There is somewhere less than 300 here racing this weekend, that's pretty good. As for racing, I'm now officially old! The organizer have opted for age categories and no open option... Even though I insisted I'm thirty eleven, I was stuck in the over 40 ...so there you go, guess I finally have to come to terms with being 40.
With lots of rain, and pretty grey at the start I was not sure what to put on for cloths, I chose to keep the undershirt - it was not required. The women got to start in one of the first start chute (yes, old and young once all together), only the young guys in front of us. A neutral start took us to the start of the first climb, a little bit if gravel pathway then Sidewinder up. A great fun climb on a day of just riding, but in a race it is hard!. It's not really easy to pass, hence I made sure to be in a position with not too many in front. Mical and Sandra (not old) stuck in front as well, Mical entered the single track first, then me, and Sandra maybe a few guys behind. The pace was good, I didn't see much point in passing, but left a little space as it was slick and easy to make mistakes (not that Mical makes them), so this prompted some guys from behind to wanna pass, another, another, then Sandra. But we all pretty much crested at the same time, but with a few more people in between us. I now realize how important these little gaps are in a short xc race. One guy in a few spots in front of me makes a mistake at the very top, then the guy behind him can't get up, then I try to swerve around and hit my handle in a tree as there is no room, so now I'm off. By the time I get back up, run up the hill the girls have a nice gap. I'm thinking no big deal, but that was the last I saw of them, Sandra for the rest of the day, for Mical to the very end. After that I felt like I was in a panic mode, my shifting was off, breaks did something odd on the rear, but I didn't stop to check as then a few more guys would get by and I would be stuck behind them. This resulted in a few miss shifts, off the bike, run up, jump on, all in panic mode.... at one point I jumped on the bike so hard my seat flipped up, I got it back in almost right spot, but not a happy bum after.... When we got to the feed station, I finally calmed my self down. Took a second to get off the bike and look rear, as soon as I saw my skewer, it all came back to me from last night changing break pads.... went in the room to get allan key to fix the position, got side tracked and never tightened in properly. It took me about 15 seconds to stop, tighten, and get going..... a few lessons learned - don't work on the bike when the mind is not all there, calm down and focus on riding your own ride. From there in I was back to riding hard but calm, enjoyed the climb up to southern comfort decent where Mical crested just before me, but quickly got stuck behind a guy that had a "near death" experience on the famous bridge that became the talking point of the day, so he was not going fast. She was too nice to try to pass him. Eventually got by, and then had a hoot going down the rest of the decent to the main road back to town. Sandra was in a couple minutes ahead of us - So a close one, Mical probably could have had a minute off the decent if the guy in front would have let us ride like girls down!!
Finished in an hour 46ish... so short day, half of that I had the mind in the wrong place and didn't enjoy it too much, but happy I pulled my head back and the second half was great. The trails, though wet, held up well, Fernie is a great spot to ride and look forward to Day 2 tomorrow.
Get the bike cleaned up, the seat in position, go over every nut and bolt.
Alana (who is also old like me) came in not far back, so she is in second. Lisa came in with her seat in her jersey pocket after loosing to the bridge, so guess I have no complaints about my seat. Pat also had a near death experience on the bridge, and ended up in the bushes just after, Jeff C. after many issues with the bike, lost the battle with the bridge and is now out of the race with a cast on his wrist, deadgoat Kyle lost his battle with the bridge, and so this is wheel, totaled and now also out of the race. And it seemed every one crossing the line after me had a story about a lost battle to the bridge!
Tomorrow we hope the bridges will be gentler :)
Happy Riding!
With lots of rain, and pretty grey at the start I was not sure what to put on for cloths, I chose to keep the undershirt - it was not required. The women got to start in one of the first start chute (yes, old and young once all together), only the young guys in front of us. A neutral start took us to the start of the first climb, a little bit if gravel pathway then Sidewinder up. A great fun climb on a day of just riding, but in a race it is hard!. It's not really easy to pass, hence I made sure to be in a position with not too many in front. Mical and Sandra (not old) stuck in front as well, Mical entered the single track first, then me, and Sandra maybe a few guys behind. The pace was good, I didn't see much point in passing, but left a little space as it was slick and easy to make mistakes (not that Mical makes them), so this prompted some guys from behind to wanna pass, another, another, then Sandra. But we all pretty much crested at the same time, but with a few more people in between us. I now realize how important these little gaps are in a short xc race. One guy in a few spots in front of me makes a mistake at the very top, then the guy behind him can't get up, then I try to swerve around and hit my handle in a tree as there is no room, so now I'm off. By the time I get back up, run up the hill the girls have a nice gap. I'm thinking no big deal, but that was the last I saw of them, Sandra for the rest of the day, for Mical to the very end. After that I felt like I was in a panic mode, my shifting was off, breaks did something odd on the rear, but I didn't stop to check as then a few more guys would get by and I would be stuck behind them. This resulted in a few miss shifts, off the bike, run up, jump on, all in panic mode.... at one point I jumped on the bike so hard my seat flipped up, I got it back in almost right spot, but not a happy bum after.... When we got to the feed station, I finally calmed my self down. Took a second to get off the bike and look rear, as soon as I saw my skewer, it all came back to me from last night changing break pads.... went in the room to get allan key to fix the position, got side tracked and never tightened in properly. It took me about 15 seconds to stop, tighten, and get going..... a few lessons learned - don't work on the bike when the mind is not all there, calm down and focus on riding your own ride. From there in I was back to riding hard but calm, enjoyed the climb up to southern comfort decent where Mical crested just before me, but quickly got stuck behind a guy that had a "near death" experience on the famous bridge that became the talking point of the day, so he was not going fast. She was too nice to try to pass him. Eventually got by, and then had a hoot going down the rest of the decent to the main road back to town. Sandra was in a couple minutes ahead of us - So a close one, Mical probably could have had a minute off the decent if the guy in front would have let us ride like girls down!!
Finished in an hour 46ish... so short day, half of that I had the mind in the wrong place and didn't enjoy it too much, but happy I pulled my head back and the second half was great. The trails, though wet, held up well, Fernie is a great spot to ride and look forward to Day 2 tomorrow.
Get the bike cleaned up, the seat in position, go over every nut and bolt.
Alana (who is also old like me) came in not far back, so she is in second. Lisa came in with her seat in her jersey pocket after loosing to the bridge, so guess I have no complaints about my seat. Pat also had a near death experience on the bridge, and ended up in the bushes just after, Jeff C. after many issues with the bike, lost the battle with the bridge and is now out of the race with a cast on his wrist, deadgoat Kyle lost his battle with the bridge, and so this is wheel, totaled and now also out of the race. And it seemed every one crossing the line after me had a story about a lost battle to the bridge!
Tomorrow we hope the bridges will be gentler :)
Happy Riding!
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| Guess the weather is what it is - and the dark clouds with some breaks does look neat. |
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| Before stage 1 |
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