Before I get into the dirt (bad pun intended and acknowledged) of this weekend, check out the updated Single Speed Worlds results, after they found my missing lap, I ended up 4th in Sunday's race behind Sue Butler (current champion), Wendy Williams (previous champion), and Megan Farris.
This weekend found us in Surrey on Saturday for BC Cup Finals and Burnaby on Sunday for BC Provincial Championships.
Surrey's race was put on by SORCE bike club and was a backwards version of the previous Surrey bike park course. Although the course was well marked, I didn't seem to have the same flow as the first course...but the race was great all the same! The women's fields have been getting smaller and smaller each weekend, so this weekend we left the startline with 4 girls. Jean Anne McKirdy took a decisive lead within the first 1/2 lap and stayed gone throughout the race. Melanie Vaughn and I battled back and forth throughout the race. Melanie rode a very clean race and passed me during errors, and I would chase back on during the two climbing sections.
The course started on an uphill paved road, took a right into a succession of gravel, grass, muddy corner, grass, gravel and then around through some sketchy loose gravel, into grass and barriers, around more muddy grassy corners, down last races run-up, then up a sometimes-rideable climb. From there we headed around more corners, up a gravel climb, ducked into the trees for open fast singletrack, across the road with wheel-eating curbs (for those of us not so skilled at bunny hopping), up an off-camber ride/run section, through more tight turns and slippery sections, down a walking path and then around a 180 degree turn that dumped us back to the starting area.
The race was well organized and a lot of fun, a great warm-up for Sunday!
Sunday's race, BC Provincial Championships, was put on by Escape Velocity in Burnaby's Foreshore park. The park is located in an industrial area on the river and created a cross course that was a relatively flat course with a mix of smooth singletrack, fast walking trails, rough grass sections, two rideable sand pits, and one running sand pit. Within the terrain the course designers embedded lots of turns and terrain changes in the middle of these turns. The course forced you to get off the bike 4 times a lap and constantly turn your brain from fast-twitch reactions to slow-technical skill.
This season we haven't had as many double header weekends as last year, so I wasn't sure how my legs would take the double-duty. Off the line they were slow to react and I stayed in the back of the 6 person group to warm up a bit. When Dawn Anderson and Jean Ann McKirdy surged I moved up in the group to sit behind Melanie Vaughn, hoping that we would jump in behind them. Dawn and Jean Ann surged ahead and stayed together battling it out for the rest of the race while Melanie and I pulled away from the rest of the girls. Melanie gapped me and settled into a pace that kept her consistently in view. In the 3rd lap I tried to catch back on, caught on to her, but couldn't pull ahead. I sagged back a bit in order to take my own lines through the corners until the final lap. I spent the first half of the final lap closing the gap between Melanie and I, finally passing her on a straight stretch of walking path. This allowed me to go into the final barrier in front, leading into a straight stretch, and then into the sand pit. Coming out of the sand pit I focussed on clipping into my pedals (which I'd been struggling with all day--I need more practice with clipless pedals apparently!) and sprinting as hard as I could to the line to come in in 3rd place.
Sunday's race was by far the hardest race of my season, my legs never felt great, but never felt terrible either...waffling in between lactic screaming and promises of strength. One of my biggest weaknesses all year has been in the tactics of racing and Sunday's race was one of my best tactical races--hang on, know when you need to get in front, and use all the will power possible to get there.
This weekend we are home and next weekend we are off to Portland for my last two races of the year--the USGP's!
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