I know this is a delayed post and I apologize. It is extremely difficult to work a full-time job, race every week-end, train/ride when you can and still hold down some sort of social life. Lesser priority things - like blogs, sometimes get put on the back-burner. However, with that being said I finally have some free time to fill you in on my racing. Two week-ends ago was the kick-off to the Canada Cup series and for the last couple of years that has brought us Quebec and the beautiful resort of Mont Tremblant. I flew out of Kelowna early on Thursday morning with plans to meet my budday, Jamie Biluk, in Montreal late in the afternoon. Jamie is a fellow downhiller from North Van with some serious skills - on AND off the bike, he would be my companion for the weekend. After meeting my 'boyfriend' in Montreal it was time to locate my luggage (which seemingly didn't happen to show up), car rentals and to get the fuck to Tremblant as it is a hour and a half drive from Montreal. My 'cousin' Joel, who works for Enterprise, hooked us up with a sweet deal on a car for the weekend. However, because my lover and I are under the age of 25 they could only rent us a small piece of shit, but the budday budday that was helping us HOOKED US UP with a gnarly full size van that could have housed the Beverly Hillbillies. It was sick. We located my bike and luggage, thanks Air Canada - we aren't happy, unless you're unhappy. Made it to Tremblant - found our pimp hotel, built bikes, went to bed. Quebec in notorious for torrential wet weather that doesn't letup for weeks on end. The last couple of years Tremblant has been good to us and blessed us will unseasonably hot, sunny, weather and this year was no different - 30 degrees everyday. Friday and Saturday were busy with walking the course and doing practice runs. Tremblant, I would argue, is the hardest track in Canada, super tech and gnar right off the bat and doesn't let up for the entire four minutes with a few pedaly sections thrown in. It sounds like a good time but you are never full flat out and pinned - hard to describe, and even harder to tell if you are riding like a Joey or on pace. I felt like a was riding like a Joey. Saturday night Red Bull hosted an event called Red Bull Monte Descend. It is a team event were an xc rider rides up, tags a downhill rider, who rides down and the team that can do as many 'laps' in an hour and a half wins. Red Bull athlete Steve Smith and his budday won. Speaking off Steve Smith - the pro turnout for this first round of the Canada Cup was huge. It seems that everyone is coming out of the woodwork and vying for points because of the World Cup in New York and World Champs at Mont St Anne. With 75 guys in the elite field and the hardest track in Canada I knew Sunday would be a challenge, however, with my sixth place finish last year I knew that I was capable of a good result. I put together a pretty solid run with only a few minor mistakes in the top woods (nothing to write home about) however, in the last wooded section I hit a rock that blew both my feet of the pedals in a crucial section of the track were carrying speed is vital. I got back up to speed and crossed the line with a 4:09, which placed me 9th in elite men and 10th overall for the day. I was happy with that. With the mistake I had and the field of riders that were in attendance it think walking away with a top 10 is satisfactory. Steve Smith won (4:00), Tyler Morland in second and Dean Tennant in third.
1 Steve Smith (Evil Bikes/Red Bull) 4:00.105 0:00
2 Tyler Morland (Rock Shox/Kenny Smith) 4:01.981 0:01
3 Dean Tennant (Dunbar Cycles/Sombrio) 4:02.774 0:02
4 Matthew Beer (On The Edge FRMS) 4:03.219 0:03
5 Hans Lambert (Primary-Trek) 4:07.771 0:07
6 Andy Thibodeau (Gravité Sports) 4:08.445 0:08
7 Franck Kirscher (Lama Cycles) 4:08.976 0:08
8 James Biluk (Cove Bikes/bondtraining.) 4:09.036 0:09
9 Tyler Gnitt 4:09.174 0:09
10 Rob Fraser (Primary-Trek) 4:10.533 0:10
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