By Ruby West
This morning I took to the start line of my 3rd Paris to Ancaster race. As per usual it was a crazy start, with everyone shuffling for position going into the first gravel and rail trail section. After having a fairly good start I stuck with David Staples and a bunch of other riders for the first FAST section of rail trail. As soon as we turned into the first off road trail, everything split up. I rode my own pace for the next little while, until at about 15km into the race I caught up to Mandy Dreyer and Nick Friesen. From there the 3 of us stuck together for pretty much the rest of the race. This was completely different than any other year I've done the race, for that reason of having people to work with, as opposed to riding by myself like other years. The rest of the race went by pretty quick as Nick was pushing the pace pretty hard. We stuck together until about 13km to go when Mandy sent us off ahead to finish the race and hopefully secure a top 5 spot in the women's field. Nick and I stayed together right until the line, and I couldn't have done the race without his help and total encouragement! We clocked in at 2:22:30 making our average speed 29km/h over the 69km race a very quick pace for all the off road sections there were. To top off the amazing race, I then found out I finished 4th outright in the super competitive women's category where the podium was all pro international cyclocross riders, that I was pretty thrilled about!!! Can't wait for next year, and for the cross season to be begin!
This morning I took to the start line of my 3rd Paris to Ancaster race. As per usual it was a crazy start, with everyone shuffling for position going into the first gravel and rail trail section. After having a fairly good start I stuck with David Staples and a bunch of other riders for the first FAST section of rail trail. As soon as we turned into the first off road trail, everything split up. I rode my own pace for the next little while, until at about 15km into the race I caught up to Mandy Dreyer and Nick Friesen. From there the 3 of us stuck together for pretty much the rest of the race. This was completely different than any other year I've done the race, for that reason of having people to work with, as opposed to riding by myself like other years. The rest of the race went by pretty quick as Nick was pushing the pace pretty hard. We stuck together until about 13km to go when Mandy sent us off ahead to finish the race and hopefully secure a top 5 spot in the women's field. Nick and I stayed together right until the line, and I couldn't have done the race without his help and total encouragement! We clocked in at 2:22:30 making our average speed 29km/h over the 69km race a very quick pace for all the off road sections there were. To top off the amazing race, I then found out I finished 4th outright in the super competitive women's category where the podium was all pro international cyclocross riders, that I was pretty thrilled about!!! Can't wait for next year, and for the cross season to be begin!