BaseCamp alum Jonathon Fowles shared his experience at the 2023 BC Road Race Provincial Championships and BC Time Trial Provincial Championships.
A little share from Canada. Short story - got my first podium this year. Yay!
Back story is longer but after barely recovering from a month-long illness to go to Basecamp in Mallorca (which was awesome!), I turned my sights on my provincial championship May 21-23. Four races in three days. That was my challenge for my year. Road race Saturday: missed the break but won the bunch sprint to come in 4th. Overcooked the beginning of the TT to come in 4th (by 5 seconds out of 2nd). Misjudged the final laps of the circuit race to come 6th. But dug in on my first criterium ever (which was terrifying and thrilling at the same time) to finish with a hard kick to come 3rd!
The funny thing was I forgot my team bib shorts for the crit so wore my BaseCamp bib shorts - maybe it was good luck!
Lessons learned (as Tim Cusick would want us to learn from our experiences) from my big races:
Attack when it is hard. In the road race it was hard early and I got attacked and I didn’t react but I should have dug in. But I did at the end when it was hard and it worked.
Build into your power (I know, Tim, I could hear you 1 minute into the TT when I went uh-oh…too hard - and paid for it miserably on the middle 8 min climb at 13% grade.).
Be patient. Stick to the plan. I didn't do this in the circuit race and got pulled into attacks with two laps left, which took my legs out for the final lap.
You are stronger than you think. In the criterium, it was hard. And scary (a few crashes). But I dug in and outsprinted the guy who came 2nd in the two previous races. But I didn’t even know I got on the podium until after I changed and they called me up!
So all things considered, a good weekend. And my legs actually felt best on the 4th race - must have been BaseCamp Mallorca.
I feel pretty good considering I race against guys that are 10, 20, and 30 years younger than me! (We have open categories - I race B, which is like cat 3).
Looking forward to applying my learnings to my next races in July and September!