Race Report: Canada Cup #2, Tremblant

Race Day: Course runs right through the village on a "cobble stone" climb

If you have already seen the results for the Canada Cup at Tremblant, you may think that perhaps I didn't have a very good day. And that's just not true. It's also not true that I "Did Not Finish" because I sure remember churning out a very challenging 5 x 6.7km laps. So that's the short of it.

The long of it is that there is a "cut off" rule in Canada Cups. Meaning if you do not make it in for your last lap by a certain time, you are listed as DNF. Of course, you never know for sure until the results are posted, so off I went to race a final lap in vain. I don't think I missed the cut off by much and I know I won't let it happen again. That bit of administrivia aside, I actually had a pretty damn good day.

Course Map: 5 x 6.7km laps

When I woke up, I thought I could hear dripping outside my window. Panicked I jumped out of bed and threw back the curtains to see if it had rained on my Quebecois parade. It hadn't. The drip was just a red herring and the sun was shining in a clear blue sky. Perfect race conditions. But, that burst of energy confirmed that my knee was a-ok, so I was stoked.

I packed up and headed down for a scrumptious breakfast at Catherine's, where I ate every morning the last time I was at Tremblant (I was 18 on a ski vacation ... been awhile!) I think crepes should be the start of every race day. Actually, they should be the start of every day, period.

After a few last minute preparations, I crawled back into bed for 40 minutes to calm my thoughts and rest my legs. Before I knew it, it was time to warm up. I put in a good hour spinning before the race to help deal with the nerves. I went to check on the feed zone, the start area and double checked the rules before doing a couple hill repeats and lining up.

Quebec racing is all about rules. And the consequences for not abiding are dire. It seems the recourse for every violation is "Off with his head!" DH-ers have it especially bad. In Ontario, you throw on your shorts, jersey, armour, helmet and giv'er. In Quebec, no skin can show. Not even peeking through the gap between your armour and your shorts. Not even fingerless gloves are allowed. If you don't folllow this rule, you are DQ'd. If you don't check in, DQ'd. If you are caught riding your bike in the village, DQ'd. The best part is, you usually don't find out until the race is over. A guy on our XC team raced an expert race in Quebec back in the day. He raced really well, came second but found out he was DQ'd because he didn't answer "here" loud enough when the commissaire called out the racers' names at the start. So you can see, it's very important to mind the rules.

Anyway, I was well within the rules and all was well. The start was a very aggressive elbows-out affair and the course pitched up immediately and stayed up for a long, long time. The climbing was mainly gradual and then spiked into some steep loose sections to keep you honest. By the time I got into the first single track, my vision was getting shaky from the exertion. But then the flow starts and you get a bit of recovery before the next climb.

Here's a video of the start from cyclingdirt.org ... see me?



The climbing was tough, it's true, but by the 3rd lap, I was treating the climbs almost as a break. My body was taking a real beating through the single track. It was very rough, with tons of rocks and roots to throw the bike around. Riding a good line was challenging but as things went on, I felt I was getting smoother and smoother. Arm pump was making it difficult to hold onto the handlebars and the rough course combined with oxygendebt-influenced-vision made it delightfully challenging. And I'm not being sarcastic here at all. The course was tough enough that it kept my focus right where it needed to be. My mind didn't have the lee-way to wander into negative territory so I just kept hunting and pushing.

Coming through the village

I admit I'm not the strongest technically, but I was pleased to see I was reeling girls back in on the flatter sections and the climbs. It was a really fun day out there and I finished feeling like I'd raced to the best of my abilities. I'd kept crashing to a minimum, and I felt like I'd emptied all the gas from the tank. As soon as I finished, I happily plunked myself down in the team tent where Carly handed me an apple and a Lara Bar and I smiled at what I felt was a great accomplishment. Just because the results don't agree is no skin off my back. Can't wait to try again.

Here's Cyclingdirt.org's race video: I'm in there somewhere. I think around 3:49. By way of explanation, this is right after the big climb at the start of the lap. Don't worry, as soon as my vision returned I passed that girl.

Tremblant, Day 1: Pre-ride!

I made a decision this season to stretch myself a little more in terms of race experience. I wanted to broaden my horizons so to speak, and take on greater challenges (not that racing so far hasn't been challenging enough ...)

I took the day off work on Friday and got a head start out east Thursday night. After a peaceful night passed on the shore of Charleston Lake, lulled to sleep by the frogs in the Bay, I set off to meet my grampa in Gananoque for breakfast before rolling out for the border. It was an early start so the light was lovely. I got some nice pics of the lake at its calmest, as well as some of the spring blooming going on. Click to enlarge!




The drive to Tremblant from Gananoque was exciting. Driving in Quebec is a much different experience than Ontario. The construction was one thing, but then there was also this nagging feeling that there just wasn't as much room to get around. I mean that in terms of the space other drivers give you and in the seemingly non-existant on merging lanes to get on and off all the different highways I tried out. But enough of that. The minivan and I made it just fine.

Once I got to Tremblant it was a whole other story. Finding the hotel proved one of the more challenging tests of the weekend. At last, I narrowed its location down to the parking garage but couldn't figure out where to check in. So I did a quick walk around the vicinity and discovered the reception. I also discovered a sign telling me the reception had been moved to another hotel and so the search resumed. All this messing around was cutting into my preride time so I was getting quite antsy. Finally, I got kitted up, and went out to see what I could see. Mostly, I saw the end of very long registration line-up.

At last, I was grinding my way up the first of many uphill kilometres. I was so happy to be out in the sun on a new course. It was my first time racing in Quebec, and my first time riding XC there so I was eagerly lapping it up (excuse the pun). The first section of singletrack was everything I hoped for and more. And each section afterwards seemed to get ever-the-more challenging so I was definitely getting the stretch I was after. That feeling of accomplishment after sessioning the tough spots and riding out successfully is what makes the sport so fulfilling.

Here are some shots from the course:




Of course, about then is when I let my elation get the better of me, stopped paying attention for a split second and slammed my front tire into a tall root. That set off a chain of events that left me choked-up trail side while I waited for the blinding pain to go away. The root jarred my progress so much that my foot came unclipped on a trajectory that landed my pre-damaged knee straight into the stem.

So much for preriding. Since I couldn't walk very well, and climbing was no longer on the menu, I went back to the Sweet Pete's/Primary-Trek tent to lick my wounds. And that's where my frown was turned upside down again!

I was lucky that Chris from Sweet Pete's was there with the Primary-Trek downhill team. The DH races were set to run on Sunday so Tremblant was full of riders of all kinds. Chris introduced me to a number of extremely helpful people over the weekend. First was Jean, a truly amazing mechanic. He was kind enough to "Make-Ready" my bike so at least it would be in racing shape come Saturday, even if I wasn't. Cables were greased, shifting fine-tuned and then we even reset the controls on my handlebars allowing me to brake one-fingered, and shift with just my thumb. This came in handy big time on the rough singletrack and descents. Arm pump crept right up into my fingernails at times so I was grateful I didn't have far to move my digits to scrub speed and change gears. Then he even polished it up for good measure.

Jean makes ready my trusty steed

The next person Chris introduced me to was his lovely wife Carly. She cooked up an amazing pre-race pasta spread complete with cheese and cracker appetizer and served with a side of ice-pack for my wounded knee. I vote Carly the weekend's MVP because as if that weren't enough, she was a willing volunteer to bake in the feed zone on my behalf for the duration of the race. So thanks to Chris and Carly for all your help this weekend!

After a great dinner, it was off to the hotel room (not an easy feat ... still averaging about 30 minutes to find my room at this point) to mix my potions and get some rest. When I got there, I discovered I'd deactivated my room key, so I had to hike around to find the other hotel, get it remagnetized and then find my way back, but even with that little hiccup, it was a lovely night in Tremblant. If I didn't have a race the next day, you'd have found me at the Cafe D'Epoque swilling beers on the patio for sure.

I slept great, and woke up ready to rip. And thanks to religious icing and copious amounts of Advil, even my knee was on board.

To close, here is the pre-race coverage from Cyclingdirt.org: