Mt. Tremblant

Mt. Tremblant is a neat place to visit. The village is set up quite uniquely with cobbelstone through the village and a gondola from the bottom to the top of the village, because it is built on such a steep incline. The best coffee is at the top of the village, and it's a good thing that I won't stay long here. $4.50 for a very small mocha. That's the Tremblant tax for you.

My race went well. I felt good for the first few laps and by the end of it I was smashed (i.e. tired) That's the way a race should go. I enjoyed the race and was happy that I did it. I still need to slash 17 min off my time, but I think that can be achievable in the next three weeks. My improvements are still in big incriments, whereas the top riders I'm sure struggle to take 5 min off their time.

Tonight is the first night that is has rained on me in the evening. Fortunately I have a shelter under the chairlift that I could make my dinner and an area inside to type away on my computer, so no complaints about living out of the van yet.

Pre Mont tremblant Race

I’ve decided that there is no medium whether in Quebec… only extremes. It’s either freezing cold, or super hot. In the last two days it has warmed up to be 32 humid degrees. I break out into a sweat just lifting my leg over the bar to get on my bike. At night under the light it looks like there is smoke in the air from the moisture that is lurking around. I think it wants to rain on the nice dry course.

The course is the same as last year. It’s a very technical course. One that you almost want a jockey strap to race in, girl or guy. There are many steep sections over big rocks that you get right over the back wheel for. Then there’s the wooden down ramp with hay bails beside it for those who fall off. It’s actually easier to ride it than walk down it. I’ve tried. The bars on the ramp are enough to numb your arms by the bottom of it, so you are very relaxed for the rocky section that follows. I love that it is so technical, and that there are sections that I don’t think I rode last year that I can this year. That’s the great thing about having repetitive courses, you get to know them, and you see the improvement.

I’ve been humming and hawing as to whether to race this weekend. I know that I am stronger than last year, so I’ve decided to race against myself, as I will have my last years time to beat.

Bromont

The Mtn Bike racing season in Canada seems to play out the same every year. Bromont is always cold and muddy. It rained in the week leading up to the race and fortunately it stayed dry race day to let some of the mud disapate.

The momentum for the season is building and the numbers on the start line increased for this race.

They say that you only get faster by riding with the fast riders. At this point in time I believe that I may have jumped too quickly into the deep end.

I love the sport. I'm just not fast enough.

One thing that I really appreciate about this sport.... when I've lost my confidence in my ability to race, the fact that one of the podium riders can approach me, ask my how my race went and offer support. I could never see this happening in road racing.

Baie St Paul Race

It felt like summer when I left the Okanagan and drove across the country to winter in Quebec. 69 hours of driving to get to Baie St. Paul. Thank goodness I had help with the driving, otherwise I may not have made it here in 5 days.

The course at Baie St. Paul had changed from last years technical course (which I had my big crash on last season.) The reason: because there was still snow on the higher trails. The course organisers were busy doing snow removal so that we could have the race on the weekend.

It wasn't a very technical course, but a fun one to start the season on. The numbers on the start line were few, but the names spoke for themselves as some of the world's best were there. For me, after 5 days of sitting in the van, I felt like I had forgotten my legs back in BC. It was a good race to start with.

On a side note, I recomend anyone interested in Art to visit Baie St. Paul. There are as many galleries in the small little town as there are Starbucks in Vancouver. In BC if you were to tell someone that you were an artist they would ask, "but what do you do?" In the Quebec city area, I believe the common response would be, "Oh you're an artist too."

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