Mississippi Mills Grand Prix: Plan, Execute, Win?

Things are hotting up as we approach the Ride of the Damned on the 23rd, and Champlain's Folly on July 14th. For those who don't know, I am part of the organizing team for the Folly. I hope you all will join us for both events! But this post is about dorky racing. 

Have you ever seen these crazy videos? Our team emailed them around a couple years ago and agreed we never wanted to be like these dudes. Ok, sure, it would be fine to be good at bike racing, but the attitude part; no thanks. However, despite the obnoxious exterior, there are some valuable nuggets embedded in the morass of ridiculous content in this series of videos. The 'concept' we tend to return to time and again, if more than somewhat ironically, is 'Plan, Execute, Win.' To date, we've done a lot of planning and executing, but not a whole lot of winning. This should not be a surprise, as the majority of others we race agains are also planning and executing. We can't all win. Some clearly neither plan, nor execute. I'm not sure what that's all about.

For the Mississippi Mills Grand Prix, from Pakenham, Ontario, the plan was simple: attack, attack, attack, try to win. Out of a field of about 100 riders in the Open A race, we were four: Alex Michel, Iain Radford, Mike Abraham, and yours truly, Surch & Rescue/Destroy. The course was 42k, two laps. Mildly rolling, with about 5km of dirt road, it would be tricky to break up the peloton. 

Execute. The fun is in trying. That is how it went down, in machine gun format:

Big field. Men, women, boys.

"Let's attack on the gravel, force a split."

Slow.

I want to go now! No, wait.

Gravel approaches; where are my guys?

It's planned: attack.

45kph...frigg, still alone...and still...

Caught, counter.

And so on: catch counter; rinse, lather, repeat.

Carbon flying...ugh...

We're ok, rinse, lather, repeat.

Lap 2

Bagged. 

Alex: "we have to attack before the gravel, then counter. I will go first."

Matt: "Ok, I'll counter."

Execute. Fairly feeble counter.

Iain goes; perfect.

Two companions, into the gravel. 

Gap, holding; yes! 

I don't have to work.

Some guy 15 feet away: "Hey asshole!"

Who? What?

Me: "Who's the asshole? Can I be the asshole?"

Peloton: "Haha."

Alex is following attempts to bridge while I sit in.

Carbon flying, female shriek. Ugh.

Gap is 30s. Yes! 

More sitting in while Alex is vigilant.

Mike is up there, he has done as asked, chased and countered, earlier. Up front and watching.

Gap is 40s. Yes! 

No organization, they will not pull Iain back.

We will sprint for 4th place 'glory.'

Be careful, position for the sprint, like on TV/the Internet.

3k to go.

Moving up, Alex is ready. 

500m to go.

Right up, aggressive. Just like the PROs!

Time to get gnarly.

90 degree turn into the final. Totally aggro.

Can't get all the way out, have to lean hard.

Drift both wheels. Holy f#ck.

Accelerate 'hard.' Alex on the right.

Two dudes, can't pass, not enough powa!

That's it. Third in the bunch, for 6th, Alex 4th for 7th.

Did Iain win?

2nd. Nipped by a junior.

A strong one.

1) Miles Eastman 2) Iain Radford 3) Connor Byway

Ride of the Damned Registration is Live!

We're rolling, folks! One team is in already! Sign up now and spread the word for lots of FB likes! Lets get 'trending,' #rideofthedamned !!! 

Resister here: http://sportrecon.com/2013/RotD

Registration closed at midnight, Wednesday, June 19

The first 25 entries will receive free tire advice from the Bike Angel, Rodd Heino! The next 25 will receive hearty high-fives from Dave Stachon!

Ride of the Damned: Its Alive!

2013 Ride of the Damned poster, by our favourite graphic designer, Greg Cosgrove!

I'm getting close to launching registration, stay tuned!

Ride of the Damned Update

I'm happy to announce that the Ride of the Damned will start and finish at Bate Island on June 23rd. Smack in the middle of the Ottawa River, Bate Island has parking, a bathroom, and an enclosure that will cover us in the event of rain. It should be a great place to begin and end the ride! 

Now that siting is finally finalized, I will get registration up and running. Entry will be $40, due to the increased cost of permits and sanctioning. 

I've created a RotD page here on the blog (under the banner up top), in an effort to help make all the information riders need easily accessible. Please let me know if there is anything missing, and I'll get on in. 

I've also created a FaceBook page for the RotD. Please 'like' the page to help get the word out and catch wind of info coming through the pipe. This is the FB event page, which you can use to invite friends to the ride.

Race Report: Mont Tremblant Canada Cup #1

Intuition; what is it? In layman's terms, intuition is embodied thought. I like wikipedia's paragraph on Carl Jung's take:

In Carl Jung's theory of the ego, described in 1921 in Psychological Types, intuition was an "irrational function," opposed most directly by sensation, and opposed less strongly by the "rational functions" of thinking and feeling. Jung defined intuition as "perception via the unconscious": using sense-perception only as a starting point, to bring forth ideas, images, possibilities, ways out of a blocked situation, by a process that is mostly unconscious.

Over the years I've gotten a lot better about following my intuition, but I'm far from expert. In the realm of cycling, I've had to learn the hard way many times. The main thing I've learned is that I shouldn't force things. For example, if I have a race planned, but I don't feel motivated to do it, I shouldn't. In the past, saying I'd do a race, to myself or others, meant full commitment. I'd make it happen. But if my head was elsewhere, I was inviting disaster. Back when I raced downhill, that often meant injury. Hard-learned lessons....

I'd planned on racing the Gatineau Grand Prix road race on the long weekend. Road racing was going well, keep it going, right? The Beachberg Spring Chicken enduro mtb race the prior weekend was fun. I came out of it saying: I want to race mtb again soon. Click. I'd not been considering doing Mont Tremblant, after a pretty unpleasant race there a couple years ago. After that race, I'd made a rule: no racing Tremblant without sufficient mtb riding beforehand. The course is too technical to do as a first mtb ride of the season. 50k of mtb racing in Beachberg set me up well. I was motivated, and confident. I had to break it to Alex that I was bailing on the GP, but I was going with my gut, my intuition, that this was the right thing to do. The fact that my family loves to go to Tremblant was icing.

Matt: "How is it? Normal, or extra gnar? Do I need a sick front tire?"

Rob: "Same as usual. Only muddy on the descent and it's no big deal. I don't think you need to bother with a bigger tread. We are not."

Rob and Neil were already in Tremblant on Friday when I checked in on tire set-up. With dry weather leading up, the course should have been mostly dry. However, melting snow was usually a factor in May. The first time I raced Tremblant's XC, three years ago, I used aggressive tires, and they worked well. The next year, I ran less tread, and almost ate it more than once. This time, I'd be on Maxxis Ikons, which I felt pretty good about. 

Arriving at 11 a.m. on race day, Saturday, the parking lots were full, and racing was underway. Rob and I would race at 12:45, Neil at 2:45, Master Expert 30-39 for the first, Elite for the second. Sunny and warm, all was good. 

Rob and I warmed up by climbing all manner of roads around the base of the hill, keen to ensure we didn't stray too far and wind up staging poorly for the start. Speaking of starts, this one has to be my least favourite anywhere. Loose gravel and uphill. Yay. 

Go time

The Senior Expert field and Cadet Experts are starting before us. Why? Expert; ok, some of them don't get caught. But Cadet? Really? 

The start is fine, though, of course, clipping in doesn't come easy. Rob and I were wary of guys taking flyers off the start, then blowing up, as this often seems to occur at the Quebec races. You don't want to blow up too, following a no-hope move. 

Its fine. One guy is off the front a bit, but Rob is keeping it cool. I'm coming from behind, working  up along the side, knowing I will be good if I'm at worst third wheel into the first singletrack, which comes after climbing for perhaps 1:30. The leader has a few meters on us as I pull up close to Rob. He's fading as the pitch steepens toward the mouth of the trail. Rob and I don't slow; Rob takes the lead into the woods, with me on his wheel. 

Relax. Breathe. We'd talked about this earlier. We knew it would be hard to close gaps, and there would be traffic. We'd want to be at the pointy end right away, and hold that. Rob's mantra: smooth is faster. That's exactly what he's doing, no mistakes, not manic, just smooth. After a few minutes I comment on the efficacy of this approach; it's working. 

We're moving through traffic already. Careful, be patient. Everybody has to deal with getting by these guys, but they are chasing. We are leading. The pace is letting me recover, I'm comfortable, but its hard to know if this is fast enough. 

Out in the open, Rob is slowing, so I take the lead and push into the next woods. I hope he will follow, but I don't look back. Passing, passing, smooth, passing....The intensity up the toughest climb, which ascends to the top of the hill, is brutal. I stay on the gas, knowing I can't be the best climber here. I can't give them (except Rob) hope. I have to appear as though I am too strong to chase, get out of sight and mind. 

The descent is good. I haven't overdone it, so I've got my whits. Cadets, Seniors...they are everywhere. This is my first time down the descent in two years, and some of it is new. Overall, its good, I like it. I'm having fun. Smooth is fast. 

Out on the bike path I'm fooled into thinking the two Cadets in front of me are going fast enough. I pass and realized that was not the case. This is just like cyclocross, where you can get lulled into thinking the riders in front are going fast enough. Then you pass and they're gone. The trick is the passing part. 

Up through the village, my family is ecstatic, rocking the cowbells and cheering me on. I don't know whether the others will put up a fight yet; I just focus on doing everything right. Drink, pedal, shift. Just ride. 



Lap two of four, I overcook the brutal climb and have jello arms on the decent. Ok, note to self....I'm monitoring the chasers, but its so hard to tell who is who as I pass other riders. Is that my guy? Can't tell, but I kinda think so. I'm up 45 seconds. 

Lap three. I have the rhythm down. I'm doing the climbs and singletrack fast enough that closing is not happening. I'm up 60 seconds. Atop the brutal climb, I'm behind two Cadets. I'm patient, waiting. How long can I wait? I must pass now. Off a drop, crack! Pssssssssssss.

Shit. Its over. I claw my way out of the bushes; that was close, I almost ate it. My front tire is punctured. I cross the trail to high ground and get out of the way. Cadets and Seniors I've passed are coming by. I'm getting my tube out and my chaser, then Rob come by. My race is done. By the time I fix this I'll be down three to five minutes. But Rob can still win!

I'm not pissed, not sad. I'm fine. Interesting. Why? I've never won a Canada Cup, but been twice second, and once third. I'd love to tick it off the list. Today was the day. But I'm not bummed. Why? I prepared well, I did the right things, I had the form. My focus was good, I made virtually zero mistakes. I did everything I could do, but it didn't work out. 



This had to be the most successful 'loss' I've ever experienced. Back in April, at the Calabogie Classic, something clicked. I decided I wasn't afraid of losing, and that liberated me to put everything on the line to win. This was about taking tactical risks, not simply riding as fast as possible, as I used to do in my youth. Winning races is hard, but getting into the headspace where you can feel good about not winning has to be the secret to true success, defined as satisfaction, not rankings. Matteo dal Cin revealed this to me as his secret a couple years ago, and I didn't understand what he meant. Now I do. 

Not sure to where to go to say I'm out....

My kids had a great day too.

I ride in on my underinflated front tire, pull out, and refresh myself while I wait for the finish. My chaser comes in 20 seconds ahead of Rob. Second place for Rob and the team is fantastic. I wish he'd been able to make the catch, but he just couldn't close the gap, despite full effort. Congrats to Rob for a great race!

Rob Parniak rides to a 2nd place finish.

1) Ian Carbonneau 2) Rob Parniak 3)Eric Morneau

I have only good things to say about my Kona Hei Hei Supreme. 4" travel certainly was superior to my hardtail here. Pilot error caused my flat; the bike was up to the task.