Racing With A Canadian Legend

Hello from Quebec. I'm up here for the Canadian National road and time trial championships. I did the TT yesterday and finished 4th, 15 seconds slower than last year on the same course under virtually identical conditions. I am actually pleased with the result considering the fight I've been having first with getting back from the hip replacement and probably more impactful, recovering from that horrendous crash 4 weeks ago.

The road race was today and at 120 km it was going to be more of a fight just to hold onto the handle bars that long given the nerve and muscle damage and pain in my neck, shoulder, arm and hand that the whiplash from the crash caused. The weather was a bit of a challenge too with rain off and on throughout the race but I bit the bullet and fought it out to the finish.

It was a quality group of racers as every National championship should be. Up here we race in 10 year increments and I am at the very old end of my group, 50 to 59. The quality was exemplified when Steve Bauer showed up at the start line. Imagine that, an Olympic road race silver medalist, a bronze medalist in the world championships, raced in 11 Tours de France, won a stage and once finishing 4th, and wore the yellow jersey for 14 days in 2 of those Tours. He finished second at Paris Roubaix, losing to Plankaert by 1 centimeter in the closest finish ever. He also won a World Cup race in Montreal, once won by Eddie Merckx. Up here he is considered, bar none including Ryder Hesjedal, the greatest Canadian cyclist ever and he was in my race today. Very exciting!

Back to my race. Steve Bauer finished 4th, not even on the podium so that kind of tells you how good this group is. And he is not out of shape, apparently racing in local pro races here in Quebec, Ontario and south of the border in some races in Vermont. I was in a group of 9 chasing two escapees 150 meters up the road with about 13 km to go. The end of the race was peppered with short punchy climbs, generally about 500 meters long, not really in my wheel house. Bauer punched it hard on the second to last of the steep ones, maybe 12 or 13% and I finally cracked. I never quite got back on and finished alone in 12th place, just about caught by a group chasing from behind. I suffered through it as far as the injury pain is concerned and, unlike Sattley where I actually harmed my recovery, I think this one helped. With 2 and 1/2 months to worlds, if I can stay off the ground, I just might be back to my old self just in time. And how cool is it to race with a Canadian cycling legend.

Best, Rob