Paris to Ancaster has been a staple of early-season racing in Ontario for close to 30 years now, it’s attracted pros from all over Ontario, Canada and even the US, making a win or even a podium a fairly prestigious event. This year, their “Cento” event attracted what was arguably the most staked field in all of P2A history. For example, after the first “split” or “selection” of the race 50km in, the front pack consists of 4- 10 riders at the most. Where this year after that same split there were easily 40 riders still in the front group. All of which led to some very nervous, yet exciting bike racing.
The morning of the event went like most gravel events, 5:30 am wake up, Oatmeal, some hotel coffee, a “business meeting”, get my bottles and ride food ready, another “business meeting”, change and roll out of the hotel. Adam Hill, Mark Lancia and myself decided to ride from the hotel to the start as a bit of a warm-up, which was a nice change. This meant we could leave the hotel a bit later, not deal with the chaos of finding a parking spot on-site, and not use the on-site porta potties. The latter was arguably the biggest bonus of riding to the course!
The start. The first 35km of the race was interesting to say the least. There weren't any elements on course to split up the field in that first hour which lead to almost the entire field riding together. This created a pretty nervous and unsettled group, as no one wanted to be too far back in case someone decided to attack, a selection event happened or heaven forbid get stuck behind a crash in the peloton. At around 20 minutes into the race, I started feeling some severe discomfort behind my knee. This is something I felt during Barry Roubaix the previous weekend, and was something I had anticipated having to deal with. However it was much earlier into the race then I had hoped… All in all far from ideal and was definitely a contributor to the rest of my day.
The first “split” in the race happened in the town of Glenn Morris roughly 35km in. The course comes up over a bridge that crosses a river then makes a series of right-hand turns taking us down beside said river and onto a long rail trail section. The majority of the field knew that it was going to be important to be near or at the front of the race entering the rail trail. The closer we got to the rail trail the faster we travelled and the more nervous the peloton felt. Almost everyone was making slightly risky calls trying to be at the front, especially through the right-hand corners coming back down to the rail trail. The majority of the field was entering the corners 5-8 wide at 35-40km/h, bumping into one another trying not to give up any positions. Once on the rail trail, the first 10 riders accelerated hard, trying to split the group as violently as they could, maybe even trying to break away from the field entirely. Thankfully this acceleration split the group pretty quickly and we went from what felt like 200 riders down to a field of 60-80.
As we exited the rail trail I was sitting roughly 20th place within the bunch, which was a decent position to be in. However the next few kilometres of the course twisted and turned through a park/paved bike path, then a pinch point on the course, immediately followed by one of the only sizable hills in the race. This hill is another area that sheds riders from the group pretty quickly. So in an effort to not be one of those riders I attempted to move up a bit in the pack but, ultimately I lost a few positions when I almost got caught up in a crash. A few riders in front of me locked up their brakes, skidding and sliding through one of the corners. Those riders and I lost our momentum and a number of positions within the bunch. Coming out of the pinch point a few km later I was way further back than I had hoped. A few of the riders in front of me had let a gap open, effectively putting the riders at the front even further ahead. In order to close the gap ahead, I had to put in a sizable effort (more than the people attacking in front of me) in order to regain contact with the front of the race. By the top of the hill, the group had dwindled down to roughly 40 riders.
The subsequent 40-50km of the race were fiercly fought by those 40ish riders. Every 5-10km there would be an offroad section or “secteur” that varied in difficulty and length, and no rider wanted to be in the back 2 thirds of the bunch entering them. Everyone's fear was being caught out of the breakaway/lead group because the rider in front of them made a mistake and lost the wheel in front of them. This caused a cycle of sprinting into the secteur, riding as hard as you could through the secteur/trying not to crash, attacking as we came back onto the road, followed by looking back and realizing that the group was still pretty much the same as when we entered the secteur, and finally sitting up and relaxing until we approached the next secteur. Then rinse and repeat. This was a really hard effort to contend with back to back to-back… Especially when there were some of the top XC racers in North America in the group that specializes in this style of effort. Where I currently do not… LOL
Throughout those 40-50km the group slowly dwindled down to 20 as people made mistakes or riders couldn’t match the continuous attacks from the guys at the front of the pack. At this point my knee had gone from severe discomfort to beyond painful, every pedal stroke was causing splitting pain shooting through that area. In hindsight, I probably should have called it a day long before this point, but my stubbornness, pride and ego was not going to allow me to do so. Thankfully we were entering a 10km flat rail trail section, where realistically there wasn’t going to be any hard accelerations as it would be extremely difficult to breakaway on this section of the course. Giving my leg a well-needed ‘rest’ before the final couple secteurs on the course.
With roughly 15km to go the remaining 20 riders started to really push the pace at every and any possibility. Any slight climb, out of every corner and every lull in pace someone would hit the front at full tilt trying to shrink the group even further. But we all stuck together. Heading into 5km to go we made a right-hand turn onto a gravel road with a small rise. Curtis White took this opportunity to attack and trying to hit the second last (and arguably hardest secteur) in the lead. At this point, I was holding on for dear life. Even though my legs still felt decent, my knee definitely did not… I was unable to respond respond the attack as well as I would have hoped and entered the secteur last in the group. By the time we got to the end of the secteur the group had splintered and I was sitting 10s back, unable to close the gap. This ultimately was the end of my race and I rolled in for a 17th-place finish. Which like the previous weekend is not a bad finish in a field of this strength, but definitely not what I was aiming for…
What were the positives of the race? For the first time in a long time, I did a good job of being very strategic, rarely touching the front and pulling the rest of the pack along with me. While also being in a good position entering the majority of the technical/important secteurs. This is a lesson that I need to remember moving forward, as I typically spend too much time on the front and reveal my ‘cards’ too quickly. Being a little more cunning in the future will help me conserve more energy for when it really matters in the race.
What do I need to learn from? I need to listen to my body a bit more. The day after the race I was struggling to walk and move around because my knee was so sore. Racing was definitely the wrong decision to make and I should have just taken the day off. Because of this I now need to take a minimum of a week of the bike/any strenuous activity that might aggravate my knee to allow the swelling to come down. Which is far from ideal at this point of the year. But unfortunately, it was a lesson I needed to learn.
Up next is the NUE Mohican 100-mile MTB Marathon in Ohio on May 18th! I’m hopeful that I can get the issue with my knee sorted before then and come out swinging!
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