Good Friday

Time to take a short break from studying to catch up on the last couple weeks of racing here.

First, the season opener Good Friday RR. This year was unseasonably hot and sunny, and saw a huge number of participants. The day began with the huge S4/M3 field and a number of crashes - some more serious than others. One fellow was still in the hospital as of the last news article, and we're all hoping he comes out ok.

This, I think, set the tone for our S3/Junior field and everyone seemed to be racing safely. Unfortunately, with the delayed start and generally busy start area I was at the back of the staging area. I was in the wind and fighting my way up from the start as a result. The heat was also getting to my stomach, at 28° and humid. As such, when we hit the hills the first time I promptly went backwards, and by the 3rd one turing on to Safari road, I was losing contact.

From there, I looked for other dropped riders to chase with but nobody would cooperate. Finally, toward the beginning of lap 2 I worked with a junior to get up to Rob Wilson of SRS and Jay Menard. The 4 of us rotated nicely until the junior fell off, and we continued to paceline the rest of the lap, losing Rob somewhere near the end of Brock Rd. With just Jay and I coming through the start, cramping all around, we decided that was enough and pulled out. It was simply a bad day on the bike, and my stomach was the main factor.

Next up on my racing schedule is the Tour of Bronte.