Ontario Provincial Champs, Masters B race, by Ron Amos

click image to read the Masters B category race report at Canadian CyclistRon Amos and Jon Gee made the heroic drive out to Elliot Lake, Ontario for the Provincial Road and Hill Climb Champs. Canadian Cyclist also has a great blow-by-blow of the Master B race where Ron and Jon are prominently mentioned. Here's what Ron had to say:

Jon and I made the 7-8hr drive up into the Wilderness of Elliot Lake hoping to make the return trip easier by coming home with some good race dialog and maybe some hard fought for hardware. Funny how you can race for a few hours and then rehash the race for many hours afterwards.

Jon attacked the Provincial Hill Climb hard hoping to defend his Gold Medal from last year. Unfortunately the new kid on the Master B “block”, Steve Baker, won leaving Jon with the Silver Medal this year.

The technical crit became more dubious since it was raced in the rain. Jon and I both managed to stay upright and safe.

The Provincial road race was an out and back course repeated twice. Both Jon and I tried to setup a breakaway. On two separate occasions we managed to get away (not together) but unfortunately the break need more than two riders to share the effort of  tackling the very strong wind which was in our face on the return trip back to town. The pack rode smartly not letting either of our breaks get out of sight. The race finished in a field sprint. The reining Canadian National Master B Champion , Ian Scott (Wheels of Bloor) won the sprint in a photo finish.

Jon and I tackled the race much like Jen Voigt would have, “If you try to win, you might lose, but if you don’t try to win, you lose for sure!”
– Jens Voigt