Today's day in Squamish is living proof that god loves mountain biking and wants us all to be happy while riding. Same course as last year, and I just love it.
After roll out, a drag race up pavement to the gravel to thin out the group. I'm way back, but saw Trish fly by like she meant serious business. Saw her one more time on the gravel climb only a few minutes later and I was amazed how far ahead she had already made it. Last other woman regardless of category that I saw had blown way before.
Settled in for a while with Craig Bartlett from Canmore who's like a metronome. Great pacing. Had fun on all the single track climbing then popped out on the road. Ate a bit then saw Trish up ahead and started closing, then tried to help her with buddy pacing for a while.
Finally pulled into some singletrack descent and just let it roll. Little bit damp today, so rocks and roots wet. Going slow is tempting but counterintuitive - if you're on a rock or root for a second your tire has time to slide down the way it wants you to. If you're going fast, you're fine. All the Challenge riders are polite and pull off, but almost too polite. Maybe they want little breaks, but to me it's fine if they just move to the side a bit and let a roll by happen, it's certainly not my expectation they pull over and put a foot down a hundred times a day.
Got to Half Nelson and rolled it the best I could, it was timed. Lost my tools and such out of my pocket. The Whistler time this year helped a lot, I could clear a lot more of the doubles. So fun. Just rode the lefty around the corners driving it into the berms keeping it as perpendicular to the berm as possible so centrifugal force negates the need for actual traction.
Got to another swoopy section and Dre pulled away from me like I was standing still, I'd hoped I could watch the flow a bit. Nope... not fast enough.
Next section of roots and rocks was damp and carnage - tough to flow with random skinnies in the middle of tight sections. Took the brakes off and flew through, first place I caught someone who's usually been higher in the standings.
Crumpet Woods was damp enough to be tacky but not slippery. So fun. Pinned it in on the flats after and had a mediocre time overall. Made up a bunch after the slow start. Not doing the ABA XC and road season plus a lot of other things has sapped me of the ability to do the fast starts the same.
Staying up in whistler tonight to skip the bus ride in the morning.
So fun overall. This is a shining example of how good mountain biking can be.
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