Canadian Elite Nationals Road Race Race Report (Tour de Canada 3)

See some video thoughts here.

114km. 4 laps over a 28.5km rolling/hilly rectangularcourse.  Start line, left turnuphill, flat, left turn/right turn uphill, long side, rolling WINDY, left turn(short side) most significant climb, stiff cross wind, left turn (longbackside) uphill, crest, downhill, rolling, little pitches, sweeping left,little pitchs 2-3 km to finish, flat/slight uphill.  AWFUL pavement throughout and a 4-person/broken collar bonecrash as a result of some rut-sucking. Hot, mid-to-high 80s/30s and NO neutral feed. 

18^th place. Not too bad, but not great. Many people missed the time cut of 5% so Ithink only 40 or so got official finish times  Watch the post race interview for more details.

I had a big Team Cara support crew this weekend:  Team Cara Proxy Team Manager Dad,assistant Steve, Mom, Nanny (roommate extraordinaire), Linda, Cynthia, andKevin (and Spencer).  They dealtadmirably with my crankiness.  Yay!

The race was fast and there were several big teams.  Webcor, Aaron’s, and Cheerwine wererepresented (there were also some VanderKittens riding for Team BC).  From Canada, there were big contingenciesfrom Equipe Quebec, Team Ontario, Team BC/Giant, Team UltraLink, and severalothers who I can remember.  Alas, Iwas the only Team Vegan/Équipe Végétalienne. (Go Vegan vs. Allez Végétalienne!Hmmm…)

Attacks started right away on the first lap.  Anne Samplonius was representing Quebecand several EQ women launched some attacks early on.  On the climb on the short side, Aarons (I think) initiatedsomething.  I was in a good spotand responded well and made the selection.  We got brought back pretty quickly on the downhill backside. Fine.  On the second lap Imade a mistake and went to the back (to get away from some sketchiness—actuallythere was much sketchiness) at a very bad time.  Samplonius attacked, Wrubleski, Hobson, and Gomez were onher and that break moved very fast. 18 or so got away.  I wasquite bummed that I was so dumb there. Over the next lap we worked (well, some of us worked and many others gotin the way) and picked up remnants from that group.  Much disorganization and we kept loosing time.  I tried a lame-ish attack with Meganfrom HR Block (mostly just to pick up the pace), but nothing happened.  The last lap I went to the front WAY toearly (5km to go) and was an idiot in the sprint.  Still pulled out a 5^th in the group, will AllisonTestroete from Aaron’s winning the group. Predictable on the podium were Alex Wrubleski, Leigh Hobson (riding aloaner bike at the last minute), and Felicia Gomez.  The NRC is well represented at Canadian Nats!

After some pep talks from Coach Damon and TCTM Jeff, I feelbetter about my result.  Hopefullyit will be on the same course next year and, with my improved pop and brain,I’ll be able to respond better.

Super-Fantastique!!