Alberta Provincial Road Race

Sunday, August 21st

80 kms

Well, if waking up at 5:30 on a Sunday then driving nearly 3 hours to Magrath
(past Lethbridge) wasn't enough fun, the 80 km straight out and back through crosswinds, sweltering heat,
and a category 4 deciding KOM made sure we got our money's worth.

The race started out fairly brisk, with a couple of jittery riders jostling for a line in shelter.
The first 20 km have a slight incline, to the base of KOM.
I had made my way to about top 8th before a large TCR gang went on the attack.
In the confusion, I lost both Andrew Paul and Derek Jobson, whom I was hoping to tail up the climb.

About halfway up the hill and I'm drifting between stragglers, trying to get to the front guys.

All I tell myself if this is for my entire season... keep going.
I'm totally redlining, HR peaking at 187! Previous max was 185.
I get to the top along with Darrel from TCR, and just ahead if a Bicisport guy.
He's only about 200m ahead but we are all gassed.
Ahead of Bici are two more stragglers, then the lead group of 3 (turns out its Darcy and Derrek).

I know if I can reach that Bici before he reaches the next, we can catch them all.

Unfortunately, Bici is thinking the same ahead of him.
Not only that, Andrew Paul I see has joined him, now they are 3.
Andrew has been riding very strong lately so I know this hurts my chances.
The 2nd 20km feature a bunch of rollers, and still serious cross/head wind.
I am suffering on the rollers and Darrell is doing a lot to drag me up them.
WHen we hit a false flat I pull, and we are gaining on them.
I just can't get close enough to make that sprint. Keep waiting for a section of road flat enough to do it.
It never comes... damn rollers.
Then the two groups of 3 join and now we are two against 6. Not looking good.
As we reach the turnaround, I count 50 seconds the gap between the first man in the break and myself.
Behind us are other pairs, just as close.

We fly through the 2nd half, team-time-trialing at its best!
But the lead group works well to keep themselves motivated,
while Darrel and I begin to waiver, feed, and I begin suffering from some leg cramps.
Also I've now run out of water and accellerade, and eaten 2 gels and a honey
stinger waffle.
My back is sore, fighting cramps in my legs. 10 km to go and not only is there nobody in front of us,
I see a group behind us now.
Put my ill feelings aside and push the pace again.
I'm not worrying about saving any energy to outsprint Darrell at this point, just don't wanna get caught.

Few km to the finish and we've restored the gap behind us.
We turn into the final stretch, and at the last little climb to the finish I get up
and spend the absolute last ounce of energy to sprint to the line.

I look back after crossing and don't see my TCR friend. I presume he didn't really contest the sprint at some point.
Well, came in 7th. Few more ABA points, but not the 3rd place I needed to upgrade this year.

For what its worth, I did suffer more in this race than probably any other.
Average HR for the race was 89%!

Also notable that Mike came in 5th in cat 4 race. Held on to the break until the final few kms.

Great work by a lot of Speed Theory folks today, as you can read in Darcy's post.

Garmin report