Sitting here in Mont Saint Anne, Canada this fine Sunday morning sipping my cup of coffee, I keep thinking about all the mistakes I kept making and all the pedal strokes that I didn’t keep making during my qualifying run yesterday….yep - another no race weekend for me. With a strong field of 40 women entered into the DH, half the field was cut after qualifying and we were destined to spectate.
The track was insane this year, with the most rain that Quebec has received in I don’t know how many years, it made for a very exciting ride down an already challenging course. I practiced with full mud spikes all week, sinking hub deep into the goopy slop in most of the wooded sections. It was easier to navigate your way through the mud when it was just pouring down and keeping the mud runny, but of course we woke up to a blue bird day and it was drying out fast on the open stretches. I switched over to some Maxxis High Rollers for my Qualifying run - not having tried anything besides spikes all week, I was a bit nervous, but they hooked up like no other.
I felt great all week, really feeling confident and strong and just loving the track and my bike, almost certain that I would make it into the race, I made it through all the technical, slippery woods, made the drop into the mud pit no problem, moto-ed my way through the rutted lift section and aced the rock slab woods, until my front tire hit a silly little insignificant rock in one of the wide left turns, jerking my bike to the complete opposite way that I was planning on going, and that was my run. Done. That is racing for you.
The most important thing though, is not to get disheartened - maybe for the remainder of the day, but then you need to just get on with it. Get back on your beloved bike, switch on your confident button and go and have some fun - in the end, that is why we all ride, is it not?
Whistler here we come!
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