You know when you wake up in the morning, role over and just have a good feeling. That’s how I felt when I woke up on November 11th 2006. It will be a day that will be edged in my head for the rest of my life. That’s the day I became the Under 23 Cyclocross National Champion. I will now tell you what happened in the day to lead me to this magical ending!
7:56am- I woke up, gave the morning stretch and jumped out of bed. Not to many people know this but a lot of cyclists have little tests they do just to see how there legs feel morning of a race (some do some dont). Mine is the stair test, all you have to do is run up the stairs…and hope your legs feel good!
8:13am- breakfast #1- fruit cocktail mixture with nuts, granola and cottage cheese, followed by a glass of juice. I ate my breakfast watching TSN…god bless sport highlights!
8:37am- Mike G and I have morning talk…thanks buddy!
9:00am- breakfast 2…oatmeal…with lost of extra perks in it!!!
9:45am- relax and chill
10:00am- pack van
10:50am- arrive and venue… that’s when I put my game face on!!!
11:00am- Tara and I rode around talking to different people…you know trying to shake the pre race jitters!!! We jumped on the course and checked out lines…figured out tire selection!
11:45am- I finished my warm up and went and ate a nice peanut butter sandwich… the 30-39 age group was starting at 12pm so I rolled over and checked out the start to see where the good starting position was!
12:10pm- warm up #2, I hit the road for this stage of the day… did a few efforts…with a 10min tempo…legs felt amazing. The best part was that my head was right where I wanted it…on my neck…hahaha jkjk…bad joke but my mental game was 100%.
12:45pm- call up time…lucky for me I got called up second so I had prime line up position!!!
12:59:30pm- 30seconds to start…wow nervous but ready to rock-it…like Micky says off ROCKY- your going to eat lighting and crap thunder!!!...yeah that doesn’t really matter but I just wanted to add it.
1:00pm- GO, GO, GO, for the next 45mins and 2 seconds…all that crossed my mind was pedal, pedal, pedal…harder, harder, harder…except when Mikey G told me to smile because I was going to be National Champion.
1:45pm- National freakin Champion!!!!! Wow……….!!!!!!!
Pretty much wow……wow…
My day pretty much couldn’t get better!!! I had won…I really wanted to talk to Neil my coach, and just say thank you. My Dad was right there by my side giving me the big old bear hugs!...it was a good feeling…
The rest of my day was filled with cheering on Mikey G, Tara, and Greg….they all had rockin rides!!! Now prep for Worldsssss!!!
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Monday, November 06, 2006
pedal pedal pedal
A lil post from my buddy Ian
View from the Pits.
Well this weekend I gave the opportunity for Kyle to just relax and only worry about his race, as I was his pit man and mechanic for the race. This race was important for Kyle due to some UCI points on the line which would enable him to get a good starting position for Nationals in Nanaimo. Quick cleaning and pre-race check of his bikes, making sure they were in perfect condition and he was set to rock! He ended up with a poor starting position and knew he would have to battle hard to get up to the front. The race started fast single file, but then quickly bunched up as everyone was battling for position for the long sand pit section. Kyle quickly made his way from almost near the back of the pack to the top 10 with in a matter of minutes. After the 1st lap the two leaders were gone and never to be caught again. Kyle was sitting well and looking smooth on the bike, constantly moving up and closer to the top of the field. He then powered up to a group of 3 of Ontario’s best cross riders who were battling for 4th position. Knowing he looked strong and having no bike problems I yell to him from the pits to ride on through them. The group went around and out of site from our view and then reappeared to see the group was splintered and Kyle following a couple seconds back and managed to loose some more time till the next pit. The reason for this was as Kyle was going through the group one of the guys came over on him and took him out causing him to crash and broke his shoe! He yelled to me the problem and I quickly ran to the other pit to grab some tape so he could salvage the race hoping due to the fine fitness he had. After a quick but probably seemed forever for him stop, his shoe was full covered in tape in any way possible! Back in action as quick as possible, although he had lost precious time and in cross time is the only factor. With still half the race remaining Kyle had to push hard to make up time and get those valuable UCI points. He unfortunately dropped back to 12 and you could quickly remember top 10 was UCI points only. So he started to dig deep again and quickly moved into 11th with 10th in his sites. With not much time remaining he caught the 10th placed man but was starting to feel the effects. Losing touch with 10th in the long dragging slightly uphill head wind section he would have to fight back in the technical sections where he excelled. Catching 10th again and finally passing him gave Kyle hope, but Derek St John would have none of that. He is a powerful rider, knowing this having raced against him myself on the road, he once again managed to gap Kyle in the long dragging head wind section. With only 2 laps remaining it was crunch time and the point to leave everything out there! Mr. Douglas fought hard as he could but was unable to close the gap but the gap never grew either. Coming into final lap, everyone was screaming and yelling in support of Kyle, but still unfortunately able to catch those UCI points in front of him. Crossing the finish line you could see the disappointment in Kyle’s eyes, but I quick thought that the power and fitness was by far one of the best at the race, just luck was not on his side today.
With Nationals on the horizon, those valuable UCI points are out of reach now, but the fitness and strength is more then he could ask for. But he will be lacking one supporter/pit crew/mechanic named Ian Manning.
Good luck at Nationals Douglas! It’s yours for the taking!
View from the Pits.
Well this weekend I gave the opportunity for Kyle to just relax and only worry about his race, as I was his pit man and mechanic for the race. This race was important for Kyle due to some UCI points on the line which would enable him to get a good starting position for Nationals in Nanaimo. Quick cleaning and pre-race check of his bikes, making sure they were in perfect condition and he was set to rock! He ended up with a poor starting position and knew he would have to battle hard to get up to the front. The race started fast single file, but then quickly bunched up as everyone was battling for position for the long sand pit section. Kyle quickly made his way from almost near the back of the pack to the top 10 with in a matter of minutes. After the 1st lap the two leaders were gone and never to be caught again. Kyle was sitting well and looking smooth on the bike, constantly moving up and closer to the top of the field. He then powered up to a group of 3 of Ontario’s best cross riders who were battling for 4th position. Knowing he looked strong and having no bike problems I yell to him from the pits to ride on through them. The group went around and out of site from our view and then reappeared to see the group was splintered and Kyle following a couple seconds back and managed to loose some more time till the next pit. The reason for this was as Kyle was going through the group one of the guys came over on him and took him out causing him to crash and broke his shoe! He yelled to me the problem and I quickly ran to the other pit to grab some tape so he could salvage the race hoping due to the fine fitness he had. After a quick but probably seemed forever for him stop, his shoe was full covered in tape in any way possible! Back in action as quick as possible, although he had lost precious time and in cross time is the only factor. With still half the race remaining Kyle had to push hard to make up time and get those valuable UCI points. He unfortunately dropped back to 12 and you could quickly remember top 10 was UCI points only. So he started to dig deep again and quickly moved into 11th with 10th in his sites. With not much time remaining he caught the 10th placed man but was starting to feel the effects. Losing touch with 10th in the long dragging slightly uphill head wind section he would have to fight back in the technical sections where he excelled. Catching 10th again and finally passing him gave Kyle hope, but Derek St John would have none of that. He is a powerful rider, knowing this having raced against him myself on the road, he once again managed to gap Kyle in the long dragging head wind section. With only 2 laps remaining it was crunch time and the point to leave everything out there! Mr. Douglas fought hard as he could but was unable to close the gap but the gap never grew either. Coming into final lap, everyone was screaming and yelling in support of Kyle, but still unfortunately able to catch those UCI points in front of him. Crossing the finish line you could see the disappointment in Kyle’s eyes, but I quick thought that the power and fitness was by far one of the best at the race, just luck was not on his side today.
With Nationals on the horizon, those valuable UCI points are out of reach now, but the fitness and strength is more then he could ask for. But he will be lacking one supporter/pit crew/mechanic named Ian Manning.
Good luck at Nationals Douglas! It’s yours for the taking!
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