Canadian Elite Nationals Race Report

Time Trial
20km hilly, then not hilly, some cornering, out and back
TCTMC/J flew out my TT bike and was very awesome while in Quebec.  I rode the course twice the day before the race.  This was good because it was a pretty hilly course and it was good to know that a) I could hit all the climbs in my big ring (54-27, but only a 12 on the small side) and b) could take many of the corners (except one of them) hot.  It started to rain during the TT.  Ugh.  Although I was used to the rain by now.  I quickly realized that I had made a major miscalculation when practicing the course:  since it’s an out and back, the corners were all coned.  Ugh.  So much for my perfect lines.  The climbs felt great, but I had some major focus lapses on the flats and my corners sucked.  I came in 9th.  4-9th were all within 25 seconds, so I was extra bummed.  My PEI teammate Tara won by a landslide.  Anne Samplonius pull off an amazing save when her brakes failed going into a sharp corner after a 2km descent. 
Wow.




Road Race
Hilly 47.5km loop, 135km total
It’s been a while, so I’m foggy now.  Erinne W went super early.  Anne S was attacking every 10 seconds (or so it seemed) I got up the road a few times but was very passive on the last lap.  The course was mostly the same as last year, but there were some extra kms added that contained a good super-orbital.  I rode much smarter and made all the splits.  Coming into the final few kms I was in a great spot but, alas, am still growing sprinter balls and got really tentative when there was typical filed sprint chaos (lots of bumping and an unfortunate unclipping/swinging across the road with 200m to go).  I ended up 12th.  Sigh.  I think the only was I could have done better was to go with about 4km to go and hope for the best or be WAY for aggressive in the sprint.  I have a bike modification coming up which should help with that