Whistler Bribe...

After the Mount Washington BC Cup last weekend I was done with mountain bike racing (for the year). I was ready to pack in the fat tires and swap out the brakes for cantilevers and the bars for drop. Drew suckered me in to heading up to Whistler to finish up the BC Cup series at the Ken Quon Memorial ride with promises of a delicious dinner out, shopping in Whistler Village, and a night at the Fairmont Whistler - yep, I am that easy, throw a little swank-i-ness at me and I'll follow along in true girlish fashion.

We caught an early boat Saturday morning and headed straight up to Whistler. Pre rode the fast, hammerful, swoopy course: a good amount of packed double track with a healthy dose of singletrack and a painful bridge-laden climb and was smiling all afternoon, almost looking forward to the race. To the hotel to check in, beautiful room with a view of the Blackcomb side of the mountain. Quick shower and some solid trash tv (ever wonder who the Most Amazing Bad Boy of Hollywood is? The Bio channel claims Colin Farrell over Tommy Lee, Drew disagrees). Off to the village we set for some Connect 4 at the pub (I was the unofficial champion), window shopping and an amazing dinner with friends at our favourite Whistler restaurant - Elements.

So, by now you are all wondering when we will get to the race report...I don't want to disappoint with a brief, unimpressive blog post...but the race went. Off the start I got swallowed by a sea of masters level men, after being cut off and almost wheel chopped a few times I was convinced I would have a heart attack before even raising my heart rate level. Headed into the singletrack just behind a couple junior boys and a long line of Master's men with Karen Trueman and Catherine Short just in sight. After a few jogs in and out of trail and into a walking line of racers (cross skills to the rescue!) I settled in to a good pace with a couple of the junior kids and chased down Catherine Short to sneak into 4th place with Catherine just behind me.

Up the climb I felt a familiar tightness in my back. My back has a history of tightening itself into knots and pinching my cyatic nerve to the point of leg numbness, this year has been almost pain-free with a stronger core, more stretching, and concentrating on spinning more and grinding less. I led Katherine into the last singletrack section before the lap point, but couldn't keep a fast enough pace and let my back recover, so I pulled over to let her fly. I made my way down the descent, through the lap point and feed zone, and about 1/3 of the way through the second lap but then lost all ambition. The switch was turned off....I couldn't stand the thought of two more climbs up the bridges on Pinocchio's Furniture or the havoc the climb would wreak on my back and didn't have the desire to chase. I managed to zig and zag on and off of the course and hit all the fun single track sections, with a few non-race sections for good measure, and headed to the feed zone. I arrived just in time to watch Drew go through in 4th place.

Drew finished in 4th, me a DNF, but 3rd overall in the BC Cup Series. Jean Ann McKirdy won the series with Katherine Short finishing up in 2nd overall.

While I would have liked to finish up the year with the BC Cup Overall win, I am proud to say that I have met all of my goals for the 2010 mountain bike season: Podium finish at a Canada Cup event, top 20 (almost top 15) at a US Nationals event, and a peak performance at a selected event (Edmonton Canada Cup). It has been a year with a lot of off-bike successes and excitement: becoming home owners, getting engaged to Drew, and making it through another year of managing Straight Up Cycles.

Now (after a brief 3 night stay at home) Drew and I will head back to Whistler to work for Shimano at Crankworx. The rest of the month is still up in the air, but will be sure to involve some good wine, good friends, DEFINITELY good food, and hopefully some good riding and surfing!