Race Report: Ocup #5, Buckwallow

We arrive at Buckwallow ... and yes, I painted my nails to match my race kit (for you Thorsten!)

Another Ocup, come and gone. But this wasn't just ANY Ocup! This was Bucky, my favourite course, and to make it an even sweeter deal, I had a cheerleader and personal photographer accompany me for his first ever race-of-any-kind experience. Chike kept the day super positive from my perspective, on what was otherwise a pretty tough race for me. David, from the sport-class was along as well and we had a great relaxed drive up in the minivan for his 11:30 race.

David, all class in sport class

I like to go early because I get a chance to say hello to folks, watch some racing, and with Chike there it was fun to show him around as well. He even learned how to feed!

The weather was great. The sun beat down as it has been for the past week, but thankfully, not quite as intense as the heatwave a few days prior. Still, it became apparent that the heat would be a problem pretty much as soon as I spun out for my warm up on the Muskoka Parkway.

I ride Shimano components, and since my brakes run on mineral oil instead of automotive braking fluid, i was dealing with a common side affect: expanding fluid pushing my pads into my rotors making a very disheartening sh-ch-sh-ch-sh-ch sound as my rotors went round and round. with conventional brake fluid, i think there's a little more resilience when it comese to environmental factors. Oh well, no time to do a thing about it, not that i'd know what to do anyway. So, I had to line up with a little piano tied to my ass.

On top of that, my warm-up left me feeling a little TOO hot out there on the pavement. I went through almost two bottles of water (one with eload) before the race began and still had dry-mouth and nausea. "oh boy" i thought, but i still felt like I had a good day in me. Especially with aforementioned cheerleader standing by!!

The start was crazy -- Mike (the property owner) had warned me about a rock that comes up fast on the left side of the opening double track. Apparently he'd seen his fair share of endos as people launched themselves into unexpected "big air" during the local thursday-night series. I remembered his words, but only as we came around the corner and a Cycle-solutions kit went flying in front of me at eye level. Somehow I managed to stay out of her way, but heard a kafuffle behind me indicating others hadn't been so lucky. At the end I found out it as Mandy, and her day had been cut too short by the bad news bears. I wondered where she was all race, and her "ghost" kept me honest (i.e. hammer now or Mandy's gonna get ya!). So thank you Mandy for a good race anyways -- I hope it's just a little irritation and nothing serious.

The line

After that, my first two laps went fairly well. I was happy with my position, convinced that I'd be catching up to the lead group momentarily. But then it just seemed like all systems began to fade ...

It all went wrong on the third lap. I started making mistakes ... and really awkward ones at that too. Ones that left me precariously perched atop rocks while I prayed my cleat would stick to it's foothold while I regained my balance with one foot still clipped into the bike. Then I got passed. Then I got passed again, and the only thing more unpleasant than being passed is when the passer is extra pleasant to the passee. Strategy? Or is she just a really nice girl? I'll never know. Thus undone, I just focused on riding clean, however despite accomplishing that for the most part in my last lap, speed was not a by-product. in fact, I rode every lap slower than the last, starting out with a sub-thirty lap and finishing with one that can only be described as "sub forty". ouch. and may I also add, "wtf".

Anyway, the one thing that saved me from a total pit of despair moment was a Hub rider who passed me and instead of the customary "have a good race" one usually hears as the male fields work their way through, he said "have fun!"

"Thanks for the reminder!" i said. Because, really, that's what it's all about. Sometimes I forget as I get ready for the Ontairo-World-Cups.

Having fun.

Happy to see the finish, I rejoined my trio, got some hard-earned watermelon and we went off to jump in the lake. Then we hit up webers. And I even ordered TWO orders of fries. It was an awesome day because I got to ride bikes, i did it safely, the company was excellent, the weather perfect, and ... it was fun.

Royal Heat Wave!

When it's this hot I'm more inclined to just rely on existing fitness rather than go out and try to collect more. However, Gerhard and I still managed to sweat out a great preride at Buckwallow on Sunday evening. Man, it's going to be a hot one there. We rode in the evening in an attempt to wait out the traffic, and it was still brutal. Course is super fun though, and I'm looking forwad to a decent race on Sunday. Although touring around my usual blog reading list, it seems like the usual suspects are more often than not opting out! Hope there's a good turnout. If not, oh well, less of you to clog up the 400 on the way home I guess ;)

The weekend was a great trip ... guess I'll get around to posting about it now. We decided to hit up Hardwood (instead of battling the traffic all the way to Buck) on Thursday and enjoyed an awesome Canada Day Ride on favourites like "Serious" and "Radical". Gerhard and I think we need to get some friends up there for a day of fun riding (Nancy, Jules, Birke ... we're looking at you).

A quick beer in the parking lot and then it was off to Bruce County. We arrived in time for a BBQ at my sister's before heading down to the fireworks at the flagpole in Southampton. The rest of the weekend was a wonderful rainbow of outdoor eating, beers, bonfires and "testical toss" (otherwise known as "horse nuts", "scroats and ropes" or just "ladder ball").

Thought I would do more riding than I did, but changed it up instead with a smaller-than-planned hike up at the National Park on the Bruce Penninsula. It was full, so we had to wait our turn before finally opting for a lesser known trail-head further down the Bruce Trail. Not the Grotto, but still fun (and still full). Something rubs me the wrong way about waiting in line for nature, but we had a great day nonetheless. Although I think the boys were all K'd* out by the end.

Ever since getting back to Toronto it's been tough to find the will to train ... maybe that will change tonight ... maybe not. It feels like interval work just to walk between Whitney Block and Main Building so maybe I'll just call it done.

Hope everyone's staying cool!

PS - I saw the Queen today!!

*K'd out: refers to the fatigue incurred after spending the day with me and Kim in top gear.

Buckwallow Fundae

Have I mentioned Buckwallow is my favourite?

That's why this weekend, G and I headed up there for one last taste. Banking on a leisurely Saturday morning drive up, we loaded up the minivan and departed. DVP was smooth sailing but once we got to the 401, it became apparent we were going to need a traffic report. Sure enough, westbound collectors were closed. Thus began our traffic woes. Hoping for better flow on the 400 we pressed on. It wasn't better. It was the worst we'd ever seen it. So bad, that we decided to get off at Major Mac.

I don't want to spend too much time griping about traffic because even though it took us double the time to get up there, and even though we were crabby, car sick and thinking about calling it quits at about Wonderland, we ended up having a great great day.

So more on that ...

We got to Buckwallow just after two and rode until almost 6. I think we hit every single trail Buckwallow has to offer ... even The Weasel which was just retarded. I would like to know who's cleaned that trail start to finish, no dabs. Wowsa.

G is new to mtb as you may recall from previous posts, but when we go riding it's easy to forget that. Which is nice. Today he was aboard Trek's Fuel 9.8 ... a carbon, XT-equipped beauty.


Buckwallow is a great mix of trails so we checked out everything from gnarly, rooty drops and rocky obstacle-courses to fast and flowy single track over on Burnt Pine Road. All whilst trying to keep ahead of the mosquitos.


At the end of the day, we hit up Weber's for some burgs and fries and then each had a double scoop for dessert. If you see "Polar Paws" ice cream anywhere, do not delay -- get it.

Calories replenished, we got back on the highway and headed home in the expected amount of time to wrap up the night with a movie and some serious couch-time.

Great day. Huge thanks to Sweet Pete's for the use of the Trek!

Buckwallow Addendum

Andrew, of Buckwallow podium fame (congrats buddy!) sent this to me today over bookface. I'm around the 7:56 mark ...

Thanks to "MCGYVER29er" of the mtbr.com forum for putting it together!

Race Report: Buckwallow (O-Cup 5)

Buckwallow is my favourite race course. As I mentioned earlier I was worried that I wouldn't be able to enjoy it to its fullest due to a nasty weather forecast, but with Nancy back at her rain-dance post, all was well and the weather stayed perfect for racing. The course was mint-y fresh, with just enough moisture to keep the dust down and the trails tacky. I was stoked all morning -- couldn't WAIT to get on it.

It's been a long time since I last raced an Ocup, so the usual preparations of packing and kitting up kind of sat funny and I couldn't tell if I was nervous or excited. I decided to do an extra long warm up to settle down. Rolled up to the start line and found ten chatty, excited ladies in my start pen. We shared a few pleasantries and then it was time to go!

I felt good, had good legs and the pace was totally manageable. I stayed near the front, made a few braking errors but kept on it and before I knew it, the first single track was just around the next corner. A little voice said "go" and I accelerated up the climb pushing past Emily Batty and Ashely Barson to take the hole-shot. Similar to Mansfield, my brain started screaming "holy shit, I'm in front!" I told that little voice to shut up because unlike Mansfield, Buck requires full concentration to keep from making mistakes.

And I didn't make any.

The entire first lap I rode completely clean, even greasing lines I hadn't yet nailed in preriding. I was so stoked. Emily was on my wheel and having the U23 National Champion and Canada Cup Leader behind you certainly does something for your concentration. I led for awhile, long enough to think I could maybe take a podium out of this if I kept it up, but then in the short "hilly" section I hit a bit of a wall and my punch disappeared. Emily and Ashely went by and by then, the men had started to catch up to us so there were a few more folks on the trails. I tried not to panic, regained my focus and put my energy back into my cranks. My first lap I finished a minute and change behind Emily and Ashely and when I came around (in third) Nancy and Jules were there to cheer me on!! That turned my frown upside down and I powered through the feedzone and lapped through.

The "Moose Mayhem" section of single track went really well and I still had great double track legs on the other side. But back in "Toad Twister" and "Show Time" something went wrong and I started making mistakes. I hit a tree, and the bike took most of the beating twisting my seat 90 degrees. I didn't notice because I was standing to get back up to speed but then I had to stop again to fix it. Once you lose momentum at Buck it's tough to get back into your groove and that cost me two positions.

My third lap I raced solid and steady but lap four I crashed again. By then, my legs were really complaining but I had some "last lap kick" -- that extra bit of push because the horses know they're headed back to the barn.

All in all, it was a great day. I knew I'd go home happy no matter what after such an exciting first lap and with Jules and Nancy there to cheer me on, I couldn't help but feel like a star even halfway down the day's standings. I had serious thoughts that I could maybe podium but I guess it wasn't meant to be. If I'm honest with myself, I'd admit to checking-out a little bit this summer. It's been a long season for me and it's hard to keep coming back to the bike with all the other "life" stuff going on. Although I was a bit disappointed in the result after such an exciting start, I'm stoked to get back to work for my last two races: Mountainview in Midland and Provincial Championships at Kelso.

I ended up finishing in 6th, collecting 5th place points because third place was from BC, putting me 7th place in the overall ranking. Thanks to Tara for keeping me company on the drive and being such an expert feeder. Thanks again to Jules and Nancy for leading the cheering section. And of course, thanks to Sweet Pete's for keeping me rolling.

An Ode to Buckwallow

I saw the weather forecast for Sunday and it made me very unhappy. Rain. And rain every day leading up to more rain. Last year we found out for certain that Buckwallow joins Albion Hills as a race course that doesn't handle water too well.

I give you Exhibit A:

This year the course follows many of the same trails and boasts some extra rooty sections (+ rocks of course) that really put racers to the test once they become slickery. On the bright side, Buckwallow gets so wallow-like I won't have to worry about changing over to my mud tires -- tire selection just doesn't matter when you're racing in soup. But that's probably just my laziness talking. Tire changing is about my LEAST favourite bike chore in the whole wide world.

That doesn't mean I won't make other preparations.

Tonight for example, I just finished an "Ode to Buckwallow" workout. I started with some 30/30s (my favourite!) to remind myself what real kick feels like. And then, I did a trail ride through the don in which I purposefully dismounted and remounted every 2 or 3 minutes, running for 1 or 2 minutes with the bike. Something tells me this is going to come in handy on Sunday. To complete the experience, it even started to rain on me as I was finishing up.

I will also go to the shop and buy a new chain and new brake pads. This is a good idea for two reasons:

1) The surest way to ward off rain is to do everything in your power to be extra prepared for it. So if I buy these expensive items in anticipation of the carnage rain (and resulting mud) would bring Sunday, it will surely NOT rain.

2) If that doesn't work. I'll already have my new brake pads and chain before the shop gets cleaned out like after Albion Hills Ocup. Ha, I'm so clever.

So get ready to get dirty Buckwallow racers. It's going to be a gritty, grinny good time. Peace.

Buck, 2008 -- All done.

Sunday Preride

Andrew, Tara and I headed up to check out Buckwallow thus breaking Andrew's no-preride streak on the 2009 ocup circuit.

Usually a good idea to preride Buck ... it's a flowy course, except when it's not. Or except when you're not I guess I should say. Logged a satisfying four laps, including one at race pace. Such a nice thing to be able to spend that kind of time on the course, made possible by it not being the day before the race; a first for me this season. Of course, it'll get tracked out, or it'll rain, or the line I so carefully selected will be unavailable due to other racers ... so really the benefits of preriding are in the eye of the beholder I think.

We weren't the only ones up at Buck today either ... ran into plenty of folks from Cycle Solutions and of course, Sweet Pete's: Jerome was kind enough to pace my hot lap and even went so far as to heckle me which worked wonders. Then as I was leaving, a klutzy, tired, biking disaster, I ran into Martin and Ivan too.

Getting packed up at the car, a deer came over to check things out and she stuck around for a while ... methinks she's used to seeing riders, but riders weren't used to seeing her, as evidenced by the poor old dude that almost t-boned her while she stood on the trail. Luckily, disaster was averted.

After a long day (exacerbated by Highway 400 nonsense), I was happy to get back to the homestead and discovered new neighbours living under the porch!

And now? Eat until I pass out.

Cheers!

PS - check out my horoscope today: "You will, today, lay the foundation for a more solid, stable, successful future." I think that means next Sunday will be solid, stable and successful!