Hot racing!

So this last weekend I raced the Mount Saint Anne world cup. I've often had good races here as it is a nice technical course and I like technical, however this year it was not to be. I have been working trail building in Canmore at the Nordic Centre, and it has been cold there all spring. We had snow 2 weeks ago, and consequently I have zero heat adaptaition. I was hoping that I would be fine - since the forecast for Quebec was for rain and cold weather, but race day was beautiful and sunny - and cooking like a wet sauna.

I had a good start to the race with 3rd Canadian call up, and made use of it to hold my position up the first climb. Then in the woods there were a few sections of trail were there were two singletrack options, and I made a few good choices and passed a ton of people (I rode down the chicken line beside Beatrice and passed about 10 folks who were walking it). So first lap was in the books as a good one and I was happy because it felt like i really hadn't gone that hard but was in a great position, then on lap 2 I let a few people past and headed up the gravel climb and WHAM! That is where I felt like death, it felt like I had lighter fluid poured on my arms and lit on fire - I wasn't even sweating - just burning up. Eventually I got back into the shade and felt a little better and the rest of the lap was ok. Then lap 3 and 4 I just felt terrible and really wanted to lie in the creek at the top of the race course, I savoured the few drops of cold water that splashed up on my legs - indeed the memory of it is still glorious! Anyway, I kept going and dumped lots of water on myself at the feed/tech zone and eventually I got pulled by the commisaire for riding too slowly, but I was happy about it because that was enough suffering for one day.

So this week I have been trying to ride at the hottest time of the day to get adapted for the Windham world cup next weekend. Hopefully that one goes better!

Can you see the flames on my arms?