Race, Relocate, Repeat
Although my season actually started way back in February with a month of training in warm California the busiest two months of the year are taking place right now.
This chock full block of racing started off at the beginning of June with the Robert Cameron Law series. The series also included the BC provincial road race championships where I got the chance to race against Global Relay Bridge the Gap board member Ryan Anderson. I was on some good form and was excited to get the nod from the team manager that I was the go-to guy on the day. After some great team riding pulling back break aways that were not in our favour I broke away mid way through the race and took the win, as well as the fancy Provincial Champion jersey to go along with it.
After this it was a quick turn around for me, I flew out 2 days later to represent Canada at the Coup des Nations Ville de Saguenay in Quebec. The Nations Cups are the highest level of under 23 racing and are contested by national teams rather than trade teams. The race was three stages and was sure to be a tough one, being such a short stage race there was no opportunity to sit back and the racing was aggressive every day. The goal of the team was to try and help Antoine the u23 Canadian National Champion to as a high of a General Classification result as possible; after a solid three days of team work he managed 8th place on GC and scored some valuable Nations Cup points for Canada.
A day later I was in the air again, this time on my way to Banff for the Banff Bike Fest stage race. Back in Trek-Red Truck colours this is a race the team has dominated in the past and we were looking to do the same this year. After the time trail stage we were sitting 1,2 on GC and once again rode fantastically as a team pulling back dangerous breaks and protecting our GC leaders. Mission accomplished, we certainly dominated and came away with first and second on GC.
Back on a plane and back to Quebec, by this point I had read every article of the in-flight magazine and could probably do a half decent job at giving the Westjet Safety briefing. This time I was racing National Championships. Time trial was first up, after riding a good time trial in Banff I was excited to see what i could do here. Unfortunately a ill timed flat with 3km to go left me 25 seconds off the podium in 4th but I was excited to have good legs, good focus and be able to put together one of my best TT’s ever despite this. After a day of respite was the road race. A gruelling 187km day with typical Quebec features of short steep climbs and poor road surfaces. Unfortunately the race was not as successful as the TT, missing the key splits left me to contest the minor placings and I finished as 12th u23. The following day was the criterium, the course was a tough one with short but steep hill immediately after the first corner. The weekend had taken its toll on the riders and the field was whittled down over the hour as riders were dropped. Although I missed the small break that went away in the last few laps I fared well in the bunch sprint and was third espoir, a good confidence boost heading into Super Week.
After flying into Vancouver I had an extra day before making the final trip home to Victoria, I decided to check out downtown and took the sea bus from North Van right into Gastown. Seeing all the posters for the race and walking the course reminded me how big this event is going to be and got me very excited for July 10th! Now it’s time for a quick rest before the start of BC Super Week and then the whirlwind two months will wind down with the Cascade Classic in Oregon!