C4 WNS Team Road Race

Wednesday, 15 July was a team race just south of Calgary going down towards Millarville. We started with three teams of seven but a late arrival meant a team of eight. The winning team would be the first one to get their third rider, not including their team leader, over the line. Before the race, our leader discussed strategy. Trev is a very strong Speed Theory rider and he was going to be able to move where he wanted in the pack or catch breakaways. We were counting on him to get in amongst the other teams and disrupt their plans. He mostly wanted to isolate riders at the back of any escape and open up a gap which would require the other rider to spend extra energy trying to get back on. It sounded like a good theory but I wasn't there to see how it all worked out.

As is typical for my races, I hung nicely in the pack but tried to stay towards the front. I got caught out once but Trev was able to open a little gap in the middle of the pack and I jumped back in to shelter. As per usual, something happened and I suddenly went from being comfortable to being above my redline. There was a little confusion on the corner after Millarville to head back north. I had to work a bit to catch back on to the group and this got my heart rate rising. The pace also picked up as we started to climb and this usually spells disaster for me. I seem to be able to maintain 90% of my maximum heart rate but closing the gap and starting the gradual hill pushed my heart rate from under 170 bpm to over 180 which is over 96% of my maximum. I caught back on but the hill continued and I was split off the back. Eventually, I was swept up by a few riders and we worked together and broke up a few times over the rest of the course. I would even lose this group the next time we started climbing and had to ride myself back to one lone team mate who had completely used his energy. He and I had been working in the smaller group and he left me on the start of the climb on the second lap so I was a bit surprised when I got back to him and ended up pulling him most of the way to the finish.

I ended up doing 53 km in 1:29 for an average speed of 35.7 km/h and a max of 62.3 km/h coming down from the top of the course. There was 367 m of climbing during the race. I averaged 162 bpm with a maximum heart rate of 184 bpm while trying to stay with the peleton on the first lap. Our team finished second.