Capital City Criterium

Sunday, following the OBC Grand Prix, Matt Hansen and I did the Capital City Criterium, also in Ottawa. We figured that having made the drive out to Ottawa we may as well do as much racing as possible. It is too bad that more people didn’t feel this way as the race was poorly attended in comparison with Saturday in the Gatineau Parc; there is already a dearth of racing and every race on the calendar needs to be supported.

Having said that, I can’t say that I was feeling too much like racing on Sunday, I could definitely feel the effort in my legs from the day before. Not feeling like racing I just sat at the back, pretty much last wheel, the whole race. Some people talk of the slingshot effect at the back but if you’re smooth in the corners you can ride comfortably. Each corner I would let the group get a small gap, enough so that as everyone braked I would sweep through the corner without slowing down and be back on the wheel. In this way I was able to avoid the braking and accelerating that was going on ahead of me. Even better was that I didn’t have to fight for the wheel all the time.

As the race progressed Espoir Laval, who had several riders in the race, controlled things quite well. I soon figured that there was no point in trying anything until everyone was fairly tired and therefore unable to mount a decent chase. With 25 minutes or so to race Glen Rendall, Bill Hurley and another rider made a nice attack. For a while I was a little worried but with the aggression and tempo still high in the group I decided to wait. It was with 15 minutes left that Matt bridged across to the group but to no avail as they were swept up a lap or two later.

At this point I moved to the front and just as the hour was winding out made my attack. I needed a big gap right off the bat in order to discourage any chase; I timed my attack so that I was accelerating as the field was sitting up on catching a rider who had surged ahead. There was one rider that was close enough to perhaps bridge, but with only five laps left I didn’t want any company. Finishing solo is the only way to assure yourself the victory, so I kept the pressure on to ensure that he wouldn’t get across to me. With a 12 second gap it was just a matter of holding the pace in the hope that there would be no huge surges behind. Crossing the line alone is a great feeling, you have won and can savour every moment.

Throughout the race I was feeling guilty that Kevin, Sheri and my sister had come to watch and I was doing nothing to entertain them. Luckily things turned out well and they were all excited at the manner in which I had won the race, having figured that that was my strategy as I relaxed in the draft all race long. Even funnier was the comment from a couple of riders that they were wondering what had happened to me in the race as they hadn’t seen me. SURPRISE!!