Bike Alberta 10

I am nearing the end of the first part of my stay here in France as my focus intensifies on the Canadian National Road Cycling Championships in St. George-de-Beauce, Quebec. Lately I have had the time for some specific training directed at the National Championships and I feel both my form and confidence building to where I want them to be. This past week also marked my return to racing after two weeks of structured training.

The week was a rather tame one leading up to the race on Sunday. Bartosz was at the five day Tour du Nivernais Morvan leaving the house quiet. Gone were the strange events of the week before such as encountering herds of cattle on the road going both the same and opposite direction as me while I trained. This tranquility felt refreshing, however, and made sure I was well rested leading up to the weekend.

Sunday’s race was another 2-3-junior race rather close by, but featured a unique course with a circuit and a climb of both substantial length and grade. Of the 7 km loop, the hill covered 2 km with grades of up to 10 %. Creusot was represented by a mere 4 riders as most of the young riders were preparing for their final examinations (in France’s equivalent of High School and I believe further levels of education as well). We lined up to total 70 racers at the line and were soon off. In the first lap I led the pack up the climb wanting to both test my legs and see where everyone else was at. It felt great and I looked in my mind to stand as one of the strongest. I made sure I held a good position throughout the race and kept a close eye on the favourites I knew from previous races. After about a third of the race, I began to feel increasingly more uncomfortable. In my preparation for the race I had miscalculated the time and ate too close to the start. A substantial break rolled off the front at this point, though with no favourites in it and two teammates there, I decided to let it go. When the break started to gain ground quickly, the peloton opened its eyes and people either attempted to bridge or put in an effort to chase. In response to a bridge effort, I attacked and put in a large effort to bring back the riders. The effort brought me close to vomiting as I have in the past, but this time it was the food encouraging it. I was left with stomach acid in the throat and the chase was put on hold. The race continued and the bridge efforts made contact with the lead break, bringing the group to about 20. The gap grew substantially with no-one in the peloton wanting to chase their teammates down. During this time I witnessed a fight between two riders I know. I am not sure of the preceding incident, but one threw his bottle at another and in response the other elbowed the instigator while we were descending. It was interesting to watch as after the incident, riders of each team would chase each other down to prove a point. As the race entered the latter portion, I found myself with lots of energy and becoming frustrated with the increasingly tame race. So, on the approach to the start/finish one lap, I noticed the wave of a flag marking a prime, and took off. I set a tying or new record in maximum power in the following sprint and took the prime winning 5 euros! After this effort, the race grew even tamer, to the point of boredom. When we started riding 30 km/h and my heart rate was less than 150 beats per minute, I knew I had to do something as it was ridiculous. At this point we were over 5 minutes behind the breakaway and nobody in the peloton was taking the race seriously. I knew I needed and wanted more effort at least for training, constantly with the National Championships in the back of my mind. So I went to the front and brought the pace up to a reasonable speed. I spent the entire last lap pulling with a friend of mine from SCO Dijon. When it came to the final hill, I put in a big effort and intentionally or unintentionally separated myself and three others from the pack. I held this right to the line where I was caught in the sprint.

This upcoming weekend will be my last race in France before I return to Quebec for the National Championships. I am travelling to the Dordonge region in the Southwest for the Tour de Cantons de Mareuil et Verteillac. It is a Federale Espoir stage race and will prove to be fast with many big teams attending. Teams of note are USA National Espoirs, Vendee U (Bouygues Telecom feeder team), Vienne Agritrubel (Agritrubel feeder team) as well as many other top ranked French amateur teams. It will prove to exciting and challenging.

Bike Alberta #9

It has been two weeks now since my last race. The Tour du Beaujolais saw higher level teams turn out for three road stages on roads that wound and climbed through the famous vineyards. The first stage on Saturday started in Villefranche-sur-Saone and after winding up and down the countryside, finished in Villie-Morgon. The race did a neutral start loop through downtown Villefranche that was spectacular and hilarious as riders would crash attempting to ride the wet cobbled sidewalk to gain a more favourable position. The “depart reel” occurred once we left the city and for the first half of the race, a strong tail/crosswind made the race fast and hard. It felt as if the peloton was on the verge of a split many times, but I was able to hold tight to the wheels in front and close all necessary gaps. The wind settled as we rode up the first GPM and my teammates Yanick and Anthony went in a move. They came back after maybe a kilometre, so I launched a counter-attack. I got clear with a few other guys, but the peloton started charging and I soon found myself dangling off the back. As we neared the top, I put in what seemed like a monumental effort to bridge the gap to the next group and was successful. Descending, we watched the peloton so close in front of us, maybe 10-15 seconds, but never managed to get across. I felt strong in the group and over the next two GPMs, helped to blow apart the group. Once again feeling the strongest on the flats, I dropped the group on the small climb to the finish line, albeit, a ways back from the leader.

Sunday held two road stages, a 55 km circuit race in the morning, and a climber’s delight of an afternoon road stage. In the morning, rain started as we made our way up and down the climb on the ~10 km circuit. The course proved more technically challenging than physically with a long, winding descent as well as cobbled sections and corners through old medieval towns. The only breakaway to get away came back quickly as the peloton rode by them scattered all over the wet cobblestones adjacent to a brasserie. This left the race demanding, yet kept everyone together for the most part. My teammate Lionel Joblot made it off the front in a solo effort (he was 14 minutes back in the first stage) after a failed group breakaway attempt and stayed away to the finish. He was 15 seconds ahead of the peloton (where I finished with the rest of the team) and was the only one to get away. It was his second victory of the season after a similar styled win in a crit.

It kept raining into the afternoon as we readied for the hardest stage. It started with a minor climb and I rode with seeming ease at the front as we descended and conquered more minor climbs. At kilometre 10, the invisible curtain dropped as we headed up a 7 km col. I slid back at about the half-way point where it seemed to hit me. At the top, I was in a group behind the shrinking peloton and once again in a position to aid the chase. The group grew as we caught more riders, but that was short-lived as the group separated on the steep second GPM. There were now maybe six of us pushing a decent pace up and down the never-ending hills. We caught a few more riders before the final climb to the line, where the group separated once again. At the finish I was surprised to see how many riders had abandoned due to the toughness of the stage. I finished much better than I had thought. Overall, the race forced exactly half of the field at the start of the first stage to abandon or finish behind time limits. The team itself did well with a stage win and 11^th overall for Emilien Broe, and 3^rd overall in team GC. It was comical to see Emilien trying to carry all the boxes for the 36 bottles of wine he won for kilometre 69 (department number prime).

After the Tour du Beaujolais, I expected to ride the Tour de Pays de Savoie, but the team list had been sent to the organizers and I was left without a race. While the concept of not racing on the weekend seemed confusing, it actually proved as a good opportunity to do some structured training. The highlight of the weekend was four hours in the light rain (which was more refreshing than anything) and riding up Mt. Saint Vincent, among other climbs, which offered a great view looking down on the clouds. This next weekend will be another without a race (Wow, scary) as it is the regional championships, which I cannot compete in, all over France.

Bike Alberta #8

This past weekend was planned as a selection for upcoming races. Therefore close to the entire Cat. 1 & 2 squad was at the start line on Saturday’s race in Dommartin. The teams were to be selected based roughly on the race for the Tour de Cote D’Or, Tour du Beaujolais and Tour de Pays de Savoie. I was hoping for a good performance to make the selection for the latter two. The team for the Tour du Beaujolais would be made up of 3 Cat. 1 riders and 3 Cat. 2 riders. This made it important for me to be one of the top Cat. 2 riders representing Creusot. The team for the Pays de Savoie would be harder to make as only the top 5 espoirs on Creusot would be able to race.

Dommartin is a small town in the South-East corner of the Saone et Loire. It is on the Bresse plain which despite having a reputation of being completely flat, still possesses hills which will be found for a race. On the drive to the course, the sky opened up and it rained quite heavily, but it let up as we neared Dommartin. After signing in, it was a scramble to find shelter as the storm moved in. The team changed in the dry warmth of various vehicles, which served us well as at one point it was raining exceptionally hard. As the start time neared, the rain slowed to a drizzle, and I went out to warm up. The race was a circuit race with 14 laps of a 9 km course. The terrain was a little hilly, but there was nothing serious.

As I came back to the van, we gathered for race instructions from Steve (our Director Sportif). We had the largest numbers of any team at the race and the field was rather small at around 65, so we were instructed simply to dominate the race. There were sprint points each time across the finish line which we were to take and it was expected that someone on the team win the race. Personal instructions to me were to be active and aggressive. With everyone knowing what to do, we lined up to race.
The race started and I immediately began to work my way to the front. It seemed easier than normal and I quickly arrived with many teammates around me. It was still raining and the roads felt a little sketchy. I decided to go off the front to test my legs and avoid any early-race mishaps on the wet roads. As I thought this, a few of my teammates went in a move and I lay just out of range to bridge without pulling the peloton. So I waited for someone else to jump and I would be the good teammate to hop on the wheel and I either prevent them from getting across, or better yet, let them tow me across. The gap was at a mere 10 seconds when sure enough, the rider I am following jumps. I am immediately on his wheel and he half-turns his head to see this. Seeing me, he puts on his brakes. Now, I don’t know if this slipped his mind at the time, but a rider accelerating right behind you probably won’t respond well if you slow down drastically. So, without time to react (or my brakes didn’t engage quickly due to the rain) I rode into his wheel at a speed and angle to launch me off my bike. I landed on my head/face and then rolled before having someone ride over my face. When I got up, the pack had passed and I was fairly delirious. I was dizzy and had a hard time standing up without falling over. My team saw this and helped me into the broom-wagon which took me to the fire station, the only first-aid equipped people around. They cleaned me up some, but did not know what else to do, so they waited for my team car to pick me up. After some time my dizziness went away, but it was replaced with a headache that progressed through the afternoon and evening. It was hard to watch my teammates race while I sat to the side. In the end, it was Cyril Lecler of Creusot who won in a breakaway of 20. We were well represented in the escape with 4 riders, the next best at the finish being Bartosz, my roommate, in 6th.

After the race I spent a few days taking it easy as the headache continued for a few more days. I was notified during the week that I would be racing the Tour du Beaujolais and was a replacement for the Pays de Savoie. I am recovered from the crash now and hope for a good-showing in the Beaujolais this weekend to bump me onto the team for Savoie.