So I woke up and ate my Vector cereal... It was good you know the normal thing I do before a race. I sat around watching t.v. till Jamie came and picked me up... It was good... I got my bike in to the car sat down in the right front passenger seat and there it was a sesame seed bagel toasted with cream cheese and a large hot chocolate just chilling there! Yes Jamie is the best and got me what I wanted... it was so sick!
So we arrived at the opposite side of the race... are mistake. We had to try and wiggle are way to the proper side where the race was being held... didn't take that long we knew where we were going... we're men we always know where to go! So we found the registration and I went to register... This poor kid was doing the registration all alone and forgot to ask for me to pay to race... me being nice I gave the kid 25$ to race. He looked at me like (oh shit I am lucky this guy is amazing and gave me money).
So I got all my gear on and started to warm up... in my head I was thinking should I race the pro elite race and get my ass handed to me ... but that was the least of my worries, I had to win Junior to be able to race in Pro first.
So the race was getting started, all the boys were lined up and ready to rock, we didn't really get that much of a warning before we had to go. The announcer was like 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... GO! And we went off!! I had the lead and I was feeling really good, lots of energy. We hit the corner and Sean Kelly came on the inside and decided to take the lead. I was getting a little nervous... no one has ever done that to me this season because the EMD Serono guys from Ottawa. I was like wow Sean your going to do this aren't you! Sure enough I stop thinking and did something about it ... I went and caught up. I was sitting on Sean's wheel for a bit thinking about when to go... we hit a muddy/gravely part of the course... I thought now is the time. Time to rock baby! Off I went... no looking back, go and keep going! I had a good lead about 15-20 second gap and was just chilling because I knew I was going to race Pro no matter how I felt and the noise... I have heard it before... NO NO NO!!!!! Yes I got a flat, over all my years of racing I have learned never to panic, just chill and fix your problem. I road half a lap to the pit were Jamie was waiting with Dave Brown's tubular wheel. By then I was sitting 4Th place and was getting a little scared! But Jamie was there to settle me down, it was very helpful if Jamie didn't tell me to breath I probably would have been sitting in there going crazy thinking I lost that it game is over!
So I got everything fixed, 3rd was about 8 seconds ahead but I got this sudden surge of power and exploded up the hill. Just down the paved path I caught 3rd no questions I passed and attacked and took over 3rd. Next was Sean sitting pretty in 2Nd it took a good effort to catch Sean but I was not wasting any time, I wanted to catch Noah ASAP I didn't want him resting so when I caught him he took off again. It took about half a lap to catch Noah and I will tell you one thing, it took so much energy closing up the gap.
So I was sitting with Noah... One little thing about Noah, this guy is a really good guy. I caught him and the first thing he says is "mad respect." Well Noah, "Mad respect to you too man!" Back to the race I was waiting to see what Noah was going to do, attack, slow down, get behind me, stay in lead. There was many things he could do. Noah choose to sit behind me and with me if you behind and I have pulled for half a lap I am not dumb I know your using me, so I slowed down and Noah knew what I was doing. We hit a big part of paved road and I made a acceleration and he held on. So that meant I didn't have anything on the flats with him. We hit a little twisty turning section. Made another acceleration, didn't do anything there either he held on to that. So I was thinking where where where do I do this next attack. We hit the first section of the gravel up hill and I didn't make a sure attack it was more of a tester, he didn't hold it that well. So we hit the muddy hill climb and I took off. I heard everyone yelling and creaming GO GO GO!! and Ted was yelling stand up!! I stood up and took off hit the "run up" and kept going I wont lie I looked back once and after that I just kept going!
1 lap to go. I finished my lap and had a good race I learned from it and gained more experience from it. 1st place under the belt and a sweet pair of socks that I am wearing right now and 60 doll hairs! :)
Now it was to decide if I had enough energy for the Pro elite race. I went back to the car with Jamie and he stuffed me full with some Tim bits the secret Junior meal (shh don't tell) So I didn't take that long I decided and I was going to race with the big boys.
Lets make this quick, we got to the line and I knew I wasn't going to finish the race I was thinking maybe I could last one lap and that was it. We took off and I went right for the fastest moving wheel, Eric Box's. He was just flying. Eric didn't let me hold on to long he went right to the front of the line and there was 5 of us sitting there I was just sitting off the back maybe about 3 bike lengths, I was looking around and I was getting scared... where is Andrew Watson I asked. Oh oh oh, there he is passing me catching the group. I held on for about 75% of a lap and lasted 3 more until I threw up. Thats when I called it a day and went off the course and laid down on a patch of grass and watched the race happen.
Jared and Eric Box had a good fight when Eric took off and took his first win. Congrats Eric and Jared for a good race.
Jamie and I hopped in the car and went home and that was my subway cross day.
