Windham World cup finals

So Catherine and I made the drive down from her cottage in Gatineau in 2 parts. We stopped along the way and tented one night, it was nice and relaxing, although it did rain in the morning and we ate breakfast under a tree. The next day we drove to Windham and did a few laps of the course, it was super muddy and kind of soupy.

That night we camped again at a very sketchy campground, the worst I have ever been at. We ended up just getting a site in the back woods and showering in the creek, and we had steak over the camp fire, so it was fun. Oh, and it rained all night. Then we moved into a motel and it quit raining - ironic hunh?

Today was race day, I had a decent start and then moved up the whole race. Lap 1 and 2 I didn't feel the best but kept pushing, I had to out sprint riders to get into the singletrack first, so that took a lot of effort and I couldn't ride the top of the descent super well, but by lap 3 I had it figured out and rode the climb really well and then could catch and pass riders on the descent. It was full on NASCAR passing, but super fun. There were 4 sections on the descent I could pass, 3 on small uphills and 1 where I would out sprint someone from singletrack down a grass descent and then nab them into the next corner. Definately did some 2 wheel slides.

There were tons of flat tires. Lots of people were clobbering rocks on the descent and flatting. On Lap 5 Derek came out of the tech zone at the same time as me, and we rode a lap together and did the descent with Mike Broderick, so it was fun because all 3 of us were about the same speed, and we closed a big gap to the rider in front of us and majorly gapped the group behind us. For lap 6 I was able to pass Derek at the top of the climb and get into the singletrack first. I rode it really well and closed the gap to two other riders. I passed one of them on the descent and the 3 of us were in single file with me in the lead coming out of the last corner. I waited a bit and carried more momentum through a ditch and sprinted hard to take 38th place. Definately my best world cup this year, and my best result at a stacked field. For the record I was top Canadian, and 3rd North American!!!

Catherine Vipond (catherinevipond.weebly.com) had a good race for 42, and Catharine Pendrel (cpendrel.blogspot.com) had a great one for 1st, and 1st overall! Good race for team Valleyview house.