Tour of Bronte

After my poor ride at Good Friday, I wanted to get back on track, but training these days is limited due to school commitments. As such it was some club rides with the SCCC and a couple tune-up rides the week before to get ready for the the Tour of Bronte the following Sunday.

Going into this race I was much more optimistic. Cooler temperatures with equally nice weather made for a comfortable body, and the course couldn't suit me better: nearly pancake flat with 70% on dirt/gravel roads. The plan was to drive the race from the front and see what happens - a break would be favourable since I don't feel I have much of a sprint these days.

The rollout was calm, and for a minute it seemed as if the pack would take things gently for awhile but before we hit dirt the first time Tyler Holtzman of SCCC attacked, feeling out the pack no doubt. It was quickly shut down, and hitting the gravel it was Speed River's duo of Tim and Bayden to the front. Bayden got off solo for a few km, but this move too was shut down. From there we had a more relaxed couple of laps with some hard accelerations to keep people on their toes. I maintained a position in the top 5-10 finding it safer to navigate the loose corners there, and allowing me to follow or chase attacks if needed.

Coming around the start/finish I saw that I'd lost my teammate Shaw, who was now riding off the back. I later found out he went in the ditch on the first gravel corner, as many others did throughout the day. Realizing I was alone I knew I had to watch for the decisive attack and follow it.

The intermediate laps saw pairs getting away occasionally, but they were quickly reeled in. The Speed River boys would put one off the front and counter when caught. Very smart - that's how you drive a race. Catching up with my buddy Tim (MBRC.org - Gears) I knew he was good for a hard effort so I followed him off the front a couple times but we never really got clear. Still too early.

With 2 to go Tyler and Max put in a big SCCC attack, and Tim (SRCC) was the only one to follow. I knew this was a good move so I gave it everything to bridge. This was probably the nail in my coffin for the day, but it was my only hope. I was able to pull through a couple times but was clearly the weak link in this break and we'd eventually be caught since Tim was also not working 100% given the 2 on 1 situation.

It was on the bell lap that Tyler made the decisive move and again Tim followed. All we could do was chase from there - first Mark Palma (Sweet Petes) and I, then lapdogs on the front. With Tim in the break, Bayden interrupted our rotation in the chase, so Mark tried to go for it. I couldn't follow but a Handlebars CC rider did go with him so it was 2 groups of 2 up the road and the rest of us chasing. We closed down the gap nicely but ran out of road as this was the final lap - Mark and the Hbars rider would be caught about 1k out and the Tyler/Tim move stayed clear by 3 seconds at the line. I got interrupted by a rider who sat up after their pull in the leadout, and thus rolled in at the back of the pack - such is life.

I was happy to take this race from the front and ultimately I didn't pick my moves well - too many too early, and I wasn't there when it mattered. If the composition of the second last break was a little different it might have stuck, but we really needed another strong rider in there and me to be taking stronger pulls. Good experience racing from the front of a strong pack, and learning when to follow and when to sit in.

Look for photos at www.cyclingphotos.ca in the next days, as I know Mr. Safka was out there shooting.

edit: here is one of a couple that he sent me

I'll probably be taking a break from the road for now, focussing on mtb for the summer, but I am going to work a few crits into the schedule later on.

For now, back to studying and punching out these last few projects so I can actually start training again in a week or so.