Lake of Bays is the final road race of the 2014 O-Cup season. Taking place in the Deerhurst area of Ontario, there were plenty of ups and downs with very little flat section on the 94km loop. Still being placed in the Elite 3 category I had to only do one lap of this course instead of the rest of the team which was given a 170+km endeavor to attend to.
Being the last O-Cup of the season I was still trying to bank a good result to help add to a resume for the following year and at the very least, show proof that I am still improving. Leading up to this point, it has been a very difficult and at times frustrating test of how I have made the switch from cross-country mountain biking. Through the improvements in tactics and strength I have seen myself build steadily and was hoping to take that into Lake of Bays.
The only downside of Lake of Bays was the time at which I had to wake up from my warm, comfortable and welcoming bed in order to drive 2.5 hrs to Deerhurst. Despite the 4:15am wake up I felt quite ready to 'go fast, switch gears, go faster' (as seen on my bicycles top-tube). A car ride nap only added to my readiness and I was really anticipating the 9:05am race departure.
After confusion as a result of splitting the juniors from our group, us elite 3's were concentrated into a group of about 30 that would surely be whittled down as the day carried on. Early in the race I made a few small attacks to see who was responding and perhaps a small breakaway could materialize and get away. But after several other attacks and responses from varying people in the group it became apparent that nothing was really going to get far. That was until the hill with around 12km left where group of once 30 riders got cut to 8 which included yours truly. Being with these select individuals meant I was already guaranteed my best result of the season.
Coming up the final sprint the pace picked up dramatically as I later found out that one person had lead out another one of his Elite 3 teammates (which seemed almost nonsensical considering you'd want to move yourself up to E1/2). I got stuck on the back of the lead out train and didn't have the ability to hammer it past the 7 people in front of me despite my top tube motivation.
The completion of the race resulted in my first road O-Cup top 10 this season and, well, any other season, which gave me some hope for improvement next season. I can only hope to take to momentum I have gained here and keep the ball rolling.
Just keep pedaling,
Tommy Waldeck
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