Paris Ancaster

[DanZ]

Hey everyone, a little update from BPR in Ontario...April 19th saw my return from a very long lay off of mtb racing...about 2.5 years...I decided to race the annual Paris to Ancaster race, a 60k mtb race through farm and fields near Hamilton Ontario...a great way to spend my birthday...it's mostly rolling gravel trail, farmer fields and not too much single track...1200 people started the race in 3 waves...lucky me got to start in the 3rd wave...cyclocross stud Jeremy Powers and Alison Sydor were racing amongst a host of local hot shots...the worst part apart from the ankle deep clay mud (not like bc mud) on the 300m downhill at the end of the race with a killer final hill, was the CRAZY wind that was against us the entire time...gusts up to 50-60km/h...not fun on open roads and fields...it all ended well with me riding in just under 3 hours and having past more than half the field...the winner finished in just under 2 hours...I was glad it was over and pledged not to do anything stupid like that again...however, upon further review and some food, my perspective shifted...good race considering many things...I haven't trained more than 1.5 hours in a session all winter and hadn't done a ride outside except for testing my new mtb shoes that week...as far as feelings during the race...nutrition could have been better, not enough coming in...breathing felt controlled throughout...the only other change was I probably went out at about 5 beats higher than I should have...so after about 2:15 I started fading a bit...live and learn...all in all good race...a cyclocross bike would be awesome...that's the report and I'm sticking to it...time to run!

Peace out from Toronto and surrounding areas
DanZ

[misha]

Great report ....who won ?

                      Al.

[DanZ]

Not me;), Jeremy Powers attacked on the hill up to the finish and took it over Mike Garrigan...I believe Sydor finished in the top 10 or 15...

On a side note...it took over a week for my OwnZone numbers to come back up to normal and even though I said my breathing felt controlled throughout the entire race, they "felt tired" for at least a week after the race...so there was not much training going on, but as a PE teacher I can't really just sit around and soak up the relaxation.

Cheers
DanZ

[GinnySellars]

Wow! What an adventure. Sounds like you finished pretty 'empty'. What are you using for fuel?

[DanZ]

Hey Ginny...I did...I underestimated how long I would be riding for and I was probably set for about 2.5h max, but I guess I wasn't as fast as I had hoped to be...I'm thinking that without the crazy wind my estimation would have been more realistic;)...I usually use lemon/lime gatorade with a bit of whey protein mixed in...in the past that has worked very well...however this time I think I put just a bit too much gatorade so it was a little too sweet...plus I used Hammer gel...I usually use Carboom which I love but I couldn't get any at my local bike shop...I had no problems gutting the Hammer gel and Gatorade, but I think it wasn't enough given the situation...live and learn...in the future I will stock up on Carboom and plan to play a bit with my drink to find a better taste.

Now I'm dreaming of running fast...dreaming and planning
DanZ