Tour De Dog – Fredericton NB

In the week leading up to this race I had been trying to con a few local guys to make the trip up with me, knowing it was going to be a long drive (7.5 Hrs) traveling solo didn’t seem much fun. After poking and prodding I finally got commitment from Mark Cosman! Good thing he didn’t know that he was going to be racing in the “B” Cat nor that there was a 5-6? KM climb, near freezing temps and lots of wind. He Hung tough and finished mid pack which is great being the longest and toughest course he has ever done. Good job Mark!! This means Gab is racing A right?!? haha

We hit the Delta Hotel after driving around Freddie not really knowing where we were going; just a general idea, about 7:30pm checked in and headed to BP to get some Scallop and Prawn Fettuccini. We headed to Cora’s in the AM for a wicked breakfast; amazingly I wasn’t able to finish it all.

We arrived on the at the school for registration around 9:30am and got our numbers and decided we were going to do a lap of the course in the car just to see what it was like, Jim Currie had said it one big climb followed by a descent and rinse and repeat so we were anxious to check it out. We started heading up hill and drove a good 6-8 KM and it was mostly rolling hills so we figured it wasn’t too bad and headed back to the school to get geared up for the race. Needless to say we missed the first corner and soon came to realize once the race started that the course in fact was one LONG climb followed by a descent and we got to do that 6 times for 108KM. I did as much climbing in this 108KM as I did in 135KM of Battenkill, I have to say that this was tougher race for me than Battenkill. But then again I was out in front this race and was following wheels in Battenkill so that’s likely why.

We lined up, decent sized group for our standards I think we had just over 25 or so. Shelia was ready to start the race and I quickly realized I had put my gels in my jacket pocket and I took that off right before the start of the race and said “WAIT WAIT WAIT – I forgot my gels” ha, I barreled it to the car to get my gels and she took the opportunity to ask the rest of the guys if they needed gels or peanut butter sandwiches and I’m sure a few other things. Thanks Shelia!!

We started off and a couple guys decided to go right from the start, the group wasn’t all that interested in chasing them down and a few radical edge guys got on the front and set a steady tempo the first time up the climb. I’m some glad we started up and not down as I was freezing but soon warmed up enough to be comfortable. The group made it to the top of the first climb all together and we started heading down and soon realized how much wind there was. We had a monster tail wind climbing and felt it going down. There was no coasting on this course, I’m sure it was some of the toughest conditions/course combination I’ve raced. Pretty much suited for me.

I had figured since it was such a tough course and with the wind it was best to try and get a break going down the hill into the wind, I was hoping this would tempt the bigger guys to bridge up to me and with 2-3 of them in a break I would have an advantage later in the race to drop them on the climb but use them up to that point to keep a gap on the pack with their strength in the wind and descent. So I launched an attack and got a good gap, I keep my pace steady and stayed far enough from the pack but close enough to make it easy for anyone who wanted to bridge to get to me. Not sure what the pack was doing back there but I stayed on the front for the rest of the lap which took a considerable effort. As we got part way up the climb on lap 2 the group came back to me and again radical edge went to he front and set tempo up the climb.

I think halfway up the climb Brian (Radical Edge) got on the front and I was thinking this seems a bit harder then tempo but didn’t think too much of it, when we got near the top of the climb Lorenzo came by and said something and I looked back and we had a good gap to the pack, there were 4 of us and as I started pulling down the climb into the wind I looked back and only Jay Grover was near me, I still don’t know what happened but I figure no one was interested in getting in a break yet... Too early in the race I guess?!?

We all came back together again and as we were on our way back down Shaughn Smith decided to have a go and quickly had a few hundred meters on the pack and was quite quickly getting away, there were 4 Radical Edge guys near the front and another coming up to them and they were talking together, I thought something was about to go down and figured I had better get to the front as I was tucked hiding from the wind mid pack. No sooner than I got to the front of the pack and got on Adam Douthwright’s (Radical Edge) wheel he attacked, I had timed it perfect and I got a freebie. We were soon working very well together and caught Shaughn and the 3 of us dug deep to get out of sight of the pack. I knew with Adam’s team being the strongest in the group they wouldn’t be chasing us and should be doing a good amount of blocking back in the pack.

We came around for the 3^rd time up the climb and I set tempo up getting them to help on the false flat sections, we were 3 smooth well oiled machines. We neared the top of the climb and looked back and Jay Grover (Hub Cycle) had bridged up to us, which was a fine piece of climbing from him.
The 4 of us set to work and we all seemed very motivated to work together and were looking to get some split times, Sheila came around when we hit the bottom of the climb and said we had 2 minutes on 2 and 4 minutes on the pack. For being off the front for only 1 lap I was pretty confident this group was going to make it to the end. 

The 4 of us set into the steady tempo on the 4^th and 5^th laps, Jay and I paced up the climbs and the 4 of us worked going down, with the horse power of Shaughn and Adam they made quick work of the wind on the descents.
Shaughn knew he wasn’t going to make it up the climb on the 6^th lap, we had hoped he would be back to make it back around and hang onto 4^th, but  a few guys managed to catch him and he ended up finishing in 8^th. Still a solid result from a guy who looks like a crit rider on a mountain course. Great job Shaughn.

As Jay, Adam and I made our way up the climb the last time I was thinking strategy and in hindsight didn’t pick the right one. I decided I was going to launch my attack on a little kicker on the descent which was about 6K left from the finish, I was hoping that Jay would try to follow me and knew Adam would have some trouble getting up to hand onto Jay and I. So when we hit this kicker on the descent Adam took his turn on front and I launched my attack with everything I had... All in. I was quickly getting away and my gap was growing. The winds were fierce and I had my chin on my stem pumping my legs as fiddling with gears moving position on my seat trying to get every ounce of power I could muster. It was starting to look like I might be able to get away, but when I launched my attack Jay played it perfectly opting not to try to bridge to me solo but to get help from Adam and as they started working together they slowly meter by meter started reeling me back in and caught me as we started down the last hill where we make a right hander towards the finish. Adam saw an opportunity with the cross wind and descent to try an attack but I was quickly on his wheel with Jay in tow.

We then sat up and congratulated each other on a solid days work and proceeded to head in for a sprint finish, with a tricky right hand corner 300 meters from the finish Adam was the first to   dive into the corner and open his sprint, I got on his wheel as quickly as I could and was liking my chances as Jay had been slow to get through the corner and we had a gap on him. As we hit the last bit of climbing I stood up and sprinted with what little I had left in my legs begging for more power and seemingly looking like I was going to take the win, but with a handful of meters left to the line Jay come on the right side and nipped me for the win. Grats Jay!

Overall an awesomely tough course which completely exploded all groups into scattered riders all over the course. Hopefully it happens again next year.

-          Jeff