Woke up and it was still cold and snowing. But it was supposed to get nicer for the 1:30 race so no worries. I have to say that I do not miss racing at 8:oo at all. Well done to all who toughed it out and raced at that time.
Pre race just tried to not get cold and figure out what the course was like. Verdict, looks like the course it perfect. Not to dry not to wet. They even threw the green monster back in for our race. Oh joy...
During my warm up I was feeling ok. But when I put in any hard effort I could feel my legs starting to ball up. Oh well best not worry about it. Got lined up. Front row beside Morka. Cool! Looked around and realized how much more clothes I was wearing than everyone else. Junior moment. Whistle went and we were off. Had a good start. Maybe to good as I could have taken the whole shot. But I decided that would be a mistake. So I eased up and fell in behind Adam Morka. Start loop was fast and everyone stayed together. Felt good and relaxed. Stayed with the leaders until we hit the green monster and I think Cam Jette attacked. I tried to react but I started get those knots in my legs again. So that was the end of my time in that group. Luckily I wasn't the only one who got dropped of the back. I could see a Trek Canada guy and Zack Winn up ahead. So I got into a good pace and kept them in my sight. Didn't lose or make any ground on them for the next lap and a half as Zack kept attacking the climbs.
Finished up the second lap and saw the Trek guy drop out. Turned out to be Peter. He was blown after a really tough world cup. So that just left Zack. 3rd lap I started to really feel the pain in my legs and struggled to keep it going. I was caught by Tyson Wagler and lost him when my bars moved on me and I had to stop and fix them. Only about 20sec lost there. And it gave my legs a chance to relax. Got back on the bike and found some motivation. I could see Tyson in the distance and he was riding strong. He was now with Zack and it looked like he was throwing down some more "Zack Attacks". I surged on the monster and closed it up a bit. I maintained the gap for the rest on the lap.
Lap 4. Not much happened the first half lap. When I hit the monster again I surged again and caught the tiring Zack and Tyson. At this point I was just ignoring the pain in my legs and pretending I was feeling good. I moved ahead of Tyson and shortly after was passed by the lead juniors. Ouch my pride. But I was able to grab there wheel to get a gap on the other 2. Followed them to the end of the lap.
Lap 5. Survive! I didn't know how much I had on the guys behind me and I was hurting pretty bad. So I spent the lap looking for speed wherever I could find it. One last grind up the monster and I knew I would be pretty safe after that. Rode it in for a solid 5th.
I'm happy with the race. I worked hard and that's always a good feeling. And I also made the project for the Canada Cups. That's the first goal of the season met so I'm stoked on that.
1 week to get the body, bike and mind ready for the first important race of the year. Can't wait.
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