Quebec is an interesting, and kind of backwards place. It's not like the rest of Canada...and they like it that way. Although we really only saw the airport, Mont Tremblant resort, an IGA and a sketchy gas station in Montreal, there is a distinctly different character to the people of Quebec. They smell like perfume, they wear impractical shoes and designer clothes, and they will line up for hours just for a little scoop of five dollar ice cream... or wait, maybe that's tourists. Either way it was fun pretending to speak french, and having people still reply to us in English. Bonjour, allo, ca va?
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| View of Mont Tremblant resort from the course. |
Other strange things about Quebec are that it is a provincial law to wear full mountain bike equipment when riding, including elbow pads and a back protector. I heard about this ahead of time and thus came prepared, but I haven't worn elbow pads since the summer I crashed enough to scrape my elbow skin into permanent, hardened scars. I don't need elbow pads anymore, I tried to explain, but I didn't know the french words for elbow or scar. Luckily, most riders feel they don't need silly pads, and there were some great counter-fit padding ideas to copy that provided the look of protection without the cumbersome, restrictive nature of actually being protected.
Jeff and I flew from Vancouver to Montreal on the red eye Thursday night. I slept like a baby for most of the flight and had my recurrent Doug Gilmour dream, and we arrived in Montreal bright and early. We picked up our sweet rental car, the Nissan Versa which proved itself worthy of its name. It looked like a go-cart but we easily fit both bike bags, our gear bags, groceries, and Jeff's giant head. Just kidding.
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| Packed to the tits. |
We got to the resort and went for a course walk. I was intimidated, lots of big rocks, right in the middle of the trail too. Lots of pedaling. And it was long. In the words of Jeff, this is the kinda course that when you get to the bottom you feel like a real man. Hmm, I wondered what I would feel like at the end. I hoped that I would still be in one piece.
After our course walk I got my gear together, Jeff kindly reassembled my bike, and I went for a couple laps. I took it easy, had fun, and just rode my bike. I tried to find a little flow in all the rocks. I felt better after, but I didn't quite feel like a man yet.
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| Me and my bike. |
Saturday we trained. It was hot, and part of that weird Quebec law is also that you can't have any exposed skin. We were very sweaty. My morning runs went well, still getting to know the course section by section. The crux of the course is a forested section with a rocky entrance off a ski-run straight away, there is drainage through it, so it is perpetually wet. It is a giant sloping rock that the racers affectionately call "slick rock" that ends in an excessively corrugated bridge into a rock garden that that looks like a petrified pile of sleeping dogs, oh and this is all while making a 180 turn to the right. Cory Leclerc can vouch for this: I don’t really like turning right.
My first run after lunch I finally started to hit sections at speed. I rode the slick rock and pounded my way through the rock garden, I hit the drop after with a reasonable amount of speed and kept pedaling. I let go of my brakes and jumped off rocks to land into more rocks. I got to the bottom and realized, I totally felt like a man.
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| This is Jeff's game face. |
Race day was even hotter than practice day. My back protector was crusty with salt when I put it on in the morning. I was more nervous than I had ever been for a race before, but I tried to relax and focus on the fact that I was prepared. My race run felt good. I pedaled everywhere I could. I hit the rock gardens as fast as I could while staying in control. My lungs and legs were burning at the bottom, but I felt like I had gas in the tank right until the end. I felt like I had a solid run, and I didn’t make any major mistakes. I was glad I got my first race in Quebec under my belt, it was good preparation for National Championships at Mt. St. Anne later this summer.
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| Final jump on the course. |
Jeff told me at the beginning of the weekend that I was going to learn a lot. He was right. There is a lot more to racing than just riding your bike really fast, although that’s obviously an important part of it. There is so much mental preparation and it is so important to have a game plan, especially when you are traveling thousands of kilometers to compete. I have already learned so much this season, and it's just beginning. Thanks Jeff for all your support this weekend, I definitely couldn't have done it without you. And of course, thanks to all of you out in facebook and twitter land, I have the best, most supportive friends! Finally, thanks to D'Arcy for making sure I ride the best, sexiest looking bikes, so I can look sexy riding them.
So, another weekend, another race in the books. Did I mention I came 4th?
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| Women's Elite Podium. (L-R) Me, Danice, Miranda, Katherine, Anne |
