Monday, April 26, 2010

O-Cup #1 Mansfield Ont.

The Ontario Cup Mountain Bike circuit is never short on some guys with some serious horsepower on the start line. Today the field included, but definitely was not limited to, my two teammates A.Morka and P.Glassford ( who are both riding super strong this season), Raph Gagne( Quebec's top Mountain biker and one fast dude), Cam Jette ( who also is riding really strong this season), then you have other strong men like M. Garrigan or Ryan Atkins who both could be a serious threat at the front.

The course was one of the best I have ever raced at Mansfield, it was fast and had great flow. The weather looked like rain but nobody actually got wet... We (Trek Canada) controlled the race right from the start with Adam taking a good pull on the first lap, weaning our group down to 7 racers. On the 2nd and 3rd lap I did the work at the front, trying to keep a good pace and our speed high. On the 4th lap Peter went to the front and like the tempo monster he is put in a very solid effort. Just after the longer climb starting the 5th lap I went back to the front and put in a bit of an attach with only Raphael staying with me. We jammed hard and had many people to pass. On one of the last pieces of singletrack I has a little washout from a sandy corner and Raph snuck by me. I Knew that in the last 1.5km of the course that If I was going to win, I needed to be infront. I chased super hard but Raph was attaching me with full force! Coming into the last bit on the course is where it is won here, Raph was out front and I tried to get back, but I was pretty gassed. I Finished 2nd only a few seconds behind him, with Peter taking 3rd not far back from me. Cam had a solid day finishing 4th and Adam rolling in 5th (note: on the drive home from sea otter, adam got food poisoning from an apparent fast food chain with a "Jared" spokesperson). So all in all it was a good day out for sure, not quite the World Cup that was in England, but still a pretty fun day of racing!

1 comment:

Ian said...

Good job man, keep pushing it!