Hardwood Canada Cup

i have always loved racing at Hardwood... and this year was no different. For the 2nd year, the Trek Canada / Global team held a Pre-ride and poster signing session.... with huge success!! we had LOTS of kids out to ride with us (i was lucky enough to ride with the Minime Girls ... who are FAST!!!) and a great group of adults come out for some riding. It was a lot of fun and a great way to get together with some fans / fellow racers for a fun ride....

as for the race... it was a ton of fun also.... a great course and some pretty dry and dusty conditions. I knew that i wanted to be near the front off the start (thanks to Fred Seaman for the call up) and i found a nice draft on the long double track climb. Rob Parniak beat me to the first piece of single track, and i knew right away that it was going to be a good day. Legs felt great on the climbs, heart rate was under control, XR1 tires were biting hard and i was enjoying myself.... so i hit the 2nd piece of single track in the lead and let it go.... got my gap and felt good enough to keep the pressure for the entire race.... i loved being the first group for our start time and having an open trail to let things roll....

hit the finish line with a good sized lead and still had plenty left in the tank if i needed it.... it was nice to have the Team place well... Emily also won, Mical was 2nd, and Peter, Adam and Eric drove the Chase Train for a lot of laps before finishing 4, 6 and 7th.... fun to watch the battle...

It was so nice having the whole team together again.... staying together, eating together and cleaning bikes together.... i usually just sit back and listen to the talk about techniques, bike set up, foam roller active release and learn a whole bunch from the young, high end members of the team....

i also had the Family show up.... my parents as well and Sue and the kids... so it was nice for them to ride around and enjoy the course... although Sue no longer like Peter for encouraging my kids to run up and down the Boneshaker :)