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Originally I was only planning on attending Bromont but when I was given the opportunity to go to Tremblant I couldn't pass on it. Burnsy and I found an awesome house about 10k from the mountain. The house was wicked cheap. During the planning process (about 2 or 3 days before departure) John said he wanted a 3rd person to go to help feed us. Well turns out I have an amazing girl friend who took 3 days off of work to join us. Hattie was the Team Manager, Chef, massage therapist, and overall great company. It was a huge help to have her on the trip. Plus it also meant I didn't have to leave her at the house to work while I went on a vacation. 

So long story short, we had a full car for the long trip up to Tremblant. Again we got stuck going through Montreal in traffic. I don't think you can make it through Montreal on a weekday with out hitting traffic. On the drive up we kept going in and out of scattered showers. The weather forecast was predicting scattered showers for thurs, and sunny for Friday and Saturday, race day.

On Friday we were able to get out and check out the course. Well the sunny day on Friday was another repeat of Thursday, more rain. The course was holding up well despite all the rain. The climbs were ridable and the technical single track had some solid lines. I was feeling very confident on the Mamasita. The big wheels were giving me extra traction on the wet roots and allowing me to roll smoothly down the mountain.  My drive train was having some problems with the mud. I had a new middle chain ring that I tried putting on the crank, but I guess Shimano uses a different spider pattern and the chain ring was useless. I also had to put on a my back up derailer. Turns out last weekends hanger blow up took out one of my limit screws on the derailer. So Friday afternoon I was getting my bike all set up. I thought it was mint, but of course I would be wrong. I was really lucky and received a crucial massage on the legs from Hattie. Hattie was able to do a lot of work on my sore IT band. On Saturday the legs felt like a million bucks

Race day: I was feeling really good and confident about the race. The sun was out and the course was starting to dry out. The sun was starting turn them ud into a very thick and heavy mud. I had a semi decent call up, 3rd or 4th row. The start was really slow. For some reason the leaders were waiting for someone to attack and no one wanted to be that sole person. I was fine with this as it gave me some time to just settle in. Reaching the top of the climb I was about 25-30. Going into the decent I got stuck behind one of the worst bike handlers on the course. He was swerving left and right, unclipping from his pedals left and right. He was also a punk and wouldn't let me pass him. By the time we got out of the woods there wasn't anyone in sight ahead of me. For the next 4 laps I would pretty much be racing solo. Well the mud was taking a toll on my worn out drive train. I couldn't really stand up and put a ton of pressure onto the pedals. Going into the final climb into the finish I was duking it out with two other riders. I had a lot left in my legs, but nothing in terms of gears. The other guys sprinted away and took 19 and 20 leaving me with 21st. 

Somehow I need to pick up my pace during the middle of the race and catch up with the top 15 guys. If I can bridge the gap to them I believe I can race with them. I was only 5-6 minutes down from the top ten. That is only improving my lap time by a minute per lap. With a new clean drive train and a little more confidence I know I can crack the top 15, if not the top 20. On our way home we stopped for dinner twice at Tim Hortins! There Turkey Bacon club is amazing!! Here are some photos of the weekend. 

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