I felt a little nervous in the days leading up to the race as this is my first competitive sporting event that I’ve done since high school. Okay, I did play some intramural softball in college, but that doesn’t really count. Being realistic here, I wasn’t expecting to place in the top 10 or even in the top 100 for that matter. My goal for entering this race was to simply complete the race and do it in less than 4 hours.
For those who aren’t familiar with the Paris to Ancaster race, it’s a 60km bike race from Paris, Ontario to Ancaster, Ontario. It’s a staggering mix of bad road, old rail roadbed, single-track trails and just eight kilometres of smooth pavement. Although any type of bike can run this race, it does seem to favour cyclo-cross bikes as the best times were from racers on cyclo-cross bikes. I imagine many of the cyclo-cross bikes weigh less than 20lbs. For myself, I was riding a 30lbs full suspension trail mountain bike. Not necessarily the most appropriate bike for the race but it was the only bike I have currently and I love it.
So 2009 marks the 16th annual Paris to Ancaster race which is my first. It’s a fun race for all and it’s for a good cause to help support the Heart and Stroke Foundation. There were over 1300 participants in this race. There was everyone from former Olympic athletes and pro cyclo-cross athletes to your casual riders. There are even classes for tandem bikes, unicycles, single speeds, and Clydesdale riders (those over 220lbs).
To reduce congestion on the course, this year they decided on 3 waves of racers with staggered start times. First wave is for the pro riders. Wave 2 will be for riders who anticipate finishing in under 3 hours. Wave 3 is for everybody else including me.
So I arrived at the start line about an hour before the first wave started. It was great to see so many different bikes there and I wasn’t the only one there with a FS mountain bike.
So on to the race. The start was great. It was quite congested because of the number of riders in the 3rd wave but I had a great start. I was passing a lot of people in the first 10km. Unfortunately, at around 20kms, there was some congestion and when I got off the bike to carry it across a muddy section; I felt what can only be described as somebody pulling at both ends of the calf muscle on the right leg. It was quite painful. I couldn’t even mange to straighten the leg out at first. Well, at least I didn’t hear a pop which could have been disastrous. I took a moment to stretch and then back on the bike. The headwind was crazy and it definitely slowed down many of the racers including myself. There was plenty of mud and some nice steep hills to give the legs a good workout. Didn’t really help that the lower range gears (bottom 3 to 4) wasn’t working too well as the chain would jump off quite often. By the time I reached about 35km, I had to go to the bathroom real bad. Now I had my Camelbak with me on this ride and was drinking from it throughout the race. Thought I’d be able to do the entire race without any bathroom breaks but I just couldn’t hold it in any longer. So I had to stop, head into the bush and do my thing. I probably lost about 3 to 4 minutes on my overall time with the bathroom break there. I must say, Powerbar GEL is great and I could feel a boost in energy each time after taking them. By the time I reached the 50km mark, I thought that was it for me. I felt like I had nothing left in the tank and there was still 10kms to go. But I had to keep going as I was determined to finish this race dammit! So with my tank running on empty, I had to go through the Powerline Mudslide. Now imagine about a 100 to 200 metre really muddy section of the course and over 800 other riders have gone through it. It felt like quicksand going through that and like many others, I had to carry the bike through much of that slop. When I got passed the mudslide, I swear, my bike felt like it was 5lbs heavier with all the mud it picked up. Also, the last few kilometres didn’t feel that great as I’d have mud from the tires flying all over the place as I was riding. And then finally, the sprint to the finish was within sight. Actually, it was more like a grunt climb to the finish with the dirt road being such a steep uphill that many people, including myself, just opted to walk the bikes up the hill then ride into the finish line.
So I accomplished part of my goal which was to finish the race. However, my time was over 4 hours. I was hoping to finish the race in under 4 hours but that’s okay. Just finishing the race was quite the challenge itself. What blew me away is that the top time was 1 hour and 55 minutes which completely destroyed my finish time. But hey, I’ll admit, I’m not in the same calibre as some of the top riders in the field.
So here are my thoughts on the race. This is a great race for everybody from your top tier athletes right down to your casual riders. It’s fun for everyone and a great way to enjoy the outdoors with that sense of competition. Also, it’s a great way to meet girls who are also into riding. And let me tell ya, there were some pretty hot girls who were in great shape too. What I really liked was the fact that I raced in the same race as former Olympic Silver medalist Mountain Biker, Alison Sydor. BTW, she was the top female to finish the race in 2 hours, 2 minutes. That’s pretty damn amazing for a lady in her 40s to finish 11th overall and defeat most of the guys in the field. And this race course isn’t even considered in her discipline either. So although I got completely destroyed by the top racers, I did finish the race and I didn’t finish last. Heck, I didn’t even finish last in my age category. I know that this race may be nothing more than a warm-up to the rest of the racing season for the pro riders but for me, it was 4 plus hours of sweat, guts, and determination. I’m definitely looking forward to doing this race again next year. I may even consider some more challenging races for later this season. So for next year, I’m going to take the race a little more seriously. That means I’ll spend more than a week training before the race, not go out drinking with friends the night before the race, and actually have the bike properly tuned before race day. I’m looking to improve my time to under 4 hours and hopefully get into the top half for next year. Gotta say, for my first competitive race in years, it was an experience I’ll never forget. Totally amazing.
For those who aren’t familiar with the Paris to Ancaster race, it’s a 60km bike race from Paris, Ontario to Ancaster, Ontario. It’s a staggering mix of bad road, old rail roadbed, single-track trails and just eight kilometres of smooth pavement. Although any type of bike can run this race, it does seem to favour cyclo-cross bikes as the best times were from racers on cyclo-cross bikes. I imagine many of the cyclo-cross bikes weigh less than 20lbs. For myself, I was riding a 30lbs full suspension trail mountain bike. Not necessarily the most appropriate bike for the race but it was the only bike I have currently and I love it.
So 2009 marks the 16th annual Paris to Ancaster race which is my first. It’s a fun race for all and it’s for a good cause to help support the Heart and Stroke Foundation. There were over 1300 participants in this race. There was everyone from former Olympic athletes and pro cyclo-cross athletes to your casual riders. There are even classes for tandem bikes, unicycles, single speeds, and Clydesdale riders (those over 220lbs).
To reduce congestion on the course, this year they decided on 3 waves of racers with staggered start times. First wave is for the pro riders. Wave 2 will be for riders who anticipate finishing in under 3 hours. Wave 3 is for everybody else including me.
So I arrived at the start line about an hour before the first wave started. It was great to see so many different bikes there and I wasn’t the only one there with a FS mountain bike.
So on to the race. The start was great. It was quite congested because of the number of riders in the 3rd wave but I had a great start. I was passing a lot of people in the first 10km. Unfortunately, at around 20kms, there was some congestion and when I got off the bike to carry it across a muddy section; I felt what can only be described as somebody pulling at both ends of the calf muscle on the right leg. It was quite painful. I couldn’t even mange to straighten the leg out at first. Well, at least I didn’t hear a pop which could have been disastrous. I took a moment to stretch and then back on the bike. The headwind was crazy and it definitely slowed down many of the racers including myself. There was plenty of mud and some nice steep hills to give the legs a good workout. Didn’t really help that the lower range gears (bottom 3 to 4) wasn’t working too well as the chain would jump off quite often. By the time I reached about 35km, I had to go to the bathroom real bad. Now I had my Camelbak with me on this ride and was drinking from it throughout the race. Thought I’d be able to do the entire race without any bathroom breaks but I just couldn’t hold it in any longer. So I had to stop, head into the bush and do my thing. I probably lost about 3 to 4 minutes on my overall time with the bathroom break there. I must say, Powerbar GEL is great and I could feel a boost in energy each time after taking them. By the time I reached the 50km mark, I thought that was it for me. I felt like I had nothing left in the tank and there was still 10kms to go. But I had to keep going as I was determined to finish this race dammit! So with my tank running on empty, I had to go through the Powerline Mudslide. Now imagine about a 100 to 200 metre really muddy section of the course and over 800 other riders have gone through it. It felt like quicksand going through that and like many others, I had to carry the bike through much of that slop. When I got passed the mudslide, I swear, my bike felt like it was 5lbs heavier with all the mud it picked up. Also, the last few kilometres didn’t feel that great as I’d have mud from the tires flying all over the place as I was riding. And then finally, the sprint to the finish was within sight. Actually, it was more like a grunt climb to the finish with the dirt road being such a steep uphill that many people, including myself, just opted to walk the bikes up the hill then ride into the finish line.
So I accomplished part of my goal which was to finish the race. However, my time was over 4 hours. I was hoping to finish the race in under 4 hours but that’s okay. Just finishing the race was quite the challenge itself. What blew me away is that the top time was 1 hour and 55 minutes which completely destroyed my finish time. But hey, I’ll admit, I’m not in the same calibre as some of the top riders in the field.
So here are my thoughts on the race. This is a great race for everybody from your top tier athletes right down to your casual riders. It’s fun for everyone and a great way to enjoy the outdoors with that sense of competition. Also, it’s a great way to meet girls who are also into riding. And let me tell ya, there were some pretty hot girls who were in great shape too. What I really liked was the fact that I raced in the same race as former Olympic Silver medalist Mountain Biker, Alison Sydor. BTW, she was the top female to finish the race in 2 hours, 2 minutes. That’s pretty damn amazing for a lady in her 40s to finish 11th overall and defeat most of the guys in the field. And this race course isn’t even considered in her discipline either. So although I got completely destroyed by the top racers, I did finish the race and I didn’t finish last. Heck, I didn’t even finish last in my age category. I know that this race may be nothing more than a warm-up to the rest of the racing season for the pro riders but for me, it was 4 plus hours of sweat, guts, and determination. I’m definitely looking forward to doing this race again next year. I may even consider some more challenging races for later this season. So for next year, I’m going to take the race a little more seriously. That means I’ll spend more than a week training before the race, not go out drinking with friends the night before the race, and actually have the bike properly tuned before race day. I’m looking to improve my time to under 4 hours and hopefully get into the top half for next year. Gotta say, for my first competitive race in years, it was an experience I’ll never forget. Totally amazing.
