CODY SHIMIZU

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

Well, its over. Already the cross season has come and gone and the worst part, I only got to do 5 races! University has been quite a change to get used to with all the out of class studying that I need to do to just understand what’s going on in class. Like seriously, Ive never studied this hard in my LIFE! But I guess knowing in the back of my mind that Im actually having to pay money to take these courses and that if I have to retake any of them its directly coming out of my bike budget is pretty good motivation to hit the books.

Anyways so after the opening weekend in Calgary I didn’t race for 4 weeks until provincial championships in Devon. Worst part was that its not that I just didn’t race, but its that I didn’t ride my bike period. A part of it was that I had a cold for a week and a half in the middle but otherwise, I only touched my bike to get to and from school (and cafes). Coming into the race I was just there to have fun. I rolled up less than an hour from the start of the race, it was nice to see the cycling community again, people from Calgary and even Edmonton, coming together to socialize, make friends, race each other, chop others in corners, elbow people into the tape, and ride our guts out. Isn’t cyclocross glorious? After changing I was just in time to do one lap of the course before the race. The course went through was an exciting one with lots of small technical sections keeping you on your toes. The race started as I was setting up my Garmin (GPS device) off the line I was a little way back, and the first few corners didn’t help either. Also, one lap of pre-ride was definitely not enough, with all of the small technical sections I felt like I was taking the worst lines possible losing seconds coming out of them. By a few laps in I was starting to feel more confident getting used to the course. Untiiiiiiil I crashed. I was just ahead of a group with Mark Jung in it, and as I was getting my chain back on they all flew past me.

Afterwards was a complete suffer fest to try and catch back up to the group, I was starting to get into a rhythm through the course. I managed to just barely reach the tail end of the group that was starting to break up a few laps later. Once again Ive done it in an spectacular fashion. I flipped over my bike hopping the logs on the back side of the course. I only had a few more laps left to catch back up to the group, and at this point I was worried about getting lapped by the lead riders as well. The last half of the last lap, I was slowly crawling back onto the back of the group again. By this point everything was starting to break up, by 200m from the finish line I just caught onto the back of Mark Jung and Mason Burtnik. Coming around the last corner Mason has a slight gap and I was right behind Mark Jung, with a short sprint to the line, I managed to just throw my wheel past him at the line. After the line, close to throwing up, feeling all life drained out of me, I was happy to be racing again.

The next weekend was a back to back weekend at Argyll Park. I was really looking forward to this race as Argyll is one of my favorite locations. I was up and out early helping set up for Saturdays Redbike Redcross Race. The course was going to be tough with lots of consecutive leg searing punchy inclines with one lung busting run up. The race atmosphere was amazing as the team tents were set up right in the heart of the course so everyone was out cheering! After another terrible start I settled in with Paul Ignatiak from Hardcore Bikes. And.... that’s about it. The first few laps was getting used to the course again but other was it was an 60 minute drag race between Paul and I. We were always with in 2 bike lengths of each other throughout the entire race! In the end it came down the a sprint finish, where I jumped early and up to the finish line managed to just barely stay ahead. The next day with the ERTC race was pretty much the exact same, they didn’t change the course at all except for adding one log that everyone could hop over. A few laps into the race I was once again with Paul Ignatiuk, but this time with Peter Lawrence, knowing he was a major threat after a few laps Paul and I managed to get a small gap to Peter, so we worked together for the next few laps to establish a big enough gap to Peter. Afterwards for the last 3 or 4 laps was once again a bunch of small attacks to try and drop each other. Going into the last lap Paul really started pushing the pace and I was really starting to struggle, I could feel my legs burning. Running up the brutal run-up, once again Paul and I were still side by side, as we crested and hopped onto our bikes, Paul lead. About 200m from the line I sprinted out of the corner so I would lead us through a small chicane about 50m from the finish line, going through the chicane I realized I jumped a little too early, my legs were already flooded with lactic acid already at its capacity, I really didnt have the power coming out of the chicane, and it came down to 0.3 seconds as Paul managed to get his front wheel over the line before me.

Cyclists are a weird breed, out of breath, about to throw up, couldn’t feel my legs, all I could think about was “That was an awesome race, that was fun!”

Anyways with my fitness down the drain and school work piling up another cycling season has come to an end. I don’t really know what next year is going to be like. As much as Id like to dedicate all of my time to riding my bike, with school and procrastination taking up most of my time Im not too sure how fit I will be, but as long as I am still having fun riding my bike Ill be happy.