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COMOX CUP REPORT

Posted: Mon May 06, 2013 10:27 pm
by JonB
The course was pretty flat with a gentle descent and then a false flat back toward the finish line and then 2 small hill on the finishing stretch. We were down to a 3-man squad today but given that it was a small peleton (~15 or so), our plan from the start was to continue attacking until one of us got in a break. The other two would then wait for another team to try to bridge and then latch onto that move to put two Wheelers down the road. I started by attacking at the gun and was joined by one other guy for a few km until we were brought back by the rest of the pack. Chopper Dan had a go and was dangling until someone tried to bridge and dragged the rest of the group up to him. This set up a move by Tom and another guy which stuck for awhile and was joined by Alex Hui (Pro City), and myself. Dan slowed the group and it looked like this move might stick but there was still some fire in the bunch and they managed to get back on with ~70k to go. The pace eased off for a while and it appeared like pretty much everyone was waiting to see what the Wheelers would do. This allowed some dude in a white jersey to slip down the road. After getting a ways off Alex and I took off in pursuit of him along with a dude from Trail Bikes. Behind, Dan and Tom were doing a killer job of controlling the pace. Props to Alex as he did most of the work bridging us up; dude from trail bikes announced that he wasn't helping because the guy down the road was his team mate (1. WTF?! 2. This turned out to be a big fat lie; see below, 3. This doesn't even make any sense since having two people from the same team in the break would have been a strategic advantage). Anyway...Just as we got up to buddy in the white Jersey, Alex changed his mind about being in the break and dropped anchor. Which left me and the two "teammates" out front. Fortunately they seemed to be committed and we quickly worked our advantage up to a few minutes over the peleton.
Meanwhile....
Chopper Dan and Tom, being the selfless teamates they are, sat up when I attacked and in doing so slowed the whole group down to an utter snail-pace, which gave the break a chance to get out of sight. Everyone was looking for a response but nothing came. After the break was down the road a ways they proceeded to mark every move that went off the front until the pack started to widdle down.
Meanwhile...
Down the road one of my breakaway compatriots was appearing somewhat weary. I wasn't aware what was going on in the main group but I figured me and the one other guy who was still going well had enough in the tank to stay away, but if Tom and Dan had dropped the group by now, ditching the 3rd guy in the break early-on might still give them time to seal the 3rd podium spot. So start of 3 laps to go, I punched it up the finishing stretch and that dislodged the 3rd guy almost instantly. At first I thought maybe the guy from Trail bikes would wait for his "teammate"-but then he announced that he "wasn't actually my teamate". Seriously? Um, okay. Anyway, after some cat and mouse I was feeling a bit dehydrated and figured I better try to conserve and save it for the sprint....
Meanwhile...
Tom and Dan unleashed a gargantuan attack on the last lap to shell all but 2 guys. They then proceeded to bridge up to white jersey dude who had been dropped from the break, past him and motored towards the finish line. Tom cranked it coming into the finishing stretch leading Chopper Dan out perfectly to seal the last podium spot. Booh Yeah. Can you believe this was Dan's first road race?? And in A's no less???
And about a minute before...
Coming into the finishing stretch, dehydration was starting to get the better of my legs and my mental state was disintegrating. My mind started to wander...Was this break worth it? Could I have done something differently? Does my life have meaning? Self-doubt began to creep deep inside my head.... I could see the disappointment in my teammate's eyes if I was beaten at the line....
At that precise moment and with about 100m to go, the McDonald's Breakfast sandwich I ate earlier in the day finished converting itself from 100% trans fat to 100% bitchen rocket fuel. Alas, Trail bikes dude had no chance as I unleashed a furious sprint of soul-crushing epic proportions to take the win.

Final Results were:
1. Jon B
2. John from Trail Bikes
3. Apache chopper dan
4. some dude.
5. TSkin.

Big thanks to:
1. chopper dan and TSkin for being awesome teamates.
2. Alex.
3. McDonald's breakfast sandwhiches
4. Jenny Skinner for making KILLER Spagetti and Meatballs with homemade ice cream. Damn that girl can cook.
5. Oak Bay Bikes
6. Comox Valley Cycling Club

Re: COMOX CUP REPORT

Posted: Tue May 07, 2013 11:56 am
by chopperdan
Awesome report Jon! It's like you were above the race taking notes, while you were up front dishing out the pain. :D