Amos to Val-d’Or (Stage 5–Last Day)

 

Finally getting around to writing about Tuesday’s last stage (#5). Just didn’t have time to write earlier, as we had to pack up for the two-day drive back home.

 

The Borah team had perhaps their best race of the Tour, with five out of six riders finishing with the main peloton, and the sixth just off the back despite a crash. Below is an edited version of our team director’s (Larry Martin) race report, since he always provides much better analysis than I ever could.

 

Excerpt from Larry’s “last day” email:

 

 

Tuesday’s last stage was 97 km from the town of Amos to Val-d’Or. We would finish as we entered the town on the main street in front of the Dessau office. Dessau, an engineering firm, is one of the sponsors of the race.

 

The start in Amos for the road race is in front of a large domed cathedral that was built 100 years ago. We had all of the caravan cars lined up and the boys were preparing for the race as a funeral procession arrived. They were quiet for a moment as the casket was carried in, then resumed their pre-race chatter.

The race started and we were on our way before the funeral mass had ended. The start was extremely fast, we were hitting 40 mph and faster on the way out of town. Our caravan position had dropped to 25 with only the Mid South team car behind us. The caravan position is determined by the highest placed rider on the team, which was Colton. That meant that 24 teams had at least one rider higher in the GC than Colton. On the other hand, I had all six of my riders in the race with all of them with 15 places of one another.

 

The race Caravan would speed up, slow down for the next 20 miles before it got into a more steady rhythm. One of Lowell’s riders popped of the back early in the race and was soon out of the caravan. I had told my riders before the race that I would not try to pace them back up on this day since we had nothing to gain by doing that. In the end it became unnecessary anyway.

 

When we hit 50 km and the Feed Zone opened we prepared for feeding. The first car called was Major Motion which was the 23rd position. They drove up to feed and settled back in, the second car called was Major Motion, the official on the race radio warned them to give more than one bottle. The third car called was Major Motion, again a warning, then another team was called, then again Major Motion and the official told them that could no longer feed their riders.

Ricky called us for a feed, we reached him quickly and Rick-Daniel passed him two bottles and we went back into position.

 

Everything proceeded very well and as we entered the outskirts of Val-d’Or I told Oscar that I had always seen a crash on this one section of road. And at about the point where I predicted it would happen, it did. The team cars expanded across the road and I was able to get Oscar into a short race to the scene. The official said that one of our riders was down, but when Oscar got there he was already up and gone. Larry Warbasse went down again and Barney, his director was pacing him back to the caravan. Larry went by us with his legs spinning 200 RPM. His chain ring had been bent in the crash and he was in the small ring. He was going over 30 mph and caught the peloton and rode in the last 8 km like that. He had some help from some teammates as well, but it was pretty impressive to watch. Larry finished 8th overall in the standings and was 36 on the day.

The finish had one rider crash off the front, but his was the only one. Ricky was 21st for the stage, Colton was 25th, Mac was 32nd, Kevin was 50th, Sam did well and Tony who had crashed finished just off the main group.

 

This was the hardest racing team that I have had up here in a few years. Each of the guys came to race and worked steadily toward the front in each stage and they were not afraid to mix it up with the bigger riders. It was a pleasure for me to work with them and share this experience with them. I appreciate all of the support that has been given at home and from the parents of these young men and I look forward to sharing the experience with them again, either as Team Members or adversaries.

 

Phil writing again:

I can only second what Larry has said about the character of these boys. They showed true grit, determination, stamina, and incredible will power. Not only that, they were all nice young men, personable, smiling, friendly, and having fun. Great role models for their peers, their parents, and anyone else.

Thanks to Larry and Oscar for all the hard work, and to all the other parents for their support in this grueling race. A great life experience for all involved.

Rouyn Noranda Criterium – Stage 4

 

Nearing the end. It’s easy to understand why they liken this race to the Tour de France. It’s a long, grueling stage race for the juniors. Conditioning is key to success.

 

Today was a good day for the team. There were no mishaps—no flats, no crashes, nada. A first. As a result, Borah did well, with three racers staying with the main peloton for the entire race. The other three made a valiant effort even after getting lapped. It was good to see everyone trying so hard. I’m just glad it’s not me doing the 97k road race the next day. I’m sure that, on the one hand, they’ll be glad it’s over, but on the other hand, they’re going to miss the adrenaline rush, and the excitement of battle.

 

Please see KodakGallery for lots of photos from the crit, including many of the hundreds of spectators lining the course to cheer on the racers. The local people are extremely friendly, and are often striking up a conversation to ask why we’re here, who’s racing, and where we’re from. Somehow between their little English, and my little French, we manage to communicate.

 

Overall standings—after the crit, Borah has moved up another slot to 22^nd place. Hopefully, with a good road race for stage 5, Borah can move up a bit further.

 

Favorite photos: Aside from those of our riders–the little boy looking back as I take his photo; the two old men sitting in their car watching the race; the mechanic running out onto the course to grab an errant water bottle–with wheel still in hand; the top riders shaking hands at the start of the race; the muscle strain on the riders as they climb the hills.

 

References: For a very nice description of the road race, see Jim Wilson’s blog. He followed the race, and helped out when riders needed assistance. The link is: http://blog.jamesrwilson.com/

 

Time Trial Out of the Mine – Stage 3

 

Today is the only double stage day. Time trial in the morning—with the first riders starting at 8:00 a.m.—and a criterium at 7:00 p.m. this evening—scheduled to last 1 hour and 45 minutes, quite a long crit. After the crit, the racers are given dinner somewhere nearby. Tomorrow is the final stage, with a 97k road race from Amos to Val-d’Or. Tomorrow is also the “coaches ride,” though all adults and non-racers are welcome.

 

Back to today–we awoke this morning to rain showers. Not again! The first riders were going to face wet conditions. Mac was the first rider for Borah to go, followed by Sam, then Kevin, Ricky, Tony, and Colton. The tunnel was dark, making it hard for the riders to see. Some had put lights on their bikes.

 

Mac came out flying. Notwithstanding facing probably the wettest road conditions, he had the fastest time for Borah (22:54).

 

Kevin had made it up the tunnel without incident last year, but this year hit a pothole coming up the 10% grade—about half a mile in length. The pothole threw him off the bike, knocking his brake handle askew, with one of the brake caps falling off. He got back on and still emerged from the tunnel in a time of 4:39, which seemed to be about average for the day, notwithstanding his mishap. In the end, he finished in 24:06, which put him toward the middle of the pack. All other Borah riders completed the time trial without any further mishaps, with times ranging in about a minute of each other (23:01 to 24:03).

 

USA National team had an outstanding day. Former Borah rider Larry Warbasse finished in eighth place. Charlie Avis was the overall winner, with a time of 21:09. USA National had four riders in the top 10, leapfrogging them over France into first place overall, 1:33 ahead of the Quebec team. France slipped into fourth place.

St. Mathieu to Valdor Road Race (80k) (Stage 2)

 

Today was another tough day—these guys are going to battle. 80k from St. Mathieu to Val-d’Or. Occasional rain, crashes, pot holes, you name it.

 

I drove to the start of the race with Sylvia, Pat Brennan (a.k.a. Mac’s father), and Liz Anderson (a.k.a., Oscar’s wife). We passed through several rain showers while driving to the start, but it stayed dry just before the race—allowing time to take some photos. See the KodakGallery site. One of my favorite shots is of those riders who couldn’t wait for the port-a-potty to be free J No store owners complaining here…(inside joke).

 

Flats, crashes, and more. Mac flatted today, but Oscar managed a flawless swap, and Mac was back with the peloton in no time. Unfortunately, a few kilometers later he and Kevin got caught up in a crash. At the time, there was about 20k to go. Mac’s front wheel was trashed. Kevin was assisted out of the dog pile by Casey from the ISCorp team, and a little while later, was motor paced back to the peloton at 35 mph by the team car. A very similar thing happened last year when Kevin got a flat. Unfortunately, the effort of getting back to the peloton meant that he couldn’t stay with them during the three circuits around Val-d’Or, finishing a few minutes back of the main group. The crash left Kevin slightly bruised around the upper part of the bridge of his nose, and some nasty road rash on his hip. Soldiers in an extended battle.

 

Other scenes from the battle: one rider went through someone’s rear window—ouch! Another rider dented the back of our team car. One rider was there supporting his team, following a broken arm the day before (see photo).

 

The finish into Val-d’Or saw a lone rider trying to breakaway. Didn’t last long. But, soon two French riders got away and worked together. The French won again today. Their team is looking strong. Once our internet connection at the hotel comes back up, I’ll have to check the final results—now I know why I have to look on the French language version of the page.

 

Final word: Kevin’s flat yesterday was caused by a large pothole, which left his rear wheel dented. Oscar was able to true it and Kevin can ride on it, but he’ll need a new rear wheel eventually. I think I’ll get insurance on the next one…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Road Race from Preissac to Val-d’Or (95k) – Stage 1

New info (just added on 7/27): Just found results online. You have to go to the French page–for some reason they are not posted to English page.

 

Here’s the link: http://www.tourabitibi.com/resultats_tour.php

 

 

This short report is based mostly on what I could learn from other people, as I could only watch the final portion of the race in Val-d’Or (three circuits around the city).

 

The first person I saw from Borah was Oscar (our team mechanic), who said it had been a busy day—lots of carnage and flats. The roads here are full of debris (gravel, glass, etc.) Fortunately, none of the Borah team crashed. When I saw the main group come into town, Mac Brennan was close to the front and riding strong. I didn’t see some of the Borah riders in the peloton. At first, I wasn’t overly concerned, as it is easy to miss a rider when 150 are zooming by you at speeds in excess of 30 mph, all closely bunched together. When I walked down to the finish line, much to my surpise, I saw Kevin and Tony already standing there with their bikes while the race was still going on—they both flatted, but made the time cutoff. Making the time cutoff is critical, as this meant that they would be able to continue racing. In fact, all six Borah riders will be racing tomorrow.

 

As to the weather conditions, it had been raining off and on all day. The weather gods smiled on the boys today (perhaps to make up for yesterday) and though it was raining just before the start of the race, the clouds decided to hold their water for a few hours. Wet roads, nonetheless, probably explained many of the flats. Bad luck in that respect. At least, all six riders finished with the rubber side down—even if it was a new rubber side.

 

This just in: an excerpt from the race report of the Directeur Sportif of Borah. Copied verbatim–many thanks to Larry Martin for this excellent summary of the race.

 

Preissac is a small little Ville on the northern edge of Lake Preissac which is roughly 25 Km long and 4 KM wide at the widest. The western edge, where we start is very hilly with one peak that offers a scenic view of the Abita region in either direction. This is the first King of the Mountain. We arrive at Priesac at 3:00 and the race doesn’t start until 6:00. The Village always prepares a large picnic lunch for us and opens their doors to the community center which is basically a large hockey arena. The village has built the Hockey arena, a school and a new Library/City Hall/Fire Department since I first started coming up here.

 

The race starts in front of an old wooden church, goes about 400 yards across a wooden bridge and takes an immediate 90 degree left turn onto the main highway, and I have never seen a crash on this portion of the race. It rained for nearly two hours while we were waiting to leave, but at about 5:30 the sun began to shine and things were looking good for a race.

 

We had a clean start and were rolling along well when about five kilometers into the race a crash was announced, but that all riders were back on their bikes. This is possibly one of the worst places in all of the stages to have a mishap. The hills start to roll and as the riders slow on the uphill the pack is going 45+ MPH on the downhill and the yoyo effect eventually goes in favor of the peloton. We pass four riders, and then another crash and all riders are up and back into the peloton quickly. We made it to the main highway in good shape although there were at least four flat tires on that section. Once on the main highway the flat tire announcements came regularly on race radio. Then we got the call, Ricky had a flat on his front, when the group was going 35 MPH. He nearly made it back, but a couple of crashes and more flats through the caravan into disarray and he wasn’t able to have a steady flow back to the main group. After another bad crash, he made it through the debris and the cars, but by then the pace to recapture the caravan prevented him from getting back, we caught up with Tony who was caught in the last crash and worked him back into the group. 

 

When we hit the feed zone things settled a bit. Tony called us for a feed so we went up and gave him a couple of bottles, then Kevin called for a bottle and we gave him two. Then there was a big crash where a rider ran into a Semi Trailer truck that had pulled to the side of the road. There were three riders involved and several caught in it. One was Sam, so he was caught way back and would have to ride in with a few others caught in the same position.

 

Within 2 KM. Kevin flatted and we were back up to change him. We were trying to get him back into a rhythm with the caravan and were called that Tony had a flat, so we raced up to find that Lowell had stopped to help us out with Tony’s wheel. 

 

Now we had four of our riders out of the main group and out of contention. We still had Mac and Colton in with the lead group. With three laps on the circuits the boys were in the big group. With two laps to go Colton had fallen off but Mac was hanging in with them, with one lap to go Mac was still doing well, but in the end he lost a lot of ground on the leaders and Colton finished well back. The others all made it in safe and sound and no one had been injured. Colton is wrestling with some IT band issues and Mac has a sore back from hammering in the drops for 80 km.

 

They seem to be in good spirits and though not happy with the outcome I’m happy with their performance. The all raced smart, they just had some bad breaks. One of the teams lost four riders, and another lost two. We have all six starting tomorrow and with a bit of luck and better circumstance we may end up with a better result.

Larry

 

 

 

The Prologue

There was a large dark cloud hanging over Val-d’Or just before the start of the race tonight–400m sprints, two at a time. It was a bad omen.

The race organizers had some technical problems getting the cameras at the finish line working properly, and as a result, the race started about 35 minutes late.

The start times for the teams were based on randomly picked numbers. Borah had a fairly late number, and was originally scheduled to start riding around 7:50 p.m. Because of the technical delay, they didn’t actually start until around 8:25 p.m. Unfortunately, the rain started coming down pretty heavily around 8:00 p.m. This, of course, meant for much more treacherous conditions.

Despite that, all six Borah riders finished without incident. Their times are available at http://www.tourabitibi.com/index_tour_en.php (click on the results link toward the top right corner of the page).

Photos have been posted to KodakGallery. The daylight photos are from the main street through town (3rd Ave), where the town was putting on a street fair. I’ve also posted photos of many of the teams competing in this year’s race–might have missed one or two.

Tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. (start time) there is a road race from Preissac to Val-d’Or. The road race is expected to last about two hours, so I estimate it must be about 50 miles. Haven’t seen any official numbers, though.

That’s it for tonight. Go Team Borah!

The Night Before the Prologue

It’s now Thursday evening, the night before the prologue. It took us two days  of driving to get here from Chevy Chase, Maryland–825 miles. Less than many others. Our team mechanic drove all the way from Fargo, North Dakota. Of course, that pales by comparison to the racing team from Japan. Other teams have come from the Kazakhstan, the Ukraine, New Zealand, France, …see the photos of team cars at my KodakGallery site. If you’re not on my photo distribution list, just send me an email to bikerider4evr@gmail.com.

(By the way, if you see a photo you like there, just let me know and I’ll try to send you the original jpeg file–subject to time constraints and the number of requests.)

The boys are anxious to start racing. Most teams were out warming up this evening, despite the rain and wet roads. It rained for most of the drive up, with occasional downpours that forced us to slow to a crawl on the freeway. But, by the time we arrived in Val-d’Or, the clouds were breaking up and the sun was peeking thru in a few spots. Weather forecast for the next few days calls for cooler-than-average temps, with scattered showers most days. Looks like it’ll be hit and miss–very similar to last year. Fortunately, last year, the riders only had to put up with rain for a good portion of one road race. Otherwise, the clouds only barked, but never bit. Let’s hope we’re as lucky this year.

This year’s race has been shortened by two days and 3 stages, probably because of the UCI Juniors Nations Cup L’Abitibi, where national teams compete for four days (July 31-Aug 3). I heard a rumor, though, that one trade team (Hot Tubes) will also be competing in the Nations Cup.

Anyways, back to Val-d’Or for the present race. When we arrived at the high school around 3:30 p.m., Mac and Sam had already arrived, along with Larry, Oscar, and his wife, Liz. Tony, Colton, and Ricky were still to arrive. Registration didn’t start until 5 p.m., but by 4 p.m., the team was able to start moving their belongings into their room.

Tomorrow’s schedule calls for the presentation of riders at 5 p.m., warm-ups at 6 p.m., and the prologue sprints start at 7 p.m.

I guess that’s about it for now. If you have any questions or comments, please use the comment option on this blog, or send me a bilateral email at my address above.

Ride safe,