Tour of Waterloo 2013 memories! The blog entry comes from Sean S .. a neat perspective and great memories of the ride! There are certain events that you roll out of bed early to witness or participate in – cricket, fishing and yes cycling. If you were lucky enough to fall asleep your wake-up call came at around 4:00 a.m. Review your checklist and check it twice – bicycle, cycling kit (shorts & jersey), water bottles, energy gels, helmet and yes, remember your cycling shoes. Planned departure time was 5:15 am (EST), actual departure time was 5:50 am (TTZ – Trini Time Zone). There was concern that we would be late for the event since we were yet to pick-up our Support Team Director for the day – Lawrence. He would play a key role in being there whenever we needed him to replenish our beverages or food and some much needed motivation. I do believe his calculations to the finish line was a bit off, only 11 KM to the finish he yelled, I swore we rode at least 20 KM since then. Coach was at the helm of white magic bus as we sped along the 401 and we rolled into Waterloo’s RIM Campus at 7:24 a.m. Lots of time to take care of nature’s call from all the hydration and that Starbucks Venti Bold Coffee and complete the registration process. The initial weather forecast called for rain, however, Ms. Summer 2013 decided to finally show up today and it definitely brought along her close mate Mr. High Humidity 2013. We all got prepped, no need for a base-layer with the warm temperatures, timely hydration, food consumption and effort management would be essential. No one remembered Sun Block because we all expected rain except Steve – positive thinking. The temperature as we corralled at the start area at 8:15 am was a balmy 24 C and coupled with the humidex it felt like 30C. This would be a scorcher of a day – temperature and race pace. After we had some motivational words from Canada’s most successful road cyclist – Steve Bauer, we rolled out at 8:35 am. The Hummingbirds were ready to fly represented by Chris L. , Peter S., Peter A., Steve J., Raoul V., Vernon H. and myself. I know they said rolling start, I’m almost certain they said rolling start but before we emerged from the RIM Campus onto the Main Street ( 350 m), other more aggressive cyclist were zipping by as we tried to keep our team intact. These other cyclist appeared to be making a mad dash for a Tim Horton’s Drive Thru Line or racing for a Big McD. It was chaotic, if you were not in your Big Chain-Ring it would be adios to the peloton. I down-shifted to keep pace, 1 KM covered and I’m already in 53/16. They certainly do not intend to keep this pace for all 130 KM. The key was to stick to my plan and stay close to the other Hummingbirds. I accomplished this with the help of this beast on a bike, this dude was at least 240 Lbs. and at least 6′ 4″and he rolled by on a stealth looking Specialized…..aah, that’s the wheel. Welcome to wind protection 101. I was determined to stay in first-third of the peloton to avoid any accidents and to be able to quickly react if i needed to. The pace remained hot for the first 30 KM and eventually we formed a peloton of about 60 riders climbing hills like they were bumps with speeds between 35-43 KM. We raced to the first rest stop, at this point I had already consumed 1-1/2 large bottles of my special hydration concoction, a gel and I required more fluids. I was worried, I needed to ensure that I latch on to some more liquids, we approached the first rest stop at around 35 KM/H. This is a difficult task. My first attempt failed, the bottle of water and I were friends for 3 seconds before it slipped from my hand onto the steamy pavement. I need to grab something. The Gatorade Gods deliver, I successfully latched on to 710ml of liquid heaven. It did not matter that it was my least favorite flavor – orange, yuck…..I swigged that back like it was an Iced Cold Carib, ok Bud Light Lime. I can’t recall ever drinking that much fluid in 7 seconds while pummeling at 35KM/H, I sucked that bottle almost dry and being a very considerate person I asked if anyone wanted a drink. There were no takers so I whipped that bottle which sailed pass this stunned cow just chilling under a tree. The pace continued and so did the heat, at mid-day the temperature was around 35C. You know we are clipping when we are navigating and zooming by the Mennonites and their horse drawn buggies at speeds upwards of 48 KM/H. The race speed and the temperature remained hot all day………hot and humid, humid and hot welcome Ms. Summer 2013 and Mr. High Humidity 2013. Summer is finally here……….
Posted on: Fri, 28 Jun 2013 23:08:34 +0000
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