Cat 4 Report

Team,

I got some messages today mentioning that I had not posted yet. It sounds like some of you actually like reading my posts. Sorry for the delay.

Well, that Cat4 race started off pretty smoothly. Coming from Trans Rockies where the neutral start means, "Force the fire truck off the road and get at it!", I was very relieved for the cautious start. Bicisport had numbers, we had numbers, obviously it was going to be a 9 man battle Royal. King Kong Bundy, Big John Stud, Andre the Giant, SuperFly Snuka style.

The first 20 km were disorganized and guys were struggling with the wind. The paceline was taking along time to get established. Three riders were off the front within distance, the group was letting them sit out there, not forcing anything, waiting to see if they look for comfort within the group. 

I was following strict orders from El Capitan to sit in the group and look for shelter. Rob and Carlos were taking pulls and trying to stay out of trouble. Guys were really disorganized getting to the first climb. Roy and James were hanging out at the front, I was trying to cover their moves with assistance from other Speed Theory riders. When the Bici riders made their move, Michael jumped on their wheels. I was with them to the top and then they surged again. Michael was super strong, riding fearless, Carlos was licking his chops getting ready to attack, Rob knew that there might be hot chicks down the road and I was looking for the heart paddles!

I was stuck in "No man's land" I couldn't stay with Michael's chasing group, and I had distanced from the main pack. I worked really hard for minimal gains and it didn't make sense for me to pace the pack up to Michael. Michael had the boys in his wheel house so I was going back to the group. I really needed some recovery, I am not sure if the Bow Cycle jerseys changed colours or if I was in bad shape, all I could see was arm warmers that pink plaid, it was like staring at the sun. Your not supposed to look, but you do anyways.

The chase was in earnest to the bottom of the large hill. Roy and James were well paced by Michael and then they left him. Those guys were on great form yesterday. We re-formed at the bottom and set a hard pace to the top. It was a great move for us, we got the selection we wanted. All of the ST boys were in the mix for the chase. Michael set an awesome pace that shattered lots of guys. I was able to tuck in on the climb and keep the heart rate lower. The final turn during the climb south confused Michael and I felt bad to pass him, I think he thought it was a bit shorter. We saw the group ahead and felt that we could catch them on the way back. I think I got the "King of Fat Guys on the climb" award, prize should be coming in the mail.

After the turnaround, with the wind at our backs, and the steep downhill we made another separation. Michael's diligence of hill repeats didn't serve him well on the downhill. Sometimes, my consistent Krispy Kreme training pays off and with the course prevailing downhill to the finish, it was Tsunami time. If every one forgot the term Tsunami, refer back a few posts to the emptying of the SAIT pool and the banana hammock.

We worked really hard coming back and we couldn't catch the leaders. Even my dashboard sumo was sweating. The sumo was really good at letting the guys know when to drop back and let me do some work. Much like Roddie said, it was a 47km TT getting home.

I'm not to sure how the results worked, the top 8 had the same time. Roy and James were in another class. 

Coming back, I did get some feedback about the team. Once again, comments were made about the size, class of the leadership of our team, and the overall sense of organization and rider skill. There are riders that are very envious of our team. I am very proud to wear the red and black in racing and training.

Keep up the good work guys and gals.  Have a great weekend racing in Edmonton this weekend and I look forward to reading the posts. It was really good to hear the success of the Cat 5 riders and their race. It will be great to work with some of you in Cat 4 when you stop to visit us. Great work Carlos, Michael and Rob. We worked well together.

You'll hear more from me later this week.

Slayer Dan