Rockies!!!

This past weekend was a highlight on the race schedule as racing bud Simon and I got to return to the Rockies for a couple of races up at the Canmore Nordic Center. World cups, 24 hr Worlds, Canada Cups, Nationals, TransRockies, Alberta Cups, Canmore does it all.

After pre-riding what could be the best XC course in Canada on friday evening I drove into Calgary to visit my buddy and sponsor at Triway Racing, Luke Way to fit the new factory racing bikes. 3 hrs later I rolled away from Lukes bike fitting sanctuary with the 29’r and dualie dialed in to the max. Pretty stoked to test them out I headed back to Canmore for a solid sleep before the XC race on saturday.

XC Saturday:

With over 250 riders and 26 elites on the start line including Canada cup smashers Stefan Widmer (Rocky) and Matt Hadley (Xprezo) it was going to be fast. For some reason the pace was a little slack heading up the first climb. With the race only being 1.5 hrs long I was keen on making it hard so I sprinted off the front. Soon after Widmer over took me and rolled around the wickedly fun 6 km potential National’s course to take a 2 min victory. Hadley and I rode togethar for 2nd till the final lap until I lost some steam, flatted, had a C02 malfunction, walked for 5 minutes to find a pump, hand pumped the wheel and then rolled in for 9th.

5hr Marathon Sunday:

Sunday’s Marathon was too much fun to even talk about. A 12 km course full of Canmore goodness, blue sky, 230 riders, 1 bear, and a super dialed in organization (Cyclmesiters out of Calgary) and it was for sure a highlight of the racing season. After getting in some crap for launching an attack in the XC event I made sure to do the same here. Sure its just an Alberta Cup race but I figure any race before Nationals should be ridden at 100% effort as these are training tools for the big events to come. I can gurantee the start at Nationals or 24 hrs Worlds is going to be a sprint at 110% so a guy might as well get use to it beforehand so he can be ready when it really counts.

After getting a sizeable gap, Stefan Widmer rode up to me but soon flatted and I was on my own finishing the first lap in 35 minutes. One lady wanted to disqualify me as she figured I cheated and cut the course. Thanks for the compliment. The rest of the race was textbook, legs were operating at full steam, the Hei Hei Supreme soaked up the technical course and the lap times stayed pretty consistent> 35 min, 38 min, 40 min, 41 min, 40 min, 39 min.

In the end I had a sizeable gap over the next solo and managed to beat the top team by a couple minutes. Now if the legs can keep that going for another 19 hrs then we may be in business at 24 hr Worlds this fall.

Off to the coast for a bit of downtime before the real first test of the season comes this weekend at the 67 km Test of Metal in Squamish. With Canada’s two best riders on the start line, Geoff Kabush (Rocky Mountain-Maxxis) and Max Plaxton (Sho-Air Specialized) it is going to be the real deal.