Father's Day Centurion Ride

Why is it every race I register for, it ends up raining?
Last year I signed up for the Bracebridge Tri.  And there were thunderstorms!

This year it's the Centurion C100K race. And guess what. It's pouring rain.  Awesome.
I don't even ride with my club when it's raining.
Today I have to ride 100K in the rain. Plus it was Father's day.  What was I thinking?

The map even with the elevation doesn't give justice to the terrain. It is hilly.  The first 50k was ok.  But after that, the hills seemed to be tougher to climb.  Mostly because my legs were getting tired.  But for the first two wet hours of the ride it wasn't the uphills that were worrying me.  It was the downhills.
At the 7k mark, a cyclist had wiped out.  The downhills were slick.  I was testing out  my brakes.  Yep...they certainly weren't very good in the wet.  And it was wet.  It was going to be a long ride.  I was hoping to be done inside of 4 hrs.  But the rain + the hills.  I gave us a 4+hr ride.

I was certainly glad for the 2 feed zones.  The second one at 75k was a blessing from above.  I needed a pee break.  Plus I needed some food.  I was getting tired of my soggy Cliff bar.  It had finally stopped raining.  But heading south west the wind was against us.  That was the other thing.  Without the sun, I couldn't tell which way were going.


This was the start of the race.  Wet.
A rolling start from the staging area in front of Horseshoe Valley resort.  I've only ever been here in the winter.  Looks so different in the summer.

This is the C50K start.
I was saying to my brother. We should do this instead.
50K in pouring rain is better than 100K.  I was wishing I was on that ride.

The bottom of the valley wasn't the official start.
We have to head up to the top of the hill to the start.  What a way to warm up.
On a big incline.

This is how we looked prior to the race.  A little damp.  And smiling.  Pretty soon after the start, smiles were gone.  It was more like clenched teeth and stiff arms hoping to God that I don't wipe out on the downhills in the freaking rain.  And end up in an ambulance.

After a while breaking on the downhills became less and less.  Mostly because there was an uphill on the other side and the more momentum I could carry, the less work I had to do.
Plus I wanted this ride to over with ASAP.
The finish was on an uphill.  Since it was the last hill, I gave it all I had left.  We had been catching people on the uphills all morning.  Caught another at the finish.
This is us after 100K.
Soaked, sandy, but smiling.  More like 'THANK GOD, I made it.'
I will have to make it to mass this week.
My trusty ride.  And my new wheels.  I was just happy I didn't get a flat or worse - crash.  The rain made it treacherous.  Mostly because I avoid the rain like the plague on our club rides.  Now I had no experience racing in the rain except stay way from the lines.  Cuz they get slick.  Also when it's wet you lose 30% of your traction.  Nice confidence booster when heading down a steep hill, eh?  Also when it first starts to rain is the worse, because all the oil on the road is now on the surface making it oily water.
Also it felt like my brakes were non-existent.  I was getting passed like crazy on the downhills.  Hey, I wasn't trying to get myself killed. We would catch them anyways on the uphills.  There was this one lady on a cervelo tri bike that would pass us on the flats and downhills, but we would pass her on the uphills and inclines.  Anyone can go down fast.  But the inclines are where you show your strength.  Anyways we didn't see her any more once we got past the 50-60k mark.  Her and a lot of others.

Not sure if you can tell, but I've got lots of sand from the water being kicked up at me, mostly from me trying to get on someone's wheel to draft and catch a break.
On the uphills though my hill work with the Flyers was paying off.  I was passing quite a few.
My overshoes didn't help keep my feet dry, but they did protect them from all the dirt.  Easier to clean the overshoes than your expensive shoes.

There was a KOM (if you follow Strava, you know what this is) somewhere in the 1st half of the course.  It's basically a big hill that you climb.  It was pretty cool to have it timed.  I just wish I could figure out where it was on the route.  So I can avoid it.


Well for the race course, Lou and I completed it in 3hrs 40mins.
But it's 100K from the Staging area and back to that area.
We started at 8am and completed just before noon.
I was surprised that we were able to finish the race at just shy of 4hrs.
But look at the top finishing times.  2hr 27mins.  We had rain at least 2 hrs.  These guys went this fast in the rain!  Amazing.

I was pleased.  Plus it meant I could get to Kieran's violin concert before it was over.
But there was lots of traffic heading south on the 400.  Also I was beat and needed some Tim's to keep me alert.


I missed his performance (it's recorded) but I was happy to have made it to hear the last few performances.
And we got to go out for an early Father's Day supper with Marika, Anna and Max.

These kids are getting better and better.
They are so awesome at making the violin sing.
Glad I got to hear them.

Canon in D
Not sure what this other song was but it was good too.

Then we saw this bee with stuff on it's legs, when I was washing my bike.
It's belly was pulsating, not sure why.