line!” or just “allez Spencer!”. At the top of the big climb, it turns into a false flat and doesn’t provide much rest for the remaining part of the race. There are only a few sections of pure flat or downhill areas, and so much suffering is prominent throughout the entirety of the race. At the top of the climb I was really hurting and slowed a little, but soon picked up my pace as I fell into the groove of flowing with bends in the road in my time trial position. I forgot how good that felt. I picked up my pace and then stepped it up continually on approach to the finish. I crossed the line at high speed and felt a pain new and unique. This time it was deep in my stomach and chest from punishing my lungs and putting my core muscles through hell.

I spun out my legs about 5 minutes having no clue how I placed. I came back to see Jacky and was told to wait in his euro car-truck until Yanick arrived with fresh clothes to change into. I stayed there until I saw Yanick who already was there. I met the team and changed. As I was changing I was told I had raced very well and was the current leader. The race finished and I was told I finished second. I was happy with my result especially after being told the rider who won was an “elite” rider before. This means he was on a european continental team before. He beat me by just 30 seconds. I was also almost 2 minutes ahead of the next junior.

I enjoyed the awards as they presented flowers, trophy as well as some Ville de Nice souvenir type prizes. I also have the newspaper article which appeared in the Nice daily paper. Apparently the guy who won set a new record. I was also pleased to see them mention “le prometteur junior canadien Smitheman”.

Oh and also, for those of you who haven’t been following the French Presidential Election, the results were broadcast on Sunday evening at 8 pm. The family crowded around the TV in the kitchen after dinner and they cheered as Sarkozy who they favoured to win, won.

Numero Deux – en Vence

Ok, Tuesday was my second race and it was quite a bit different than the last. It was another crit. This time, in Vence, the course was 2 km long with two short but difficult hills and a long descent. The total distance was about 55 km. It was also of a different level. It was still Cat. 1/2/3, but this time there were national level riders and there were more people. There were between 70 and 90 riders this time with between 10 and 20 juniors. Some of the riders were of high ranking with teams showing up such as the Aqua & Sapone junior and espoir development squad.

My race was a very difficult one. I stayed with the peleton for about 3-5 laps before getting dropped. Of course, in those laps I had been at the front and rather stupidly attacked. After I was dropped, I rode with the first group behind which became steadily larger as people came back to it. After a lap or two, my teamate Logan was in the group and we started to feel better. On the steep hill, a marked A&S rider surged and Logan attacked. They were quite quickly caught and I immediatley countered. It was successful and I stayed away with two senior riders. At about 8 laps to go we were lapped by the peleton. At the time I did not realize we could stay with the pack after being lapped. I let the pack go by, expecting to be pulled, and was told I could stay in. After this I tried to catch back on. I gained ground on the descent and the technical sections, but lost ground on the climbs. A few laps later my legs were heavy and cramping and I slowed considerably. With two laps to go, I was lapped again and stayed with the pack this time. At the finish I sprinted to mid pack (about 30-40 riders now).

It was a difficult race which showed a difference between levels of racing in Canada and France. That crit was harder than a Tour de l’Abitibi stage and may be the hardest race I have done yet. The pack averaged a little over 45 km/h which is a lot of work considering the hills.

I have been getting used to life here and enjoy it. There are lots of intense races, the food is good, the scenery is amazing, and everything is relaxed. I now prepare for my next race, a hilly ITT on Saturday in Nice.