alberta - part 3 (the race part)

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One of the primary reasons for choosing southern Alberta and Canmore as our hot vacation spot this summer is that it's the location for Nationals. When I first told my mom about the trip, she sort of exclaimed "you race at a national level?!?". Um, nope, but the Boy does. And today, I rode my own race, the National Challenge - pretty much the same course, with fewer laps and no current world cup leaders on the start line.

I did a total of two pre-rides, one on Thursday and one on Friday. On Friday, I managed to convince myself that this terrifyingly steep loose drop called the Eyedropper wouldn't be in my race, so I didn't even bother pre-riding it throwing my bike down and sliding on my feet/bum. There were two other places I flagged for cross-style dismounts, and since I was only here to ride and have fun, just didn't worry about the things I couldn't do (and possibly could have, if I spent more time practicing them).

The first major thing for this race was the riders/managers meeting, where I learned I'd be doing 2 laps. Oh, and that the Eyedropper would be in my race. Hmmm, guess I should have given it another go in practice! I knew from looking at it and from experience, that it would actually be harder to run/slide down than to ride, and it was more a question if I would have the balls to do it on race day.

We had one day, Saturday, off between pre-riding and race day. On Sunday, we woke up early and nervous. Not sure why I was so nervous - I think partially wondering how I'd do with the course, and partially just pre-race nerves, which apparently happen for me whether the race matters or not. We got up to the Nordic Centre, and I had a short warm up before they were calling for riders to the start area. It was a pretty small group, even though they had put the Minime, Novice and Sport women all together for the start.

The course starts with a lot of climbing. Out and up on the gravel access road, under a bridge to come back, and then onto a little section of single track leading to the dreaded Eyedropper. I flubbed the corner before it, and decided that I did not yet have the balls to ride down it. With two riders close behind, the safest thing was to wait for them to pass, and then slowly make my own way down. After I was safely back on terra firma and on my bike, I started up the main climb. More gravel road, winding up to the start of the single track. I caught Lee and a Calgary woman pretty quickly, and stayed ahead for the first downhill single track - a swooping section, which I really enjoyed. It led out to more climbing, mostly single track. I was making pretty good time, and caught one guy from the tail end of the previous group. Up, up, up, followed by a nice, easy double track descent, followed by Laundry Chutes, which was my next section for hoofing it. It was here that Lee caught and passed me, and the Calgary woman caught me, and passed me when I messed up another corner a bit further down the track. I could hear her bear bells ahead of me for much of the rest of the race, but she was stronger in the single track, and I never closed that gap again. So, back out into some climbing (gotta love a trail called EKG), and by this time, my lower back was hating me. I was considering DNFing when I came through the start/finish - I was in pain, I wasn't having much fun, and I just didn't want to do those climbs again. One of the last sections of single track included a long-ish steep chute, and it was another place I kept balking in pre-ride. Today, I kept telling myself it was no worse than anything in the Don. So I rolled up to it, and pushed myself back off the saddle, and rode it. It was so fun! I was super happy, and that kept me going right through the last few fast sections of the course. In fact, it kept me going right to the start/finish, where I forgot that I wanted to DNF, and went back out for lap 2.

Lap 2 was basically the same, except that I rode the Eyedropper. It was so thrilling! I made a mistake and dabbed on the corner previous to it, but there was a woman at the top who talked me through the whole thing. She reassured me that I was still ok, and I could do it. She coached me as I rolled up to the top, and let go of the brakes and rode down. I was so elated, I let out a good "Woot!" at the bottom. All these people who had seen me walk down on the first lap saw me ride that sucker for the first time, and it was so exciting, I actually wished I weren't racing so I could go back up and do it again right away! Otherwise, there were no changes. I nearly caught the bear-bell woman at the top of the course, but she as just far enough ahead that I never caught her.

Final result was last for the Sport women (and actually beaten by the Novice ladies, too), 13min back from the leader. But somehow still one of my most satisfying races, so definitely no complaints.

After a quick cool down, it was time to see the Boy off for his call-up and spend some time in the feedzone. Unfortunately, it was not a good day or a good course for him... altitude, lots of climbing, and very little by way of technical. I heard one of the elite women describe it as "I climbed all that, for this?!", and I definitely had the impression than several riders didn't think it was as good as they could have done. Regardless, the Boy made me proud, riding as best he could despite feeling like he could hardly breathe on the climb. In the end, a double flat ended his day partway through lap 3.