Québec Road Cycling Championships, 2011

It was rainy and it was windy, but it wasn't the storm "Irene".  I refuse to agree with those who thought it was.  I saw a few images on TV of smashed homes and torn up trees.  That, was where Irene passed.  Up in Ste. Agathe, Québec there was just a lot of rain, and a good steady wind.

The woman's field rolled out at 14h30 behind the comissaire for a 14 km neutral start (meaning the riders are not allowed to go faster than the pace that the car sets in front of us).

I chose to take a risk and not dress lightly.  I say take a risk because being too hot on the bike is as bad, if not worse than being too cold.  I had a DeFeet sleeveless baselayer, my Hincapie Jersey, my Hincapie windvest, my Hincapie armwarmers, and my Hincapie long sleeved jersey.  I even put on my black (those ones are for the rain) Hincapie shoe covers.

The neutral start was a bit peculiar, not only because of the distance but because after 14 km, we had to unclip and wait a few minutes before actually going off to race. 

At a certain point I attacked, but was brought back.  Right afterwards, my teammate Joanie Caron broke away solo in a counter attack.  She was alone for almost 40 km, and had at least 2 minutes over the field.  I really started to think she would take the win!  A few girls went to the front of the pack to work on bringing Joanie back (or, catch up to her, in other words).  The Canadian Champion, Véro Fortin, didn't seem satisfied that their work would suffice, and broke away to do the job on her own.  I went with her for awhile.  To make a long story short, Fortin got away from me, caught up to Jo, and got away from her as well.  Joanie and I raced to the finish together and arrived just under two minutes after Fortin.  And that my friends, is how Juvéderm-Specialized-Mazda took home 2nd and 3rd place in the 2011 Québec Road Cycling Championships.

Our other teammate, Véro Labonté (the newly crowned Québec Time Trial Champion) broke away from the field near the end of the race to scoop up 4th place on her own.  Unfortunately Val Crête had a nasty spill and rode to the finish in a van with some young aspiring firefighters.  The 5th Québécoise member of our team, Véro Drapeau Zgoralski came in with the peloton. 

No victory, but it was a good, satisfying race out in the wind, rain, and hills.  2nd, 3rd, and 4th.

Antoine Becotte

Peace out.