Last year I rode a total of 6345.8km, which was the most I’d ever done in a year until today.  Hopefully 2010 sees the number grow much beyond that, and since it’s still August…there is a possibility.

On an unrelated note, it looks like the Sport X 40km TT is now on Monday, so I will have another shot at the hour…hmmm… no pressure ;)

Although I love boats (especially canoes), it seems to me that bikes are even more worthy of ‘messing about’ with. Walking home from work yesterday, I was still feeling burnt out, and not very motivated to ride. The thunderstorm had passed over, so I couldn’t use the weather as an excuse to mope around home. However, I just had no motivation to ride.

Using my ‘you always enjoy it once you get going’ excuse, I managed to convince myself that it’s time to start training for ‘cross season, and I could just go out for an easy spin to get a feel for the ‘cross bike again. Since I am away for work on Monday, I’ll be missing the final chance this year to set the hour mark in a TT, so I think the TT bike will be retired for the season (although I may still do a few 15s from Union Hall…) What better time to start getting ready for ‘cross?

I threw on the Mountain Bike shoes, swapped pedals from the MTB to the ‘cross bike, and headed out towards Glen Tay. I have long been hoping to check out the old railbed trail from Glen Tay west, so hopped on and flew up to Brooke on the trail. Within a few minutes, I was covered in mud from the puddles, and couldn’t wipe the huge shit-eating-grin off my face as the weeds and bushes whipped by and slapped me in the face and legs. Pure joy!

Despite my intent to go ‘easy,’ I ended up pushing fairly hard, and put in a solid hour-long effort at a steady ‘race pace’ while at the same time exploring some new trail and regaining some motivation for the fall. I returned home to hose off the bike and 10 lbs of mud that had soaked into my shorts and chamois, and despite being a bit tired, was more ‘refreshed’ than I have been in a long time.

Once again, it takes a break from the ‘routine’ to discover the pure joy that can come from riding a bike. A solid reminder that sometimes getting out there is the hard part, but not enjoying yourself when you finally do is even harder!

Countdown to eBook sale date – 20 days!

Sunday was attempt number two at the hour mark on the Calabogie course.  My parents were up to visit, so I awoke early, had some breakfast and picked them up at their B&B.  Drove to Calabogie, and got ready.  A 13 km warmup this time, with no real super hard efforts.  Just a good steady few minutes in the upper end of Zone 2.

Weather was decent, but quite humid (80%) with some gusty SSW winds that were pretty strong at times.  Not exactly conducive to super fast times, especially given my distaste for humidity.  However, I was feeling quite strong, so was ready to push!

Got seeded #35 , and lined up just behind Neil.  Got off to a very fast start, and within 5km had taken 20 seconds out of Neil.  However, quick glances at the computer told me that the wind was making things quite difficult.  I felt fairly strong off the gun for a change, and didn’t take a long time to get warmed up.   I continued (by my unofficial time checks) to take time out of Neil.  However, he was also taking time from his minute-man, so I passed him before I caught Neil, who I passed almost immediately after the turn-around on a slight uphill grade.

I was still feeling strong, and hoping I could gain a bunch of time back with the tailwind on the way in.   However, very soon after I had passed him, Neil passed me back, then proceeded to immediately open up a big gap, which I was unable to close for the rest of the race.  Although this was a bit disappointing, I did continue to pick off riders, passing perhaps 4 or 5 (maybe more?) on the way back.  With 600m or so to go, I could see a rider in front and set a goal to pass before the line.  With a very hard effort, I was able to do so.  In retrospect, this perhaps meant that I had too much ‘left in the tank’  and should have been going harder earlier.

I knew as I crossed the line that I would not be under the hour.  I rolled back to the car a bit disappointed, but still fairly happy with my performance.  Almost everyone I heard/talked to was complaining about the wind, so I felt somewhat relieved to have an excuse.  However, when results were announced, it turns out that Aaron had set a course record so perhaps I can’t use the wind as an excuse!

My overall time was 60:58–16 seconds faster than last time, in tougher conditions.  For those counting, that works out to 39.366km/hr (and for those even weaker at math, that is LESS than 40, unfortunately).  I’m not entirely displeased with the results, but was really hoping to go under the hour.  FYI, Aaron’s time was an insane 51:17, or 46.799km/hr.

Full results are here.

It looks like my attempt at the hour on the Calabogie course will have to wait until next year.  There is only one more event this year, and it falls on the same weekend as Matt and Alicia’s wedding, so I won’t be able to attend.  This is quite disappointing, as the hour mark was a big goal for this year, and it looks like I won’t be able to do it :(

However, last night Greg announced a 40km TT on Aug 30.  It’s on a much flatter course, although it’ll have 3 turns instead of 1, so it may even out… It will be a bit less ‘official’ but.. may satisfy my goal for this year.  We’ll see how that goes!

Legs were totally trashed after the TT… I had a 2 hour nap in the afternoon, and could barely stand up from the table after dinner!  Rode in the rain from the shop yesterday with a decent-sized group (15 riders) considering the weather.  Went fast-ish, so it was not a recovery ride.  Feeling pretty burnt out today,  so I didn’t ride despite the nicer weather (humid though…)  Tomorrow is looking fantastic, so hopefully we have a good group out!  I think I am going to take a few days easy to see if I get some of my motivation back…

Yesterday, Steve, Ian and I did the ‘Scotch Run” – a 120km ride from Merrickville to Carolin’s family cottage, where we met her dad for a couple of ounces of J&B.  At 10am.  It ended up being a fantastic ride and will hopefully become a bit of a tradition (I mean.. what more could you ask for?)  I was feeling kind of crappy on the ride out, but after the scotch and a bit of a break, I was ready to rock.  The return trip was much faster, bumping our average speed for the 126km ride to 32km/hr.  Nice!  I love riding on ‘new’ (to me at least) roads–especially when they are as nice as these ones!

Last Tuesday, I once again did the Almonte Bicycle Club 15km TT on Tatlock Rd.  I took one whole second off of my time from last time, for a total time of 22 minutes on the dot.  However, it was a bit windier, so I’ll take it :)  August 8 (one week from today!) we’ll see if I can maintain that speed for a 40km TT.  I need to shave 1:14 off of my last attempt’s time.  The TT bike is ready to roll again, and my parents will be there to cheer me on.  Wish me luck!

Le Tour de France is over, and I’m suffering withdrawal  :(  I am annoyed that the best man did not win this year, but am prepared to live with it, as long as it gives Andy the killer instinct he needs to crush Contador from now on.  Hup Hup Baby Schleck!

Work is insane right now, with an RFP response taking up hours of my week and now long weekend.  What can ya do?

I woke up at the ungodly hour of 4:15am, and loaded the car for the 1:15 drive into Old Chelsea to pick up my race kit (numbers and timing chip).  Since no sane person was on the road at this hour, the trip was smooth sailing the entire way.  I was treated to a phenomenal sunrise after turning on to the 417, and took it as a good sign of things to come.  I flashed my race licence, signed my life away and picked up my race kit, and was out the door in less than 10 minutes including a pit stop.  Very well organized!

Drove in to P9, and parked, pinned my numbers, and got dressed.  I had timed things so I had plenty of time for a warmup, since I think I’ve been lacking in this department, and hoped a good long warmup would help my race.  I took a spin up to Camp Fortune (not all the way up the climb, but up to the gate to the ski chalet), did a few sprints to open up the legs, and then stayed mostly on the flat stuff–no sense in blowing up my climbing legs before the race started :)  I found Keli walking to the feed zone, so rolled along and chatted with her for a few minutes.  I arrived at the Start line with ~10mins to start time, and found a spot in the second row.  This year, Juniors and Senior 3 were actually separated instead of co-mingled, so I had a good look at who was in my group (larger than last year, with 82 starting, and 71 finishing).  The race started on time (as always with the GP) and the group took off at a reasonable pace.

The course goes uphill almost immediately after the start, with the base of Fortune Climb coming only 1.5km from the start.  The climb gains 135m in approximately 4.3km, with an average grade of 4%, and a max of 8%.  Nothing crazy, but painful enough!  Thanks to the wonders of adrenaline, the pace on the first lap climb seemed quite sane (27km/hr on the steep stuff, averaging 32.7km/hr on the entire climb).  I was fairly comfortable (as much as is possible in this situation) sitting in the front half of the pack and just riding at my own pace.  A spectator 3/4 of the way up the climb had a sign saying “If you can read this, you’re going too slow.” The remainder of the first lap was very uneventful, with a few screaming descents with speeds in the mid to high 70s (I maxed out at 77.)  I’m a ‘tentative’ descender, so often ended up at the back of the group by the bottom, but never far enough back to get gapped.

The second lap was a bit more eventful.  I decided to come to the front through the start/finish in order to be at the head of the group on the climb.  I put in a big effort to move up to 4th wheel coming through the start/finish, and most of the way to the base of the climb.  This turned out to be a bad idea, as I was soon suffering on the climb and losing ground quickly.  The sign this lap read “30km/hr up Fortune?  It’s as easy as your last girlfriend!” which at least brought a chuckle to the pain-filled climb.  The pace seemed much higher this lap (review of the numbers post-race disagrees, but it sure felt faster at the time!) and a good portion of the main group (myself included) was gapped and a break formed.  I realized this was NOT good at this point!  The newly formed ‘chase group’ rode the remainder of the climb at our own pace, but then got together to chase back.  It took us ~8km to catch the lead group, and I took a big pull for the last 500m or so to close the final gap on a hill.  At this point I had been in the ‘red zone’ since the start/finish to ~half way through the lap, so I was VERY thankful to catch back up to the group and then have a bit of a rest on the descents and a larger group to draft for the rest of the lap.  I didn’t recognize anyone in the ‘chase group’ but I’d like to say thanks to the guys who put in the efforts to help close the gap!

The third lap went by very uneventfully, and I actually began to feel GOOD as I noticed others really suffering.  The pace on the climb was very manageable this time, and instead of trying to get to the front or do anything ‘fancy,’ I just rode my own pace the entire time, which put me in the first quarter of the group by the top, exactly where I wanted to be.  The sign this time up read “Show me your Schleck!” and one of the riders had the energy (somehow?!?) to yell “Frank or Andy?” as we passed by.  I figured either would win the race no problem (yes, even Frank with his shattered collarbone), so it wasn’t really a useful question ;)  I should mention that throughout the race there would be a couple of guys dangling off the front here and there, but never far ahead, and no chase was ever formed to bring them back.  They would always get absorbed back into the group, so no one seemed too worried.  I’m sure there were also guys getting spit out the back on the climbs, but for the most part the group was sticking together.

The fourth (and final) lap I knew would be interesting.  I was expecting attacks on the climb, and perhaps some craziness near the finish.  I was mostly right on both counts.  As we rolled to the base of the climb, you could tell a few guys were really gunning to get positioned near the front.  I sat in the first quarter of the (by now much smaller) group and hoped I could match any attacks if they came.  Turns out there weren’t really any individual attacks (which would likely be suicidal anyway, with the climb so far from the finish), but there was a significant acceleration by the lead group at one point when we hit a particularly steep stretch. I was able to match the acceleration, and stuck with the lead group.  I’m sure quite a number of riders were shelled here, but I wasn’t looking back to find out!

With 3km to go, I was sitting ~12th or so, and heard the sickening sound of crushing carbon and crashing bodies.  Just ahead and to my right the group started to topple.  I swung left (almost onto the grass) and narrowly missed being hit by the bike of one of the riders that went down as it ‘kicked’ out towards me.  From the look of a photo I saw, it looks like at least 6 riders went down, and a significant portion of the group got caught behind them.  I looked around enough to realize that with 3km to go, there were perhaps only ~20 riders left upright and not significantly gapped.  Others noticed the same, and the pace went up immediately as we flew into the last descent.  Coming up to the finish, I was hurting, but knew that I had one more kick in the legs (although how significant that kick would be was questionable…)  I grabbed the wheel in front of me with 300 m to go, and suddenly he simply sat straight up and stopped pedaling!  I had to slow dramatically to avoid hitting him (while yelling some choice words if I recall correctly), since I was fully boxed in with no room to maneuver.  Sprint over for me!  As I crossed the line, I did a quick scan of riders ahead of me, coming up with a count of 25 or so :(

I rolled back to the car for my recovery chocolate milk and to refill my water, then back to the finish area to see if I could find Monica.  No such luck, so back to the car to get my cell phone and see if I could track her down.  Rolled slowly back to the start/finish, and finally spotted her close to the finish line.  I crossed, and joined her to watch the end of the other races.  Matteo had a huge win in the Senior 1-2 race; congrats Matteo!)  I was hurting, (legs were cramping standing in one spot…) so we spun back to the car veeery slowly.

A couple hours later, I received a text from Matt congratulating me on my sixth place finish.  I of course immediately called him to say that he must be wrong, since I had counted ~25 people in front of me.  He assured me that SportStats.ca had me listed as 6th and the conclusion was that “SportStats doesn’t lie.”  Monica pulled up the results on her iPhone, and in fact it DID show me as 6th!  I still have no idea how this is possible, but I’ll go with it.  I guess the people I counted ahead of me were from a different group that we caught up to at the finish?  Who knows!  I clearly wasn’t thinking clearly enough to know at that point.  I’ll take the 6th place!  Rod came in second after a huge effort, chasing back after being caught behind the crash.  I knew I should have tried to stay on his wheel in the last few kms…but didn’t.  I guess I shouldn’t second-guess these things!  Well done Rod!

Things to work on?  Better positioning in the final few hundred meters.  I should NOT have allowed myself to get boxed in (or behind the sketchy guy that’s going to sit up with 200m to the line!)  I think I still need a better warmup (not longer in this case, since I had a full hour of warmup, but perhaps of a different intensity?) as I still didn’t start to feel really ‘good’ until half way through the race.  This seems to be a common trend.. I also should not have come through to the front on the second lap.  I have no real need to start the climb at the front of the group; I can just ride at my pace and if I’m feeling well, will work myself up to the front naturally.  Working hard on the flats to get to the front just wastes the energy I’ll need on the climbs.  Thanks to Karen, I had positive thoughts as the sprint approached, and if I hadn’t been boxed in, perhaps would have even had something to show for it.  I guess now that I can picture myself as a sprinter, I’ll have to ride like one in the final km and not get boxed in!  Time will tell how that theory plays out!

Some photos here and here.  All for now!  Back to ‘reality’- I need to catch up on what happend in le Tour! :)

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Please pass this on to all of your friends as well–the more signatures the better!

Yesterday was a slow easy ride on the TT bike to test out some position tweaks to the bars (wider at the forearms, and rotated slightly ‘in’ to give my thumbs a better spot to rest).  I’m sure I will continue to tweak the position, but it sure is better than the original setup!  I’m also considerably more comfortable on it than I was on Tuesday, after a few more hours riding it and getting used to how it handles.  Unfortunately, I felt terrible physically on the ride, so perhaps it wasn’t the best sign of things to come.  I had everything packed and ready for a quick getaway this morning, and was up with the alarm at 6am.

I arrived at the start (boat launch in Calabogie) and signed in before getting dressed and warmed up.  I was number 32 of 37 (I think?) on the day, so there was a very good turn-out.  This is especially true considering a few riders are in Sutton this weekend who may otherwise be TTing.

Like yesterday, I was once again feeling less than stellar during my warmup.  I had to really push hard to get the bike up to 40km/hr; not a good sign when you’re hoping to average 40 for an hour!  However, I figured that things could change quickly, so tried not to let it get to me.  I arrived at the start ready to go, and John and Bob gave me a good clean send off.

According to my very unofficial time check, I had gained ~30 seconds on my ‘minute man’ in the first 12km despite feeling fairly crappy.  I started to feel a bit better around km 13 or so, and in the next few kms I pulled in a lot of time and passed my minute man.  However, shortly after he passed me back, and stayed away for another km or so as we neared the turnaround.  I was thinking the turn around was soon, so thought it would be best to let him go through first before passing again.  I eased off just slightly to match his pace, so I wouldn’t be drafting and/or gaining on him just before the turn around.  After a couple more corners, it was evident that the turn-around wasn’t coming up just yet,  so I went by him again on a hill.  At one point, he was almost by me again, but I picked it up so he couldn’t pass.   At the turn, I was far enough ahead to not impede his turn (I am still taking the turn-arounds very slow on the TT bike!)

From the turnaround, the return leg is only 19kms, and has significantly more downhill sections, so it goes a bit quicker than the 21km first leg.  At this point, I finally started to feel fairly good, so tried to give that extra little push.  I knew from quick glances at my computer that I was not likely to break the hour mark unless I could really hammer the return leg.  I started passing some of the slower riders in front, and having the constant ‘carrot’ of the next rider always just over the next hill was a good motivator to push that little bit harder.

The last 15kms or so felt very long, with the last 3km being a complete blur. With 1km to go, I was almost completely spent, but had a rider in front to reel in to keep me motivated.

Unfortunately, but not completely unexpectedly, my time was greater than an hour.  01:01:14 was the official verdict.  Crap!  I’m not entirely unhappy, since I knew yesterday I was not feeling 100% physically, and that the bike is still new and is going to take some adjustment (both the bike itself, and my body to the new position).  However, my time was still 3:54 faster than a year ago on the same course, so there’s some noticeable improvement.  Whether that is due to the new bike, an increase in fitness, or a combination of remains to be seen.

As you can see from the graph, I was able to keep my heart rate fairly steadily in the 171-194 bpm zone (red band in graph), which is pretty much where it should be for a TT.  My average for the 40km was 174bpm, so towards the low end.  I’d like to see this a bit higher–which will come as I get more comfortable hurting myself for a solid hour.  I believe at this point that it’s a mental wall, not a physical one, so should be ‘movable.’   (Ignore the ‘greyed out’ portions of the graph outside the vertical red lines–this is my warmup/cooldown.)

For next time, I need to do a longer warmup, getting up in to zone 3 for longer to get the body awake and moving.  It took me 12km or so to start feeling decent today, and that could easily have cost me 1:14.

August 8th is the next shot at the hour mark, and I’ll be ready :)

The 40km Project has been moving along nicely, and the bike has now been built up (thanks Shawn!) and ridden (once!)  I will continue to post updates about individual components as I have time, but we’ll skip ahead for now…

On Sunday, I helped (well, watched) as Shawn assembled the TT bike.  We got a rough fit-up done, and called it a night.  We figured since I had never ridden in the TT position before, we could spend 2 hours or 5 minutes, and still have to change it all after I rode it anyway.

Yesterday, I figured I’d give the bike a shot at the Almonte Bicycle Club 15km TT on Tatlock Road.  Since I hadn’t ridden the bike more than around the block, I got there early for some warmup.  I put in ~20km at a decent pace, and got a basic feel for riding in the aero bars.  I probably looked like a triathlete with my serious wobbles, but I hope to improve that with some more time on the bike!

The race went surprisingly well, with my final time ending at 22:01 (so close!) and an average speed of 40.88km/hr.  This is the first time I’ve ever cracked 40 in any sort of timed event, so I am fairly pleased with the time.  However, 15km is a long way from a 40, so I’m not quite sure I’m ready for that yet!  However, the gusty headwind on the return leg of the course made things tough, so perhaps on a calmer day I would have been faster!

A few minor adjustments to the TT position are required for sure; aero bars need to come out a bit wider at the arm rests, and need to be rotated inwards a bit I think.  Other than that, I was surprised with the fit..much better than anticipated!  I’m still not used to climbing on the bike (feels completely different than the road bike) so that’s another thing to work on.

Up next (if I feel like it) is the Calabogie 40km coming up this Sunday!  Yikes!  My first real shot at the sub-hour 40.  I will be going in with lesser expectations, and hope to be pleasantly surprised!  Wish me luck!

Friday. Day the Zero. Worked until 4pm. Booo. Walked home. Beauty day. Packed up bike and assorted random gear into car. Waited for Matt to arrive. Loaded his bike into car.  Drove ~1 hr to cottage on Bob’s Lake. Drank beer, ate food, chatted with the lads (Jamie, Steve, Carl, Dave).   Sleep.

Saturday. Day The First. Beautiful Day! Quite warm and sunny. Very nice! A bit of a stiff wind, but it was a tailwind for the first little bit. We rode 193kms at a pretty fast pace.. stopped a couple of times for food, etc. A good ride. Got to the beer tent at Queen’s.. had a few too many beers.   To the hotel, where we were in and out in less than 7 mins (we were already 10 mins late for our dinner reservation…) Got to dinner at Frankie Pesto’s where our group of 30 had already ordered.   Was joined by the lovely Lisa, and then we ordered some food/more beer (yes, good idea, I know.) Ate some kinda seafood pasta thing that I recall being quite tasty. Went for Ice Cream at White Mountain.  Theeen.. after ice cream, decided to go for another beer. Yes, we are brilliant. Eventually, called it a night and got to our room for sleep.

Sunday. Day the Second. Woke up to COLD (10 degrees), wet (raining sideways), windy conditions. YAY! We had packed only shorts and jerseys.. great! We asked around our group and rounded up a bit of warmer stuff (not much!) and then stood around for a while before a restaurant opened. Some breakfast was destroyed, then we got ready to roll. I’m pretty sure the next 3 hours were the most miserable I’ve ever been on the bike. Damn cold, soaking wet.. windy .. awesome! My hands were so cold I couldn’t shift/brake, and couldn’t even get my waterbottle out of the holder to drink! Luckily, we had a couple of shortcuts that got us back to the cottage in 75 km, and we only had one mechanical (Matt’s broken chain!) on the cottage road.   We jumped in the lake fully clothed to wash the mud off and to warm up (yeah, the water was much warmer than the air!) then got some warm dry stuff on, ate some pizza, burgers, etc.  Drove home, washed the bike, had a shower.. went to bed!

Epic? You be the judge. Entertaining? Yes.

Sounds like many people made the trip back to Ottawa aboard a bus thanks to the OBC.  Lisa managed to make it back to Perth (averaging 30; well done!) and then got a ride the rest of the way.  Smart :)

Yesterday was a GREAT ride in SF.  I was feeling fantastic, so a few sprints were in order to mess with Ashby.  Sorry dude.  Once again Ian hung in all the way, which is beyond awesome!  The SS/Fixie apparently has an abnormal sized seat tube, so Greg had to order a seat post for me.  Hope to pick it up next week!

Tonight after work Shawn and I did a little photo shoot for the eBook.  He’ll process some photos, then I will get to pick the ones I want for the book.  The last step is to lay out/format everything how I want it, and then it’s pretty much done!  Stay tuned!  Here’s a teaser shot from the shoot:

Photoshoot Teaser

I was in signed up to race the ‘intermediate’ race (5 laps of the 17km course, for a total of 85km), despite being called a sandbagger by a few people (who shall remain nameless…)  At the line, it looked like the right place to be, since Ian Fraser was lined up behind me.  I though “uh-oh.. I’m in over my head here… there’s no way I should be here, let alone in in the “Open” race!”  After a bit of a delay in the start, we got rolling 3 minutes after the “Open” group, and set off at a decent pace.  We had ~75 riders in the group at the start.  The pace sat comfortably at ~40km/hr for the entire race.  I kept waiting for an increase as the kilometers ticked by, but … nothing doing.  A few riders would get off the front by 100m or so and hang there a while.  No one would react; eventually they would tire and get absorbed by the group.

With one lap to go, another Independent rider asked me if I was racing with a team.  I replied that I was not, and he asked if I wanted to give it a go off the front with him.  I agreed.  I lead through the Start/Finish the last time through, and after the first corner we went!  However, my legs just weren’t there, and we couldn’t get a sizable gap at all.  We gave up fairly quickly, and went back to sit in the pack.  Coming up to the last couple of corners, with ~1.5km to go, I moved back up to the front in order to make if safely through the corners (There had been two crashed in our group, both on corners.)  I sat 6th or 7th wheel, and the pace finally started to increase a bit (not much mind you, and only now with about 1km to go…)  Sitting 6th or 7th, I was expecting people to start flying by me leading out their teammates/friends.  However, nothing was happening!  Soon we were ~300 from the line, and still no one was coming by!

At this point, I was a bit confused, and probably reacted slower than I should have…  I eventually decided I had to go (“Now or never!”) and gave it all I had.  STILL no one came by, and I realized I could crack the top 5.  I sprinted (I say that loosely, being far from a good sprinter) and placed 5th overall.   In the photo below (thanks Phillipa and Wayne for the photos!)  you can (barely) see me behind the guy in the orange kit.  Note that the finish line isn’t even in sight in the photo, so I’m not sure how much positions changed before then…but this is close enough :)  I was a bit mad to see how far back the rest of the group was–if I’d have known, I would have maybe given it a dig a bit earlier to get by the guys in front, rather than try to out sprint them!  Ah well.. live and learn!

Dandelion Grand Prix Finish Line

What you don’t see about 3 seconds after this is the guy in the orange kit almost riding me off the road after we crossed the line.  I had nowhere to go, as the shoulder was lined with spectators, so I yelled at him and he stopped forcing me over, but gave a “What?!?” kind of look, as if he was retarded and hadn’t noticed (or didn’t care) that he almost forced me into a bunch of spectators at 40+km/hr.  Idiot.

Full race results are up on the OCA Website.  Total time was 2:09:00, for an average speed of 39.54km/hr… so the race went much slower than I was initially expecting.  No complaints though!  A good day and a decent result… next time I have to be a bit more aware at the finish and things might turn out better!  Thanks to Mark and Ryan for organizing the race–I hope to do it again next year!

Yesterday was another great (and fast) ride in SF, and I picked up a free bike.  More about that later, as it deserves at least one post of its own!  Thanks Chris!