It has taken me a few days to figure out what to write about the race this past weekend. This was my first road race in two years and I was full of nervous anticipation and a great deal of self doubt… This is completely normal and was actually very reassuring considering how I felt the week before at Clarence-Rockland. After that race, I was concerned that I had lost my competitive drive – but my nerves, crazy brain and butterflies in my stomach were all indicators that I still have that burning desire. (Yes, what a relief!)

I’ve written a race report over on the Race Reports page, so I’ll give you the abridged version here… The race course for the weekend was on the Calabogie race track – this course is very wide, has a few bumps that can be challenging when faced with stiff headwinds, the corners are lots of fun and if you can stay off the brakes the corners are super fun to ride at high speeds. Our race field was primarily dominated in numbers by two local teams. There were numerous attacks that went off but nothing stuck with these two teams chasing each other down. I gave a few digs here and there but wasn’t able to “jump” away – right now I’m pretty good at going hard in a straight line and I’m lacking any acceleration speed. I tried to use this strength to my advantage when and where I could. At one point two riders did get a decent gap but due to the strong headwinds, this move did not stick and on the last lap we were facing a bunch sprint. The Real Deal team out of Toronto played the race very smartly by sending a rider on the attack in the last lap – no one followed her (yes, I should have done this…) and in the end Real Deal took all three spots on the podium with the last two coming out of the bunch sprint. I finished 8th in the bunch sprint.

For a first race and for a first road race in two years – I’m content with the day. I did a few things well. I need to fix a few other things. And most importantly I realized that I need to learn how to adapt during the race and learn how to race with the tools I have. I lack real acceleration right now but this shouldn’t have been a been a real limiter. It was super nice to be out on the road again and being in the racing action again. I’m happy that I felt comfortable in the race and I’m looking forward to more races ahead.