Steve Milton: Paris to Ancaster bike race goes virtual

When the discouraging choice is also the correct one, move on to the next-best option.

Or, more metaphorically, if you can't make chicken salad out of your chicken feathers, turn them into a pillow.

That's what organizers of the Paris to Ancaster Bike Race are doing to prevent COVID-19 from forcing a second cancellation of the undisputed ruler of Canadian gravel grinding' competition.

They'd been planning to stage a pandemic-tailored live race in April but ultimately couldn't get approval from local officials. The P2A still wanted to fulfil its mandates of providing demanding cycling competition and kick-starting the provincial two-wheel season.

So, the event will now be staged over two days, with two different concepts.

The official 27th edition of the gruelling all-terrain race will be held virtually on Saturday, April 24, through interactive point-of-view videos of the traditional 60-70 km course for riders on their stationary bikes.

The following day there will be in-person rides, respecting all local pandemic limitations, across routes in several parts of Ontario - including the Hamilton area - designed and organized by longtime P2A associates. They're nicknamed NotP2A' but they're an important part of the Paris-to-Ancaster weekend.

We'd hoped to put on an event this year," says co-race director, John Thorpe. The city had approached us to apply for a live event. But, it's just not time yet. They said our plan was good, but they didn't have the time to help make it happen. With this third wave coming, it's a good decision.

We were totally disappointed, we feel for people, they want to race. But we also totally understand."

Formal registration for both days opened this week, a year after the 2020 race was cancelled, and Thorpe and fellow co-director, Tim Farrar, expect no more than 300 entrants.

That's about 10 per cent of a usual field for the P2A, which encompasses the exhausting distance race over gravel, mud, asphalt, grass and dirt, plus shorter races designed to involve more recreational cyclists, particularly local riders raising money for the St. Joseph's Healthcare Foundation.

Anyone can still donate to the race's primary charity through the P2A website (parisancaster.com/) or by gathering financial pledges for the in-person rides.

Virtual bike racing has become a pandemic growth industry, and uses what are generically called sharp trainers, stationary bikes connected to the internet, personal power meters and video screens. Using the Xert platform, P2A will give racers a handlebar view of the course through a GoPro camera video, shot during the 2019 race. Entrants can talk to and see each other, keep track of their race position, and get feedback on their personal power output.

The resistance on the program matches the terrain," Farrar explains. When you do the 10 K stretch along the Grand River where there's little resistance where people coast into a corner. Then there's a hard right up a hill and just like in the real race people will be brought to their knees if they don't change gears quickly. It also slams a lot of resistance on the mudslide near the end and on that last hill up Martin Road."

Riders with other bike training programs can still compete in the main race using the same video, but it won't be interactive.

Through pre-race practice runs Xert will gather entrants' power data" and convert that into personal profiles. The 2021 race winners will be determined by a classic sports handicap system: how well they did against their own profiles.

The handicaps are like in a golf tournament," Thorpe quips. Happy Gilmore could win this one."

Steve Milton is a Hamilton-based sports columnist at The Spectator. Reach him via email: smilton@thespec.com