David's Coupe des Ameriques race report

I've heard good things about this race over the years but I've always been distracted by Fitchburg, this year I decided to break habit and head to Canada excited to race against some fresh faces.

The prologue:
I find these mass start hill climbs a little chaotic, everyone is fresh, motivated and ready to die fighting for position going into the climb. About 500M into the race I discovered that the yellow line rule is merely a recommendation in Canada as I saw my stealth position usurped by about 80 guys in the left lane - a guy on my right complained that the riders from Ontario always do that - damn Ontarians. So from 110th place I moved up at the base of the climb and kept moving up until 2k to go where 2 riders a few seconds ahead of me just wouldn't be caught so I settled for 3rd.

The TT:
Rode as hard as I could for 6th place, could have been a little quicker but for the RV that almost stopped me dead in my tracks 200M into the race. Still 3rd overall so still in the game.

The Crit:
Inspired by the Roger and Troy from Westwood who almost lapped the field together in the 40+ race I threw down a few heavy attacks early without success and finished safely in the bunch - still 3rd on GC 20 seconds back.

The RR:
The legs felt a little heavy early probably from the efforts of 2 races the day before so I took it easy early on. The race stayed together thanks to the work of a couple of coalitions at the front save for a couple of optimistic breaks that lacked the numbers to survive. At the start of the final drag to the finish I missed an acceleration and had to jump across a gap to join the race leader and the prologue winner at the front. Both riders were intent on a steady pace which discouraged me from attacking from a few K out, but inside the final 2K I sensed that I could take the win with a final kick and that's what happened. My first win of the season and enough time to move into 2nd on GC - damn those 12 seconds - Maybe I'll come back next year.

Thanks to my team mates and friends for some good company and to Beth at Discover Chiropractic for fixing my wrist.