Form...is that you?

It's been a while, but it looks like the form is finally back. I half-joked with the guys that I was feeling it coming around a couple weeks ago at the "Louis Garneau Montreal-Quebec" race, and that it was only going to get better for the San Francisco G. I hope I'm right.

The thing is, in my current situation, training is often times hit-and-miss. Riding needs to be fit in around working hours, and this sometimes includes jumping out of the car, straping on the shoes, putting wheels on the bike, rushing to the start-line, and going nuts in whatever weekday local race I hapen to stumble across or sniff-out in my travels (more often than not this is a MTB race). To me it seems as if 90% of my time in the saddle seems to be going full-tilt.

This weekend gone by was no excetion.

On Saturday, at another one of these non-Jetfuel oriented events, I once again found myself lining up against a horde of mountain bike riders at the "Hot August Nights 24 Hour Race". The goal here was to have some fun, ride off a coule of fast laps, and show some folks just how much of a rocket my latest full-susension MTB really is. Things went well - rode the first lap (about 50min's) steady coming through in first place, and then went full-out for the second lap (46:30), taking the fastest-lap cometition for the weekend (plus, our team also won the HIGHLY coveted "best campsite" award). You would think my legs would be kinda cracked after this...but it turns out that this preparation wasn't too bad at all...

After a stressful late-Saturday evening drive home in the rain with seized windshield wipers, it was nice to just hop in the car for Sunday's "Conestoga Road Race" and only drive 10 minutes from my front door to the start location. Yup, talk about home-field advantage - over the years I have ridden these roads countless times. They are tough roads though...an excellent 10km loop over rolling hills with lots of wind. As the only Jetfuel rider in the race, I knew I had to be in every move that looked well represented by the other strong teams. After about 30km and lots of attacks I could see yet another dangerous group going away. So with a quick dive through the last corner on the loop, and a hard acceleration to get up to the other three guys, we started to roll. A minute or so later, only one other guy made it across to us, and that completed our group of 5 that would hold the remainder of the field off for the rest of the day. Thankfully we worked well together - but that also meant that everyone was feeling good about their chances for the end of the race.

Now, for the next two hours as the calculator in my head computed many different scenarios and possibilities, I thought about just how I was going to win this thing. Everyone in the group was strong, and I certainly didn't want to trust things to a 5-up group sprint. So, with 15km to go I started to put in the attacks. Everyone responded to a 90% effort on the main climb, so I waited until the last lap to give 'er again. This time it took three separate trys, but finally only Greg Roth dug deep to get up to me. We only rolled for about 1.5 km together with a 10 second gap over the others before I hit it again at the base of the main climb with 5 km to go. Over the top I was alone, and the gap looked to be about 10 seconds, so with a long, rolling headwind section leading into the finish, I knew I just had to keep it pinned. It was UGLY. I managed to stay away, pounding up the last finishing climb, all the while dodging some of the local mennonites in their horse-and-buggy's. I had just enough time to sit up while crossing the line, and when I did I got to see lots of my local cycling buddies and even my old-man cheering me on in my hometown win. Good times.

So indeed, after a long spring and summer, it looks like the form is coming back. Let's hope it stays around for Labour Day weekend, when we hit the streets of San Francisco again.

Results

1. Josh Hall (Jet Fuel Coffee/MSN Sympatico) RS1 2:53:00
2. Jeff Schiller (Gears Racing.Com) RS1 2:53:05
3. Damian Kurzawinski (Midweek Cycling Club) RS2E 2:53:10
4. Heath Cockburn (La Bicicletta - J Lindeberg) RS1 2:53:17
5. Greg Roth (Italasta - Transport Belmire) RS1 2:53:32
6. Darko Ficko (La Bicicletta - J Lindeberg) RS1 2:54:58
7. Michael Moore (Gearsracing.Com) RS1
8. Jason Valenti (Coach Chris.Ca / All Season Sorts) RS1
9. Nathan Chown (Italasta - Transport Belmire) RS1
10. Benjamin Jamesson (USA (0060360)) RS2