blue squirrel

after a self-imposed 20 year absence from cycling, the sport i love, i am back and dedicated to holding my own in the superfast 40+ catagory. this blog will tell the journey, the highs and the lows, the team [team becher+] and it's cast of characters, our sponsors, supporters, and other local riders that make it happen... [anonymous comments are lame, cowboy up and put a name or start a blog]

Monday, March 01, 2010

ONTARIO 1

[wes nielson, aka capt'n: ontario race report]




Yesterday I contended in 2 races at Ontario, 30+ 4/5 and the 4/5. Both races were pretty uneventful. So I’ll start with the excuses. I have been pretty sick for the past 3 days leading up to the races, and have just returned from a vacation that had nothing to do with cycling and everything to do with eating and drinking.

In the 30+ 4/5 race I stayed in front for the majority of the race but my legs felt so sluggish and cob-webbed from not riding for a few days. With 2 to go I was sitting about 20th and knew it was now or never so I jumped outside the group to make a move to the front 10. Just as I did so the group slowed down and I slang-shot right to the front of the pack. “Fuck” I was thinking I was in no position to pull the group this late in the race but had no choice and figured it was a training race so I put my head down and drilled it on the false flat leading into the last 2 turns of the 7 turn course. After my pull I sat up when the surge came around me and latched onto the back of the group. I made one more move to the front during the last lap but again realized my legs and burning lungs from my cold were not going to allow me to contest the sprint so I just sat in and coasted in at the back of the pack. No biggie and really not a bad race for my first race of the season and feeling like complete shit.

Race 2 the 4/5 race I was accompanied by John. We had a good warm up and I could tell my legs were going to feel way better this race. At the gun I took off to take a short pull to wake my legs up (my signature move) and noticed I gaped the field. So I sat up and took 7th wheel or so. John and I were in contact for the majority of the race only to be separated every now and than but always finding each other again. My legs felt a lot better and therefore was able to race way more aggressive. I took a couple of pulls and maintained a position in the top 10 for most of the race except when I go boxed in and shuffled to the back from a surge that came up the side. When this happened John and I simply sat in the back for a lap while we coasted and recovered. With 4 to go I told John we need to get to the front. So I booked it and got in the top 20 and then jumped again 2 turns later in the head wind section to go to top 10. “Perfect” I am thinking sitting 10th wheel with 3 to go all I have to do is hold position and go with any surge that comes around. With one to go I was still in position and thats when it happened, some asshole crossed 3 lanes to chop my wheel in turn 5 causing me to have no other choice but to brake and loose 20 positions. At this point I had absolutely no momentum so I simply sat up and cruised in with the back of the pack. I was pissed and call the mother F’r out. I went looking for him on the warm down lap. I didn’t find him but found 2 of his teammates (SDBC) and asked if they were the ones I yelled at, they said no, I told them the story and they admitted they were sure they knew who it was. I told them tell him to cut that shit out and learn how to race safe or next time Ill put my bike up his ass.

Anyways, first two are done and although they are not the results I shot for I am happy with my second race. I was in good position the whole race and had the legs and lungs to finish top ten if it wasn’t for that SDBC shit head. Oh well that’s racing as much as I would hate to admit it.

John had a great race and was riding real strong. He pulled the group with me on his wheel with 3 to go which kept us in perfect position. Ill let him tell his story though. Sorry for the shitty and long race report my cold is still causing me to feel spacey in the head. Oh and sorry for the shitty results, at least in the first race I never crossed the finish line so they wouldn’t log me a 60th place! haha.

I’ll be at Long Beach next week and hopefully redeem myself.

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