It has been a battle getting things glued back together after the 2.5 week stint over in Mongolia. For some reason flying east around the globe kicks a guy in the ass a lot more then flying west. We left Mongolia Aug 11th at 11:45 am and got in to Vancouver Aug 11th 11:45 am. We time travelled, and it kicked us in the face. That, combined with 9 days of racing, and I was a hurting unit for a while.
Sunday to Tuesday was a write off.
The World 24 HR Championships were cancelled on Tuesday due to financial issues. This was tough to hear. I know the organizer Stuart Dorland pretty well and realize how tough of a decision this was for him. I don’t know the details of the cancellation but it was a dark day in Marathon cycling to have this event off the calendar. The world of Mountain bike racing is bigger then it has ever been, but it is also spread out over more disciplines then ever as well which is putting a lot of stress on organizers to get the numbers out to support there events. This is a problem which I believe will sort itself out as Mountain bike racing continues to evolve.
Wednesday I woke up feeling like a few of the dark clouds above my head were lifting. I got excited and made the bonehead mistake of racing that evening in the local Victoria cycling league road race. This obliterated me back to square one in my recovery efforts.
Thursday I woke up, closed the blinds to my condo and made like a cave dweller for the day.
Friday it was off to Whistler for Crankworks where Kona had rented the team a house for the week. Our downhill and dirt jump guys were ripping it up. They are tough guys, full of scars from past races, but always ready to giver. I would put them in the same breed as Hockey player’s during the playoffs in their ability to block out injuries and pain yet still perform.
Saturday Kris and I headed down to Squamish for the “JABR” XC race with X-Kona rider Rudi Schneider coming along as support. It was a sweet day of racing in one of the best places to mountain bike in the World. Neal Kindree would take the win with myself 2nd and Kris 3rd. This race will go down in the books as the day of the Watermelon collision.
Riding into the 2nd feed zone of the day pretty dazed, I grabbed a bottle from Rudi and proceeded to poor water over my head. Ripping along pretty good I looked up to see the trail ahead and there was a volunteer running up the trail feeding another racer watermelon and bananas. Stopping suddenly , he pulled a 180 and Kabooom!!! There was an epic explosion of watermelon and Bananas as we collided. He went flying backwards 2 feet and landed on his back/head with fruit everywhere. It was like an open ice hit in Hockey, the one’s where you see nothing and suddenly end up sprawled on the ice wondering what train just hit you. I was even more dazed then before as I hit my head pretty good, but was pretty concerned for the guy lying on the ground. I could tell he was rattled, but he kept insisting I keep racing. Sorry is all I could get out of my mouth as I road away, re-adjusting the bent shifters and brake levers on my handlebars.
I would like to send out a big Sorry to the Watermelon guy in case you are reading this.
After a couple stellar summer days relaxing in Victoria it was time to get back on a plane today. This time the destination is domestic as Kris and I head over to Quebec City for the Inaugural Canadian Marathon Championships. 97 km of racing through rural Quebec with UCI points and a National Champions Jersey on the line! This is a big step forward for the Marathon scene in Canada!
This weekend is the Alberta Provincial XC and Marathon Championships in Hinton Alberta. Good Luck to all those racing out there this weekend!