Once we were off, I found myself in the middle of the pack. There were lots of corners right off the start and I found myself staying back to the outside because people really were taking the corners crazily. I didn't know if I was doing things wrong or if the peleton was. I kind of assumed it was me because it seemed everyone else was crazy, but talking to other people afterwards they said there was a lot of sketchiness out there and most people say I am a fairly good bike handler, so I have to assume it was them. Apparently the Bs were the same way. I heard that Joyce fell off on the 2nd turn (the right off 8th Ave).

On the 1st false flat, the pace was great and my legs felt great. I stayed with the main pack and it got a little bit thinned out by the time we got back to 232nd. On 232nd we had a tailwind and it's a bit of a downhill, so the pace picks up here. I found myself getting closer to the back. Then all the turns and corners started again and I found myself slipping back and back. The 2nd time up the false flat, the pace got a bit harder. I could see Neena having a rough time and then she was gone. The pack was strung apart a bit now and then I noticed myself off the back. Worked hard with the Whistler girl (MaryAnne) and another guy and then we caught and passed a bunch of people who were falling off. Finally we caught a group of John Henry people who were being pulled around by Jay and they were just off the main pack. We went around for another half a lap like this, but the guy I was with and MaryAnne both fell off, so I was on the John Henry chain + 1 dEVo kid. We almost caught the pack a few times, but I fell off in a corner and then they were gone. Rode a bit by myself and then MaryAnne caught me and we rode together. I was going to ask her if she wanted to work together, but then she took off. I spent the rest of the race with her about 200m ahead, but I could never catch her. Still it was a good thing to make me work harder. I wanted to catch her and I didn't want to let her out of my sight.

The rest of the race was a good TT effort for me. I lapped Joyce on my 4th lap. I knew there were people behind me and I didn't want them to catch me. Overall, I'm pretty happy with this. Marsha was watching the race (still sore from her crash) and she said there were tonnes of people behind me, lots of them working in groups of 4-8 people and she thought they could catch me, but they never did.

On the false flat, my speed was around 24km/hr, on the rollers it averaged around 33km/hr, but on 232nd Ave it was so nice. I could get up to 45km/hr by myself. Pretty nice ride there. It's kind of crazy I can go so well and strong on the flats, but once the hill comes I am proportionally weaker.

For the last lap and a half, I caught a guy who got dropped from the Bs. We rode together a little bit, so that was a little less boring. Also the wind picked up quite a bit for the last few laps so it was nice to draft a little (even though I wasn't supposed to be riding with a B rider).

Overall, I was pretty happy with the way I was able to keep pushing myself even when I was alone. I finished about 10 minutes ahead of Neena and the laps were a little less than 15 minutes long, so I almost lapped her. She said she was lapped by the main pack. I wasn't.

Push harder to get on the main pack.

Saw Laura's parents and Callum so I chatted with them. Then chatted with Marsha, so I didn't do much warm down. By the time I got around it it I was already cold and Laura was set to finish, so I walked to the finish line to watch her finish. Stood around shivering at the finish line, then went back to the car and Colin & David were ready to leave, so I threw my bike on the roof and got changed in the car.

Stopped at a really nice Italian restaurant in White Rock with David, Colin, Hans and Neena on the way home. That was awesome.


Bad strategy.


The course is nice. Pretty flat, but some hills that really suit me. There were lots of sketchy riders out today though.