Jersey Baby!!!

Wow....It looks like all I need is some really nasty cold rain and mud to have a great race.  I’ve been wishing for mud all week cause I was really excited to run my Kenda Kwickers in the mud, love these tires, and they helped me win my first ever Canadian National Championship title....YIPPEE!!!!!!  Though halfway through the race I was really wishing for some warm sun 

Caught the 5pm ferry over to Vancouver Friday night after work, made a quick stop at the pet store to buy another collar and leash (not used to packing for the puppy yet), then over to the venue for about 8pm.  I did a quick slippery walk around as much of the course as I could...should have brought a light...as Regan set up the tents near the course. 

Photo by Steve Pukesh 

Saturday morning still hadn’t brought the forecasted rain and I was seriously starting to doubt my tire selection.  Come noon the skies opened up, and I mean it started DUMPING!!  Horrible start slipped my pedal once, twice...uggh...finally got in and had some work to do.  Thankfully the starting straight was really wide so I had no problems finding a path back up to the lead group.   Pretty quickly we had a break with Pepper Harlton, Wendy Simms and I off the front with a small gap to Catherine Pendrel and Emily Batty.  First time up the stairs I tripped, second time up the stairs I tripped hard landing on my knees in the rocky mud, third time up the stairs I tripped yet again!! GEEEEEZZZZZZ, first time with my new feet!  I think it was the 3rd step each time too 

Photo by Steve Pukesh

All 3 of us were trading blows trying to hammer each other and break away...also knowing there were some really fast women very close behind us.  Part way through the 3rd lap, Pepper started having some problems with the corners and hit the ground a couple of times.  This allowed Wendy and me to open up a gap on her.  We seemed to work together a little to put some distance between us and the chase.   Near the end of lap 3, through the slow slick off camber section, Wendy choose to run and I managed to clean it (just), looking back I had opened up a small gap so I kept the pressure on.  I ran a clean race for the final 2 laps, staying upright with Regan’s smooth is fast and fun mantra.  Not quite believing it I won my first ever National Champion title!!!  Happy Dance, Happy Dance, Happy Dance....though I was too cold do to my happy dance at the time.  Celebrated in style by ordering in pizza, grabbing a tub of Haagen Daas and popping the top to some San Pellegrino.  YUP, I’m wild in my victory....supper in bed!!

Photo by Jamie Cameron

Photo by Jamie Cameron

Day 2 had no more rain, leaving the mud a very sticky peanut buttery consistency, and a really flipping cold wind.  They changed the course a little, removing my dreaded stair (not sure my knees could have handled that one again) and all the straight aways were straight into the nasty head wind.  Had a great start but smartly decided not to stick myself out in the wind right off the bat.  Sunday’s race stayed a lot closer together due to the wind making it a very different dynamic of racing, really neat to have a race so close.  After the first lap I found myself in the group just slightly off the front with Catherine, Wendy and Pepper.  Lap 2 Catherine had some serious troubles with the blowing course tape and soon it was just the 3 of us again.

Photo by Steve Pukesh

Photo by Jamie Cameron

No one launched attacks (when we did it was useless) because as soon as you moved out of the draft you were really hammered by the wind.  My only strategy for this day was to hit the last section of muddy course in the lead.  I wanted to have a clean run at the course and if I made a mistake I didn’t want a gap to open up.  I had a clean run and the second last corner I heard Wendy who was sitting second wheel bobble and I opened up a gap.  There was a fast pavement downhill into a hairpin corner to the finishing straight from there.  I hadn’t realized how hard Pepper had hammered to catch back up to me, and while rounding that last hairpin I noticed her tire out of the corner of my eye.  Head down full on sprint (slowly) uphill into the head wind.  She played it smart, staying in my slipstream as long as she could, but made her move a little too late and I was able to just hold her off at the line, taking my second win of the weekend.

Photo by Jamie Cameron

Thanks ladies for the awesome weekend of racing.  Hard, muddy, cold and fun   And thanks Daryl Evans for hosting the nationals weekend.  This was my first really good disc brake cross bike experience and they were great.  Late breaking into hard rough muddy downhill’s, no problems!  My Ridley X-Fire performed flawlessly with my Stan’s Iron Cross Wheels and Kenda Kwicker tires at 25 psi...loving this low pressure thingy.  Very thankful for my Lazer Aeroshell, kept my noggin warm!!  Huge thank you to everyone for their congratulations and big hugs!!  Thank you to my great Stan’s No Tubes CX team and my awesome mechanic Regan who made everything run so smoothly!!

Giggle giggle giggle

USGP Loo-uh-ville

USGPcx weekend #3, World Championships course preview....AWESOME!!! Hard, hard, hard, hard, hard, both physically, technically and mentally. Over 50 starters in the women’s field makes this by far the largest cross race I’ve ever competed in. Have to say it wasn’t one of my better performances this weekend though. Not sure what it was, but things didn’t quite come together for the race the way that I planned. Felt great during the week, really strong and fresh, felt good for the pre-ride (tough a little sore from the 18 hour travel day....funny how you pay less to travel substantially farther then the expensive flights), and warm up was good. Not ideally placed for start either day, second row, far left behind Mo Bruno Roy, I ended up fairly far back in the mix going into the nasty first sand pit each day. Burnt a few matches but managed to get myself up into the chase group.
Saturday I lost contact with the chase group at about 20 mins, but I was able to keep the pressure on and not loose too much time...still finishing 11th place. Sunday I lost contact running up through the sand pit again at about 20 mins and had a lot more troubles mentally rallying myself to keep hammering. Everything felt like slow mo pain and I just held on for 14th place at the end of the race......and surprisingly not that much farther behind then Day 1.
I’ve noticed this year that I don’t seem to have the fitness that I did last year to be able to race to full capacity after killing myself in Day 1....going to insert an excuse here lol, thinking my after work night training may be starting to catch up with me a little......feel like just sleeping...A LOT! Let’s see if I can fudge my fitness for one more week into a very muddy Canadian Nationals this weekend in Vancouver. Going to be one of the most competitive Nationals CX race to date for the women and I’m excited for it to be nasty wet and muddy.
For Day 2 race I successfully ran 19 psi in the rear and 16 psi in the front with my Stan’s Iron Cross wheels with Kenda Kommandos and didn’t burp or roll my tires, on a course that had a high chance of doing so....these things are awesome, I say it again! However it definitely not the best choice of pressures (the old thumb test squeeze for pressure check has failed me), I did have a very cushy ride!