Canadian National Road Cycling Championships 2013

 BRONZE AND SILVER at the Canadian National Road Cycling Championships

Lex Albrecht: Canadian National Road Cycling Championships 2013. Photo © Pasquale Stalteri / All rights reserved

The Canadian National Road Cycling Championships were held in St. Georges, Québec from June 20 - 23 2013.  I race for NOW and Novartis for MS, an American team.  Since I'm the only Canuck, I was on my own, which is an exceptional situation.  No teammates, no staff.  A lot of extra work, but a welcome challenge.

Lex Albrecht, Canadian National Road Cycling Championships.  Time trial.  Photo © CanadianCyclist.com / All rights reserved

The first event was a 28km time trial (TT).  I went at the rolling course on my Specialized S-Works Shiv TT bike like I meant it.  I put in a solid effort.  I had installed a special chainring to help me go faster on the downhills but the plan backfired a tiny bit.  The chain wouldn't stay on the ring near the end of the race.  Lesson: never deviate from SRAM components.  Regardless, I'm proud of my 7th place finish, and am even more motivated to keep working on my TT.

Photo: D. Gagnon

The next day was a 110km road race around St. Georges.  To recover in time, I used my Travel Roller .  I bring that Travel Roller with me, EVERYWHERE.

On the road course, there were some really rough sections on the road (deep crevasses, huge potholes, sharp, rocky gravel), some good climbs, and rolling hills. 

I played it safe for the first part of the race, saving my energy for the end.  At one point I let my guard down and let myself get shuffled too far back in the pack.  As the riders hammered up a hill in front of me I decided I needed to step my game up.

I counter attacked another rider's effort, hoping to get away from the pack who was already tired of chasing the previous attack.  I wanted somebody to follow me or bridge up to me, so we could work together and stay away.  But, I saw that I was floating off the front solo a little too long and let up on my pace.  As the gap shrunk, one rider bridged up as a precaution before we were "absorbed" back into the pack.  I was a part of a small group that would finally break off the front on a difficult part of the course, leaving the rest of the pack chasing.

BRONZE MEDAL
In the final kilometers, we were a select group of only 5 or 6 riders being chased down.  I took the 2nd last corner with just a bit too much precaution and had to make up for it in the final few hundred meters.  I sprinted up the last pitch to a 3rd place finish.  Especially after crashing out of Nationals in 2012 with a nasty concussion, it was good to be back on the podium.

2013 Canadian Road Cycling Championships podium. Proud to wear my Nuheat pin! Photo: B. Poredos

A quick interview with Pedal Mag after the podium ceremony.  Photo: B. Poredos

Canadian National Criterium Championship race was two days later.  I still "Travel-Rolled" and rode my bike on the day off to make sure my legs didn't seize up.  I did some mechanics on my bike, and mixed and matched some cassettes on my Rolf wheels to find the perfect combination of gears.  I needed something fast enough to launch fast attacks and to be in contention for the final sprint, and something easy enough to fly up the steep uphill pitch that we would climb 24 times during the race.

Greasy hands, again.  It's important to have an idea of how to take care of your own bike!

The crit was fun, and hard, but that's the way I wanted it.  I raced one of my most aggressive races of the season, throwing attacks at the peloton and trying to make a break stay.  The peloton dwindled down considerably by the end but no breakaway succeeded.  

Lex Albrecht, Canadian National Road Cycling Championships. Criterium.  Photo © CanadianCyclist.com / All rights reserved

SILVER MEDAL
With less than one lap to go, I put in a hard effort at the top of the climb that seemed to tire a lot of riders out.  I drilled it.  Leah Kirchman of Optum chased and caught up through the final corner that she took fast and hard, and shot past me.  I pounded the pedals until the finish line, not even daring to look behind me.  That earned a silver medal in the end.

Lex Albrecht, Canadian National Road Cycling Championships. Criterium podium.  Photo © CanadianCyclist.com / All rights reserved

It is great to bring home the hardware and represent NOW and Novartis for MS in "my" country.  I want to thank my team, NOW and Novartis for MS, all of our sponsors, as well as my partners for their support.

www.nuheat.com

I love riding and racing regardless of results, but I definitely know that training hard at PowerWatts Premier studio in Montréal, Québec is really paying off.  (If you want to learn more about PowerWatts, click HERE to follow them on Facebook)