Different year different race

Hey there. So this time last year I had my all time best race of my life wining Nationals in Canmore. So I have been excited all season dispite not having a great season so far to come back and try and defend the title. I can't say that my confidance was super high going in to the race but I kept an open mind and stayed optamistic. It got a bit easier to think about doing well mid week when I suddenly had really good legs. So I did everything I could think of to keep the feeling alive. I kind of succeeded and and made it to race day feeling fresh. The reason I say kind of is because the feeling only lasted the warm up and the first 10 min of the race. Cramps started to set in pretty quick after that. I was able to keep the pace high still and picked off people once I got back into a rhythm. Then lap 3 I managed to find the one difficult section on the course and then eat it hard! Dug my face into a pit of sand and smoked my hip and a rock. Got back on and bike was fine and got going again. Took me a bit to get back up to speed. I might also mention that the lead guys had checked out by this point so all I could do was try to see how far up I could ride myself. Picked off a few more people but not sure which ones were in my category though. Last lap came around and I was thinking I could move up at least one more spot. Hit the "Eye Dropper" and heard that sound that every cyclist hates the most. Felt stans spraying all over my leg. Got in to the pits and Havy gave me a sick wheel change. Got going again and just wanted to hold whatever spot I was in and get finished up. Made it but got sprinted at the line by a guy I didn't even know was there. So Needless to say not the highlight I had last year. But moving forward and looking forward to the new team relay event tomorrow. Congrats to Boucaurd, Baily and Martin on there great races. I'll be working my ass off to get to that next level and mix it up where I want to be.