Well, that intense adrenaline is finally starting to level. Incredible day out there. A huge thank you to all the organizers for an amazing event. Congrats to all the WCC/FACTION riders, all of whom rode very strong. Here is my footage from the first hour and a half. Starting in WAVE 1 for the ‘70km’ 57k.
Working on scrubbing the results for WCC/FACTION riders, have some sort of summary soon.
PARIS TO ANCASTER 70km (57) RESULTS WCC/FACTION
| Place | Plate | Name | Team | Category | Cat Place | Gender Place | Time | Gap | Speed | Wave |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 817 | LAMBERT, Andrew | FACTION RACING P/B WCC | MM30-39 | 3/214 | 6/1083 | 1h 47’ 40 | 0h 04’ 22 | 31.5 | ME |
| 21 | 816 | EHGOETZ, Luke | FACTION RACING-AUDI KW | MM40-49 | 10/319 | 21/1083 | 1h 51’ 24 | 0h 08’ 06 | 30.5 | ME |
| 52 | 1055 | RUBICINI, Mark | WATERLOO CYCLING CLUB | MM30-39 | 21/214 | 52/1083 | 1h 56’ 34 | 0h 13’ 15 | 29.1 | M1 |
| 57 | 1133 | PRESTON, David | WATERLOO CYCLING CLUB | MM30-39 | 23/214 | 57/1083 | 1h 56’ 57 | 0h 13’ 39 | 29 | M1 |
| 62 | 1196 | ANGERMANN, Chris | FACTION RACING | MXMSS | 1/7 | 61/1083 | 1h 57’ 50 | 0h 14’ 31 | 28.8 | M1 |
| 151 | 387 | WILSON, Adam | WATERLOO CYCLING CLUB | MM30-39 | 47/214 | 147/1083 | 2h 07’ 26 | 0h 24’ 07 | 26.6 | M1 |
| 259 | 162 | ROSE, Joel | FACTION RACING-AUDI KW | MM50-59 | 58/291 | 250/1083 | 2h 13’ 50 | 0h 30’ 32 | 25.4 | ME |
| 263 | 1003 | HASKETT, Robert | WATERLOO CYCLING CLUB | MM50-59 | 59/291 | 254/1083 | 2h 14’ 06 | 0h 30’ 47 | 25.3 | M1 |
| 333 | 1197 | CHMIEL, Martin | FACTION RACING P/B WCC | MM40-49 | 105/319 | 313/1083 | 2h 19’ 02 | 0h 35’ 43 | 24.4 | M1 |
| 335 | 1481 | MCCURRY, Bruce | WATERLOO CYCLING CLUB | MM50-59 | 74/291 | 315/1083 | 2h 19’ 17 | 0h 35’ 59 | 24.4 | M2 |
| 377 | 1403 | BANNON, Matthew | FACTION RACING P/B WCC | MM40-49 | 120/319 | 353/1083 | 2h 21’ 19 | 0h 38’ 00 | 24 | M2 |
| 390 | 1463 | SHYSHAK, Steven | WATERLOO CYCLING CLUB | MM40-49 | 126/319 | 364/1083 | 2h 21’ 55 | 0h 38’ 37 | 23.9 | M2 |
| 396 | 1134 | MOLNAR, Drew | WCC | MM60-69 | 25/103 | 369/1083 | 2h 22’ 31 | 0h 39’ 12 | 23.8 | M1 |
| 397 | 1435 | HUEBER, Kari | FACTION RACING P/B WAT | MF30-39 | 13/34 | 28/135 | 2h 22’ 35 | 0h 39’ 17 | 23.8 | M2 |
| 455 | 1171 | LYNCH, Michael | WATERLOO CC | MM60-69 | 31/103 | 426/1083 | 2h 26’ 24 | 0h 43’ 05 | 23.2 | M1 |
| 474 | 1955 | SMITH, Oliver | WATERLOO CYCLING CLUB | MM40-49 | 148/319 | 442/1083 | 2h 28’ 23 | 0h 45’ 04 | 22.9 | M3 |
| 628 | 1960 | SHEPHERD, Jeff | WATERLOO CYCLING CLUB | MM40-49 | 186/319 | 583/1083 | 2h 39’ 03 | 0h 55’ 44 | 21.4 | M3 |
| 636 | 1531 | SMITH, Brad | WATERLOO CYCLING CLUB | MM50-59 | 151/291 | 589/1083 | 2h 39’ 24 | 0h 56’ 06 | 21.3 | M3 |
| 668 | 2077 | HORSLIN, Charles | WATERLOO CYCLING CLUB | MM40-49 | 197/319 | 620/1083 | 2h 41’ 34 | 0h 58’ 16 | 21 | M4 |
| 716 | 1968 | BALKOS, Tom | WATERLOO CYCLING CLUB | MM40-49 | 213/319 | 668/1083 | 2h 44’ 36 | 1h 01’ 17 | 20.6 | M3 |
| 732 | 2412 | DAWDY, Doug | WATERLOO CYCLING CLUB | MM60-69 | 58/103 | 683/1083 | 2h 45’ 34 | 1h 02’ 16 | 20.5 | M4 |
| 822 | 2093 | HUBER, Rene | WATERLOO CYCLING CLUB | MM50-59 | 199/291 | 762/1083 | 2h 53’ 50 | 1h 10’ 31 | 19.5 | M4 |
| 823 | 2094 | FRIER, Bill | WATERLOO CYCLING CLUB | MM50-59 | 200/291 | 763/1083 | 2h 53’ 50 | 1h 10’ 32 | 19.5 | M4 |
| 836 | 1795 | GUTIERREZ, Gustavo | WATERLOO CYCLING CLUB | MM50-59 | 204/291 | 774/1083 | 2h 55’ 19 | 1h 12’ 01 | 19.4 | M3 |
| 896 | 1857 | LEGGE, Brian | WATERLOO CYCLE CLUB | MM60-69 | 77/103 | 823/1083 | 2h 59’ 57 | 1h 16’ 38 | 18.9 | M3 |
| 911 | 1745 | DALEY, Jim | WATERLOO CYCLING CLUB | MM60-69 | 79/103 | 837/1083 | 3h 01’ 06 | 1h 17’ 48 | 18.8 | M3 |
| 921 | 1629 | CARLUEN, Ranji | FACTION RACING | MM40-49 | 263/319 | 845/1083 | 3h 01’ 47 | 1h 18’ 28 | 18.7 | M2 |
| 937 | 2255 | DOBOS, Sabrina | WATERLOO CYCLING CLUB | MF20-29 | 5/11 | 81/135 | 3h 03’ 37 | 1h 20’ 18 | 18.5 | M4 |
PARIS TO ANCASTER 100km RESULTS WCC/FACTION
| Place | Plate | Name | Team | Category | Cat Place | Gender Place | Time | Gap | Speed | Wave |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 52 | 461 | JACKETT, Caleb | WATERLOO CYCLING CLUB | LM23-34 | 18/76 | 50/354 | 3h 03’ 23 | 0h 16’ 06 | 32.3 | L1 |
| 79 | 332 | HARRIS, Jonathan | WCC | LM23-34 | 23/76 | 75/354 | 3h 09’ 28 | 0h 22’ 11 | 31.2 | L1 |
| 93 | 492 | BAUMAN, Jesse | INDEPENDENT/WCC | LM35-44 | 22/96 | 88/354 | 3h 12’ 40 | 0h 25’ 23 | 30.7 | L1 |
| 99 | 464 | WELDON, Scott | WATERLOO CYCLING CLUB | LM35-44 | 26/96 | 94/354 | 3h 14’ 05 | 0h 26’ 48 | 30.5 | L1 |
| 102 | 412 | GIBSON, Kevin | FACTION RACING | LM45-54 | 27/109 | 97/354 | 3h 15’ 06 | 0h 27’ 49 | 30.3 | L1 |
| 128 | 401 | TAIT, Sean | FACTION RACING | LM23-34 | 33/76 | 122/354 | 3h 19’ 31 | 0h 32’ 14 | 29.7 | L1 |
| 271 | 413 | TONELLI BARTOLOMEI, Thiago | WATERLOO CYCLING CLUB | LM35-44 | 76/96 | 255/354 | 3h 54’ 02 | 1h 06’ 46 | 25.3 | L1 |
PARIS TO ANCASTER 45 KM RESULTS WCC
| Place | Plate | Name | Team | Category | Cat Place | Gender Place | Time | Gap | Speed | Wave |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 144 | 3174 | KARLEY, Chris | WATERLOO CYCLING CLUB | SM30-39 | 28/76 | 133/517 | 2h 00’ 11 | 0h 31’ 13 | 23.1 | S1 |
| 402 | 3455 | DELL, Christopher | WATERLOO CYCLING CLUB | SXMSS | 3/4 | 346/517 | 2h 31’ 14 | 1h 02’ 15 | 18.3 | S2 |
Thanks for sharing David. Looking forward to hearing some stories from the day.
Thanks for the post Dave!
Okay, this will be a bit of long post (but might be useful for those interested in doing in next year who never did it before). First time for me so I thought I would write about a few things I learnt plus a bit of discussion about the race.
Getting to the start location by car was a little chaotic but everyone seemed in good nature. Since I was just getting dropped off, we just parked on the side of the road. Seemed a lot of folk were doing the same. Not sure what the actual car park was like but the roads were busy.
Finding the rest of the WCC crew was easy with our bright green kit and everyone gathered together. Lots of space in the various wave corrals so easy to sneak in late. We did start a little late but I think no more than 5 or 10 minutes. Nice and warm so no getting chilly while we waited!
I was riding 70Km Wave 3 which was one of the waves with a lot of WCC members riding. We all seemed to start together okay but the initial pace was pretty brisk and we maintained that for about an hour ( I think we were about 27 / 28 kpmh). This broke up the group pretty quick and there was less gravel / single track than I expected (more on that in a minute). My gravel bike is setup with a bit of a ghetto 1X and I changed the front chainring to a 36. Unfortunately 36 x 11 wasn’t really high enough for some of the downhills so I span out occasionally but I could keep pace. The low gearing was very useful in the muddy areas and steep hills at the end though.
There was also more dirt than I expected ( for some reason I thought all the mud was at the end!). I was riding 40mm Continental Tera Trail which are a bit nobbly but not overly so. They were great in the gravel but only slightly better than others on skinnier tires in the mud so maybe something skinnier would have been faster overall.
At one point, there was some single track with a large log to get over but it caused in a bit of a traffic jam. Seemed to last forever but I think actually only 5 or 10 minutes. Still, good time to eat and strip down a bit (was pretty warm!). Nothing too technical, just some areas of deep gravel. I did see a few people try and bunny hop the logs that were in places. No one made it. Most people just got off, lifted their bikes and carried on.
I managed to do some nice wheel surfing and bridging up to other groups until I found one that was pretty much perfect speed and we stuck together for probably 25 km.
Most of the group stopped at a rest stop but I carried on and unfortunately couldn’t find another group after that so rode mostly solo until the end at that point which slowed me down. As we caught up to the 45 km riders there was more traffic but less coordinated riding in groups.
Nearer the end there was certainly more mud and unfortunately, I twisted my ankle quite badly while fording some deep mud (slipped in a buried something). Thankfully it didn’t impact the ride at the time but I was hobbling around yesterday after I had cooled down (it is a lot better today but not fixed yet).
The signage was pretty good through out with volunteers doing a great job. There were signs out for the number of KMs left but comparing it to my Garmin, it was off by quite a bit. I assumed they were for the 45 or 20 km course and ignored them. When I got to the big hill (which I now know was the end) I got off trying to save some energy for the final 14km. Little did I know that the course had been shortened and was only 56 km (not sure why, there was talk of a farmer removing permission at the last minute). If I had known I would have gone harder 
There was talk of a big hill at 20 km in one of the prep emails but never saw that. Maybe that was part of the course that was cut?
Once at the end, it was easy to find other WCC riders and nice to chat and swap stories. Big queue for the food but not too bad for the bike wash. My wife parked at the school a short walk from the finish and that was pretty easy to get out from there.
Great video @Davidwp ! Nice to see a few landmarks I remembered only as a blur.
As a first time P2A rider, I had a great time! My 33 year old steel Led Sled (26" wheels and 3x 8spd) held up well and got me to the end.
The 34mm Schawlbe CX Pro tires worked well through all but the very soft/deep mud…which was probably due to my abilities rather than the tires.
Coming from a winter of track racing (and only starting to ‘ride gravel’ two winters ago…) the type of riding at P2A was not in my wheelhouse. It was tough and painful in different ways! I found myself passing others on the roads and faster gravel, only to be passed by them on the softer sections and deep mud ‘running’ sections.
As per @Oliver_Smith above, I was in our small 70km Wave 3 group and it was nice having friends nearby throughout the day and afterwards for beer and pulled pork sandwiches!
My friend asked asked me this morning if I will ride P2A again next year…I think it’s too early (sore) to make that decision right now! 
I do love this pic @Brian got of me from his rear camera light! (ironically, of me NOT riding my bike)
The word on the shortening of the 70km course is that there were covid concerns with respect to a section of private land. Not much could have been done and the right decision.
The morning started out a bit cool at 8am for the ride down to cambridge, but it was pleasant enough. Met up with Matt, Pete and their buddies and my first timer coworker Cristina at Churchill park and we headed down to the start from there. Just as we were exiting the park, the first chunk of 100k riders when ripping up the road into the park and had a Kevin flyby.
This was my second P2A, so I knew to expect the muddy bits and farmer fields, and starting in Wave 1 made a big difference in the conditions of those muddy areas. My first time in 2019 I was in Wave 3 and the muddy bits were fully destroyed by the time I got to them. Lining up at the start was a bit of a pfaff, the signs weren’t great and a bunch of us were actually in the wave 2 ‘corral’, but got moved up before everything started, so it was all good. I was right behind Mr. Preston and after the musket boom, that was the last I saw of him, lol. I rode an easyish pace trying to mostly stay with whatever groups were moving along nicely, managed to get on to a few fast trains and then ended up passing them in the dirt/singletrack sections and then getting caught by them on the roady stuff, jump back on the train, rinse, repeat. On one of the gravel corners one poor guy in the big group I was in wasn’t really paying attention to everyone slowing and he went down hard right in front of me, I tried to dodge, but ended up riding over the poor fella’s leg. Everyone I was with went full speed through the big mud puddle at the bottom of the hill in the farmers field, so much fun, got completely soaked from the knees down. Just after that bit of mud my front wheel suddenly went crooked and made a bunch of noise. I knew right away it was the facking thru-axle, it seems to like to unscrew itself if I don’t periodically check it. No probs, lined it back up, screwed it back in and away I went. That’s probably where I lost the 15 seconds to Joel, lol. Got to the railtrail section and the pain train I was with was clipping along fast and I was starting to fade, so I let them go and just rode my own ride after that, trying to blast past people on the sketchy dirt sections and watching them pass me by on the roads/gravels. Conserved and took my time spinning up the final hill, much easier this year with a 34/42 as compared to the 34/32 I had in 2019, it’s almost cheating, haha. Really nice ride, but short, so that sealed the decision for me to ride home. I met up with my newbie coworker when she finished and we went down to the ice cream place for a giant cone and hotdogs. Great fuel for the ride home!! Such a beautiful day out there.
Nice video David. Loved watching the replay of all the fun muddy sections. So entertaining!!
P2A was as horrible as always, with just a little less mud!
I started the 100 in wave 1, the start was pretty hard a fast and hectic. Myself and Kevin managed avoid the bozos that crashed in the 100 meters. I took my time waiting for fast wheels to bring me up to the front, jumped at the right time as was only 20 meters back when the leaders realised they made a wrong turn. A fast u turn and entry to the farmers field left me in the wrong gear where I got bogged down on the loose gravel path, thankfully they missed another turn as the group reassembled.
The KWCA kids then came up pushing the pace, rotating and generally doing unnecessary work. I did the responsible thing reminded them there was another 90km to go and to not to do too much too early. I ended on the front as they pealed away, figuring I was good on the riser and then the attacks went. I coughed up a lung as was shot out the back at 15km in. I was hoping some cohesion would get us back but it never happened, even though we could see the group for a long time.
I hid for 10 km behind the big guys on the road , recovered and then started to work just before Glen Morris. Turned out to be a good thing as a huge crash happened behind me, someone hit a metal sign at around 45kmhr. The group got blown apart, I chose to take it easy up to the rail trail so those caught behind could get back on. We had good cooperation on the rail trail but once we out of Cambridge the group shrank. It ended up with 3 of us working, before we dropped the remainder of the group.
I was good until the forced dismounts and then I realised I’d been working way too hard and got dropped. Spent 5km solo before a group caught me. Then it turned into a good old suffer-fest, where I would take long pulls until I pretty much destroyed the group. As time went on I would pick up the odd rider who had been shelled from the front use them for a pull or too and the move on.
Terrible race, good training, and good to finally have a sizeable event again.
Great reading about everyone’s race!
I was wondering why the course was shortened. I take it that was a last minute thing?
I’m 90% convinced I’ll give this a go next year.
@ChrisP the course is often changed lasr minite based in conditions. If it gets too wet sectors are shortened or removed.
I was super happy to find the 100 shortened from the original email that said 108. It wasnt until the sector off poweline where there was a km to go sign that I had any idea. Thankfull it was about the time I realised the last 10km would have been pretty dire for me.
Awesome video, David. Once again, I get to see myself as a supporting character in your movie! It’s fun for me, as I’m pretty aware of where I am in relation to you throughout the whole thing. I’m loving reading everyone’s stories from the race.
Here’s my report:
Attempting to get home to the family in a reasonable timeframe, I strategically parked halfway between the start and finish. The cruise to the start was incredibly peaceful and quiet on pretty rural roads, building to very exciting as I encountered other riders warming up, and finally the mass of like-minded cyclists readying themselves along Waynco. I didn’t give myself much time to mess around, so headed straight for the corral. In cue, I had a quick “good luck” chat with Joel, then lined up in Wave 1 beside Chris A and Drew. The live band and starting musketeers were a fun addition and I was just pretty dang stoked to be there. Nervous, but stoked.
Settling Into the Mix
I’ve only ever lined up at the extreme tail end of the waves, and never in W1, so starting mid-pack seemed smooth as we rolled out. I kept it steady through the first pavement section, unsure how hard to go, but slowly moving up, and was near the back of a very large front group (that David is riding on the front of for some time in his video) going into the first farm sector. Flying up onto the dirt, feeling the twitchiness and nerves of the big group disappear: go time! That sector strung the group out and for the next half hour things were pretty fluid.
Embracing the Wet and Mud
I ran the first flat section of mud, thinking I’d avoid getting too filthy too early. This kept me safe, though I might have been able to ride it fine. By the time we headed out of Harrisburg and onto the old rail trail, I had caught up to Chris, and David had made his way back up after his wheel issue, putting out huge watts to move up the field. The pace was fast until the end of that sector, where riders needed to navigate off the trail, down some muddy singletrack, avoid a huge mud puddle and get onto the road…and there was a slow moving line ahead of us. Watching from behind Chris, he clearly thought “screw it”, picked up his bike and ran down through the muddy mire. I followed suit and we beat a bunch of riders to the road. I used that same “full send” attitude through the long farm sector with the mud puddles and actually gapped the group heading into the (I think) berry farm. Lesson affirmed it: you’re going to get dirty anyway, so go for it.
Full Speed Ahead
By that time, Chris, David and I had formed a pretty good group with a few other blokes. We rode solidly together until the Powerline Mudslide. The biggest “pain train” moment was when some of us traded pulls along the long rail trail sector and we were moving fast. I thought I would blow up and probably would have eased off if on my own, but by then felt obliged to our little group to go all out and am glad I did.
Final Climb Thoughts
I love the last section of the race through Mineral Springs: so beautiful, and the twisting, hilly roads and trails are amazing parcours. The Martin Rd climb is a legit challenge on tired legs and for a second we can pretend we’re racers in Beglium. It’s an effort where you truly have to dig deep to get through. Chris had to get up on a single speed (beast!) and David had a rear puncture for the last 2k (wild man!)
Awesome ride and adventure. It’s fun to race and epic to ride - only time we get access to that terrain and to enjoy it with so many others.
Loved it Mark! So glad I was able to grab back on to you guys for awhile, we had fun riding in that pack. Great job on the finish!
