lisa morgan

After the hurried trip to Baie St Paul and back I had a few days at home in Ottawa before heading east again for the second round of the Canada Cup in Mont Tremblant, just a couple of hours drive this time.  In the few days I had I tried to suss out some training loops (with varied levels of success) and met up with some girls for a ride on the mtb's at Camp Fortune.  Fortune is a bunch of fun - I spent a couple of hours up there in 2008 but it's better with guides!

I had a Saturday race this week and headed up with a bunch of downhillers who were racing on the Sunday.  We went up on Friday morning which meant a second race with very limited time on the course.  A lot of people had said this course was less technical, and in a way it was, but with only 1 lap under my belt before the race I was still struggling to find the best lines in the first couple of the laps in the race.  One of the main differences was that it was only less technical on the one good line in most places, so once the boys started lapping us they wanted that line, which means losing a lot of time to them when there are so many of them coming through - with about 90 of them again, plus the juniors, at least 40 or 50 guys must have come past me.  The most frustrating thing was when I'd make up a place only to have her tag on to the back of a guy train through the rough and sneak back in front of me!

All in all the course was a whole lot of fun, and very challenging.  It started with a gravel climb and then alternated between undulating sections of singletrack and open riding, before the final climb which was a killer to lead in to the last section of singletrack which was a long (mostly) descent.  Following that we popped out on to a bike path which took us to the village and we wound and zig-zagged our way through, past all the cafes and bars, condos and shops, past the stage with the band, through the finish and out on to the next lap. The last section made for an amazing atmosphere and the smooth ground was a nice relief after the rough descent.

In the evening the Red Bull Monte Descend was held - a teams event combining DH and XC.  As the XC rider did a short loop the DH rider went up the chairlift and was told to go when the XC rider came back through transition.  The XC'er went again when their DH'er came through transition (yes, XC does the bulk of the riding!).  There were some very quick teams but there was some dispute in the results and while they were sorting it out the heavens opened and everyone gave up waiting (us included) so we never found out who actually won!  But it was great to watch and again, the atmosphere was just huge.

This is a pic where the DH came down (on the right hand side where the dirt is built up) - after that they hit a wall ride before making their way to transition.  The rock was all lit up and the markings on it (hard to see this small) are a map of the ski trails on the mountain.

There are vids of the descent on the XC course and a short one of some of the riders coming in to transition in the Monte Descend on the vids page.

On Sunday Julie (met in 2008 in BC) and I spent most of the day watching the DH (until she took a hit from one of the riders who crashed!).  Looking at what those crazy guys and girls ride reminds me why I love XC... sure, they have the bikes to deal with it, but they damage them all the time!  Everyone in the condo had multiple bails over the course of the weekend - and they have to cart way too much extra gear around!

We finished up with a bbq and a couple of drinks (more than a couple for some!) on Sunday night and headed back to Ottawa yesterday.  I headed out for an easy spin at about 5pm thinking it shouldn't be too hot - it was 30 degrees!  This morning I thought I'd beat the heat but even at 10am it was 31 degrees - I need more bottle cages!

Tomorrow night is the first race of the Sunset Series at Camp Fortune so I'm going to head along to that and see if I can improve on these skills some more - things were getting better during the Tremblant race, but there is a long way to go to get really smooth and fast like the locals!

This weekend is another Canada Cup race, this time in english speaking Ontario, 6 hours west in Hardwood Hills - a long standing race on the Canada Cup calendar.  I've got another day at home then it's off again - this time giving myself an extra day on the course before the race.