Mansfield OCup Report

The annual OCup at Mansfield went down last weekend... and after a later pre-ride than planned (see Bunny Fun post below...) the Family slept in the Mansfield Cabins before race day.  The kids woke up and had great rides for each of them.... Luke finished up in 7th after just being caught in the last 1/2km and Jake rode hard and finished in 13th spot... only seconds behind the 2 riders in front of him.
As for me... it turned out to be a good day... I came into the race relaxed and feeling slightly tired (which usually means the legs will be good once i get them heated up..) and as expected, I was off the front with Rob and Eric by the top of the first climb.  I got a bit jammed behind people off the start, but got up to the leaders well and had a killer pace going for the first half lap....

At the top of the second major climb of the course, i put in a bit of an effort to get a gap and found one.... which just meant that i had a long way to go before i could relax my pace!!!  Rob is never an easy guy to get away from, so i dug hard for the first couple laps and built my lead before just riding steadily hard for the last couple laps.... The course was in great shape with some good punchy climbs and some fast singletrack.... i can't remember having average speeds this high in races!!!

The spectators always love the famous Exit Wound descent (looking for carnage.... and i'm sure some was displayed!!) which is a set of tight turns and jumps / root drops before shooting you out onto the sandy ditch... Turned out to be a great day for all of us.... tired legs and hungry bellies for the drive home but we all felt good about our efforts and races.  Next up - Sir Sam's OCup this coming weekend.... can you say "Climbing"??!!

Check out our Trek Canada Team webpage at www.trekcanada.ca for updates on the whole Team's adventures!!