2021 Vanier Park CX

Once again I was fortunate enough to take part in a local race. This time it was the Vanier Park Cyclocross race. I was signed up to do this race in 2019 as my introduction to the sport, but the race was cancelled, making Aldergrove my intro to CX. 

Jen, Thomas, and I arrived early so I could register and do a warm up lap of the course. 

The course was very technical from a riding perspective. There were only 2 points where I needed to jump off the bike. The rest of the course was lots of twists, turns, and rollers. The course was also surprisingly wide. I felt that even if I was going to be lapped, I would have plenty of room and not need to slow down.

I finished my warm up lap in about 15 minutes. So I set my race goal at 2 laps, since this was a 30 minute race. I thought about going back onto the course to practice a few of the more technical spots, but I had done well on my practice lap and did not want to over think anything. 

Then it was time to start. I lined up in the back knowing I would end up there anyhow. The start was an uphill so I made sure to be in the proper gear. Then start horn went off and the pack took off. 

I was soon passed by a few people but felt I was moving at a good speed. At one point I had to stop due to a wipe out in front of me on the slippery pine needles. 

After that it was just the simple task of navigating the twists, turns, and rollers. A few of the rider who passed me were now beginning to fade and I was able to catch up fairly quickly. 

I made my way to the first section that required me to jump off the bike. At this section, riders went down a hill, made a 180 degree turn and then went back up the hill. However, on the uphill, there were 2 barriers. So at the bottom, you needed to jump off the bike while making the turn after coming down the hill. I had practiced this on the warm up lap and felt pretty confident. This was the section I did not want to over think. 

I executed it perfectly (perfectly enough for me anyway) and ran up the hill over the barriers. I could see and hear Jen and Thomas cheering. At the top of the hill, I jumped back on my bike and rode on, focusing on getting my heart rate back down. 

I navigated the twisty course and was soon at what was called The Belgian Steps. This was the second section that required a dismount. I jumped off the bike, ran up the steps, and jumped back on just before a downhill. I quickly clipped back in before using the downhill speed to aid in the following uphill.

I made a right and turn and bombed down the hill that I knew marked the end of the lap. As I flew past timing tent, I saw the number 3 displayed. I took this to mean we were doing 3 laps. Awesome. That is one lap more than my race goal. 

Lap 2 was more of the same. I was now for familiar/comfortable with the course and could speed things up. I was even able to pass a few more people.

Lap 3, I was feeling really good. I was taking the turns much faster, I was pushing up the hills, and taking more advantage of the downhills. 

I came down the last downhill expecting my race to be over when I realized I had one more lap. I had the read the sign wrong. 3 was not the total number of laps. 3 was the remaining laps, meaning 4 in total. I was not mentally prepared for 4 laps, but I took it as a challenge.

I pushed hard on the 4th lap, knowing it was for sure my last. I was passed by a few of the race leaders. They passed and offered up encouragement as they went by. It makes me love this sport even more when the first place rider can lap someone in the back, but take time to cheer them on. 

Soon I was at the last downhill before the end. I threw my bike into gear and sprinted down that hill. I crossed the line with a big sigh of relief.   

This course is my second favorite course when it come to CX. I had a ton of fun. My goal was 2 laps and I managed 4. I was able to turn my brain off and just ride. I set some new heart rate records but never felt as though it got too high. 

4 laps in 37 minures 54 seconds and I didn't finish last!

Cross is back and I am looking forward to more racing!

2021 Vancouver Triathlon

First off let me give you a quick update. In my last entry, I talked about Ironman Washington 70.3 in September. This did not happen. Land border restrictions would not allow us to cross the border to Seattle and I have deferred this race to 2022. 

Ironman Arizona (the full) was still going ahead in November, but we decided as a family that we were not comfortable travelling just yet. So once again my 5 year dream of a full Ironman has been pushed again to 2022. 

I have also started coaching indoor swimming with Coach Stewart and will be starting to take more of a lead coaching role in the open water courses come the summer. 

My new job has been going very well. They are very much what was promised. Great projects, challenging work, but much less overtime. My work life balance has been great and my mental health has improved.

I have also decided to not continue with my YouTube channel. Life has gotten very busy with a full time job, training, coaching, and family. I had a vision for what I wanted my channel to be and to accomplish that I would need to pour too much time and resources into it, time and resources that need to be directed elsewhere. There is too much going on in life right now and something needed to put aside to ensure I got the downtime I need. Unfortunately, it has to be the YouTube channel. This blog and my Instagram will now serve as the main source of race reports and training information. 

So here we are! Back to racing!

Now that you are all caught up, here is my race report for the 2021 Vancouver Triathlon.

As stated before, I am continuing to help coach open water classes with Coach Stewart and we were excited to learn that Coach Stewart/Swim Smart would be an official sponsor for this race. 

With the race being on Monday, we ran a swim clinic on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Coach Stewart worked with the more advanced in each group, while Coach Oscar and myself lead the beginner groups.

After the Sunday clinic, Stewart, Oscar, and I setup our tent for bike drop off. We had the perfect spot right next registration. We had a good time talking with the athletes, current and (hopefully) new clients. 

I dropped by bike in transition, very close to bike out, and went home to prep the rest of my gear.

The next morning I got up super early. Coach Stewart was kind enough to give me a ride so Jen could have the car to bring Thomas to the race.

My swim start wave was the second to last to go, so I spent some time in the Coach Stewart tent answering any questions from the athletes. 

Just before the first start wave, I setup my transition area. Turns out I had picked a spot near some friends. We were all excited to be racing and grateful for the opportunity.

After spending some more time at the coach's tent, I went to watch the first wave start. It was there that I ran into my coach, Coach Powell. We had not seen each other in person for a very long time and we chatted about the race. He asked how I was feeling about Arizona. I told him the same thing I said in the introduction above. It was a super tough decision to make, but in the end, it was the right one. And I look forward to focusing (more) on the next year.

It was getting close to my time to start, so I went in the water for a warm up swim. The water was cold. But I knew from the swim clinics we ran that it would warm up as we got moving. 

After a quick warm up I made my way back on shore. I needed to get some water in/on my goggles to keep them from fogging up so I walked up the waters edge past all the other athletes in my wave. As I walked past, I let them know I was not jockeying for position. 

But as soon as I splashed my goggles in the water and turned to return to the back of the pack, the horn blew. I stood still and let the pack run by me. It had been a long time since I had raced and I did not want to swim with the pack. I waited a few seconds then started my race.

The Swim

I noticed from watching the earlier starts that the current was pushing everyone to the right. So as I made my way from shore to the first turn buoy, I made sure to aim more to the left when sighting.

The turn buoy was yellow, as was my wave wave start swim cap color was yellow. This made it challenging to sight the buoy directly. Luckily a tanker was anchored in the perfect position for me to sight off of. 

I had to stop a few times because my goggles were leaking. It was an overcast day, so I was swimming with my clear lensed pair, a pair I don't normally use. I figured if I had to stop every so often to fix my goggles, that would be ok. There was nothing I could do about it now. 

I took the first section nice and easy. I had plenty of room to get into a rhythm all the way up until the first turn buoy. Then things got crowded.

I swam out past the first turn buoy to fix my goggles. I took them off and gave the rims a good squeeze. Well that did the trick! No more leaking goggles for the rest of the swim.

The next section to turn 2 was fast. We were swimming with the current. The current was pulling us to the left a bit, so I compensated. 

After the second turn buoy, it was a straight shot to shore for an Australian Exit and then lap 2. 

This section took forever as we were swimming against the outgoing tide. I stayed calm and just kept with my stroke count. 

I swam past the yellow buoy and swam as far up to shore as I could (swimming past those who had stood up too early).

When I got onto shore and went around the land buoy, I was surprised how many fit looking swimmers ran past me. Then I realized it was my line. Many times in swimming it is not the fastest swimmer, but the person who swims the least distance. If the current pulls you 100 meters off course, that is 100 extra meters you have to swim.

I entered the water on lap 2 feeling great that my sighting skills had not let me down. I did knock my foot on some rocks and found out after the race that I did indeed cut my foot. 

As soon as the water was deep enough to swim in, I started lap 2. 

I made it to the first turn buoy just as the next start wave caught up with us. Needless to say, this made the turn even more crowded than the first lap.

The course remained crowded for the rest of lap 2. I stayed calm and continued have good lines. 

I swam onto shore as far as I could and popped up to finish the swim. I walked up the incline off the beach and made my way to transition. 

The same swimmers who passed me during the Australian Exit between laps ran past me again. It gave me a good feeling that swim was consistent between laps. 

I took my time in transition. I knew this was a not a race with pressure. I got ready for the bike and was off. 

As I exited the transition area and made my way to the mount line, I saw Jen and Thomas walking down the road in the distance. They saw me and cheered.

The Bike

I started the bike leg nice and easy. My goal was to keep my power under 200 watts for the whole bike section. I know I am capable of more, especially over 40k, but I wanted to save some energy for whatever I could muster on the run. 

The bike course was one I was very familiar with. At least until the city decided they wanted to put up concrete barricades all along the road. I get it. They wanted to make the park safer for bikers, but they way they did it just seems unnecessary. Either way, I could not change it, so I went with it. 

I kept with my strategy and was soon at the hill. I took the hill very easy. It was the only spot I did not keep my power under 200. But again, it's a hill I've done hundreds of times. 

The downhill was separated into 2 lanes. Usually the lanes are open and I would stay to the left until I got to the sharp turn at the bottom. Then I would swing across to the right lane as I hit the apex of the turn. But now there was no room to do that. I decided to stay in the right hand lane, to allow those with better descending skills the room they needed.  

At the bottom of the hill there are some fun twisties, but once again the barriers made them too narrow and crowded to fully enjoy. 

As I swung around for lap 2, I could see and hear Thomas and Jen cheering. 

Lap 2, 3, and 4 were pretty much the same as lap 1, but a bit less crowded. There was lots of encouragement both to and from other riders, especially on the hill.

I finished the bike feeling good. As I entered transition, I saw Jen and Thomas. I stopped for a bit to wave at Thomas. 

I entered T2 nice and slow, not looking forward to the run. My run had not had as much training lately and was no where near what it once was. I had fully accepted that this race may be Swim, Bike, Walk. 

The Run

I got out on the 4 lap run course and started walking. I definitely did not want to start off to fast. Once I got a bit further down, I started to run a bit. I would continue this run for a bit, walk for a bit, for pretty much the whole run.  

At the end of each lap there was a hill. I walked this hill each time. And each time, Jen and Thomas were there waiting for me. It was so nice to have them out on the course. Every time Thomas would see me, he would scream and clap. 

As I approached my final laps, I began seeing more of the same runners. We would encourage each other and ask "Which lap?"

I was so relieved when someone asked and I got to respond, "Last one!"

Soon I was up the hill. Then running down the hill. I could seen Jen and Thomas just to the right of the finish chute. I stopped, grabbed Thomas, and we both ran across the finish line.

While this in no way reflects what I am capable of in this type of race, I am not upset. I know I can do better and I know what to work on. This was the first race after 2 years. 2 year that include an ongoing pandemic and our first child. I was just happy to be in a race environment. 

Swim: 00:37:37

T1:      00:05:33

Bike:   01:35:04

T2:      00:03:48

Run:    01:35:04

Total:   03:49:09

I am not sure if I would do this race again. I felt the bike course was a bit too crowded. While the race organizers limited the number of athletes this year (due to the pandemic), the narrowing of the roadways in the park still made for a congested course. I can only imagine what it would be like with a full field.  

If I did do this race again, I would do their version of a Super Sprint and just go all out to see what I was capable of. 

Thanks for taking the time to read this race report. As mentioned in the introduction, this blog combined with my Instagram will now be my main platform for race reports and training updates. 

Up next.... 

CX is Coming!