Well that was my best race to date this year by far. Had a not so good start position, wasn't able to make up any places off the bat, only like 200 meters until the single track, and you know what happens there. The first 10 guys ride off and everyone else gets bottle necked. I was fortunate enough to be able to do a mid-summer cyclo-cross practice session. With a little dismount, some running and then a mount. Followed by a stupid hard effort to try and get onto the next group. I spent the first lap feeling like "I still had mono and wondering why I was continuing to race" but then by the start of the 2nd lap I caught the espoir group which had like 4 espoirs. So then I was like "ok, now its going alright" Kept trucking with them guys, pulled through because I didn't want to seem like the d-bag that just sits on the back. Then I hit the front through the technical section and rode a tad bit harder and opened a gap. So from there I tried putting on the jets and continued on my solo pursuit of my first good race of the year. Little worried because there were 4 or 5 guys working together behind me in a group, who knows if they were rolling together smoothly or playing it tactical, So I just put the head down and rode smooth and hard. I was feeling super stoked on the day, I was riding in 12th for the majority of the race, 2nd espoir. Then at around 1:45-1:50 just when I was starting the last lap I could feel the legs take a downturn and the cramps feeling like they were on there way. So on the first climb of the last lap I was automatically riding two gears easier, so it was time for damage control. I was able to only get passed by 2 guys on the last lap, one being an espoir so rolled in for 14th overall and 3rd espoir. Made some $$ too! Woot woot! Pretty stoked on that, as it was a long race and nationals should be about 20 min or so shorter. Perfect.
Helped out with the Western National Team ID Camp yesterday. Had BC, AB, and Sask athletes out. Dan Proulx, national team mtb coach, gave a good talk and we headed out on the trail for some basic and fun skills stuff. Back for some pizza and a final chat. Then took an easy afternoon.
Made the drive to Canmore this morning. Just taking a super lax day here, lots of pool and lots of interwebing. Checking out the course tomorrow, will post some photos later on.
In the meantime here are some sweet shots from the weekend:
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