It’s time for our Monday Morning Coffee opinion column where we talk about what happened in Motocross and usually a whole bunch more.
By Billy Rainford
Hello and welcome to a Monday Morning Coffee after one of the nicest late-October weekends I can ever remember here in my area of southwestern Ontario. And it continues today with an expected high of 24C.
Normally, these are the days when I would work hard early here in my office and then take off to either ride the dirt bike or a bicycle, but I’m still feeling a little beat up after a rare MTB race on Saturday.
I headed over to Turkey Point for their final race of the 2024 season. It was a ~52K Marathon XC race. You could either do 1 lap of ~26K or the full 2 for ~52K. I’ve been doing a lot of riding this summer so I decided to do the full.
With the weather like I stated up top, we were all in for an amazing October day at the course that is on the site of a beautiful restaurant and winery that overlooks some really nice marshland just inland from Lake Erie. It’s really a picture-perfect setting for a race!
I loaded up the #DMXVan early Saturday morning to be ready for the 1 1/2 hour drive to the race. Greg Poisson drove over and parked his truck and we headed over to grab another buddy named Shawn Reeder.
I’ve known Shawn since we were a couple competitive tri-nerds back in the 1990’s. He’s done the Ironman in Montreal and still keeps himself in great cycling shape. We were all hoping for a good day at the races…
Yes, the van made it there in fine form. However, a couple new lights appeared on the dashboard so you didn’t want to look directly at it for fear you’d do some retinal damage. I know what they all mean and we were in no real danger of getting stranded.
After making an obligatory stop at the nearest Tim Hortons for some coffee and breakfast sandwiches, we were on our way into the rising sun, we thought…
I don’t know if I’ve ever seen fog as think as we were driving into. With these cold nights and warm days, it was the perfect recipe for pea soup.
Google Maps told us to take some back roads to avoid the construction on the 401 so biways it was. The problem we faced was that we couldn’t see the traffic lights until we were right under them! The fog was that bad! It made for some irritating intersections as I covered the brakes and prepared for the worst.
When we got there the parking lot was filling up, but Greg “knew a guy” and he ushered us up to the front and near the start line.
Greg asked if I had checked my suspension settings and I asked him if they were adjustable. I’m kidding, but I definitely don’t mess with it before a ride and he knows that. Lol
We headed over to get our numbers (I got #125) and I heard someone say, “Hey, Direct Motocross is here!” Hmm, who could it be?
It turns out #441 Colby Older is now a bicycle racer! It was great to see another motocrosser at a bike race. He’s good too, but more on that later.
Also at the race was Josh Long. You may also remember that name fro a few years ago at…well, whatever kind of dirt bike racing you were into – he did it all! Oh, and he’s also good too!
We all applied the necessary balms and anti-chaffing creams and went out for our individual warm-ups.
I’m just getting over a post-flight cold, so I had some concerns lingering in the back of my head, but I didn’t think it was going to be a big deal. I sat up in bed and coughed from 4-6am that morning, but whatever.
They set the course up with about a 600 metre first loop section designed to spread the pack up a little before we headed out into what was mostly single-track.
We got to the start line about 10 minutes before the race started to make sure we weren’t at the back. Guess what? Everyone else got there 20 minutes before the start. Greg and I were at the back.
After talking to Colby later we should have done what both he and Josh did. I think Josh actually got there late and lifted his bike up and over the caution tape to start at the front! Total moto move.
Anyway, when the race started, Greg and I just sat there for a while until we were finally able to move forward…slowly. It was painful. We were behind people who didn’t look like they did a whole lot of riding let alone racing.
If you’ve ever done a bike race, you know what it’s like to be at the back in a crowd as they try to filter through some of the tighter sections. All we could do was watch the riders near the front disappear in the ever-growing distance.
I did my best to turn it into a positive: at least we weren’t going to go out to fast and blow up, right?
I mounted the GoPro to my head and pressed record. I knew we were going to be out there for around 3 hours and that it wouldn’t last the entire race, but I wanted to have some fun with it for as long as I could, and that’s what I did.
Oh, I forgot to mention that another MXer ended up being right beside us at the start. I didn’t know Chad Dawson but Greg did so we chatted for a while before the “gate drop.”
The first part of my video is all Chad. He ended up between Greg and me through all the twisty bits in the trees early on in the race.
I know Greg takes these things very seriously so I did my best to chirp him early on. As we came up to the first climb, riders were all stacked up and getting off their bikes. We weren’t very happy.
In fact, as I tried to make up some time and positions weaving my way through some riders, I ended up getting stopped on a root and crashed to my right. I was a little embarrassed and apologized to everyone I had just elbowed my way past and then fell right in front of. It happens. And, of course, I have it on video…
It wasn’t a bad fall or anything, but I did almost go over the edge which would have seen me fall quite a bit farther and end up at the bottom of a ravine, but I’ve always prided myself on being able to “control my falls.” 🤣
Several people asked if I was OK, so that was nice. I was fine and only lost a few seconds. I did notice after the race that I took a big chunk out of my seat. I mean “saddle.” Sorry, Greg.
I followed Chad and Greg to the first section that entered Turkey Point Provincial Park where it opened up to a little stretch of road. It was also there that we caught up with Shawn who it turns out was smart and got to the start line early and was way ahead of us.
We all chatted for a couple seconds as we used our tri geek skills and drafted some riders to the entrance back to the trails.
I pushed ahead of them and hopped onto a couple guys from the Uxbridge Cycling Club. They weren’t going too fast and it was good to have a rider ahead to show me which corners were tight and which ones you could have some fun through. The course was amazing! Flowy and enjoyable.
I went with 2 water bottles mixed with both Carbo Fuel and Hydration from Ryno Power Canada. I also brought along a couple gels for a bit more.
The way the course was, you really didn’t have a chance to take a hand off the bars to take a drink. It was all turns and single track with a few punchy but not too long climbs. You sort of had to wait until you popped out of the trails to either cross a road or go through a parking lot to take a drink or eat a gel.
Anyway, I felt great on lap 1 and as we passed the start/finish line with an aid station I was confident to just keep on pedalling through.
I ended up being on my own on this lap, as a guy I caught up to late on lap 1 did a beautiful 2-wheel slide and crashed as I was on his rear wheel. I asked if he was OK and when he said he was I didn’t give it another thought.
The day was warming up and the course was drying up perfectly. I wouldn’t say I knew the corners, but I could definitely roll them faster than I did on lap 1.
I caught up to a guy who immediately hit me with his list of excuses. It’s so funny how people do this. He didn’t say hello or good job or nice pace. He just went straight to, “I’m not really racing anymore. I’m just trying to get to the finish line. I’ve got a cold. My legs are cramping…” OK, man, just keep riding. All I said was, “Ya, I’m in the same boat” and kept riding.
Of course, he managed to speed up and go with me. He even ended up ahead of me as we neared the finish line.
I thought about going by him, but when we stood up to go down a hill, both my quads cramped up and that was that. I sat back down and then felt my hamstrings going too. And then my calves. Uh oh…
I’m sure my heart rate was quite low, but I was now feeling it in every muscle in my legs. On both legs. Not ideal.
It’s funny how things that seemed flat just a lap ago were now seeming like mountains. I just geared way down and spun up them in my easiest gear. Unfortunately, at one point, I was trying to do just that but threw my chain past the smallest ring, somehow. It also came of the front chain ring, of course, so I was left on the side of the trail pulling away for a minute or so before I could get going again.
I did catch the same guy again and we just chatted and rode in together. Misery loves company, as it were.
Nah, it wasn’t miserable, but I did not want to do any more cycling that day, I’ll tell you that.
Oh, I forgot to mention that as I climbed the final little hill that took us out of the trees and onto the grass that led to the finish line, there was shawn pointing his phone at me. Huh, did he pass me out there? And by enough to be changed and back at the finish line?
Nope. It turns out he took 2 falls and the second one ended up separating his shoulder and he was out.
I crossed the line and headed back to the van to change and grab some food. My legs were pretty shattered and I could tell my head was a little fuzzy and needed some food.
We walked back to the finish line where Shawn had gotten pretty tight with the medics who then put him in a sling.
I went to the last turn where Shawn was for my finish and waited for Greg.
He rounded the last corner without a smile on his face and headed for the flag. In fact, the guy I was standing with at the time said something like, “Ooh, he didn’t look very happy.”
Haha No, he had put himself in the old hurt locker too and was just glad to cross the line. I know the feeling. We all do.
We were all finished for the day and it felt great. Well, Shawn didn’t feel great. No, not at all. He was in a lot of pain.
It turns out Greg won the Clydesdale class and took his place on the top step of the podium.
Time will pass and nobody will remember that only 2 of them finished. All that will stand the test of time is the first place medal he got. Atta boy, Greg.
How did the fast MXers do, you ask?
Let’s just say our sport was very well represented at the awards ceremony.
I ended up 39th overall and 7th in my age group. I hate to play the “coulda woulda shoulda” game but if….
The experience left me hungry for some more racing next season.
If you’re bored, you can check out the results HERE.
I’m not sure what I’ll do with the GoPro video, but I’m sure I’ll do something. Maybe the whole thing just goes up on YouTube un-edited.
That was a long story. There was other stuff going on in the world of motocross, so let me tough on a couple things before sending you back to work:
Tyler Medaglia Injured at 2024 ISDE in Spain
As first reported by the Enduro Bureau over at the 2024 ISDE in Spain, Tyler Medaglia has crashed and injured himself on Test 2 on Day 5 of the 6-day event.
On a morning that was covered in dense fog, Tyler crashed and injured his arm. At this time, we don’t know the full extent of his injuries, but we spoke with Honda Canada GDR Fox Racing team owner Derek Schuster and he confirmed that, as of this post, Tyler was in surgery.
Tyler was sitting 33rd overall at the end of Day 4 and Team Canada’s World Trophy team was 11th.
We’ll update this post as we receive more information.
Update: Spoke to Tyler briefly through text this afternoon and he said surgery went well but they’ll monitor him for infection for a couple days.
Tyler had a plate put in his arm and will be off the bike for a while.
How about this?
Overall results:
World Trophy:
Women’s World Trophy:
Trystan Hart Wins Endurocross Round 2
Full results HERE.
Next Round: October 25th in Idaho Falls, ID.
WSX Championship Round 1 in Vancouver this Weekend!
OK, that was along story about a MTB race. I hope it got you through a cup of coffee at least. Have a great week, everyone.
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