Two weekends ago marked the highest-ranked race I will do throughout the 2009 mountain bike season--the Edmonton Canada Cup. The Canada Cup Series, as it sounds, is Canada's national mountain bike circuit that feeds riders into the US Cup Series and, ultimately, the World Cup Series.
The course in Edmonton was amazing: in the middle of the city, mostly singletrack, no extended climbs, and fast fast fast! At the start of the race I was a little nervous, my warmup hadn't been amazing, the pre ride had been a little stressful (leaving me with a broken rear wheel...solved by borrowing a wheel from Chris Check at Pedalhead), and it was my biggest xc race of the year. Off the line I had a great start took the hole-shot but got behind Emily Batty and Mical Dyck through the first singletrack. Had an awesome 1st lap in 4th place, a decent 2nd lap, and then a shocker of a third lap that sent me into 6th place. My 4th lap I rode as steadily and safely as possible to finish up in 6th place. Not amazing, but I was pumped on my solid race start!
The rest of the day was spent relaxing, eating, and heading to the post-race party put on by the organizers....not a bad way to spend a Saturday afternoon!
A quick week at work and week of training and it was off again last weekend to the Test of Metal. The Test has almost a cult following....every January 1st registration goes up and the race sells out within 4 hours to its 800 participants. Luckily they keep Pro/Elite registration open until race day, so there wasn't 6 months of commitment for me!
The race is a 67km point to point race, it has over 2000 vertical feet of climbing and has 3 major sections: the first includes a steady road climb that leads into a fast, loose, double-track descent followed by a bit more false flat/fire road climbing and into some beautifully burmed, flowy singletrack, through the feedzone and onto section two. Section two includes Nine Mile, a climb that has a section named "Bonk Hill" that leads into an even steeper section, into a final rocky section, then into "Ring Creek Rip" which is fast (60km-70km/hour) doubletrack that leads to The Plunge-the most technical section of the course, and back through the feed zone and onto the final section. Section three has a relatively short climb into singletrack heaven that leads into a switch back climb and into fast, flowing, undulating singletrack that can be fast or
frustrating...depending on your fatigue level, then into a walking path and into the finish line!
The start is something special, the Canadian national anthem is sung to over 800 racers sitting in the starting area (above). At the end the pro/elites lead out the field as if it was a parade down the highway and through a neighbourhood to start the first paved climb. At the base of the climb there were a few surges. Being nervous about the length I settled into a just-above-comfortable pace and put my head down, catching onto groups to draft when helpful, but mostly focussing on maintaining a steady pace. Once onto the false flat I picked up the pace and tried to move up from group to group (an interesting experience as a girl....note to self, guys do not like to be passed by girls--being "bloused" is not a good thing!). Into the singletrack that put a huge grin on my face, up a bit of a climb, and into the final swooping singletrack lined with tons of people
cheering and yelling (lots of "hey! those are girls!"). Melanie Vaughn and I rode together through this section and up into the feed zone.
The feed zone is crazy, hundreds of feeders and onlookers crowd into the sides of a logging road, there is tons of yelling, cheering, and ruckus and the whole scene is an awesome motivator! I surged up the fire road and onto Nine Mile. The first section, Bonk Hill, was hard to get a rhythm going, so I slowed down, found my happy place, and focussed on getting to the top. I breathed a sigh of relief as I headed through a flat section at the top of Bonk Hill, and got ready for the next climb. Head down, rhythm found and I motored up that section, catching and passing some of the guys that had passed me down below. By the top I was starting to catch glimpses of Ann Yew. Up the Lava Flow rocky double track climb and just at the top I finally caught and passed
Ann. Down Ring Creek Rip, which left me with the weakest arms and hands. Unfortunately, the Rip dumps into the Plunge. Everything on the Plunge is rideable....just not with two quivering Jell-O arms and arthritic-feeling hands. I got some good running in, Ann passed me through a section, and disappeared down the singletrack.
I managed to hold it together through the Plunge--no crashes, no cramps, and good recovery for the legs and came back through the feedzone. My feed--Nicole Hart--yelled "she's 45 seconds ahead!" By the top of the feedzone my body had come around (well, as much as it will after about 47km of racing) and I pushed on to the singletrack. At the beginning of the singletrack I found Ann, unfortunately cramping (although I didn't realize this till the finish), and headed into the singletrack ahead of her. Knowing that Ann is a good technical rider, I was scared throughout the entire "Crumpet Woods" section of the race. After a few kilometers, though, I started recognizing trails...I'd been here before! I attacked as hard as I could moving from pack to pack, and flying through the singletrack. I don't remember ever riding this fast in a race. Crumpet woods is a fairly buff, but twisty riding area with a singletrack climb followed by beautiful undulating trails. There are token rocks and roots thrown in to make sure that you are focussing, but for the most
the trail is just fast and fun.
Out of Crumpet Woods the course heads onto walking paths--hard pack with a thin loose layer. These never fail to creep me out, especially with the slick tire I had chosen for the day, but I put my head down and focussed on keeping everything smooth. From there the race goes into a road section and back into a walking trail for the last kilometer before finishing up in the expo area. I was by myself at the finish--not a bad thing, my sprint would have been questionable--and had nothing left by the time they were ripping off my name plate.
I didn't realize until the finish that I had come in 3rd overall. Focussing on my rhythm on the first climb, I didn't actually know how many women were ahead of me. The Test is also a race where anything can happen--Sandra Walters had a great start, to be taken out by a guy in the singletrack, cramps abound for riders, flats happen, and there are more mental challenges than I'd like to think about. It was a great day for me, I felt like I raced smart and safely--staying within myself in order to surge at the end. This in addition to Edmonton's Canada Cup, have been a great way to go into Provincial Championships this weekend, a two week break, and then 3 steady weeks of BC Cups.
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