Trials Race #2

Well I am now in Kamloops after an insane drive from Canmore last night! I decided to leave last night due to the weather report. I am glad I did, checking the road report I saw that the shorter route is closed. But I must admit that the drive last night was one of the worst I have had to endure in quite a while! Anyway back to the title of this post....

Yesterday was the 1.7 km Classic sprint/ Qualifying race for the Classic sprint to be held in Whistler on Jan 17. I will give you the play by play of how the day unfolded for me.

Monday....Had pre-race nerves 1 day early...very wierd for me...went about my race prep as usual and came to the decision I was going to double pole the hilly course on skate skis (which only a small handful of us did!)

Tuesday...Woke up and had an amazing coffee!!! (thanks Brian!) headed up to the race site after a meager breakfast (just wasn't feeling the food).
Checked the course and it was a go...Double Pole for sure! did my usual warm up and suprisingly kept quite relaxed. GO TIME! I came off the start relaxed and skiing very big, hit the first hill, shortened my tempo and pushed the corner hard and pushed far over the top....Final climb, Tighened my core and got on top of my poles....hit the top, pushed hard over and into a tuck, rode the downhill and waited for the finish stretch...it came what felt like was way to quickly (thanks Erik and Amy for Dynamite Skis!!!) and was on my toes to the finish line....9th place

I went back to the wax room and proceded to Vomit 3 times...in the words of Amy..."That's how you know you have gone hard enough!" I headed back down to Brian and Barbs Place for a short rest, most of which was spent trying to eat half a bagel and lying on the hardwood floor (was actually quite comfy!) Headed back to the race site and decided to switch to striders for the Heats. Dialed in some of the sickest classic skis I have ever raced on, and was set!

First heat...Looked like it was to be quite easy, I took off the line like a rocket 3 strides and I was leading the heat, I relaxed into big double poles, hit the first hill and tucked over the top, Got owned on the big climb, now in 4th, I then realized how good my skis were when I caught right back up to they group. I then rounded the last 180 corner to the approach of the finishing stretch. I tucked longer than the other 3 and then threw on the after burners and cut it close but made 3rd place in my quarter final.

Semi final...Stacked...alot of big names and fast guys, judging by the way i felt in the last heat I can admit I was very nervous...I tried to call on my legs and they weren't there. So it was decided that if I had them to go for it. I started out the same as the previous heat, charging hard off the start and relaxing into a big double pole up front, I also skied the second hill so much better and ddint lose hardly any time! I rounded the corner at the top and was in touch with the group, I hit the finish stretch and GAME ON! Well I tried anyway, it was close we all finished quite close but I was still outside of the top 3, B final for me....Despite being mad as hell I was still happy to see that my body had come back after that embarassing first heat.

B-Final...Started out all of them the same and was out front with Cam on my side. Hit the big hill and...KABOOOOOM! Chris was done for the day, I got dusted so hard on that hill and lost so much time. I did manage to pull some time back on the downhills and flats. The finish stretch I did have a little bit of a finishing kick and came back on 11th place, but still no dice....12th place was the finishing result.


I am not sure if this result is good enough to get me into the World Cup in Whistler, but I think it will be close, I will let you all know if I get in, I imagine that CCC will announce it soon, But then again ya never know. So I have to admit, I am quite disappointed with my weekend, But I am still able to pull out some positives and also found a few things to work on.

Until Next time!!!



C