Paris to Ancaster Race

ouch!!!!!!!!!
That's the short report.

It was a cold damp day, even by standards in the Bradford area. Temp was about 6c and the humidity was around 100% just before race time. It rained lightly in the first hour to add to the already wet trails. The sun finally came out about 2 1/2 hours after race start. A kind of cruel irony.

Here's the nitty-gritty: I finished 16th out of 40 in the Cydesdale category. That's the group of riders who eat other riders or anything else we can....Honestly, some of the big boys are very fast. I finished in 2:55:02 putting me 758th out of 1276 riders in the 60km race. Not even close to the podium.

Not too bad considering it was my first off-road race ever! It was really cool to be in such a large mass start event although I didn't actually realize that I would be behind so many people. And, I haven't had any training by an experienced off-roader....and I knew I was out of my element when I flew over my bars the first time! It was way cool and fun. I tried to ride my 29er up a huge rocky incline from a near standstill. Go figure! I ended up running up the hill with almost everyone else and got my first lesson in mountain biking. I think I'll get ahold of a local club to get some lessons in mountain biking.

It wasn't too much longer that I got to try that trick again! Some guy slammed on his brakes in front of me and over I went. Good news is that my rear wheel ended up stuck on his bars so he couldn't go anywhere until I got my bike righted. Boy this was getting fun.

Who would of guessed that I would get stuck on a mud path trying to ride my way through like it was pavement. Well, over I went landing on the guy next to me. This only was about ten minutes since the last spill. At least I apologized and made sure he got unstuck before me.

I guess I figured that that couldn't happen again so I tried another up hill mud run. At least this time I went over the left side into some shrubs and mud. You think I would learn as this was only about another ten minutes into the race. Now I know why mountain biking is so fun! Free mud facials....

I had the legs to really go on the pavement and gravel roads. I got the 29er up to 50.8 kph on the pavement and passed a lot of people. No one passed me and everyone who tried to draft couldn't hold on....too bad most of them passed me in kind on the muddy trails as I just had too little experience. I'm not sure if I was more upset that I had to pass the same people on the roads or if they were more mad that I got in their way on the trails!
Well, I knew I had to pick it up. So, I let me legs go all out and actually started passing people on the trails about 1 hour into the race. I had the legs and knew I had the endurance (just not enough skill or brains)....I knew that the road tactics would tire out a lot of riders who tried to keep up.

Things were going well. At least that's what I thought.

I was heading down a rail trail in a fairly large group of riders going single file. A got a good draft so managed to get some active recovery. We came out of the rail-trail into a farm which had a gate--two posts on either side. All the riders in front of me were passing through with little ease so I didn't let up on speed. Well, this big boy's big 29er has a wide bar with even wider bar ends....both bar ends clipped a respective post and I launched into the front yard grass. No one hit me although a few riders called out rider down and there was some commotion. After I got my bike and body out of the way, another rider pulled the same trick I did! I can't imagine how many riders went down there but it was downright dangerous. I got up and shook my head and mounted with a renewed intensity.

I picked up speed through the farm but riders were passing me. I said to myself, 'you've broken a couple of ribs and it hurts.' Then I said out load 'it hurts.' The guys around me must have thought I was nuts because they were passing me (dirt farm trail remember) and hadn't seen the crash. Then I started saying out load 'it's not so bad' over and over. Then, I got this stupid image of Mr. T. in my mind telling me 'you ain't nothing, you ain't so bad.' Well, Mr. T. stayed there for a while putting me down until I got the image of Rocky saying 'cut it' and then yelling 'Adriannnn'.....

I wasn't delusional but needed to convince myself to keep going. I was about 30.5 km into the race and it happened at 1:27 according to my GPS. So, I just kept going and pushed really hard as there was gravel roads and some pavement for quite a while after the crash. I managed to get my speed up and even passed a local on his tractor who had just passed me....I wasn't going to be overtaken by anything today on any road.

Well, then we got back onto some trails, with some being quite technical for someone with my experience level. It was actually the bumps that started to hurt me. They literally hurt with each one hurting more than the last. It finally got to the point where I was no longer having fun....

By the time I was 50 km into the race, I knew I had got really hurt on the last crash. Good news is that I didn't crash again. But, I couldn't go through the mud on my bike because I didn't want to crash and my side and hands were beginning to swell. I basically walked and jogged down the Powerline Mudslide and couldn't even try the final ascent while others passed me on their bikes.

I got to the top and could see the finish line. I didn't want to walk my bike across the finish even though I was in incredible pain. I got on and cycled the last 200 meters or so just to save face. I saw Dan right after the finish and told him that I had broken some ribs so he took a wonderful picture of the pain of defeat.

I went to the St. John's Ambulance and sat on the rear bumper while the kind volunteers gave me a couple bags of ice for my ribs and one for my hands. To make a long story short, I went to the hospital and after a bunch of x-rays and some careful contemplation about the race while I waited to see the doctor, I had 2 or 3 fractured ribs and a torn UCL on my right hand. Worst thing is that the doctor says it will be 10 weeks before I'm good to go.

Yah right....

Race Information at: Paris to Ancaster Bicycle Race
Full results at: Ontario Cycling Association