Mont Sainte Anne World Cup 2012

After a disappointing Nationals last weekend, I was looking to have a strong race on the very challenging course at Mont Sainte Anne. I had a solid week of preriding and learning the course and I was ready for the punishment MSA always dishes out, and it’s a good thing I was. Just before our 4:30pm race, it poured rain and totally soaked the mostly dry course. I luckily had time to change my tires and the race went really well with no huge crashes, but lots of slideouts and some running. I ended up 9^th and got my first top 10 in a U23 World Cup, which I will hopefully be able to improve on this weekend at the Windham World Cup.

On the startline

Check out more photos and our team report at www.trekcanada.ca

Canadian MTB Nationals 2012

Back on the road for our second roadtrip of the year, we made the 1000km journey up to St. Felicien in northern Quebec for Nationals. This was my third trip to St. Felicien and not much had changed since I had been there for Nationals in 2009 (it's still a small northern Quebec town with a zoo). The whole week leading up to the race was hot and sunny which made for a great, dry course. It was a similar course to the one we raced in 2009, with a some new sections and a few sections taken out to shorten it to 5km. My race was a tough 4 laps and I was disappointed with my 6th place position after having a great Canada Cup season, but it was definitely a learning experience and I will be building off this race for the upcoming World Cups.

U23 Women Start

Mitch had an amazing race, finishing 2nd in the U23 mens race after a tough battle with local Leandre Bouchard. Peter also had a great race finishing 6th in the elite mens category. Jon Barnes won his 2nd national title in the Master's 30-39 men category on Sunday after a very close 5 lap race.

Champagne showers

 

A huge thank you to Trek, SRAM and all our supporters! Check out Trek Canada for more updates and photos!

Hardwood Canada Cup #3 (It's gonna get crazy)

Wow, Hardwood can actually get muddy! Who knew? After almost 2 months of super dry conditions, no one really expected it to be a wet race (at least I didn't). Fortunately the rain held off for most of the weekend and we even had a little sunshine here and there. The Hardwood Canada Cup is the biggest XC race in Ontario, with over 700 racers and many more spectators. This year it was also the last of the Canada Cup races for 2012.

The weekend started off with a youth preride with Trek Canada team and Emily Batty (Subaru-Trek). We had an awesome turnout with almost 40 kids joining in on the fun! After the preride we headed to the Subaru tent to sign "autographs" and give out Subaru cow bells to all our supporters.

Almost 40 kids joined in on the Trek Canada preride!

 Once again Sunday rolled around quickly and just as I started my warmup, the rain started coming down. The first few laps were fairly dry, but as the race went on the rain didn't let up and the course started to get interesting. There were a few super slippery spots in the singletrack, but the Bontrager 29.1 tires turned out to be a perfect choice, giving me some much needed traction, but not slowing me down on the hardpack sections. The Superfly 29er was also a great bike for the course, flowing easily over the rock piles and down "boneshaker." I had a strong race to finish 6th in elite and 2nd U23. Emily Batty took the win (on her Superfly), beating the Canada Cup series winner Sandra Walter by just under 3 minutes.

A huge thank you to Trek and Subaru for the great support over the weekend, and to all the fans who toughed it out in the pouring rain to cheer us on! I knew our home crowd was hardcore!