Hot Hot Hot!

Whew, yesterday we did the first race of the year - at least for those of us stuck in the far north - in what can truly be called summer-like weather, 30C and sunny. In other words we were baking on the hot asphalt as we raced the Rose Festival Criterium in Welland.

Off the gun we were riding hard and all through the day breaks were coming and going as guys made efforts, faded and then surged again for another try at the win. A big problem in the heat was recovering from big efforts, you needed to make sure that you didn't overextend yourself and blow the legs; there were a few guys out there with some mighty red faces.

Somewhere at the mid-point - the race was 90 minutes long - Tim and Josh made it into a break of 8 or so guys. Ital had Jeff Hansen in there and Gears had Ryan Roth, so all the 'teams' were well represented. For a while it looked like it was going to be the move of the day, in fact I thought they were going to lap us. But then Heath Cockburn of LaBicicletta and Bruce Krip from Midweek put themselves on the front and kept the break within 30 seconds. That was close enough for someone to bridge across.

One of the tough things about racing in Ontario is that I'm heavily marked. That means that to get away cleanly I need to wait for the right opportunity to present itself. And it did when a prime was called that everyone in the pack sprinted for, leaving them a bit tired and open to a counter attack. I bridged to the break, which seemed to be coming apart with riders spread over the road.

Attack followed attack and at one point when I was away with Ryan Roth I was feeling pretty close to succumbing to heat stroke with chills running up and down my arms. We were caught by the break, thankfully, after Jeff and Dan from Ital put in a good chase, but that left them tired for the finale. In the last 4 laps,countering one of Jeff's moves, I was able to get away solo, the best way as you know that if you can get to the line you've won the race.

At 2 to go it looked like I was cleanly away for the win with a good 10 second lead on the chase. I was surprised then when with 1 to go I looked back to see Ryan leading the chase and coming on strongly having closed the gap substantially, oh oh. For the last lap I put my head down and hoped that the guys wouldn't be able to hold the pace. Luckily, that was the case and I had ample time to throw the hands in a victory salute. That makes two wins for the year and another race in which Jet Fuel Coffee put two guys on the podium with Tim finishing in third.

I did hear that Thorben from the Pavan team, who ended up second, totally hung it out in the last corner. Josh said that he figured it was 50/50 that Thorben would crash as they came through the corner, guess he didn't. All in all it was another great race in Ontario with lots of attacking and aggression, the way it should always be. We can take a lesson from the never say die attitude of the Belgian's - the race ain't over 'till you cross the line.