My objective was to simply do better than last year, as I often found myself dangling dangerously off the back for portions of the race and wanted to improve in terms of positioning and pack skills. I wasn't sure how I would be in the fitness aspect because I had not done too many short intervals up to this point in the year, but it would be a wait and see approach.
I got a good start position in the 2nd row and got clipped into my pedal quickly enough that I was in the top 20 guys at the start. For a short while I was able to be at the front and even took a pull at one point, but as soon as the first prime came around I got swarmed like nobody's business and found myself more than halfway down in the pack. I had trouble moving up in the pack also, partly lacking strength and also not knowing where the best places to make up ground were, and it turned out more or less the same way as last year. I got stuck behind a crash and took a free lap which allowed me to get back in the group in a slightly better position, and at that time I really noticed how much easier the race is in the front... until the next prime came up and I got swarmed again! I finished in the pack but I learned a bit.
GP Pont Rouge was cancelled so I decided to go to Whiteface with Nic T. The skies looked ominous and on the drive down we were talking about the strategy for the race. Nic was going to try for the early break since he was feeling good, I wasn't sure with such a long race in the hills (142km, 8000ft climbing) that I wanted to be out front for too long, so I thought I would try to go with maybe 50km remaining. As it turned out, the early break was the right choice as a small group made it away, later to be joined by the strong men of the race (Oz, DSJ, Houle and Fillion) making a break of 10, and I was left holding the bag in the peleton. We dropped a significant portion of the peleton on the big climb, which was a reasonably steep climb followed by long false flat, each time we went around but lacked the organization and firepower to make up any ground on the break. I made numerous attempts to attack the peleton, which was more like the grupetto at this point once it set in that the break was gone, but they weren't having any of that and wanted everyone to suffer the same fate. After a number of failed attacks I just chilled out and practiced eating and drinking enough to stay strong for the whole race, one of my big challenges in long races! For some reason I didn't show up on the results but I came in 34th after blowing through the turn at the bottom of the climb when the marshalls failed to indicate the direction of the turn!
Lachine #2 went forward with the objective of maintaining a good position in the pack for the entire race, hoping to be in the top 30 guys the whole time. This more or less worked by being more aggressive, hugging the curb and not letting guys by and generally paying attention to the movements of the group. Whenever I noticed I was drifting back I made some big efforts to move forward on a few spots I found were good for it. About half way through the race I realized I was holding good position so I established a new, ambitious goal! To get, ONE point! To do this I tried to sprint in the final prime, 5 laps before the end of the race. The positioning wasn't great going into the sprint but I would guess I came through 20th, so I think it's within the realm of possibility to get a point sometime later this summer. In the final sprint I got swarmed like crazy and rolled in 37th behind my friends Nic T and Jon VK.
Next race will either be Lachine #3 or Nationals, depending what time I can take off work
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