I entered the Mt. Tremblant Canada Cup with a sense of last redemption. The 2 Canada Cups before it were a wash, and these strings of races looked the same as the others had the years before. No stellar results and ton of bad luck and bad legs. I was looking foreward to the end of it so the crew and I could hit the road. I was missing home, and the slow island life.
I again went into the race very calm and relaxed, as much as you could knowing that you have a world class pain train ahead of you. As usual, I was at the back of the pack. No call up for Ryan, but ended up a little better around 60th spot of 80.
As the gun went I was still calm. I reminded myself to take it easy and I was only going about 80% on the first climb before we went into the woods. Steadily I worked my way up and up. You don't really know how high up you are because it seems there is always 20 riders ahead when you start in the sixties. So for the first lap I worked and worked. Then toward the end of the first I noticed some familiar faces I was racing with....and passing. I kept putting the pedal to the medal and riding the tech zones well and before I knew it I was in the top 20. Even on the climbs I was doing well, against the teeny tiny climbers.
I realized I had the best positioning in any Canada Cup I ever entered but I kept my head down and kept working.
I had to collect myself and keep the nerves cool when the people who said they would feed me that morning before the race didn't bother to show up. Luckily I had put my bottles at the feed zone so I could personally get them. Its a real pain when your doing pace line up a ski-hill in your big ring with a group of the best athletes in Canada and then you have to stop, pull over, and get your own water bottle while everyone just keeps cruising. Lesson learned.
On the race went. I steadily kept working as the heat pounded down and I was pretty much ecstatic going into the 5th lap(of 6). This would be the best Canada Cup race I've ever had, I would be catapulted up in th rankings, and I would be in the money for the day.
I was pretty much in tears when I came around toward the start of the 5th lap when a characteristic Tremblant rock sliced through my tire. I couldn't believe it as I heard the whissssssss and looked down to see the Stans tire sealant piss out of my tire. As I pulled over, grabbed my tube and tightened my Co2 cartridge it went off on a weird angle and I instantly lost about half of the air. I couldn't believe it.
On and on I collected myself, got the tube changed, and rolled on, but because of the lost air I could only put in minimal pressure in the tire so it washed out around most corners. At this point I was back in the 30's/40's and I kept the pace up just to finish the race. Then, because of the low air pressure the tube flatted again, and I was done. I didn't have another tube, or air. So I ran the last 20 minutes of the race. I ended up 57th.
After I was a mixed bag. I was so angry and disappointed I could barely talk. But on the other hand I was so internally excited because I knew I had the legs to be up there with the top guys in Canada. For years I had been looking for a race like that, where I managed to pull it all together. Even though it fell through at the end, it was out of my control, and you have to look at it with "shit happens" viewpoint.
So, I'm back on PEI and for the next week I've decided to get my bearings together and chill out. I haven't unpacked the car yet, or any luggage(luggage from BC still isn't unpacked) so I'm looking to get settled at least for a few weeks, keep putting the miles in and see what the legs are doing after that.
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