Oh boy, lots to catch up on here. Didn't do any blogging in Quebec due to sketchy Internet/being busy/laziness. So I will attempt to condense the whole trip into this one post. Here it goes.
Trip to Baie St. Paul went well. We each had a whole seat to ourselves which made for a less cranky group of people. Condense...
Got to the motel in good time. Out pit stops were nice and short so we were able to get a bit of a ride in once we got all settled in.
Sat was pre-riding. Showed up in my sweet new white leg and arm warmers. They make me feel more legit. The course was sweet. I liked it better then last year, it seemed to be more broken up rather then just climbing forever and then going downhill really fast. It had some good punchy climbs which I like and had some tricky single track.
The race, well it went something like this. Start hard, barely avoid a crash, work my way up the field, have a mechanical, lose a bunch of spots, keep having said mechanical, deal with it, make up as many spot as I could, and finish in 31st. So, not what I wanted, but not terrible either.
We packed the van and left right after the race for Mont St. Anne. Not a long drive so that was good. Arrived at our sweet chalet and got settled in. The next morning me and Mr. Garrigan went for an endurance ride up and around the mountain. Also got some great practice with changing flats. Mike showed me a few tricks and I was able to shave 6mins off the time it takes me to fix a flat. Anyways, some great training and technical practice in Mont St Anne. And a lot of fun with the team. Condense...
After the few days in St. Anne we made the trip to Tremblant. Arrived there to find out that the place we were staying at was even nicer the the one before. On the lake, nice property, 2 kitchens, completely finished basement. Easily worth over 1 mill. Not too far from the village either. The day after we got there (Saturday) we pre-rode the course. Very dry and it had been smoothed out since last year. Not too upset about that as I'm riding a hard tail this year but I can see how some may be upset about it. Pasta dinner in the Village (which was very pricey but delicious) and then back to the house to chill and hit the bed early.
Race day again! Wow that week went by fast. Woke up at 7:30ish. Had a good breakfast and gave the bike a final look over. There was a good atmosphere in the house. Everyone was super pumped to race their bikes. Good vibes.
Rode to the course at 11:30. and got a good warm-up on the roads around the village...
Skipping ahead a bit. Got called up in a better spot than last week. Off the start I played it conservative and just held my position. I didn't want to get half way up the hill and not have anything left. And it paid off. Half way into the lap I was able to pick it up and was able to pass everyone who got to excited off the start. By the time I got to the downhill I had caught up to Tyson Wagler. But he was moving fast on the decent. I was riding a bit above my head trying to keep him close. Getting close to the bottom I hit a fast washed out corner with to much speed and without even a chance to try and save it I hit the ground with my ribs taking the brunt of the impact. Oh Man! That's the first time I've winded myself during a race. It was one of the worst feelings I can remember having. It took me a good 2min to get my breath back and that's when I noticed that my ribs didn't feel right. It was painful to breath. I sat beside the trail for a while and tried to find out what was wrong. As i watched the Juniors going by I started to think it was a lost cause. But i quickly shook that thought out of my head. I made a goal at the beginning of the season to finish every race and I knew if gave that up I would hate myself later. So I Got my bike all straitened out and got back on. The next lap was hard. My breathing was restricted and it was quite painful. Anyways long story short I finished the race and was able to pick my way up to 40th. Again not what I had in mind but it feels good to say I sucked it up and got it done. After a trip to the med tent I went back to the house got cleaned up and went out with the other Ontario riders (who had great races themselves) for some great food in the village.
Stayed for the red bull race to see Mike G. defend his title. I could write an entire post about that. Lets just say that I've never seen such an unorganized event before. And it ended up costing Mike (who was clearly the strongest rider on the xc side) the win and a hefty prize pack. 3 grand and some awesome swag including a sid world cup. A little frustrated thinking about that situation so lets move on.
So that just about sums up my trip to French land. Lots of good times had and good learning experience. Looking forward to hardwood and having a good race there. I feel I have good legs and good motivation so I'll see if I can make something happen. Good night.
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