I made myself some good old-fashioned race-day hot cereal with bananas and coffee. Packed my food, some more coffee, oranges and o.j., some throat lozenges, and cold medicine--wasn't sure what was happening but I wasn't going to miss the race. Got the car packed with bike, clothes (and extra stuff just in case) and all the essentials.
Making the trip north was fairly uneventful although I had to keep the speed down because of the numerous speed traps on the highway. I saw others obviously going to the race with cross bikes strapped to the roof and trunks. Arrived in Paris just after nine to connect up with the group of riders from Windsor. We cycled over to the start area from Paris where all our cars were parked. There were only a few of us in the first wave and a couple in the third wave.
I wanted to get in a decent warm up and had been to this race before so just went
out on the roads north of the starting area. There is a nasty hill incline that really can get your heart going if you attack it so that's where I warmed up.Got to the start line with about 10 minutes to spare and found myself in the middle of the first wave starting group. Of course, waiting there was nerve racking and I was thinking how I would jump hard out of the start getting in to a group in the middle--hopefully at about my level--to make the race easier and quicker to finish.
I wasn't sure what to expect as there seemed to be all sorts of riders in the wave. Lots of riders with full kits that looked like they could race but also guys who looked like they were ready to bmx practice on their single-speeds. Two guys on a tandem had bright colourful skin-suits with aero-helmets and they stood out. It was actually really cool to see all the varied types of riders and a little relaxing to know that some people weren't taking it as seriously as some of us :)The race heads out initially on the road, turning quickly onto a gravel road and then on to a rail trail. I knew that if I jumped quickly on the road section, I could get into a decent group on the rail trail--it would be hard to pass early on the rail trail because of the sheer number of riders. Well, it didn't take long for the first real crash to happen. I was somewhere in the middle of a fairly large group about 2km into the rail trail when about 5 riders up, 2 riders went down. I don't know what happened, whether they crossed wheels (my guess) or something else happened. All I knew was that the whole rail trail was blocked and everyone behind me was going fast so I yelled out 'riders down.' I think most people heard as we moved slightly off the trail to move around and slowed a little, but I looked back and it looked like a piling on after a touch-down
.....ouch. Well, that crash had split the group I had hoped to be in into the main group in front of the crash and a whole pile of mini-groups with me pulling the first chase group. I don't think it is fair to call us a chase group although I think we tried to until the end of the rail trail. There were about a dozen or so of us trying to chase and we stayed a little organized but not really....I saw the end of the rail trail coming and the 90 degree right turn up the rocky hill coming. Last year I tried to ride up the hill with the effect of going over my bars. This year, I was going to be smarter!!!! I jumped off and in good cross fashion, carried my bike while running up the hill. Boy, that actually hurt and my lungs were burning by the time I hit the top and was slow to re-mount and go....into the single track, or I think I could say, the never ending mud.
The mud was bad overall with rail trail being made sloppy, single track made into mudslides, and the mudslides into mud baths complete with mysterious bubbling effects. Yes, it was that gross....I found myself picking leaves and packed mud out of my brakes and drive-train when possible but there were a lot of times I needed to pull small branches out of my wheels and derailleurs. Easily one could break a rear derailleur with all the mud and debris jamming everyone's bikes. Well, at least we're all under the same conditions and it hadn't started to rain yet....for now.
That hope didn't last all that long. This years race is being called 'epic.' Well, I don't know about epic but it certainly covered the range of precipitation types and would be a meteorologists joy to report. In other words, it sucked. It rained, snowed, sleeted, hailed, and then gave us a few snow squalls. Oh yeah, didn't I mention that they already had 30mm of rain the day before. Well, now I know why I prefer road bikes--at least you know where the road is under the rain. In the mud, you'd be lucky not to break an ankle with all the wet rocks under everything or doing a face plant trying to ride through it all. And, there was plenty of evidence of riders doing both and the stories of broken bikes were all over the arena after the race.
Well, I can keep going on about how horrible it was this year and how much it was like a technical mountain bike race. For a roadie, it was hard. I spent 31 minutes of my 2:53 slogging my bike--mostly walking through the mud, not even carrying my bike because there was already too much mud and debris caked everywhere on the bike and on me. Good news is I didn't crash or cause any crashes this year. Bad news is that last year with 3 broken ribs, I finished 1 minute faster. Well, I improved in my
group, the cyldesdales, to 14th overall, and moved up about 150 spots overall to 622nd. I was disappointed with my results and really didn't think I would be coming back next year. The cold and wetness made it hard to contemplate coming back although I was happy to be able to ride up the final ascent. But, after comparing horror stories and laughing with everyone from Windsor (and meeting some new people), I'm sure I'll be back next year. And, if I need an excuse to 
find me extra motivation, I'll just blame it on the strep throat infection I got, remember the sore throat, that kept me in bed for the next 4 days....More images with thanks to Debbie.
More images from Wizards of Wheels.
More images from Race Day Rush.
Race Information at: Paris to Ancaster Bicycle Race
Full results at: Ontario Cycling Association