Junior World Road Race Championships

I am now back from Mexico, and after a short rejuvenation, I am ready to talk about the race.

The Junior World’s course was as you know in Aguascalientes Mexico. It was an entirely urban circuit characterized by two fierce and two weaker climbs every lap as well as being altogether quite sketchy.  The course was technically an out and back, but the aerial view would have shown a J-shape. To make this understandable, there were three turn around points with the roads all separated by medians. There was also an abundance of false flat sections, metal grates which never quite felt safe, and gravel mounds from where the organizers filled in the larger grates. Also, for those of you who don’t know, Aguascalientes is at a rather high altitude of 1888 meters above sea level. This added another component to the race.

The junior men category set out with 115 racers doing 8 laps of the course and equalling a total of 128km. The racers were called up, the countdown noted, and soon we were off. It was a sprint for the first kilometer to establish position, and then it settled down a bit as everyone awaited the first climb. I thought the first climb would be excessively difficult with everyone trying to test the field, but people seemed to be holding back somewhat. I made it over the first climb with the leaders. I was wondering what would happen to me, considering last year only one Canadian finished Worlds, and he was over 7 minutes back. After the first lap, my teamate Stephanne Cossette attacked briefly and then suffered nerve problems in his leg and pulled out. The next Canadian to go was Matt Potma, on the second lap, who wasn’t able to keep up with the formidable pace up the climbs. Many people were affected by the combination of the heat(well over 30), the altitude, and the intensity up the climbs. They also dropped off the back, many pulling themselves when it looked hopeless. Every lap I half expected to get dropped, but somehow found the strength to push through to the top, and often accelerate despite the pain. I found myself at the front every so often, realizing the countries and riders that are depicted as superhuman or unbeatable were infact quite the opposite. On the third last lap, I was descending on the wheel of my teamate, Guillaume Boivin. All of a sudden I hear a lound hissing and realize Guillaume has a flat. So, I am the sole racer to represent Canada at the finish. It was known Guillaume wouldn’t catch back up as the pace is too high in the pack, and the race caravan(follow cars providing technical support) is way too small at World’s to give the rider a chance at drafting. The next lap, 2 to go, and a break goes off the front that could last. There were 3 Italians and a Slovakian rider. Soon we hit the bottom of the climb and the pace jumps drastically. The pack starts to split roughly 3 wheels up from me and I don’t have the jump left to close the gap. This is likely due to riding up at the front on the early laps when I should have been conserving energy for this chance. Looking back in retrospect, it was not a smart move, but you never know how the race will play out, and what is done is done. We rode the last lap in what seemed like desparation, at points chasing hard, others attacking. Towards the finish we were making quite some ground on the next pack up. With 1 km to go I saw them right in front of us. I was third wheel in our group, preparing for what I thought would be a sprint. Instead, with about 800 m to go I attacked and tried to bridge across to the front group. I was getting fairly close, but then at 300 m I was caught by the pack and pushed farther back in the pack than I would have liked during the sprint. I could have waited and sprinted to receive a better placing, but the gap between us and the next group would have been wider. By the time we finished it was only 6 seconds. The Italians in their team-ride break away swept the podium. There were a few riders between them and the next group which immediately proceeded us. I finished 44th at 58 seconds back, and the only Canadian junior man to finish.

This result immediately left a smile on my face, considering I  half-expected to get dropped. The real beauty of the race, however, was that I was able to compare myself with the world’s best and see the difference is not overly big. I felt comfortable and had I rode a smarter race, it is not out of the question to think I may have placed top 15 or possibly top 10. And that in itself is something to be proud of.

Aguascalientes, Mexico – Junior Worlds

Hola!

I decided that since I am in Mexico now, I will skip the Abitibi post for now and move on to what is fresher in my mind.

Ok, so my story starts off in the Edmonton airport on the 4th of August, last Saturday. The plan was to fly to Los Angeles and then continue on to Aguascalientes, Mexico, where the Junior World Championships are taking place. The flight was set to leave at 8:00 AM and would leave me with about a 4 1/2 hour wait in L.A. So, I check in, clear customs, and get on the plane. I settle in to either sleep or read, whatever came more naturally. After more than a few moments on the tarmac, we are told on the intercom that a part in the computer of the airplane is broken and that we must de-plane and wait for a new part to arrive, and then for it to be installed before we can leave. We were now destined to depart at quarter after twelve, making it a bit tricky for me to make my connection in L.A. I just went with the flow and as soon as we were on the ground, I was to the nearest person asking for directions to my gate. I had to go outside and get on a bus to transfer terminals and re-check-in. The good thing however, was that my luggage would be sent right through. As the bus stopped, I came running out to the check-in where I proceeded to wait behind a large family talking at the service counter. When it was finally my turn, I was rushed through and was sent off running again, this time to Security. I successfully made it to my gate with enough time to realize the second flight was delayed as well. Ok, no problem, I thought. There was no big rush right now. So, I boarded my final flight and was off to Mexico. Upon arrival, I went through Immagration and on towards the luggage carrousel. Here I met Danielle Kenny and Denise Ramsden, the two Junior women from Canada for the road events. They both had their luggage with an exception of Denise’s bikes, which were not to arrive that night. Here I waited for my bags and bike while the carrousel proceeded to launch luggage on to me every so often. Finally they closed up the door where the luggage was coming from and proceeded to explain our bags were not here or coming tonight. After some talking with AeroMexico and the ground crew, they explained that my bags were still in L.A and that they may show up on one of the three flights the next day. I was given a number to call and a time to call it, and then I was off. We got to our hotel, the Fiesta Americana and checked in for the night.

The next day I was able to do my first ride in Mexico. I had brought my shoes, pedals, and helmet on with my carry-on and was able to borrow clothing and a bike. The ride went well as I adapted to the area and altitude. Back at the hotel, I called a few times and the second time put the hotel in contact with AeroMexico to further arrange the arrival of my bags. I went to bed that night, again without my luggage. The next morning however, I received a call from the front desk explaining that my bags had arrived at the hotel. I was glad to ride my own bike in my own clothing as well as have a change of street clothes.

Track Worlds went well for Canada. Monique Sullivan rode to 4th in the Sprint competition, qualifying 1st, and 3rd in the Keirin final. As for the men, Matt Potma was 10th in the Individual Pursuit only a second behind Eric Smith’s national record, and Stephanne Cossette was 13th in the 1 km TT, setting a new national record on the way.

Junior Road Worlds started yesterday with the Individual Time Trial. Canada once again rode well with Danielle placing 11th and Denise 24th in the women’s events, and in the men’s, Matt placing 22nd and Guillame 42nd. I unfortunately did not get to race the ITT, but I will be fresh going into the Road Race on Sunday.

Track Nationals

Track Nationals was different this year. For one, I was only doing 3 events out of 8 as opposed to 9 of 9 last year. The events which I chose to do were the 3 km Individual Pursuit, Points Race, and 1 km Time Trial. I was only doing these because they were the least sketchy, and most important for me while considering that the Tour de l’Abitbi was only 2 days after Track Nationals finished. They also for some reason did not include the Scratch Race this year, much to my disapointment. The meet was also different this year in that it was my first track race of the season and only my third time at a track this year.

The first race was the Individual Pursuit in which, once again I would be starting last as I was the top finish from last year who was still a junior. I prepared everything and warmed up, knowing the selection time for Road Worlds (3 min 43.5 seconds) and Track Worlds (3 min 36.5 seconds). Having been selected to the Road Worlds team already, all I had to do was make the time and I would be going. The race started well. I felt good in the start gate, and when I was starting, I was able to turn over a newer and bigger gear as I would with the smaller ones. I had split times being given to me, knowing what I had to do to acheive the Track Worlds time I was shooting for. I was in the right zone with my splits until about halfway where I started to fade. My times became increasingly slower, but I fought to the finish where I rode a time of 3 min 42.4 seconds. I had made the road time, but only qualified 5th and did not make the final ride. This was hard to be too upset about as I now knew I was going to Worlds. 

 The next race was the Points race which turns me into a completely different person. I am super aggressive when riding it and am able to sprint for the points quite well. This race was another in which I was enterring as an outright favourite. It was to be 25 km or 100 laps of Bromont’s 250 m velodrome. The race began and it served to be quite different than any Points Race I have done in the past. Since every 10 laps there is a sprint for points and the first four people to cross the line receive points, there were naturlly break away attempts. Usually what happens however is that a few people in the peloton become impatient and chase, forcing the peloton into a sprint for the points. This was not the case with nationals. Every time points were up for grab, there would be a solo breakaway a quarter of the track ahead who would get the first place points and then get caught by the sprint in the pack. I managed to take points every time while remaining patient and forcing others to take up the initial chase. After one of the sprints, the pack was quite split and Cody Campbell, a friend of mine from BC, decided to attack. I did not immediately go with him as I feared this is where Quebec would do something similar to the road race. After my momentary hesitation, I realized no one would chase and attacked for myself. Stephen Meyer of Ontario was in between Cody and I and I made a quick bridge up to him. No one was able to follow my acceleration from the pack. So, Quebec still did nothing and actually imploded with one of the stronger teamates doing a suicide pull for one of the favourites from their team. Stephen and I still gained time on the pack while Cody remained the same distance ahead. Soon Cody had successfully lapped the field. This in a points race gives the person lapping the field an extra 20 points, quite a large sum. At this point, Stephen and I were between a quarter and a half of a lap from lapping the field as well. The peloton increased its pace slightly, but we were still slowly gaining on them and picking up our pace. I felt renewed after settling into the new accelerated rythym. We would not however be allowed to catch the pack and pick up 20 points ourselves as it began raining and they were to call the race after the next sprint. The sprint for first place points (Stephen and I were the first riders on the track as Cody was now in the pack. I know, Points Races can be quite confusing) was one in which I set up very well. I made sure Stephen was leading into the last lap and then with 200 or so meters to go, I hit him with a full on sprint, came around him and gapped him off the back of my wheel at the finish.

The race was then called and as if on cue, the sky opened up and it rained fairly heavily for a few breif moments. It turns out I had placed second overall in the points. If I had lapped the field, I would have won. This probably would have occurred, had we had more time or if the rain had not stopped the race at the halfway point.

Road Nationals

So this is a long overdue post, over a month in waiting. As you may or may not have known, I spent the month of July in Quebec with the Alberta Provincial cycling team. Canadian Road Cycling Nationals was the first event and took place in the Beauce region.

 I came to Road Nationals with some big goals. I was there to make selection for the Junior World Championships in Mexico and also to outright win. Mishaps occurred as well as ill timing which prevented the latter from occuring. Despite my disapointment, I was impressed with my riding in the majority of the events.

The first event was the 2o km Individual Time Trial. I was started last off the starting ramp as I was the best placed first year junior (only two years in junior) last year. The started easy as I had a great deal of time before my start allowing time for everything that needed to be done and time to relax. As I started, I felt great. I was feeling fresh and powerful and was just that. I continually increased my effort, holding an almost perfect exertion level for me. I reached the turn around and continued to pick up my pace. There was substantial descending on the way back, but I used high cadence and somewhat out of the norm technique to continue to excel past my competition. With about 2 km to go, I felt my wheel feel as if it was pulling to the inside when I was cornering and then realized when I felt a sponginess that I had a rear flat. I thought that I may have been able to ride it to the finish, but as I came into another turn at high speed, the rear wheel slid sideways through the turn as the tire was almost completely flat and I realized I had to change the tire. This wasn’t too big of a problem, because I had a follow car with spare wheels. I pulled over and proceeded to let my coach change the wheel. The problem now, was that the bike I was riding was built to optimize speed and the frame geometry with horizontal rear dropouts makes it a bit of a challenge to change the rear wheel. So I am waiting and growing more and more into a state of panic as my coach has trouble setting the wheel. Soon what I hoped to be a less than 20 second wheel change became well over a minute. When it was done I was now into panic mode and absolutely threw down the hammer in a hard effort, well above what I should have done. I got to the top of the final climb spent, and cruised into the finish line annoyed and depressed. I placed 10th in a field of 80 at about 1 min back.

 Later, the National Team coach talked with one of our team coaches. He explained that he had been taking split times throughout the race and that with 4 km to go I had 20 seconds on everyone else in the field. Despite the fact that this should have made me feel better, I became somewhat enraged. I set out in the next race, the Criterium, to prove myself.

The criterium was probably one of the less intelligent races I have done. I rode angrily and received the results of someone riding with their emotions on the outside. From the gun, I sprinted away in attack. It was a 45 km crit and for the first half of the race, I was either attacking, chasing, or trying to recover before mounting another attack. This proved to be the worst thing I could do, because I could not hold off the entire peloton by myself when there were strong teams and riders who all wanted to do well themselves. I died for the last half and then made a sort of recovery a bit before the finish placing 11th.

The next event was the Road Race in which I emplorred better tactics but this time found myself on my own against teams that were organized and had rather fast riders. I was watching a few other favourites and covering their moves early on and then started to pick up the pace. I started launching full on attacks trying to separate myself with a few others from the bunch, but every time I tried, I was marked heavily by the Quebec and BC teams who would counter my attacks in efforts I would eventually have to chase back. I stayed with the major rider I was covering throughout, a clear favourite and a strong rider from Quebec, until towards the end he countered when I had just been caught. He managed to get away with another rider from Quebec and one from BC, neither on provincial teams, but the one from Quebec quite strong. No one would chase. I spent close to 10 km on the front almost alone chasing this group and trying to attack every so often. My team was not really in a point to help me much of the race with an exception of two riders, Neal Gregory and Dustin Andrews. However, three riders against twenty plus is not a fair statistic. I rode hard and strong, somewhat on my own in comparison to the teams with organized powerful racers in abundance. At the finish I sprinted, my legs rather tired, and placed 12th. The three riders stayed off the front to fill the podium.

 A few days later, while the national championships were still taking place for the Elite categories, I was in Bromont for Track Nationals. I received a call from my coach who had been talking to the High Performance Director at the Canadian Cycling Association. They had decided to select me as one of the four junior men to compete at the World Championships in Mexico. He proceeded to explain this was conditional on making a time standard at Track Nationals, but also that they had calculated had I not flatted in the ITT, I would have won by 42 seconds.