This year I'm not racing as much and along that line, not racing as fast. But one race that can't be missed is La Coupe des Ameriques in Sutton on the first weekend of July. This is the North American Masters road championship. It gives us pro racer wannabees the feeling that we are pros. A stage race, with 4 events in 3 days. Intense. The best way to do this is to rent a condo with your teammates and breath in and out cycling for 72 hours without worrying about anything else.

The organizer and his team make sure that is all you have to do. From the registration to the final banquet, everything is taking care of. This was my ninth consecutive year doing this event, and it is by far the best organization I have come across in both the cycling and triathlon world. It is hard to improve a race year after year, but this organization keeps making it better.

The organizer year after year is proactive on gathering feedback from the racers and it shows. The head organizer himself was out on the course with a speakerphone to warn users of one particular section where the roads weren't so great, something inevitable in Quebec. The numerous smiling volunteers are always there after every stage serving sports drinks and fruits.

Small details like every turn on the course is painted on the asphalt. Such attention to detail. I noticed on the Sunday course overlapping the Friday course, the old markers had been painted black, and new marks had been added.

The logistics from moving from one location to another where handled without a snag. The security was top notch from the police and volunteers. I heard of a volunteer standing strong to prevent a motorist from entering the criterium course. Many car drivers just don't get it when you tell them a road is closed for a bike race. 

My girlfriend was a small chase group of a few riders during the road race and a police car crossed them traveling in opposite direction. The police car turned around and started escorting them. You could sense that everyone involved in the organization knew what they were doing.

Now for a little race report in the Master A category.

Stage 1 - The Hill Climb. A warm up on a 10 kilometer rolling section before a 6 kilometer climbing suffer fest. Surprisingly I felt very good. I was able to get near the front at the base of the climb, and to conserve my position. I should have been a bit more aggressive as in the last 500 meters I got out of the saddle and had more matches left than I thought. I finished 48 seconds from the leader.

Stage 2 - The Time Trial. A 13 kilometer rolling TT course, a bit on the uphill with a nice cross tail wind. I didn't have a dedicated TT bike, so I put clip-ons on my Kestrel Talon. My strategy was to attack all the uphill rollers and to conserve my momentum as much as possible, even if that meant easing the pace slightly after some uphill sections. It worked out well for me finishing 9th at an average speed of 47.6km/hour.

Stage 3 - The Criterium. Usually a criterium in a stage race, means that the majority of racers will sit in the pack content to finish in the same time as the winner. But this course in Cowansville made things interesting. A technical course with lots of cornering and about 1/3 of the course on a slight uphill. That meant no sitting in. It was a hard course for everyone. The kind of course where you absolutely need to avoid being in the last third of the pack, because that meant losing contact with the pack. I focused on making sure I stayed in a sheltered position in the middle of the pack.

Stage 4 - The decisive road race. I had rode the course a few weeks before. I knew it was a tough 118km course with a lot of climbing around the midpoint of the course and one last major climb at the finish. This year I brought up my training volume from May to June, and I felt my endurance was good. I was a little over 1 minute back on the GC, so I had one thing in mind. Attempt a solo break and make sure I use up my last calorie by the time I get to the finish line. My plan was to attack after the hilly sections at about the 80 kilometer mark and then get into TT mode.

Things went almost as planned. After Mansonville at the base of  the first major climb a few kilometers long, I start setting the pace on the climb. For some reason, the pack decides to ignore me and let me roll off the front. Something I'm not used to - usually I'm given a pretty short lease.  After watching Cancellera motor away on Paris Roubaix, with about 70km to go my confidence is high, I tell myself why not? Within a few minutes the pack is out of site. The first major hill is history and I've opened up a good gap telling myself "out of site - out of mind, that's good". A few more steep pitches that I attack aggressively knowing that I have to keep increasing my lead before the final climb.

After all the climbing, my good old friend Mr. Cramps comes back to have a discussion with me, or more precisely with my inner thighs. He tells me, "Hey buddy, you blew up your legs, now their shutting off, sorry, close but no cigar". Knowing too well at this point I have to slow down my pace considerably otherwise my muscles will seize up.

Eventually two riders bridged up to me, and I have to let them go. Then the pack. I hang on for a bit, but the cramps are still lingering. So I let the pack go, later to be join by a small group to finish the distance.

The real Cancellera copycat was in the Master B category. Roger Aspholm, not very well known in Quebec before the race, completely destroyed the field. Outclassing everyone in every stage, setting the best TT time, lapping the field in the criterium, and distancing the pack by 6 minutes in the last 40km of the road race. Amazing!

Congratulations to Denis Boulanger and his team for putting on such a fine race that we can all enjoy.

Here is an interview with Denis Boulanger, http://media.podcastingmanager.com/2/8/5/4/5/263809-254582/Media/dr-vie-....