Nature Valley GP Stage 4

Today was really freaking hard. I don't think anyone was anticipating such a hard day. The circuit was a lot easier than in stage 2, a small hill, with a good kick over the top, but nothing crazy. When you add in 80k of gutter and cross winds, blowing at a measly 60kph and two gravel sections, that little hill on the finishing circuit feels like it never ends.

Off the gun, the race was really slow. For the first 20k or so we averaged about 24kph. The peloton was joking around, laughing at how no one wanted to race; Jelly Belly and Health Net had other plans. The pack made a right turn onto a rolling, wide open road, with gusting winds that were throwing riders all over the place, and Jelly Belly and Health Net threw down, in minutes the pack was blown into 6 groups, some getting minutes over others. I found myself in the 2nd group, Pozzy in the 3rd. After being positioned like a junior in the 2nd group, at the back, I quickly found myself alone, in no-mans land. I was soon joined by fellow Canuck Dustin McBurnie (which I didn't know until I saw his maple leaf socks.) Him and I hammered for what seemed like forever, and finally threw in the towel and sat up waiting for the 3rd group to catch us. We were in good company however, after a while, we ended up with 3 Navigators, and 2 or 3 other riders from almost every big team in the race. It wasn't until the last hour of the 4 hour and 10 minute race that we caught the front group, but by that time, the winning break of Gord Fraser, Carl Menzies and Danny Pate already had 1 minute. Our group was only 25 guys or so, the rest got pulled before they came into the circuits, to prevent timing errors that happened on stage 2.

The heat, distance, and winds wore on all of us, and in the last few laps, the "pack" blew apart again, and again, with many groups of ones and twos. The results aren't up yet, and I'm not sure where I finished, I'm guessing top 20, maybe top 15, but my oh my, it was a hard day. Hats off to Gord Fraser, Carl Menzies and Danny Pate, they were at the front all day, Gord ended up waxing them for the win. I tried to get away many times, and finally did on the last lap, with 2 other riders.

So after the crazy crit last night, I was sitting 12th on GC, I may have snuck into the top ten, but there's also a chance I lost a few positions. I'll have to wait until tomorrow morning to find out.

You know, today, at the start, I felt like garbage. I wasn't sure weather or not to come to this race as I got sick the day after the Ras ended, and with 2 days of traveling while sick, and only 5 days at home before I had to drive here, I wasn't too keen (or good, example Welland crit.) This week has been full of ups and downs. Like in the TT, I had some weird leg nerve problem, then stage 2 road race, I had wings. Stage 3, I though I was going to die. Stage 4, I got dropped from the dropped group, and somehow managed to claw back, dig so deep I didn't know my own name, and manage to put in a solid ride on the hardest day yet. I'll never understand how the body works, but in the end I'm glad I came. I seem to be able to suffer at a high level right now. All I have to do now is dig deep, and empty the tank in tomorrow’s crit that's famous for turning GC upside down.