Tough Love

I raced my first MTB race of the year yesterday, in Naniamo on Vancouver Island. Part of the Island Cup MTB Series. It was a strong field, with the Experts/Elite having about 30 guys. I managed to pull out a 3rd place, which I guess I'm happy with, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't going for the win. Andrew rolled in rocking consistency and feeling good at 11th.

So much of mountain biking is about minimizing your mistakes during a race. Its very rare that someone can have a "perfect" race, but I guess its something to continue to shoot for.

The race started off on a long climb, probably about 2km's, and it offered just the right amount of pain. The type of climb that kept twisting around a corner, making you wonder when the goddamned thing would end. This was my first mistake. Right from the gun, I charged the climb being overconfident, and pretty much blew my load within the first 20 minutes. It was hard to recover from that. Old habits die hard as I was pushing much too hard of a gear(single speed legs) which contributed to the burn. Its funny how patience is something always learned the hard way.

Either way a third is still respectable considering Drew Mac, and Matt Hewitt(1 &2) are both ranked top 20 in Canada.

The race didn't leave me without some memento's though. Mid-way through the race I bit it hard over a soaking wet wooden bridge(muddiest race ever!) and managed to rip a pretty solid gash in my leg(slept in a leg warmer last night to keep the yellow pus out of the sheets) and ripped my hip all to hell with a bruise that's the size of my hand. Later on in the night, my other knee swelled up and I couldn't walk on it.It feels like there is a golf ball in the middle of my knee. Also on top of that I woke up sick again. So the next few days are going to be pretty easy for me to say the least.

I've decided(depending on how I feel tomorrow) to cut back from 3 interval days this week to 2. With the Canada Cups looming around the corner, it makes me feel nervous. Yeesh