Sunday, July 3, 2011

Burlington National Road Race report Master 40-49 (as seen from the feed zone)

Holy crap.  Its 30 degrees on my trucks dashboard sensor.  Obviously that doesn't take into account humidity.  So it's searing heat today.  A lot of hard men lined up at this race today.  Even fewer finished.

Andy D'Angelo coming out of nowhere this year
                                         

My job today was to help one teammate and one friend with their water bottles.  In this heat you basically need a new one every lap after about the 3'd lap.

Sometime during the first lap this maniac from either BC or PQ breaks away from the peloton.  Leaving such superstars as the WOB team, Kurzawinski's boys, D'Amico and Z-team and a bunch of others in his dust.  The best part was  that the maniac in question , Dan Martin , did it without any help.  No team mates.  I bet he was fueled by pure rage that he only hit the podium on Friday instead of winning , so he wanted to inflict a ton of pain on anyone who wanted to chase him today.  He stayed away with a gap approaching 3 minutes I would say.  The only time I really timed the gap was on the 9th lap and it was exactly 90 seconds.  Even the mighty Bruce Bird couldn't correct that problem.  Basically Dan did a Floyd Landis and hammered away by himself until he raised his hands.  The race for second was the best anyone else could hope for.

Bruce Bird (WOB) chasing the leader
                                                             

The heat today was more than most riders could handle.  No one trains for this.  After looking at his power numbers, heartrate, and average speeds one top racer told me that he wasn't defeated by the race or the racers today it was the heat and the hydration.  With this past week being on the cooler side by todays measure no one really drank excess water.  So no matter what you drank today your body couldn't process it in time.


My estimation is that about 120 riders started the race and no more than 45 finished the race.


Canadian Road Race Champion
                                           

Results haven't even been posted on the OCA website or on the  Wheels of Bloor blog, but I can safely assume Dan Martin raped the group today with his Bruce Lee style attack.  It was nearly impossible to believe.   Today I witnessed vengeance.  Nice work Dan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amJqimnxdro&feature=player_embedded#at=47