TO crit, Ardwood ills, Contre La Monte

SO, in the past 5 days I have done 3 races on 3 different bikes in three different disciplines. Now I was thinking this must have been the most racing I have ever done in a five day period but I was incorrect. That would have been when I did transrockies which was 7 races in 7 days consecutively. With that debate settled (quickly and without much debate just a simple internal dialogue that took 4 - 5 seconds) I will now speak on these races. 

The first of which was the friday night downtown criterium in Toronto.  I was really looking forward to this race as it was in my hometown, had more than 6 - 10 spectators as most my races, and was at night. All of these things combined had me very excited as I rolled down avenue road with Mike "best rider ever on the dount" Mitchnick and legit bro Sam Bail. After a small warmup the race began and I was not situated in a great spot. I was about 40 riders back so I spent most of he first 30 mins working my way to the front which was not so easy. Once I got there I spent the rest of my night pulling, cloing gaps, or launching hopelss attacks. Oh it also poured which made it dicey but epic and fun. Overall this was an amazing experience and I am so glad I did it even though it could have had a less than positive impact on my adwood ills race.

Speaking of the ardwood ills race any worries about the TO crit having a negative impact were quickly dismissed after about 20 minutes of racing. I had a decent 3rd row call up and with the strong headwind on the main straight I was just planning to sit in. I did this to perfection and on the small little rises I stood and got around some people to end up in the first single-track around 15th. I moved up steadily through the first lap to find myself at the head of the second chase group sitting around fifth. I decided to hit the front on the main straight and ended up getting a gap on almost everyone but quebec superstar Raphael Gange. Me and him bridged up to teammate eric batty and stefan widmer about halfway through the lap. My sensations were nice and I was sitting comfortably on the wheels. Once we got to the main straight again I pulled through and ended up with just eric and raph on my wheel and we were now battling for thrid with next teammate adam morka about 15 or 20 seconds up. We ended up catching adam halfway through the lap as he had an ill timed flat. The battle was now on for second. Nothing changed until the main drag on 4th lap where I again went to the front and was able to gap my breakaway companions. I decided to try and make this stick but unfortunately I was caught by raph as we headed into lap 5.  Raph and I had a small conversation on the main drag and agreed to work together. We traded pulls most of the lap. In the Last 3 k about the attacks started going but we were able to counter each other pretty good until Raph put in a real strong one I just couldn't respond to. I fought hard for last 2 k and ended up 15 seconds down on  Raph and in third place. This was a really crazy result. Too much crazy really.  

It feels really nice t have such a good result and I'd like to thank my sponsor Barry Near, coach Steve Neal, but most of all my parents and family who have allowed me to continue racing even when things weren't going so well. They believed in me and are a huge part of why I was able to be successful. 

Next up is the boler O cup. My body is medium struggling with a sickness but I hope to still do a good result.

Tremblant en fin de semaine

After the BSP round of canada cup there was Tremblant. Tremblant is easily one of the best courses in Canada and one of the longest running canada cups. Since the race has been ran for so many years consecutively and the course stays very similar I tend to think of it as somewhat of a "classic". For me at least it's one of those races you want to do well at no matter what. 

The ontario team and I arrived at tremblant on wednesday after two days of riding the nationals course at st felicien. That in and of itself was a good experience and I really felt like lance in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qsPcmVHifM&feature=related... i.e. it was raining, cold, may, and I was preparing for a race in july. Now if a doping scandal arises I can just say I went to st felicien in may and tried harder than Jan. ANYWAYS once I was at tremblant I spent the next two days riding laps of the course and I became pretty good at it and was looking forward to the race. 

The race brought good weather and positive emotions/sensations. The trek was working very well and the legs felt pretty nice. The start was good and I was feeling a good feeling but on the 3rd lap my tire started feeling poor and cancelled holding air (flatted). I got a fairly quick change but had lost a bunch of spots I had worked hard to gain. This was a frustrating thing but I fought and rolled home with a medium 24th place finish. Not exactly the trip I wanted but still my best two canada cups ever. 

This weekend brings the toronto crit which will be awesome and the hardwood hills canada cup.. I really look forward to this and hope to finally do a good result.

BSP en fin de semaine

So the first canada cup of the year came and went and it was completed with varying degress of success. The race was situated north of quebec city in a small french town called Baie St Paul. It was a good place for the race with lots of good food and a really interesting course. The course had lots of tech climbing and minimal tech descending. It was a really hard course which made for a very hard race. I was feeling decent going into the race not sure how I would feel but apprehensively confident. There was actually a pretty legit warm up road that everyone was riding on and I got to catch up with some friends I hadn't seen in a while. 

The start was good nice and calm which suited me and I settled in to a good position moving up a bit but riding solid. I was sitting abut 13th until halfway through the 4th lap I punctured. After a decent change I was able to chase back up and make up a couple spots. I ended up 20th which isn't bad I would have liked to not puncture but c'est la folie. Overall it was a positive weekend and I am very much looking towards tremblant.

Cam

MTB O CUP

  On the weekend I competed in the mansfield O cup number. The day of pre ride was hot and I did not feel so good. The day of the race however was rather cold with some rain. This is my favorite type of race condition. I was feeling okay going into this race hoping to get on the podium knowing some guys were missing. 

The start was kind of unfortunate as I was a bit late getting to the pen and was at the back. I slipped a pedal as the gun went off as well but was able to dance my way up to about 6th wheel by the top of the first climb. From there I just moved up slowly until I decided I need to be in the lead about halfway through first lap. I worked hard on the front of the group for a couple laps and some what of a "break away" formed. This break away contained 4 of us from trek store. It was an ideal situation. I however was not so smart and crashed myself out of the breakaway that ended up fight for the win and I had to settle for 5th. It was however a really fun day and good training. 

Next race is a road race this weekend at springbank which looks wild. 

Quite a busy last few weeks or days I am not sure which but I've been riding and racing a lot since returning from tucson. 

With my body mostly healed up from my earlier crash I decided to enter the good friday road race. I had never really done a road race before I mean I started one once but I got dropped like 30 minutes into the race so that doesn't really count. The race went well despite teammate matt mccartney making some questionable decisions the night before the race. I road at the front a lot early on and then was pretty tired near the end of the race but did my share of work. Mike Mitchnick was up the road so I just sat on for a while until I just wasn't that into it and rode the last lap real easy with another bro. I am not sure what I ended up it could have possibly been last or second last it was a tight sprint and I didn't get to see the photo. Overall it was good experience and Mike had a good result so that was a nice thing. 

On the sunday of easter weekend I decided to enter this tour or race I am not sure which it seemed almost as if everyone knew it was a race but the organizers wanted to keep it a secret and just call it a tour. Whatever you to call it, it ended being very race like. It was a really interesting idea as it was supposed to mimic the paris roubaix so it had a bunch of rough gravel and dirt sections. Within the first of these gravel sections I was able to get a substantial lead with one other bro. Even though it was only 30 k into the race we decided to try and make the break stick. It was woking out very well halfway through the race we had a minute 30 on the chasers. After the next gravel section there was a bunch fo rolling hills and I managed to get away from my breakaway companions. The pact had been broken. There were no more friends. I had no idea how far from the finish I was at this point but I decided to ride anyway and ended up staying away and taking the win which was too much crazy really. The coolest part was the trophy they gave me which was an actual cobble from the arenberg forest. It's chilling in my room now and sometimes I look at it. 

 The weather got glorious today and I did a long ride out to kettleby. While I rode I lisented to the new yeah yeah yeahs record "it's blitz" It is a stellar record and I would reccomend it anyone. 

This weekend brings another road race at calabogie on a car racing track. It will be good times. 

Show Me What I'm Looking For

  So I have arrived home after two glorious months in Tucson, Arizona and it appears nothing has changed. I awoke this morning to a snow covered lawn and wintry winds. The thermometer read - 2 and it felt a lot like the day I'd left in january. However much it seems nothing has a changed a lot has. I have spent two strong months working hard and the change comes in form of far greater fitness than when I left in january. Speaking of those two months some interesting things happened in that time period. 

First of them being a race I attended 2 weekends ago in Fontana California. The race was a part of the new US cup series which appears to be quite popular as the mens field had 120 riders. This was possibly the largest XC field I had ever ridden in so i was a bit nervous about call ups. I got an okay one like 5 or 6 row. I was able to get a decent start and stay below my limit for the first lap then maybe I pushed too hard on lasp 2 and 3 to really move up as I felt some fading near the end of 4 and for sure on the fifth. I however only last maybe one spot and ended up a very solid 25th place. Looking at time gaps and the names around me I was pretty jazzed on the result. It will give me confidence going into new races. However good my race was I still couldn't get past the high level of "goofiness" i have been noticing at US mtb races. The entire field seems inexplicably obsessed with extremely wide riser bars and socks that go far too high. 

That being the first event the second was less positive. The day after the race I decided to do a road ride with mitchnick and whilst we were cruising down kolb with a wicked tailwind I decided a sprint was in order. So i began this sprint at speeds approaching 60 km/h. As I began this sprint my chain decided it just wasn't into it and fell off. I however was still into it and threw all of my sprinting forced into hurling myself into the ground. Which I did a very good job of. I Rolled and slid quite away's until stopping, getting up and realizing i was pretty much okay just with a ridiculous amount of road rash. I had road rash all over left side of my back, both hips, both hands, right and left arm. I had also shredded my brand new trek store kit which was the biggest bummer of all. Needless to say this made the 3 day drive home from tucson rather uncomfortable ( or even wearing pants for that matter).  This kept me off the bike a bit but I am okay now and looking forward to racing this weekend.

Cameron