Race Reports by Hugh Trenchard

Schwalbe wins the first Masters race! Hugh Trenchard wins the overall for Schwalbe
The first BC Masters Association race of the season took place on Sunday April 6, a 70km effort beginning on the outskirts of Cowichan Lake, a quaint little town that oddly reminds me of various places in Switzerland, given its proximity to the mountains, a large lake and the somewhat twisting configuration of the streets.

On the start, my group worked together well for about the first 10k, when a few of the gradual rises and a bit of pressure from Bob and me at the front, forced the group to disintegrate. A few km before the first climb up, it was Bob, Tony, and Steve left. Of these four, Steve was the first to succumb, while Tony dropped off just before the climb. Bob took the first part of the climb at a hard, steady pace, and I was thinking I would have a tough time shaking him at that pace. We passed two riders from the 60s group who had been passed earlier by the 50s. However, about half-way, I was able to hold the same pace anaerobically, while Bob dropped off and I gained distance over him rapidly over the second half of the climb. At that point, and over the top, I decided to keep the pace high in order to maintain my gap over Bob, and then to hunt down the 50s.

I maintained a hard effort around the second loop of the circuit, and caught the 50s and David Mercer, about 1km before the ascent. I took a short breather and rode with them to the base of the hill, but was aware that Bob and the others would be closing the gap too. I was told that Derek was still up the road, but no one was sure how far. I thought he might be far enough to hold me off, but when I hit the hill for the second time, I kept the same sort of hard steady pace, although perhaps a notch in arrears of the pace the first time up and as I went I could see Derek coming back to me. By the top I was only a few seconds behind, and was rapidly closing the remainder.

My time for the 70km was about 1:46ish, quite fast for a hard course and mostly time-trialing on my own. A couple of minutes later, Bob took the group sprint, a group that included Emil de Rosnay from the 30-39 group, who got across to the 40s, who in turn caught the 50s. Depending on how far ahead I was in fact, and the time gap between us and the 30 group, his overall finishing time may have been faster than mine. In any event, it was fun day all around, and I loved the course and will plan for it again next year. There is some talk of making it later in the season next year