So the days leading up to Tremblant's Canada Cup were a bit moist, soggy, and thoroughly saturated with water.... we received 50mm of rain in the 24hrs leading up to Race Day... and Tremblant with it's snow is always a bit wet in the spring thaw every year.... but you can't get upset about what you can't control... just meant that we spent more time cleaning equipment!! I rolled out with Mitch and Karlee in a rather stuffed vehicle and settled into our condo on the Thursday before the race....
The wet weather meant that the Bontrager 29-1's that are meant for dry and fast conditions would be coming off everyone's bikes, and were replaced with the beefy and more aggressive 29-2's...
The start was at the bottom of the village this year, which meant there would be a long push to get to the first singletrack... and as expected Rob and I were off the front pretty quickly and riding alone for the race. We moved through lapped riders pretty well, and each of us had our Bad Moments in the mud and rocks but ultimately stayed together. A new twist coming up the Pedestrian Village added a bit of Urban Skillz to the climb... but nothing we couldn't handle...
Laps rolled past and mud accumulated.... as well as a few scrapes and bruises.... and the Turning Point as they call it on TSN was me slipping out on a root and landing awkewardly on my left leg... jamming my knee under my bars and leaving it numb and unable to hold weight for a bit.... so I walked it off while having a conversation with a Commissaire (Him in Frenglish - Is there anything i can do? Me through gritted teeth - No. Him - I could get a medical person? Me - Just give me a second... Him - Do you want me to contact someone? Me - Just hold my bike and be quit for a minute...) and then i parked myself back on my bike to see how things were. Not bad but not great.. made it through the last lap with only 1 Near Death Descent that left me wondering how i managed to surf the muddy downhill rock berms with 1 foot clipped in while laying on my saddle... Phew... Made it to the line in 2nd and alive...
The evening consisted on a Team Pot Luck to use left over food and a serious cleaning mission... thanks to Mechanic Zack for taking care of us and our bikes....
Although Zack was the one who insisted on "just one beer" at the Petit Caribou... which turned into Team Shooters which turned into Team Hangover as shown above...
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