Notes
Stage 3 of the 2016 Tour du Canton. This was out in Onex/ Evaux, mostly on the trails along the river. These are great trails and I'm glad we got to explore them, but it wasn't very well suited for a race at all. They were very narrow, and due to heavy rain earlier in the day they were also very slippery. I wiped out three times, ending the race with pretty scraped-up knees, blood and mud everywhere (kind of cool!).
I ran more conservatively than last time, not breaking away on my own until the last mile or so. I went out again with the pack (except for the front two guys, who took off as usual), which was down to four of us within about 2k. We stuck together for a while, and then by around 5k it was just me and one other guy. I stuck close on his shoulder, precisely matching his pace whenever he sped up or slowed down. (In hindsight, this would have driven me nuts if someone had done the same to me!). However, he seemed like a good guy, and he even slowed down to wait for me and make sure I was okay when I fell the third time.
Then, at about 7.5k, there was a super steep hill on which he essentially pulled to the side and told me to go ahead. I powered up and gapped him pretty quickly, taking third in the end by about 200m. Overall the pace was surprisingly slow, but between the slippery trails and the steep hills, I suppose it's not a shock. We did go out fairly fast though - coming through 2k in about 6:30.
Foot and shin both felt surprisingly okay today. Hopefully that's still true tomorrow!