CODY SHIMIZU

A look into my life, a journal to look back on, a blog for others to see.

After missing out on the selection of the provincial team, all I had to look forward to was cross season. I was quite disappointed in myself, after what I thought was a solid winter session. On the flip side there was no pressure for myself for the rest of the season.

On the flip side I was invited to be a part of the provincial team going to Missoula XC. Fortunately for me this race was during finals at school, so I was invited as an alternate. I was pretty excited to race out of the country for the first time (US counts as out or country right!?). The course out at Missoula was crazy! Each lap had over 220m of climbing, and unfortunately most of the climbing was on double track. It was steep, it was long, and it was soul crushing. The descent was technical, but it was too short to really make a difference. The field out in US was really fast, I had a decent start but I was slowly falling back through the field. The humidity with the long slow climbs was really taking a lot out of me. I made my way around rubber side down and I ended up in a battle with another guy, he would pass me and get a bit of a gap, I would pass him, and it was back and forth until the last lap. On the last lap it started to rain, which was a blessing for me, it cooled me off and it gave me a huge moral boost as I loved racing in the rain, I was able to pull away from him on the climb and held him off until the line. The next day was the short track, knowing how strong the field was, and how my legs were shot from the day before all I wanted was to try and get the hole shot. After getting a front line start I was able to clip in right off the line and held the field off for the first half lap, after that all I went was backwards. Overall it was an awesome experience racing out in Missoula, hopefully I`ll be coming back next year again.

The next race on the schedule for me was the RMCC stage race, and this time I would be back in my classified category of cat 5; since it wasnt a selection race. I was hoping for a win, since I hadnt been able to crack the podium at all this year so far. The hill climb was straight up Silvertip Ski Resort it was short but a hard effort and near the top I plateaued right before the finish line. I took it easy off the start line trying to pace myself, ramped it up a lot through the flat section to the finish line, but I felt like I could have given it more and was worried about my time. I was able to take the victory just barely. Next up was the crit, a super fun course in downtown Canmore had a few tight turns and long sweeping sections. The race was harder than I expected, the pace during the race was a little slower than then the Cat 3 races, but during the race, there were a lot of breaks happening in the peloton with nobody wanting to do the work. At the mid race prime, there was a strong break of two that was out front that I was worried about. In a few laps I was able to bring the break back, but I wanted to save some energy for the final so I ended up sitting in the pack until the last few laps. On the last lap I was keen on moving up, trying not to repeat the past two road races. The final straight was a pretty long drag race to the finish line, and coming around the last corner I was sitting around 5th wheel. The in the lead had a bit of a gap and I just got up and sprinted as hard as possible, I made it around the few guys that were right in front of me and was making up ground to the leader, on the line I just caught up to him and a bike throw confirmed my margin. It was probably one of my most satisfying wins ever, just edging him out at the line. The road race course was a hilly one so I was worried about breakaways going, other than that my plan was to just sit in and wait until the finish. After another boring 60 or so km the finish was up hill, and there was one attack from another rider. I looked around and no one could respond so I decided to go with him. On the final I was able to come around and get the sprint. Fortunately for me this was my first and last race in crash 5, I survived without a crashing, or anything.