Tour De Waterloo Post Race Report

The 2014 Tour De Waterloo Adventure Guide 76km race served as the first every cycling race for 3/4 members who attended.

Start line Selfie

Through all of the mishaps of the day, I think it was a very good first racing experience for everyone involved. The team experienced nearly every possible outcome in a cycling event and we each felt the triumphs and disappointments of our fellow teammates situations. As it was Andrew's, David's and Marcel's first competitive race, we had just planned for them to stick with the peloton as long as they could, minimize the risky moves and get a feel of what it is like to race in a large group.

In the first 10km after the neutral start the pace was pretty high, in the mid 40 range. This was where a bit of misfortune overtook our team. After one of the first climbs, David dropped his chain and upon fixing it put his head down and powered back towards the peloton. While he was pushing to catch he didn't see the signs on the road and missed a turn, continuing on nearly 20km out of the way. After a 40km round trip detour, David finished 160th overall, 15th in the 20-29 AG and with a 58' 30" gap.

Soon after we lost David, on the next decent a recreational 46km rider from the earlier wave had a mechanical and stopped at the side of the road but not off it completely. With 2 other riders helping to resolve the puncture, that group took up a good section of the riding road. In a slinky-like effect, the peloton veered to the left to avoid them but unluckily Andrew was in the wrong place in the line at the wrong time and collided with the mechanical group. He went over the handlebars but luckily nothing worse than a bit of road rash and a banged up bike. It definitely needs a tuning, but it was good enough to get him across the line 60km later with a respectable time all things considered. Andrew finished in 90th overall, 12th in the 20-29 AG and with a 28' 40" gap.

About half way through the race the peloton really picked up the pace for about 15km but it was enough to split the pack and thin the herd a little bit. Marcel just happened to be in the rear of the peloton when this happened, and got stuck behind the split, not being able to catch back into the front group. He rolled in 43rd overall, 5th in the 20-29 AG and with a gap of 5' 33". After the 15km surge by the peloton, the group slowed down until about 10km to go.

The final lead up to the line consisted of a left turn onto a 2000m straight on very rough road, a right turn for another 1km and then another left before a 600m downhill straightaway to the line. The team knew this after a recon the day before so we had a plan in mind. The road was rough on the 2000m straight but it was a little smoother towards the yellow center markers so we wanted that to be our line. After a wide right hand turn we wanted to get into a position about 15-20 spots back from the leader before heading into the final downhill on King St. after the last left hand turn. Tyler stuck with the bunch during the race and followed the plan exactly up until this point. He tucked going down the hill jumping wheel to wheel gaining ground on the leader. In the final 300m opened up to a 6th place finish overall out of over 200 riders, 1st in the 20-29 AG and finishing s.t. about 6 feet back from the winner. Unfortunately, prize money went to top 5 overall... so close.

 
By the end of the race, we had experienced the trials of victory, the feeling of not having the legs to stay with the group on the day, the frustration of a mechanical/crash, as well as every racers worst nightmare of going off course. It was a good lesson in the realities of a bike race. Things go wrong and you have to know how to deal with them.
 
 

 
 
Many of the downfalls of the day were due in part to lack of racing experience. Better instinct, more alert bike handling, positioning in the pack, heads up riding, and knowing how to wisely move through the bunch would have avoided some of the issues we ran into. We will learn to tone and develop our racing strategies over the next few weeks in preparation for the Tour De Terra Cotta on August 4th. We will develop our racing instincts, techniques and tactics so that we hopefully won't run into any of these problems again.
 

At the end of the day the whole team had a great time. It was a good learning experience and we will only be more prepared for future events. For their first race, they overcame the barriers they faced and finished the race. It would have been just as easy to hop in the car and drive in.

I would like to thank all of our sponsors for contributing to our first competition. I would like to thank the guys over at 3Sixty5 Cycling for their support during the race. We were able to use both a Legacy and FAT wheelset for our riders. Andrew and David said they were stiff, fast and responsive. If any else, they certainly helped the boys make it to the finish after their respective incidents and they looked damn fine while doing so! I would also like to thank Eagle Partners Financial Solutions, Advanced Opticians and Allan MacDonald of TD Bank for their very generous sponsorships of On Your Left Cycling. None of this would be possible without our amazing sponsors. Congrats Lads and here's to many more!
 

 

We even spotted the now "retro" 50M Legacy wheels during the post race festivities ;)