OBC Grand Prix

This past weekend, Josh "Jibber" Hall and I headed up to the Nations capitol for a 2 day, 3 event mini stage race. The stagers were a 125k road race in Gatineau Park, just across the river from Ottawa, followed by a 4.7k time trial later that night, and wrapped up Sunday with a tight 6 corner crit, with the overall standings being decided on points.

Looking at the start list of riders, and teams, Josh and I knew we had some work to do, with the VW and Gypco teams out of Quebec with 5-6 riders each, along with the usual suspects. Off the line, 6 riders went clear and that would end up shaping the top 3 on the stage 3.5 hours later. 3 riders were shed from the break the last time up the not so steep 3k climb. Josh and I raced very aggressive, spending all day trying to get a move away to get up to the leaders, and nothing was working, even with the 3 leaders less than 40 seconds on the last lap. It ended up being a sprint to the line for 4th, with Josh getting 6th. I tried to get up there, but I'll have to admit, I raced like a junior, and left it all on the road, and didn't have the gas to sprint up to the finish, rolling in 15th. That was a mistake that would come back to kick me in the pants a little later.

After a nice lunch in Old Chelsea, it was soon time to pin the numbers on the skin suit for the time trial. As many of you know, I'm not known to be a threat in a time trial. So I talked to my friend Garnett Abby who is a well known Master, and after a few pointers, and a “once over” on my TT position, I was ready to roll. Darko Ficko steam rolled in for 1st place with a time of 5:18.7, Greg Rein of Ottawa was the 2nd fastest with a 5:25.4, and Heath Cockburn edged me one spot off the podium by one tenth of a second, riding a 5:26.5, over my 5:26.6, gotta love chip timing. I should have shaved my mammoth arms that would have been good for that 3rd place!

The General classification now was still a little shuffled up, as there were riders that didn't do the time trial, but got bonus points in the road race, to still be ahead of me. Greg Rein held the lead and Darko Ficko in 2nd. I figured I could take overall with a win on the stage, so that's what I was going for. Darko and Greg Rein were both in the mix, but both were missing most of the important moves. After an hour of small breaks getting away and coming back, one Espoir Laval and a VW rider got away, with a about 20-25 seconds with 5 laps to go, Heath Cockburn, Darkos teammate from the LaBiciletta team went to the front with an impressive 4 lap time trial at towing the whole field around, and brought the break back on the last lap, and it was now time to set up for a field sprint. VW's Alex Lavelle and Martin Gilbert took the bull by the horns and started the lead out for Kevin Lacombe, their top rider overall at 7th place, I was able to slam in on Sébastien Moquin of the Gypco team, who was on Kevin's wheel. Coming into the last corner, Lavelle blew off letting Gilbert deliver Lacombe to the line, and as he did this, he swerved rather hard, and forced me to the outside of the corner, taking the longest route to the finish line, I came out of the corner 15 feet behind the 3 riders, and was only able to catch Gilbert. Moquin took the stage over Lacombe, with myself rolling in for 3rd. Josh ended up 7th on the stage, and worked like a champ for me all day.

It was a good weekend, looking back, had I not fired all my bullets like a young cowboy in the road race, and actually placed in the top 10 or better, my good TT and crit would have given me the top spot overall, but I have settle for 3rd and it was a lesson learned.

Overall after 3 events

1st - Greg Rein - Stevens Racing
2nd - Darko Ficko - La Bicicletta
3rd - Buck Miller - Jet Fuel Coffee Connected by Sympatico/MSN