Back in the Saddle

I'm riding, I'm loading up my pistol
I'm riding, I really got a fistful
I'm riding, I'm shining up my saddle
I'm riding, this snake is gonna rattle..................

The Provincial Championships were today just outside Waterloo on what the locals call The Bamberg Loop. We did 7 laps which was just over 100kms.  It contained no climbs but some very nice rollers that seem to appear in pretty rapid succession.  The temperature was a heavy and humid 30-31 degrees and there was a wind coming out of the north.  The race started off relatively slow.  Everyone was doing a little looking around and trying to secure a decent position in the pack.  The organizers were unquestionably clear about the yellow line rule, and that anyone who crossed it would be disqualified.  I heard them warn several people,  including a buddy of mine.  They needed to take into consideration that the tar filling the cracks in the road near the yellow line was nearly  soft as crap and to avoid going down you needed to roll out of the line or risk crashing.


I stayed in the front from the start and tried either keep with the pace or maintain a good pace myself.  I did chase down 1 small attack and try to get into a quickly failed breakaway.  Just before  the start of the 4th lap I found a good line and took Marc up to the front and continued pulling at the very front.  Shortly thereafter I got the word to go back into the pack and take a rest.  Here was my mistake.  I should have moved back 15 places but instead I drifted near to the very back. Back with a pile of guys I didn't want to be near.  There was less than 3 laps left and the speeds were picking up fast, but also the openings and opportunities to move back up to the front were diminishing even faster.  I tried to pick a few wheels to pull me back up front, but they were duds.  I found a lot of guys were content to just sit in and do nothing.  Which in an unimportant crit race that's fine but at the Provincials????  C'mon.  No fun.  From the moment I drifted back into no man's land I was urgently trying to get back up  .  It was just so damn tough as no one was trying to change their position and no openings were appearing.  When the last lap bell rang I resigned to the fact I wasn't going to be able contest the sprint as I had secretly planned, but I was still making up spaces in the pack.  Last corner we all take off .  The only sound is of derailleurs slamming into faster gears.  An unfortunate crash at the very front took out a couple of top contenders and changed the outcome for the would-be top 10ers.  I still had a lot left in my tank and made the best of it.  I approached the line through a maze of riders, many struggling to find their way.  I just kept zigzagging in and around of others until I found the line .   For the team it was a decent day.  Me, a great day.  After 2.5 months of terrible results  and races that I couldn't even finish I pulled off a near top 20.  I was, am, really happy.  I fully intend to continue my progression through the rest of the season by bettering each race result.  


Team Kurzawinski
Sport Category
Martin:16th


Master B
Marc: 12th
Andy:13th
Phil:16th
Trev:23'd
Marco:41nd
Stan:59th (crash)
out of about 85 riders


Master C
Dave:24th

Coach,  with that stupid farmer hat!!!

Andy and Wes

Special thanks to Extreme Road for setting up such a well organized race, and for sharing the Bamberg loop with everyone.  Great job!!!


Racing photos to follow

Hotter than Hell II

Damn I wish I hadn't used Hotter than Hell as my album reference last week as it was WAAAAAAY hotter today.

Todays race was in Cobourg. An awesome little town that my Grandfather used to live in.  Biggest beach around. I used to come here as a youngin'.  The Tom Jehlicka memorial race is not an Ontario Cup race, but still a good one to test the legs. The organizers believed that  limited fields would participate so they had an open category and mixed a lot of different  age groups and  skill levels .  We started at just after noon.  the race included all S3, S1, S2 and any masters racers that were willing.  The race started off with a parade lap with the Mayor of Cobourg .  He is about 75 yrs old and was riding a $200 mountain bike.  But the slower lap was a great way to get warmed back up after the 10 minute speech at the line.

The race was hotter than shit and windier even.  The 1/2 km stretch down the start/finish line was really fast.   My 50/11 was having a hard time staying in the pack on a couple of laps, but the rest of the course I found it ok and not too much trouble.

This isn't a race report and I won't profess to know what transpired at the front of the group while I was sitting in the middle of the pack, but I will say that anyone who finished deserved a pat on the back because it was really hot.  Like Mexico hot..... Shopping along that main street in the Mayan Riviera where the buildings block all the wind and the sun just cooks you to death.  That's how hot it was today.  Except we didn't have guys trying to sell us Mexican wrestling masks, and there were a lot fewer aggressive local coke dealers offering us deals.  I did really well compared to the last 2 months since my crash in London and the sickness and bad vibes that followed.

This is what my truck registered the heat as.

What's so funny cool whip?  you get a lot of satisfaction from those $15 dollar hookers?
"I am never satisfied!"

I wish we had a team cool down event at the beach after this race .  You can walk as far out into the lake as you like and it never goes deeper than your chest.

Although this pic doesn't illustrate it, my arms are red, but it does show off that kick ass shirt!

 

                                                         
Best beach ever.  Maybe tied with Sauble Beach............

*all or most pics by Bree, however action limited they may be.  thanks for coming Bree!!!!!!!!!!!

Springbok country

Tonight we rode the Matheson loop, basically whipping by Invita Sport bikes.  We were motorpacing behind Krystophs car most of the time, then we did a variety of sprint drills.  Krystoph had one of those new little actions video cameras attached to the back of the car so he could watch us later.  He may be compiling footage for a video later on.  Being that we are probably the team that trains most together of any Masters team around here it should be an awesome video when its done.

Best part about tonight was after we did our sprints and did our final lap we came around the last sweeping bend and there were two deer galloping alongside the road.  Keeping in mind we were 70' from the 401 highway , which is arguably the busiest highway in north America, and we were maybe 250' away from the Toronto airport.  To see two deer jogging by was pretty cool.  I took off after them and in a turn of insane acceleration on my part I sort of caught one of them.  I wouldn't have believed it but I did gain on it nicely.  Then it turned and crossed the road in front of me.   Krys got a lot of it recorded on his Hero Camera , or whatever it's called.

Tonight I'm rewarding my efforts with a strangely delicious new Belgian treat.  Lindemans Brouwerij Cuvee Rene.  A wild lemony-fruity beer that tastes almost like champagne.  Very carbonated but seemingly with smaller more intense bubbles.  A sour brew.  I only bought one bottle, but I will correct that error tomorrow.

Cobourg race on Sunday.   Fuck=YEAH!!!!

Team KurzaWINski drinking night at Fregata Nightclub

Tonight was the team party and although Marco didn't make it, and Marc was in damn Paris, and Emilio was in Italia......... it was still fun.

A few new guys scouting out the team for next year I suppose by seeing how we drink.  A more impressive display would be when Marc and I go away in March for training in the states.  Or when we go out with our friend from Wheels of Bloor racing.

Eric Davis from Reika Sport.  Always loud,  Mostly cool.  Alex from the BCC hiding in the rear.

Our new Skin Suit

Andrew from Mid Week Cycling, Krys and some drunken dork who brought a double chin

Stan drinking  his secret weapon.  Not EPO.  thats a different blog.....

Andy the Assassin, Dave, Phils wife, Krys, and Phil Palmer 

Vito, Phil, Krys, Jen, Martin

The photo Jen didn't want posted

The stinky finger getting pointed at Phil

Swallowing colours of the sound I hear

This weekend was a really great weekend fun-wise, but race results-wise ......."how you say not so good?".
We got up to Ottawa about lunchtime on Saturday, checked into our hotel and went over to Hull to ride the Gatineaus.  I haven't been there for 2 years, and it's still one of my favorite places to ride.   On Sundays they don't even let cars into the park, but there were still very few yesterday, and they were all courteous to us.  We rode up past Fortune Lake to the top of the park, and did some loops around.  Nothing too hard so as to not burn out our legs for the next day

                                                  I think this was the highest point

 The Gatineau Parc ride isn't really that long but it loops around so you can do repeats and not have just ride up and then go right down.   Never too steep, but better than anything in Ontario I'd say.   If I lived in Ottawa again, I would ride there every day.

                                                                    Pink Lake lookout

So as it turns out we secure a pretty nice hotel in the gay district/area of Ottawa.  Marc and I are slim, shaven legged dudes walking around looking for a good pub, but really looking more like a gay couple of tourists.  I decide it would maybe throw people off if I walk 10 or so feet behind him, so no one thinks we're together.  But that doesn't work, I still get the feeling that now people just think we are 2 gay dudes in a fight.  Can't win.........I did, however, like the magazine/smoke shop called MAGS AND FAGS.

We are both probably asleep by 10:00 and to the Cartier Hotels credit, the beds were really comfortable, and the air-conditioning was quiet and somehow set at a perfect temp.  Our room even had a full kitchen, large balcony, and a phone in the bathroom.  Actually , that was kind of weird.

The view when looking around town for breakfast

We get to the race and I get a halfassed warm up in before the race, but not before noticing the all the TV cameras and spectators and how the street were properly blocked off etc etc, this race is the real deal.  In Ottawa people actually come out to see a bike race, unlike Toronto.  Or at least the promoters know to hold a bike race in a spot where people will be.  In some spots along the finishing stretch you couldn't get to the road to see, there were so many people.  Up and down one side of the main street were pubs with patios full of people drinking and sort of watching the race, but mostly just enjoying the heat and  the ever delicious beer.

When the whistle sounded and everyone took off I had a bad position.  One that gradually worsened.  I could see Marco and Jeff at the front, and Phil and Martin slightly ahead of me.  I couldn't seem to find the opening or the power to move up.  I sat on the back until the end, but still an early demise.  I can't truly figure out what went wrong.  I'm not dwelling on it. Even with the 3 or more crashes the  guys did awesome , and Marco seems to enjoy playing at the front with everyone and then pulling back on the last lap.  More on that as it gets figured out.

Little Italy was pure style

The M1/Elite race was crazy fast.  They mixed in the younger elite racers with the older elite racers and it made for a pretty exciting race.  Stan, Andy and Marc all did well.  Marc got caught in a crash on the second last lap, running over some guys wheel which kept him off of the podium, but at least he stayed upright.  Andy got a decent 3'd, and Stan won.  Second win for that bastard.  I wish Bruce Bird and the WOB guys would have been there to contest that.  Not a lot of room on the podium for those Men in Black.

you know I lost my mind when I saw this place....

                                   

I would love to start going up to the Ottawa and Quebec area  for more races.  It's so much cooler up there than the GTA.  By cooler I mean different.  But definitely more my speed than Toronto.  Plus I would love to pretend I understood Francais.

                                                                                                 Pic by K.J. Carr
                                                                                                                                             pic by K.J Carr

I was checking to see which gasket I had blown

                                                        

                                         

a few more Tuesday pics

Fast and loud

Last nights Mid Week Crit race was a shredder.  Still nearly 100 racers showed up.  The 30+degree temp was not enough to detour anyone.  Last night the toughest sport in the world just got tougher.

                                                                                   Pics by Juan Farias (Baddass mechanic)

From the start of the race I was sitting near the back.  Unfortunately I still had it in my head that I still don't have my fitness back after being sick, and taking the time off.  So slowly as the race progressed I started moving up.  From my vantage point I think everyone on the team took turns at the front of the pack.  I could see Emilio dragging the pack for a while, but I could always see the black and white team outfit standing out as a beacon of hope and dogged determination , telling me to get up there and engage thrusters.

                                                      Eric and me
When they held up the sign saying 20 more laps that's when I made my move for the front.   I got into a small 3 man breakaway with 2 dudes I have never seen before. We lasted about 2 laps.  Then Eric Box (pictured) bridged the gap , catching me and dropping me.  I slinked back into the peloton, but  we caught them shortly after .

Penultimate lap , Marc screams to me "Doyle, get on my wheel!!!! NOW!!!!"  Somehow, from where I was in the pack I made it over to his wheel and held it for a while.  We were accelerating out of the pack which was already doing over 50kph.  As we rounded the second last corner Marc puts down such a retarded acceleration that he is able to ride me off his wheel, and in turn all the guys who were on my wheel.  He takes off.  With about 400m to go , but 75m ahead of the pack he sits up and pulls to the right thus letting me and the whole pack catch and pass him.  He thought that there was already a breakaway that has crossed the line.  Wrong.  He was the breakaway.  Regardless, Andy got a 2'd place in that sprint.  And I think all of us were probably top 30.  I had maybe my best night to date.  Thanks also to Auntie Candy for looking after my boy so I could race!!!!!!

                                                      Eric dropping me

Violence and Force.......and rain.

I have been so sick.  No riding.  No anything. My doctor said he thinks I have pneumonia.  I don't think so.  So I think I'll err on the side of caution and go with my own diagnosis.   I went to watch The Nith River race, it was another disaster.  Just like Springbank the Master 2 race was basically started in a deluge, while the Master 1 race was met with dry roads and sunny skies.  And again, threats of violence towards Team Kurzawinski are met with swift retaliation .

                                                                  Master 2

                                                                Master 1

Tonight I'm racing the Mid Week crit.  Hacking cough and all.

                                   Here's the damage to my frame from the crash in London.
                                                    Stronger, but much uglier.
                   

                                  To Vic's chagrin I had to try and cover the new carbon
                                                        bandage with something........................

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTYQnX_e1zc