reganpringleshoots
That was the scene at Canadian Nationals last weekend, but this past weekend in Edmonton for the Canada Cup finals was far from sunny and dry!! The course runs under the high level bridge just off of 109th ave, right in the heart of the city, so it's an extremely cool venue. But for anyone who know Edmonton and Edmonton mud/clay, when it rains it's next to impossible to ride. I pre-road on Friday in the pouring rain and it was actually almost a little better then because the ground was so saturated that the water was just sitting in puddles on top of the trails....but the roots were nasty. It stopped raining sometime during the night and race day Saturday was sunny and warm......so the mud started turning to chunky peanut butter.
After 4 weeks of rest, only small training rides and racing on the weekends, I was well rested for the weekend. I felt great off the start, having one of my strongest starts to the season, hitting the first singletrack section just ahead of Jean Ann. I managed to open up a small gap along the open road section leading to the back half of the course....and the really muddy section. Once we were forced to dismount and start running Catherine Vipond made up the gap and passed me.....I was trying to ride too much and just should have kept running. You'd think with me being the tallest rider out there I'd have super long legs and be able to run really fast....but that's actually a myth!!! I have pretty stubby legs for my size...haha....and Catherine looks like she's turning into a runner.
On one of the steep technical descents (one that is usually no problems at all) I decided yet again I needed to try and ride it....haha....smart move Mical!! Half way down the muddy rooty slope I lost full control and smashed a tree nice and hard....it was a big thick tree too, one that didn't have much give....with my leg and the side of my face. It took me a couple seconds to collect myself, Jean Ann passed me running, followed by Sandra and Rebecca Boumont. Sandra slide out just as she was passing me so I was able to hop back up and slide back into position in front of her. Once we got out of the muddy singletrack onto a stretch that I could actually ride I noticed that my seat was twisted almost 90 degrees around....yah, that's uber comfortable to ride on. Stopping to fix my seat Sandra and Reb passed me and I lost contact with them in the 30 seconds it took to loosen off and re-tighten the seat clamp.
And that's where I found myself for the rest of the race...haha, seems I'm always in no mans land. Through some of the switchback sections I would see the pick bikes of Jean Ann and Sandra, but never seemed to any time difference with them. In the last lap I noticed on the open sections that Reb was slowing down, and I'm gaining on her fast. I catch her on the last climb and give a burst of speed to pass her and put as much time into as possible. There is over a km of flat straight gravel/road into the finish and I pop out of the last singletrack well ahead of her, but as I look over my shoulder I see she's not ready to give up without a fight!!! Awesome!! So I have to work hard to stay ahead of her and hold onto my fourth place finish.
I have to yet again thanks to my Lazer helmet for saving my noggin from the tree and to my Sidi Dragon for being comfortable like slippers while running through the forest! Thanks to Clay at PlantFoods for the best tasting sport nutrition HoneyStinger products, Genuine Innovations for always being on my bike even though I hope to heck that I never have to use it and Steve Blick of Oakley for the awesome new Radars with really cool new photochromatic lenses (these are a must try!!!)
Getting ready to head home for two weeks, yippee, to hang out with Regan and whip him back into shape. Have to take my bike in to the boys at Trek Pro City to get it all tricked out and tuned up for the TR3!!!! Huge thanks to my momma and poppa for all the support the past two weeks....see you in two weeks for another week of fun!!!
After 4 weeks of rest, only small training rides and racing on the weekends, I was well rested for the weekend. I felt great off the start, having one of my strongest starts to the season, hitting the first singletrack section just ahead of Jean Ann. I managed to open up a small gap along the open road section leading to the back half of the course....and the really muddy section. Once we were forced to dismount and start running Catherine Vipond made up the gap and passed me.....I was trying to ride too much and just should have kept running. You'd think with me being the tallest rider out there I'd have super long legs and be able to run really fast....but that's actually a myth!!! I have pretty stubby legs for my size...haha....and Catherine looks like she's turning into a runner.
On one of the steep technical descents (one that is usually no problems at all) I decided yet again I needed to try and ride it....haha....smart move Mical!! Half way down the muddy rooty slope I lost full control and smashed a tree nice and hard....it was a big thick tree too, one that didn't have much give....with my leg and the side of my face. It took me a couple seconds to collect myself, Jean Ann passed me running, followed by Sandra and Rebecca Boumont. Sandra slide out just as she was passing me so I was able to hop back up and slide back into position in front of her. Once we got out of the muddy singletrack onto a stretch that I could actually ride I noticed that my seat was twisted almost 90 degrees around....yah, that's uber comfortable to ride on. Stopping to fix my seat Sandra and Reb passed me and I lost contact with them in the 30 seconds it took to loosen off and re-tighten the seat clamp.
And that's where I found myself for the rest of the race...haha, seems I'm always in no mans land. Through some of the switchback sections I would see the pick bikes of Jean Ann and Sandra, but never seemed to any time difference with them. In the last lap I noticed on the open sections that Reb was slowing down, and I'm gaining on her fast. I catch her on the last climb and give a burst of speed to pass her and put as much time into as possible. There is over a km of flat straight gravel/road into the finish and I pop out of the last singletrack well ahead of her, but as I look over my shoulder I see she's not ready to give up without a fight!!! Awesome!! So I have to work hard to stay ahead of her and hold onto my fourth place finish.
I have to yet again thanks to my Lazer helmet for saving my noggin from the tree and to my Sidi Dragon for being comfortable like slippers while running through the forest! Thanks to Clay at PlantFoods for the best tasting sport nutrition HoneyStinger products, Genuine Innovations for always being on my bike even though I hope to heck that I never have to use it and Steve Blick of Oakley for the awesome new Radars with really cool new photochromatic lenses (these are a must try!!!)
Getting ready to head home for two weeks, yippee, to hang out with Regan and whip him back into shape. Have to take my bike in to the boys at Trek Pro City to get it all tricked out and tuned up for the TR3!!!! Huge thanks to my momma and poppa for all the support the past two weeks....see you in two weeks for another week of fun!!!
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