Velo Mag Raid - MTB Marathon

Riding the last bit on the rim

Me at the finish

Nick and I at the finish

The Velo Mag Raid podium (nick and i on the right)

This is all that is left of my brake pads!

Yesterday was the 76km Velo Mag Raid from Quebec City to Mont-Sainte-Anne. It pissed down all night before the race and continued to rain most of the morning. Nick and I rolled down to the start at Chateau Frontagnac in the centre of Vieux Quebec (the old town) and were saturated before we even started the race.

The race started with about 8km of police escort to get us out of town. Nick and i were quick to hustle our way to the front and draft the lead car, which as well as being a good sit, had the added advantage of having mudguards. So while we sat there relatively dry, the rest of the field was copping a roster tail. When we hit the dirt it was apparent that this race was going to be won by the guy who could keep his equipment working for 76km. There was so many sand traps, creek crossings and muddy bogs, plus with all the rain and the spray off the tyres, it was really hard to see anything. Nick and I set a decent tempo up the first main climb and had a small advantage through the first feed zone at 26km but it regrouped to a lead bunch of about 6 guys soon after. Nick was first to loose contact when he fell victim to a particularly nasty bog that past his knees. I managed to sneak off the front over the top of the climb, but on the descent to the next feed zone i had a front wheel puncture. I lost a bit of time fixing it and was back to 6th through the feed. I chased pretty hard but was distracted by a rubbing front brake and a slowly leaking rear tyre, but i kept telling myself that everybody's bikes are probably playing up by now. By the top of the last climb i was back in the lead with 10km of mostly descending to get to the finish. The first 5 or so kilometers was pretty rocky and it was very hard to ride softly enough to nurse my partially flat rear wheel though stones. After a few k's i had bottomed the rim a few times and burped a bit more air forcing me to stop and pump it up. This put me back to 4th with a lot of work to do (and risks to take) in order to catch up. Luckily there were a few pinches, which helped to drag the last kilometres out a little bit. I got to within view of the leader with 2km to go before suffering another front wheel puncture. So suddenly i had gone from thinking i was going to run out of track to catch the leader, to hoping it would hurry up and end before i got swamped. I ran some sections and rode the rim, narrowly managing to hold onto 3rd place. Nick rolled in soon after in 5th place after suffering a few mechanical problems.