Dear Diary,
May 20, 2012
La Bresse, France.
Over the past weeks my travels have
gone something like this; Kelowna-Prague CZE-Nove Mesto na
Morave-Prague-Heidelburg GER-La Bresse FRA-Frankfurt-Quebec City.
Played some tourist while travelling through some of Europe's prized
cities and landscape. The sights may have been so much for some
people I would imagine their heads may have exploded. I would highly
recommend checking out Prague if your ever within reach, obviously
not actually within reach as you would already be there.
Race report from the Nove Mesto na
Morave World Cup has already been updated and possibly even a few
blog posts back already. Today is May 20, the weekend of the 4th
round UCI cross country mountain bike World Cup in La Bresse, France.
It was a pretty fantastic weekend for Canada. But lets go back to
post Czech World Cup and update until today!
After the Czech World Cup I was pretty
mangled having not had a great race and still pushing as hard I
could, which wasn't very fast by way in case you didn't see my 48th
place finish. I had some higher ambitions than to come into the race
and feel tired and slow. You know it's going to be a hard day when
your standing up going balls deep and just going backwards the first
45 seconds. I was not happy with the result but got over it quick by
my delicious post race meal of steak. Next day was some cheering for
our fellow Canadians out there. I would say for everyone it was
overall a good weekend for Canada with 3 women in the top 10 for
elite women, top 20 for U23 women, 2 men in the top 20 for elite men,
and Mcneely top 30 tying for best Canadian U23 Europe result since
2008!
Next up on our journey to France we
drove into Prague and spent a couple hours walking the old town and
bridges. Those sights will stick with me for as long as I'm around.
The main goal of going through Prague was to find a Starbucks for our
Team coach, as he has a Starbucks addiction. Also enjoyed a nice
lunch with fellow riders Evan Mcneely and Max Plaxton on a boat on
the river! Next up was a fabulous afternoon of driving through Czech
and into Germany. We arrived late night in Heidelburg at the Holiday
Inn. Only it was so much better than a North American Holiday Inn!
With dove soap, gummy bears and a mini fridge upon arrival we knew it
was a high class. Although it did suck leaving Czech as you could eat
like a kind with 3 side dishes and a main course for about
$11.50..Now we were back in classic exchanging large amounts of money
for small meals Europe. I do have to say that since the local white
asparagus was in season it did somewhat make me feel better about
paying $25.00 for a salad. Quick sleep, early morning exploration
ride. We used the force(a term used from something called “Starwars”,
I don't really know what it means but it sounds legit!..) and only
got lost six times. But we did find another beautiful town, another
old bridge as well as cobbled roads and old churches. Back to the
upper class feeling Holiday Inn for some stomach filling with what
would have to be the biggest bestest most awesome breakfast spread I
have ever seen. Bread, pastries, salmon, fruit, sausages, 4 types of
eggs, fresh squeezed do it your self orange juice, granola, oatmeal,
potatoes and so much more. I would keep rambling but I don't want to
make you all salivate..It was back in the vans for some more “talking
about feelings and stuff” food consumption, music listening,
iphone, ipod, ipad gaming and making fun of our other team staff
singing to music in the other vehicle. Once we crossed into France a
grocery stop was in order, but not without a 20 min side road idiotic
road design flaw detour to access the market that was 100 m off the
highway.. It was then a sick mountain drive up into the snow and
minus temperatures to reach the location of the what is now this past
weekends World Cup in La Bresse, France. As the week went on
temperatures rose and we rode more. It was cool to have another old
school type course with a long climb and long descent which was
technical enough to open big gaps as well as the climb being long and
steep and technical enough to open even larger gaps. As the race
approached there was some added pressure with Canada's Andreanne
Pichette taking 11th in the U23 women's race. After having
a bad race last weekend I was now further back in staging which meant
the first 5 minutes of the race was even more crucial. Right from the
gun I knew I had the legs for a decent ride. I avoided some crashes
and took some risks and came out of the start loop top 30 and ride
into 22nd by the 2nd lap. I was having an ON
day as normally a course with long steep climbs doesn't usually play
to my strengths. But hey maybe now I am turning into someone who can
climb especially when I'm on. I was descending well enough to make up
all the time lost of the climbs and or jump across to the groups
ahead of me. It felt like the descent was long enough that I could
actually recover and of course have some fun making some air time and
giving the crowds something to cheer for. Faded slightly in the last
lap to finish 28th in a sprint and bike toss with American
fast boy Howard Grotts. My best Euro U23 World Cup/World Champ result
to date. It was also nice to finish and be so empty that I could
hardly hang onto my bike. As my whole body was shaking. I was able to
perk up by dinner time for our seven pizza eating session. France is
just great for always having Pizza ovens and cooking in them is
unreal compared the eating out during trips. And then today was
another day of cheering on our Canuk teammates on course! The women's
race is always exciting as Canada is #1 ranked in the world!! Today
was the most nervous I've ever been while not being in actually in a
bike race. The womens race came down to the last minute and the men's
was almost the same. Crashes, flats, mechanical's etc plagued some
riders today. But oh boy did it make for some exciting action! Mrs.
Catharine Pendral took 4th in the womens and Max Plaxton
had an amazing ride finishing 9th after a 33rd
start position! During the races I calmed my nerves by drinking a
grande coffee, eating a sub sandwich, a chocolate croissant, another
sandwich, a pizza and a delicious chocolate pastry. Had to make up
for the lack of calories yesterday, I did fortunately bonk after the
race yesterday on the ride home..
Tomorrow is another day of morning
bicycle exploration in the mountains followed by a drive to Frankfurt
so we can stop to eat some road side meat from vendors. It is then
right over to Quebec City where I will be staying with my Rocky
Mountain teammate Jeremy Martin before the second round of the Canada
Cup series in Baie-St-Paul, Quebec.
Picture update soon when I get some highspeed internet!!
Salut.
No comments:
Post a Comment