Sunday was the big day for the Team Jetfuel/Norco taking part in the UCI road race event of the BC Superweek series. It is arguably the most important race of the week. I mean crits are fun and a great show, road races are where it’s at for any inspiring Pro cyclist. The course was 11km relatively flat course with about a dozen corners on small tight residential roads. It resembled a giant crit course but triple in distance (150km) – right up my alley!
The day was going on track, with us blasting pump up beats on the way down in our beautiful van and feeling energetic. We set up our Jetfuel and Norco tents and started kitting up with 30 min left to race. That’s when the disaster strikes for me and I get a near heart attack! It’s very embarrassing to admit, but I pulled a Cadet move and managed to pack everything but my SHOES! Next half an hour was spent frantically searching for spare shoes from all of the teams in a parking lot. Luckily, I managed to secure a pair size to small with 10 min left to start. Deep breath, and off we go pumped full on adrenaline rush.
The race went off fast per usual, especially on a course like that, and in the first few laps the break was established going through the only tough hilly section of the course. Big 9 rider breakaway that represented most of the teams including 3 from Team Canada. I knew this was going to be a winning move with perhaps few more riders getting across to it later in the race, as many top contenders and sprinters where still sitting in the main field. The gap went up to 1:30 minutes at one point until Jamis/Hagens Berman team took up the chase and it maintained steadily at 1:30 – 2:00 min. I felt good in the race and decided expose myself a bit to photographers and give a hand with a chase. For a couple of laps I joined the rotation with a man from Jamis, Novordisk and Marsh Copper from Optum. I enjoyed riding on the front of UCI race and for a moment felt like a Pro and wished it was my job to sit on the front like that all day! Once we got closer to 1 minute gap and knowing that attacks will come sooner or later I moved back to save up a bit of energy and let the pro’s finish up the chase.
Leading the chase
As predicted 4 laps to go there where flurry of attacks for an entire lap and eventually 5 riders again represented from most top pro teams were rolling away with 5-10s gap. I patiently waited as two RedTruck riders died out in pursuit and launched my hardest attack of the race to get across. It was a success and our 6 man group eventually bridged across to the front group of 9. From then on my job was simple – sit in and follow the never-ending attacks on final two laps. No move managed to establish and we all headed for a 15 man bunch sprint to the finish line. By that point I was pretty cross-eyed and in retrospect should have taken higher position in a train on final kilometer. I sat mid pack thinking there will be an attack from the back that I could latch on, but it turned out we all finished in same positions as we entered final km. It didn’t help that my chain dropped from big ring to little one at 300m to go as we opened up a sprint, which made me lose momentum and draft from a wheel that end up finishing 4th. I am positive I would have held on to top 5 if not for the mishap. I took 8th in the end and still happy to call it a success, by grabbing last 3 UCI points and top career result to date!
What a day, from thinking I might not even race with 15 min to start, to a highlight of a career! Sorest toes of life, but totally worth it!
The rest of the team also had a fantastic ride and looking very strong in the race, finishing in a bunch sprint behind for 25th 28th and 33rd out of 90 starters and 53 finishers!
For Monday which is the rest day of the series, we received an invitation to bring one rider from the team to participate in a Media Presentation of the BC Superweek. As I was already near downtown from the previous night visiting friends for bbq, I volunteered for the occasion as the rest of the Team were doing the scheduled tour of our main team sponsor ‘s headquarters, Norco Bicycles, which we will blog about up next! Stay tuned!
Media Presentation was a really cool experience and felt like one of those big tour events, with all the main TV stations filming and tons of Photographers!
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