Quebec

Incase you didn't notice I was not on any club rides from the 13th to 28th of July, where I was for these 16 days was Quebec. I will break it into races for the benefit of the lazier reader(s) (brackets as I am unsure if more than one person will read this :p)

Tour de la Releve International de Rimouski: 

This was the BIG one, the one I said we should do as a team, then received mixed thoughts from the team, then emailed the OCA and they said "HELL YES". So we went up in Bryan's truck and a rental van drove by Dave Jack. Our selected coach by the OCA. Once there we discovered our room in the school, desks pushed into the corner and arm cots all around. I did what I always do, unpacked perfectly and kept organized. 

Race Day 1: In the morning we had a 45km sort of intro stage. Rolling hills, not too difficult a course but for me it went horrible. The Sprints, which I had the intention of going for but they weren't marked very well and I often heard after we had gone over a Sprint just after and although I was always in the top few it seemed unlucky that I got no time. Coming into the finish on a 75km/h downhill there was a huge right hand turn and luckily I was still near the front and avoided a crash that took out three riders. At the bottom the road was curving left and I had absolutely no idea where the line was but neither did anyone else. So all of a sudden I'm sitting 5th wheel on the outside ready to jump and then one kid shoots his bike. I first though he was spastic but then it turned out he won and only he had seen the lightly painted line on the road. Not a huge thing to be upset about as most were in the same boat as me. 

That night we had the TTT (7km, effects team GC only) and it went insanely okay considering all our mistakes from Matt's quick start where he immediately looked back and yelled "are you on yet?!?!?!" and I said "NO" annoyed but in hindsight it was a pretty funny moment. Then about halfway through Travis drifted a bit off the back and killed himself to get back on which hurt us as a unit. At the end Dave was talking but we weren't listening to that but the announcer giving time checks, which were in french and I had to translate to the guys. In the end we came 2nd to rocky mtn by 10 seconds and they were the last team so it was a little agonizing. 

Race Day 2: One Road Stage 55km. Attacked lots. In the first intermdiate sprint I came around another kid at the line and was sooo happy but in the end a mistake was made and the comms but me as 4th. No big deal only one second. Then at the second sprint I clearly took 3rd and recieved my single second. YES! :P but immediately afterwords I looked down to find my rear tire was flat. I thought "hmmm if I don't get back on after changing I am screwed so I opted to ride the mostly downhill last 11km on a flat. It was scary and stopped me from contesting the sprint but due to the days lack of difficulty I probably wouldn't have effected the outcome anyways.... maybe. Glad I finished in the pack but disappointed with my bad luck so far this tour. 

Race Day 3: My best day, we tackled the monster Cathedral a 2.5 km climb that we would ascend 5 times in the 56 km race. Sure to shatter some legs. So since brandon had taken both KOM's so far it was my time to shine or so I found out. As he leapt for the third an Atlantic rider Simon Trivett jumped to join as he had ideas of the Polka Dots, too bad it was already sealed up. he was closely followed by Joakim Albert, Yohan Patry and myself. I looked back to discover a 100m or so gap so I slammed it passed Brandon at double his pace and yelled " hup" he quickly jumped on with the other 3 soon to follow. Brandon, Yohan and I jammed to keep our gap then all of a sudden the pack disappeared from sight, they had given up. Brandon knew his job was to give me a lead out as I had marked people for the KOM. Oh I almost forgot there was a sprint on every lap and I placed 2nd,2nd,1st,1st,1st. which got me a lot of seconds! the main reason I won was no one else wanted them as the sprint was a few hundred meters from the bottom of the hill the only guy who went for them was texan Daniel Parks who was the only rider from his team who had managed to follow the pack each day, but good work for a 15 year old! Coming into the finish I had not thought I would do if I win when I sometimes go into races trying to think of crazy celebrations like the ones I once did for Hockey. But here I wanted it so bad and crossing the line in first I just yelled YES! louder than I ever have be for and threw my arms in the air! I felt like I was in a crashing wave and discovered my new reason to live. Winning a stage out of a small break sprint. Since Joakim was content he was getting yellow he didn't worry but since he miscounted my gained seconds and we had the same time due to the fact I had won the stage, I was in yellow. What a day. 

Race Day 4: The morning started with a short TT of 5.2 km. Joakim went in as the favourite to win as the North American Speed Skating champions legs were as wide as my waist! I got the expirence of going  last out of 100 riders (girls included) and it was cool. After Joakim finished everyone was saying he had the race of his life! So no one expected me to trump him, and sadly I didn't but I still came second and I supposedly made up 16 seconds in the latter half of the TT. Man I wish we did longer TT's. So going into the Crit I needed 9 seconds I made a plan with Brandon but he didn't get the memo and kind of took my idea of how to win and actually pulled it off, dragging Joakim with him. With his 3 bonus seconds that gave him the final GC by 12 seconds. 

I was happy with my result and got lots of congratulations by friends, family, fellow riders and even some of my heros too. 

Later that day we were looking to go to the rewards at the Hotel de Ville. So we were driving searching for this oddly named hotel then as luck would have it we stumbled on people directing us to city hall (which in french is hotel de ville, i cant believe I forgot). We made it just in time for me to get on the final podium with pictures of the mayor and such. Sadly we didn't know we were supposed to wear our jerseys and looked like amateurs collecting all our jerseys, cheques and team winners medals. Surprisingly a little committee voted me the most aggressive rider of the week and I picked up a sick jersey that I was the sole winner of, awesome. They said I got it because I was always at the front and was always making the race hell. Cool :) 

after everything my teammates returned to there cars and I headed to live another 2ish weeks in quebec with Yohan Patry and his family. 

On our way home his dad stopped and bought 3 newspapers all supposedly popular. There were articles talking about me in all of them, I also forgot to mention after my Stage win I got interviewed by a guy. I will post it on here once it is available. 

Living with the Patry's was cool I raced an MTB race with him on a cross bike, which was a last minute decision I was in second at one point then got a flat at the finish with one lap to go so I ran the 4 or so km lap and held out for...... 7th place. 

The following weekend I raced the Argon 18 series championships in Val d'or, ran along side the Tour of Abitibi. Long story short  flat stages, 400m TT, Im not a sprinter 5/60something not a horrible results, but I was content knowing I caused a lot of pain to quite a few riders with my constant attacks. 

My last race was attended by my parents who had made the trip to MTL to take me home the following day. The race was Mardis Lachaine and completely flat with an average duration of 30minutes I wasn't expecting a lot I knew I had a slimish chance solo but it would probably end via sprint I had my lap and a bit off the front and then was set up well for the end but a certain guy cut me off and caused me to come to almost a complete stop I wasn't too mad but, you can't say the same for fred c who was cut off by the same guy at the line. 

While in Quebec I learned the Following:

-There Girls are Great

-There Racing is Great 

-I have developed a strong love of fine cheese 

-There Girls are Great

-I cannot wait to go back! 

-Abitibi is Crazy 

-There Girls are Great

Thats it for now, Im gunna go eat some cheese. 

Pictures and Interview Video Soon to Come. 

Ben