David Singlespeed Unrau

Yesterday was the inaugural Ontario Cup Singlespeed race at the Mansfield Outdoor Center. The new singlespeed category was well represented with around 20 guys and 3 girls. The weather was cold and gray for pre-riding on Saturday, but Sunday was pleasantly cool and perfectly sunny. The singlespeed start was at 9:30 – the early start was a shock to my system. I’ve grown accustomed to the 1:30pm starts lately. Some big guns showed up for the race with a couple of elite riders including Josh Hall out at the start line. With a last minute vote on the start line, the race length was bumped up from 2 laps to 3, leaving me a little unprepared on the nutrition side. The start was up hill, and I managed to stay with the lead group up the hill into the first single track sections. The race went smoothly. The traffic on the course was a different experience as we started behind a lot of slower groups. However, everyone was friendly and professional, so passing generally went very smoothly. My race went very well, I ended up 7 minute down from Josh, which I am happy with for now! The field was pretty strong, so this was only good enough for 5th place. It was a good race and has motivated me to push hard for the rest of the season. I raced on my full rigid 29er, WTB Nanorapter tires at around 27psi, 34:18 gearing. I think the set up was pretty good. The ground was moist with lots of grip. A sketchier tire like the Stan’s crow might have worked well. Here is what the course looked like:

Here is the vertical profile:

…and this is what my heart rate looked like:

My race average is only 174 BPM, well down from what I was expecting. This is down from what I have been seeing this year and last, despite feeling like I was working just as hard. Either I still have to acclimatize to the off road (everything, training and racing, so far this year has been essentially road riding), or I’m still getting over the flu that is going around. In either case, it’s looking good for the rest of the season!

Make sure to check out everyone else’s reports over at the True North Cycles race team website!

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