Substance Projects Ontario Marathon #1

First off, a brief but not so heartfelt apology for the lack of pictures...I was in a bit of a zombie state for a good part of Sunday, the taking pics for the blog completely slipped my mind. So if you were hoping for some pretty pics to look at rather than read my ranting, too bad, so sad.

Sunday marked my first mountain bike race of the year, and only my second time even RIDING my mountain bike this year. So, I decided why not make it a true marathon of a day and wake up before 5am, pick up Mike, and then drive to Ganaraska forest, race for over 4 hours, and then drive all the way back home?

On the drive up we saw:
 - a moose on the side of the road, who decided to cross the road in front of us as we got ready to pass him
- a hawk on the side of the road...not exactly sure what it was doing, though
- a sign on the door at Coffee Time that said "Day old doughnuts. $6 for 70". Man, who needs 70 day old doughnuts?

As far the race went, I got off to a slow start (as per usual), and for the first while, had about 6 guys in my sights ahead of me...Yellow kit guy, Mike, Singlespeed Sound Solutions guy, helmet cam guy, red jersey guy and Northern Cycles guy. After some time, the first 3 got away from me, I dropped helmet cam guy, and the last two were right in front of me. On any downhill section, Northern Cycles guy would would scream ahead, but then red jersey guy and I would catch him again on any climbs. The problem though, is that red jersey guy was behind Northern Cycles guy, and couldn't hold his wheel on the downhills, and as a result, was slowing me down a bit, too. After a feed zone, they were both gone while I stopped to top off my bottles. Some time later, I was passed by helmet cam guy (huh???) and then by a singlespeeder, which made me think CRAP, I'm not doing so hot. I decided then to just take it easy for 10 minutes and recover for a bit. This worked out well for me, and I started to ride a bit stronger and smarter. I started to feel good around 2, 2 and a half hours, except for my right hamstring trying to cramp up on me. I then reeled in Sound Solutions guy, then red jersey guy, and even yellow kit guy! Wicked! Time to put the pedal to the metal!! I'm feeling good! But where is everybody? I'm riding fast and not catching anyone! Screw it, just take it easy to finish.

Overall, a great race with TONNES of singletrack, lots of fun trails, a well marked course, and good organization.

Considering that this was only my second time mountain biking this year, AND I have put in A LOT less mileage than last year, I can't be too disappointed with my result...14th overall out of 45 finishers (53 starters), 7th overall in the 40 under category (out of 10 finishers).

Now it's time to rest up and gear up for the Whiteface mountain hillclimb this Saturday.