Cross on the Rocks Finals: Shawnigan Lake

So, I wrote this last Monday (as in, almost a week ago) but then it sat in my "drafts box" waiting for me to affix photos...It is now the next Sunday, another race over, and there are no photos affixed...go figure. So, I am releasing this, with a quick note that yesterday's BC Cup finals were not overly exciting, although Jean Ann is super strong, the Master's women have all gotten so much faster though the year....and I didn't feel like racing. It is the morning before Provincial Championships and I am making sure that I am ready to race today. I am also putting this out there with the promise that THERE WILL BE PHOTOS THIS WEEK!

So....remember this is from Monday, and read on about the AWESOME island cup from last weekend!

Today, after a weekend of almost-but-not rain, the sky has finally opened up into a dull pattering of rain. Not overly disappointing since it is my day off...completely. No rides, no work, no races. So....what do I do when I have a day completely to myself? Well, (I won't keep you in suspense any longer...) I cleaned my bike, bought new runners, built a book shelf for our suite, rearranged the living room to accomodate the shelf, swept, did dishes, scrubbed my stove...and yes, I know how jealous you all are! Now I'll give you a quick weekend race report and fold some laundry---oh the excitement!

This weekend Drew and I drove up to Shawnigan Lake School for the final (and my first!) Island Cup series race. First off....Shawnigan Lake School (SLS) does not suck, is not ugly, and does not have lackluster grounds. It is a beautiful and phenomenal spot for a cross course. The drive took us about 35 minutes and didn't include a ferry--probably the closest race I have done this year!

The call up for the start line included tons of local island girls, new to the island Mical Dyck, and Alison Sydor. It is pretty exciting to be living in an area that--at local level races--the caliber of women riders is so high. Off the start was a nice long fire road that took a left turn into a stretch of soggy, muddy, off-camber grass that was questionable each lap--sometimes rideable, sometimes barely runable--depending on the lines from people in front of you and your ability to see straight. From there the course ducked into a super-fast-rocks-hidden-in-puddles-to-eat-your-wheels descent that ended in a super-fun, swoopy singletrack section of forest. Back out into the open and onto a quick fire road descent before ducking into some trees for a quick whoop-de-whoop and then into the open for a long stair run up. After the stairs was a quick flat section before climbing back up almost to the start/finish area before turning off for another section of the climb through the trees. After the climb the torture didn't stop as the course turned onto flat, soggy, rough fields before descending back down, over some barriers, through the finish area and back out onto the course.

Alison took an early lead and I jumped onto Mical's wheel to see how long I could hold on. It turned out not very long as they dumped me heading into the first descent. Alison held a strong lead throughout the race until double or triple flatting (not sure exactly what all went down...) to give Mical the lead. I caught sight of Alison in the last 300 meters of the race, but was way too far back to get more than a glimpse of her fancy National Champion Maxxis skinsuit.

My real competition throughout the race was Barry Rempel--one of the master's men. After catching up to him (the master's men had a 1 minute head start) we rode together for the rest of the race...I would pass him on the climbs, he would dump me on the descents. The last lap had me gasping and giggling as we came into the stair runup together. I ran as fast as I could (he had an obvious advantage with his much longer legs) and we reached the top together, but I won the front position (or Barrie was a gentleman....) and headed up the final climbs ahead of him to just barely beat him to the line.

After clean up and draw prizes we headed back home for dinner and a movie and then hockey for Drew. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon....

Next weekend we are off to Vancouver for BC Cup Finals and Provincial Championships. Weekend after we'll be down in Portland for the USGP's and then (finally!) down to Bend, Oregon for American Nationals--the biggest and last race of my 2009 season!