Road Nationals - Geoff MacDonald Report

Hi Dan,

I finished 10th in the TT. Felt good heart rate was around 184 for most of the race and got to 195 for the final 1 km. First time this year that I could get my hr to 180 mark. I missed a few places due to a mistake - when I thought the turn was two intersections sooner than it was. Lost a few seconds and a few places because of this.

In the Crit I followed your directions and actually led the race for the first two laps making the group work to chase me down. I then sat in for a while and took another break. With six laps to go I was on the break ... a good waysout when I took the turn too hot and pulled an Ullrich . I hit the ditch over the handle bars. Got back on the bike and headed up the hill where a buddy was yelling to tell me to take my lap... Oh yeah I thought... and did. Got back on and took off again but felt like a Reggie due to the free lap so thought the sporting thing to do would be to sit in for a lap. Did so. Two of my teamates( Jon and Dan Woods) are great sprinters and were both feeling good. Dan asked if I could get him up to a short breakaway and I said I thought I could. So at the bottom of the hill I punched it and got them 80 % of the way and then faded to the group. I finished middle of the pack with Dan getting 5th and Jon getting 7th.

Next morning feeling 80 %. Started coming around later. Our team had 3 guys in the Master A RR. Dan Jon and myself. Chris MacNeil (Hand R Block )and I set the pace at the front of the group of around 90 racers.We hit the hill pretty hard and then sat in for a while ( a great way to clear the legs I thought). Spent the first half of the race fighting for position in the peloton - between the front and back. Nothing was getting away so I sat in for a while.I chased down a few breakaways, MacNeil and I tried bridging to a break that looked to have two fast Ontario guys in it but the peloton would have nothing of us trying to get there. I was beginning to cramp around three laps to go. Was worried but had some accelerade and enervit pills and told myself that I wouldn't get dropped.

In the last lap I got in the front leading through town to make sure that I hit the hill in the front of the group. It hurt but I was still in the front of the bunch by the top. I knew I could do some damage if I could hang on at that point.

On the long downhill I felt strong and many were hurting. I got to the front and saw Dan Wood but couldn't find Jon ( my two teammates). It was raining hard and the pavement was sketchy. Guys were yelling braking and freaking out. I thought I should get the hell out of the group. I attacked. As I'm going by Dan he's yelling at me "Go Geoff get out front " he said it two or three times. I got a gap with two other guys. We were flying. I looked ahead and saw another ERTC jersey and said "shit" there's Jon. I had to sit up. I would've pulled two strong guys up. We left the headsets for our radios at the hotel so couldn't communicate well during the race. Bummer, but the right thing to do. Good news ...Jon won. He got the jersey and we all celebrated...HARD.

Good news is that the Peak and training worked. I felt stronger than most in all days. Just some bad prep on the TT and some stong teamates made me makesome unselfish decisions. Time to start preparing for Provincials. I'll start training Thursday.

Thanks Dan.