South Africa - The Journey to the 2013 World Championships

The 2013 Mountain Bike World Championships were held in Pietermaritzberg, South Africa - incase you didn't know already!

What did that mean? That meant 33.5 hours gate to gate, or 42 hours door to door travelling. Exciting stuff. Luckily for us the travelling went about as smoothly as it could have. No delays, cancellations, lost bags or headaches - with minor exceptions.

When I arrived in South Africa the first thing I noticed was barbed wire. There was barbed wire everywhere. It was around everything, on almost every fence and most definitely around every nice property. The airport itself looked like a Canadian prison. However, even with all of this scenery, all of the locals that I talked to were animate that it's a safe place! Their disclaimers were: don't go out after dark, don't carry large amounts of money or have good looking jewelry on. Seemed simple enough! 

After arriving at the hotel, which is behind a spiky fence with a guarded entrance, we moved into our rooms. Our rooms were small and we quickly filled them. Food wasn't an issue as there was a mall next  to the hotel. The mall had a Wollies and a bunch of restaurants to eat at. Food is quite cheap down in these parts. Dinner out for 7 people came to just under 600 RAND. Which is $60. That's a pretty solid meal!

Nice spin with the team eh?

Now I know what you're thinking regarding all the barbed wire and guards; but Pietermaritzberg is quite safe. I decided to do some research as I was concerned, only a small, insignificant amount, but still the same I was curious. What I learned was horrifying, and thus statistics that I found will not be expanded upon, but what I also found was a map. This map outlined where all the 'bad things' happened. Pietermaritzberg? Not a single 'bad thing' - except for large income inequality - so rest assured that all is good!

Shortly after we arrived there was a team safari. This was a must attend simply because we're in Africa and you safari in Africa. What a fantastic experience this was. We saw lots of zebra and ostriches. Then the hippos made their appearance and we may or may not have chased a rhino into the pond in the rover. When in Rome! - or Africa...

Ok. Moving on to the juicy stuff for all those cyclist people out there.

The course:

The World Championships course was excellent. This was an elements course - super fast, cruisy, flowy hard packed trails and man made elements thrown in to test some skills. The hard packed clay trails made for some smooth sailing. As the week went on, however, the crust began to break away and mass amounts of poofy dust came up. It was like hitting powder on skis. The technical sections on course were skill testing, but more so nerve testing. I recall on my first day of pre-riding asking myself why I came to South Africa. I was so scared of some of the elements. In my eyes there were three elements that posed a threat: the 'Rapid Rocks' (first rock garden), 'Sharkas Playground' (log drops), and 'Tree House' (long rock garden). Rapid Rocks was relatively easy in hind sight. This was a short set of rocks with some distinctive lines through. I would like to point out the line that I chose to ride - the line that everyone told me was garbage and slow - was also the same line that Niño rode in his race. Boom! Sharkas Playground occurred about half way down the Amphitheatre. This is where the course builders had taken some trees, placed them in the side of a hill, built a berm at the bottom and said go! This was terrifying to look at. The thought of falling 10 feet or more on to my head was not so pleasant. I stood there looking at this feature for about 10 minutes. For that entire duration my heart rate did not go below 155 bpm. As I watched some of the U23 women do I decided I needed to try it. Just as I thought, I was fine... It was easy. I was way too stressed that first day of pre-riding. The next feature - possibly the most difficult on course - was the Tree House rock garden. This was a lot steeper in person than on Red Bull TV. Not to mention the rocks were big and awkwardly placed. It was all about bombing in, staying upright, make the turn at the bottom and carry good speed. This was thrilling. Other important parts of the course were the switchback climbs off the start, the long sustained climb up to the Ampitheatre, the drop/hip jump before Sharkas Playground and the Corkscrew (this was a cool set of berms and drops). These parts will be refered to later.

Sharkas Playground

Rapid Rocks 

Base of Sharkas Playground

Amphitheatre 

Amphitheatre (other side)

Cork Screw 

Tree House Rock Garden 

The race:

Here's your meat and potatoes of the blog. Hope you enjoy.

Ok race time. Well I felt like crap... Before the race barfing was almost a reality. I was so nervous. I was concerned I hadn't tuned my body properly and that I wasn't going to be able to preform. The amount of nerves reminded me of a race from early this year. That race was the ITT. I felt sick for that race too and I didn't know why I was so nervous and that's when Alex Sanna of SRS said to me "You're nervous because you know you can win". On the start line of world championships that is what I thought about. The only reason as to why I felt so nervous was because I knew I could do well. I felt it. So I believed it. I embraced that feeling and calmed right down. This was another race, and like any other race I was gunning for the top of the podium. 

The start was as any other junior start is: fast, elbows out and crashes. I tried to stay out of trouble and not waste any energy that wasn't necessary. Hitting the first set of switchbacks I ended up locking bars with another rider and having to run the first hill. However, by the end of the 1st lap I had made my way up into the top ten. This was good. Another half lap later I was top 5. This was right where I needed to be. I rode the next 2.5 laps with two other riders. One rider was German and the other rider started as a Czech rider but he was dropped and replaced by an Italian. The group of us were competing for the last spot on the podium until a French rider ahead got a flat. The game was now on for 2nd, 3rd or 4th. 

On the steep climbs I was getting gapped slightly because I didn't want to go over the top and get counter attacked. I would catch back on during flat sections or downhills. Half way through the 4th lap of 5, as the German rode the drop and was about to hit the hip he laid the bike over. I passed him there and got a gap. Pinning it on the downhill I realized I was alone. This was good as I was now 2nd and riding by myself. I was in control. Pinning it for the last lap I gained almost nothing on the 2013 World Champion. Realizing this at the top of the Ampitheatre I decided to chill out and ride safe. Bring it home. And that's exactly what I did. 2nd at World Championships!

Starting off

Escaping the Crash

Dropping out of Cork Screw

Surviving Tree House Rock Garden

Hitting RAD jumps

Exhausted....but pleased

Nom Nom Nom...

Team Canada

Thank you to all of my supporters:

Team Canada

Angry Johnny's - Cycle Solutions/Norco/Louis Garneau

Disera Racing

And anyone who donated or assisted in my efforts to make it to South Africa! 

Thank You!

Mont St. Anne World Cup

The World Cup in Mont St. Anne is always one of my favourites. It is also a special race for me. St. Anne was where I did my first World Cup ever. Placing a respectable 6th. It was also my first time racing against any other country and first time running someone over (he simply flipped over in front of me and I rode over his bike). This year, however, things were a little different.

The difference between where I was in 2012 at Mont St. Anne competing in my first World Cup, to where I am now as an athlete, both mentally and physically, has changed drastically. I am stronger this year, more focused, more disciplined; but that's not all. Mentally I have felt I have made leaps and bounds. I still get nervous, but not like I used to. I can control myself now, focus and execute what needs to be done. In the wise worlds of Dan Proulx, National Mountain Bike Coach: 

One does not try to be extraordinary; One must simply be ordinary. An ordinary performance can prove to be extraordinary.

The reason why is simple. If you try too hard, get too excited, push too hard too early, your overall performance is not going to be grand. But! If you have a normal race like any other day, you will have an ordinary race and an ordinary race can prove extraordinary results! For myself this was a key mentality. This mentality keeps me from getting stressed mid-race, keeps me out of crashes, and keeps my bike safe from mechanicals. It's what prevents me from pulling out of my pedal off the start (XCE Val di Sole). It prevents me from ripping my tire off my rim (Worlds 2012). It prevents me from getting nervous. Why would you get nervous for something that you've done ten thousand other times? It's a start, a race, a finish - know your cards, know your body, know your competition and know that you've done it before. And that's what I did...

The Mont St. Anne World Cup was a huge highlight in my cycling career last year and proved to be an even bigger highlight this year. Off the start I was calm. My work was cut out for me but I was prepared. Team Canada's support, Angry Johnny's support, Norco's support and my family's support had all come together for a solid 1 hour and 9 minutes. Winning my first World Cup was surreal. Leading off the start was scary. I had to suppress every thought of winning. I didn't want to jinx it, didn't want to get worked up and I didn't want to disappoint myself. Focus - that was all. Crossing the line knowing that I had done it, we had done it, it was a good feeling. On one of my favourite courses of all time - even if Beatrice wasn't in it this year - I had pulled it off. My first World Cup win! 

The celebration lasted for about 25 minutes in my head and ended almost immediately when someone mentioned worlds. Worlds... What could I pull off at worlds? How could I do at worlds? Quickly billions of questions popped into my head which I quickly suppressed in order to not get nervous. The thoughts were swirling but I chose to ignore them for the time being. But now preparations have begun for the World Championships in Pietermaritzberg, South Africa. Physical tuning and equipment checks are being done, but mental preparation has also started, as I am beginning to learn it is fundamental to performance. The game has begun!

If you wish to assist me on my way to South Africa please swing by Hardwood Ski and Bike Wednesday August 9th to purchase some Chips and Dip that have been donated from Garden Fresh and Chris Wong! 

If you are not able to make it out for that, please visit my website at www.pwrper.com/peter. There you can find more blogs, results, videos, articles and a PayPal account I have set up for generous people like yourself! Thank you.  

Road Provincials

Fantastic day at the 2013 Road Provincials. The sun was shining, the wind was blowing and the racers were revving. The day was simple: start, go hard, see what happens and try to win. This is my approach to all road races. 

The race started off simply with an attack here and there. Nothing too major came until 2nd lap out of 8 on a 12km loop. Break away here and there, pull them back, go off, get pulled back; it was a regular day. Nearing the middle of the race 3 riders were able to get away. Seeing the wind was blowing and the climb on the lap was quite tough I had decided to let them go. Then another two riders went out to chase. It wasn't until half a lap later that I had decided to go after them. Taking two riders with me, who I also ended up sharing the podium with, we started our long trek up to the front. I believe it was a lap and a half until we made up the time to the lead group. There we decided to work and make our break stick. The next time split we got was 1 minute, 20 seconds. Things were looking up for us. Nearing the end of the race, however, I was getting nervous as Miles Eastwood of CHCH was sitting in and saving energy. On the last climb I set the pace and waited for Miles to make his move. When the move came I was ready. I sat on his wheel cresting the climb and let him pull in the wind. Rounding the last turn to the finish we found ourselves in a tail wind. This was perfect to attack! Kicking hard out of the turn I got a good gap. Slowly dying as I crested the final climb into the finish I was super happy it was over!

Provincial Champion! Woot!

Thanks to Team CDC and Barrie Cycling for all the support.

 

Mountain Bike Nationals

Nationals always marks an important part in anyone's year. Even though I had already been to CX nationals and road nationals this was the big one to me. Mountain bike nationals held at Hardwood Ski and Bike was where I would attempt to go for my third national champion jersey and my 4th national title. The course at Hardwood was excellently built. The venue was loaded. The people were there. Now all that was left to do was race!

In the week leading up to nationals my brother and I were with team Ontario. We stayed in a lovely bed and breakfast, had some excellent mentoring and had a great time with all the others athletes that attended! It was great. Unfortunately, this time around, Brendan Arnold of the OCA was not willing to place bets with us based on results (When I was at road nationals we made a bet that if I won a jersey he'd shave his head into a Mohawk. He wasn't keen to bet this time around). All week we worked on the course getting lines, trying the rocks and slaying coffee run. The intense heat was something that took some getting used to and required lots of hydration. Luckily for us juniors and cadets, we were racing at 9am so the heat wouldn't pose too much of an issue. 

On Thursday leading up the race, the national cross country eliminator was held. A very interesting course as the first section was quite technical and the last section was primarily fitness based. The strategy was to sit 2nd wheel the entire time and move on each round without having to work too hard. This was a great strategy as it allowed me to save energy and ride safe and smooth. In the quarter finals I missed my pedal 3 times off the start. This put me in last place. I thought to myself that this wasn't going to be good if I couldn't get up into second. Putting the pedal to the metal, and without sliding out on the hay, I fought my way back up.

Eliminators are so exciting to watch and ride as they are extremely fast pace and tight. Two inches in front of someone else and you can move them wherever they need to go - most of the time they go behind you.

 I had made it all the way to the finals. There I was met by fellow Barrie resident Mitch Bailey and two other Quebec riders; Léandre Bouchard being one of them. This racing was going to be intense. Off the start things were looking good. I passed Mitch in one of the technical pieces and was on Léandre's wheel. Going over the last Joyride jump Léandre slipped his pedal; I made my move. I got a little bit of a gap over Mitch. This was it, 4 turns, a drop, a log and a finishing straight and I'd be home free! However it didn't turn out that way... I slipped out on one of the turns, put my foot down...but quickly pulled the bike back underneath me and continued. And then it happened... I looked down and my chain had fallen off. Quick shift and I was able to pull it on without breaking anything. Now I was in third. I stayed in that position as I could not make up the distance between Mitch and I. I think 3rd, at the first ever national eliminator, as a junior is respectable. Fist pump to that!

So the eliminator was successful and it was fun! The cross country race was good too. Early morning start, cool weather and the recent rain helped out the course greatly. Off the start I had to work really hard to get a gap but I knew if I could get to coffee run first I could really get a gap. Well the plan was executed perfectly. I had a solid gap coming into the feedzone first lap. All I did then was try to make it grow. A few more seconds here and there until I hit 1.5 minute gap. Then I toned it down to ride safe and bring the jersey home. It was a successful race, no drama, the course was great but I did dab once... 

It was a fantastic day for the Disera household as little brother Quinton also won his race in cadet. Two national champions under the same roof - Flückiger brothers better watch their backs! 

Big thanks to:

Ontario Cycling Association for a great project

Angry Johnny's

Norco

Louis Garneau

And M&D Racing! 

Next steps will be the World Cup in Mont St. Anne. The next big focus is World Championships in South Africa! Going to be good! 

If you would like to support me in my endeavours I encourage you to please check out my website www.pwrper.com/peter and click on the donate button at the top. Any and all help is appreciated! 

Nationals Monsoon - Road Race & Crit

As I post this, my experience in the beautiful Lac Mégantic, I would like to express my condolences to all the wonderful people of Lac Mégantic. As this post is after the terrible train derailment that leveled the downtown.

This blog is about the Nationals Road Race and Criterium. 

Rain. That's an understatement. 

After the ITT the skies unleashed. Friday was the day to do road race recon. We decided that doing a full 55km lap was too much if it was to rain the entire time. Instead we drove out to the bottom of beautiful Lac Mégantic and rode the hills back. The sky was dark, but not yet raining when we left the safety of the vans. It didn't take long to get a little rain, but we managed to stay relatively dry. This however was only the case for recon day, because race day was a whole different ball game. 

After some strategic talking that night (very unusual for a mountain biker) it was time for bed. We knew we would be waking up to thunderstorms and maybe a teeny, weeny bit of rain...

Race day. Hummm sky dark, air damp, low ceiling - terrible day for flying - but I guess we could race bikes. As we lined up to race one might say, 'hey it might rain' or 'hey look at the wall of torrential downpour coming across the lake!'. Legitimately there was a wall of water. 

Well as you may have guessed it began to rain. The setting of the race and my personal nervousness was heightened. I don't wish to crash on the road, I don't believe it would be enjoyable. Within the first couple minutes of the race the usual happened. Break away here, attempt there; nothing was sticking. The Ontario team was to send a rider up the road. There were some solid attempts but Quebec was having non of it. They were going to bring everything back. As for myself, well I couldn't move to the front without an entourage of other riders, I couldn't move to the back without people staring nervously over their shoulders at me - you could say that I was marked. Very interesting contrast between road and mountain in that regards. You can be marked on a mountain bike, but you'll probably just beat everyone to the single track first. Road, yea don't try to go up the road, they don't like that.

Sorry I got off track. The weather, now pouring, with the occasional lightning bolt(s) in the distance progressively becoming more frequent. You could say it was intense. On one of the descents Mother Nature decided to unleash some marble sized rain drops. My face, lips, arms, legs were numb but that wasn't the worst part. The scariest thing happened to my on that descent. I hit a section of the road that was covered in water, deep water, and hydroplaned. It was scary. I was slowly being sucked off the road but managed to regain contact with the pavement. I wasn't the only one to experience this as there was lots of screaming when we got to the bottom.

I had tons of wonderful one-sided conversations with people about the weather, how they were feeling etc etc. For some strange reason talking, or being able to talk, was throwing people off. The French riders would look at me like I was an alien because I was chatting. What? No one else likes to talk? I guess not

Unfortunately there was a crash, well there was a couple but this one stood out because I saw Adam Jamieson flip over the bars. Adam is a neighbour and a good friend of mine and I've seen him go over the bars many times on a mountain bike. It was unfortunate that he broke his frame and could not finish the race. 

Nearing the end of the race the lead of the group consisted mainly of Quebec riders with some CHCH, Ontario, and one rider from Nova Scotia - who may I mention killed it! Awesome job dude. The strategies had been ditched, nothing had worked. It was Will Elliott, Jack Burke, Sean Mackinnon and myself left to defend Ontario. Sean slowly cracking, Jack consistently pulling and myself too marked to do anything, this one was for Will. With 25km to go Will would try to get away, but couldn't get it to stick. Even with his skillful tactics he needed someone else, but I couldn't do it. At 15km to go, right after Will had been caught again, I decided to take control. I jumped on the front and drilled it situating Will on my wheel. 42-46km/h was the poison forced onto everyone in the group. Sean would occasionally come up and give me some rest, but this was it, I was going to turn myself out and get Will to the finish. With about 2km to go it was hurting. No one had yet to counter my pace but on the final little riser before the descent into town I was overtaken. I wasn't yet ready to give up control so I brought Will and Jack to the other side of the road and paced them out. On the descent I was giving it. Oh man junior gears, just spinning so fast! With about 350m to go I was overtaken and boxed in. I couldn't get out to give Will a lead out, but somehow he was able to get out and got into the mix. The last turn, 200m before the finish, was gnarly. Off camber, two cross walks, two manhole covers - oh and it was raining! At this point I really didn't care because Will had made it into the mix and I was spent. Hitting the exit of the turn I stood to sprint and quickly found myself sideways. Remaining rubber side down I used my traction control to get myself safely across the line. 10th was earned on that rainy day. Will got 4th. 

Thanks to the OCA and all the guys on team Ontario! Everyone did awesome!  

The crit was that of a different nature. May I say in my favour as well as in our control? 

Criteriums are something I am not familiar with. Well I guess that's not entirely true as they are sort of like cross races on the road. Anywho, Adam Jamieson and I decided it was our day. Starting off as a beautiful day, the road was dry (Thank You!) and the legs felt good. I started at the back and had to beat my way up to the front of the race. This took almost 8 laps until I felt comfortable. It was great shredding turns and going fast. Very rarely did I come out of my junior gears. Sean Mackinnon was up the road mid way through the race. Unfortunately Sean was being reeled in. As Sean was being caught Adam pulled up beside me and told me to go. I trust the Chief so I decided to do it. We got away effortlessly through the turns. This was at 18 laps to go...out of 36. We dangled. And dangled. Big shout out to the CHCH and Ontario boys that were chasing down people trying to bridge. There was one rider that got too close for comfort at 3 laps to go. He was sitting about 30 feet off my wheel and the pack was about 50 feet behind him. I may, or may not, have screamed at Adam to go faster. It was close! Last lap Adam was totally wrecked. Like Statefarm I decided to be a good neighbour and bring him in. Pulling the whole last lap and gaping Chief on the last turn we rolled in. Good times. Painful times.

Thank you Centurion Development Canada for their support, the OCA and the team. Fantastic experience and exposure to the road scene. It was fun! 

Nationals Individual Time Trial

Wow! What an exciting experience! 

The scene, Lac Mégantic, Quebec, beautiful green rolling hills, fast ripping roads and French people. Good times for sure! 

The individual time trial was the first event. I do not own a time trial bike for the record, instead I borrowed one from Matthias Schmidt. I had nice little training ride three days before the race. This was my first time riding a TT bike. I rode it for the second time doing course recon. The course was a rolling, turny course with some elevation gain. I was extremely concerned about the climb that was in the course as for it was a solid kilometre or two. Besides that, to a mountain biker it just looked like road - not much to it.

Race day I was nervous for no apparent reason! I had never done a TT before. This was my third ride on a TT bike. This was going to be experience. However, I was still nervous. Lining up in the start gate with my borrowed beauty I took a few deep breaths and went for it. I was told to not go too hard off the start, keep it just chilled out for a while then crank it. There was a tail wind on the way out so I just ripped like mad. Beautiful junior gears allowed my to tuck down the climb. At the turn around I was ready to turn the gas on. Into the head wind and up hill. Cranking out some good watts I had caught my 2 minute man. Riding it like a mountain biker with some good digs on the climb and recovery on the decent. At the lap turn around I almost hit the fence - I like going fast around turns ok. On the way out for the second time it was flying time! I had to save a little for the way back though! At the turn around someone yelled to me that I was in the lead, my immediate thoughts: "you're lying." After thinking about it a little more I thought that maybe they were right as I just came from the tail wind section; then it hit me. What if I could hold it throughout the head wind section? Giver!!! And that's just what happened. Cooking up the climb and sprinting my face off (in an aero position) I came out with a time of 39:09 for 30km. It was a fantastic result as this was my first time and I astonished myself. Apparently I was in the lead. Only Adam Jamieson had to finish. When Adam came in for 4th place I knew I had done it! 

National Individual Time Trial Champion! 

Woot!

Shout out to Will 'Nub' Elliot and Jack 'ITT' Burke for their podium finishes! 

 

Pizza and Pasta - Val di Sole World Cup, Italy

What an adventure! 

Val di Sole Italy was the place this round. The purpose, World Cup XCO and XCE. 

First off let's set the scene. Picture great pine trees, grass and bush covered mountain with snow caps on top. After a long flight over to Milan Italy we got in the cars. It was a 5 hour drive up to where we were staying. A few stops at some Auto Grills on the way were as I was told 'necessary' we arrived. The venue was just off a two lane highway, in the middle of two mountains, about 2 hours away from any major cities. The town we were staying in was one I would categorize as a 'Classic European Town' with all the twisty roads, tight parking spots and beautiful old world architecture. The place we were staying in was a beautiful hotel. It was very nice. For example, the shower had an electronic display to control the radio, lights, fans, Bluetooth, and volume. It was so cool! Well, enough about the setting, on to the course!

The course in Val di Sole was hilly. I don't consider myself a climber, I survive but I wouldn't say I excel at it. Well, this course was a collaboration of 8 climbs per lap. It started off on a start loop, then up. 7 of the climbs were what I would call steps. There was very little down, if any, between these climbs. After the 7th climb (which had a section that my Garmin said hit 47%) it was party time.  I'm sure the view would've been very nice if I wasn't cross eyed from going so hard. Next up was the downhill. I heard people talking about how this was the longest World Cup downhill. It was some switchbacks with some drops. Then a gnarly chute. That section was fun! Then it shot you down the ski hill. Good good times going 50km/h down that. Then it was feed zone time, and up the last climb. The last climb was gnarly. Straight up! Woo! The whole lap was 4.18km and roughly 210m vertical. 

Race day was awesome. I love racing early because there is no time to think. The key is to not think, don't use your brain and you can't get nervous. Starting at 9:30am, 5 laps, #45. Ready? Go!

Pacing was key for this race and especially for me. I did not want to blow up. Chilling out on the start loop and letting everyone else just blow their brains out around me, I held strong, doing my thing. Come the 3rd lap I was hurting, but apparently not as much as other people as I was able to make up some spots. Thanks to Head Coach Dan Proulx for keeping me calm and on track. 4th and 5th laps I gave it! Finishing just behind 6th and 7th place in 8th place. 8th at my first European World Cup! I was super pleased with that! 

Thank you to Team Canada and some awesome mechanics. 

Thank you to Norco, Louis Garneau and Angry Johnny/Emma!

And mostly all of my supporters! 

Check out the interview! http://youtu.be/iYO6zGi_1Rk

Next up is road nationals! Time to switch gears!

West Coast

The Golden State.
Thank you to the Ontario Cycling Association for a wonderful time down in Oxnard, California. What a sweet time it was!

LA - What Up?!

After an insane travel day - 22 hours - we finally arrived. We didn't even unpack, just straight to bed. The next morning we built the bikes and were off to the races!
On the first couple days we rode along the Pacific Coast Highway and into some of the smaller mountains. California is a beautiful state. Riding along the ocean was breath taking.
On day three of riding we ramped it up a little. Gibraltar was the weapon of choice: a massive climb, situated just in from the coast and venerable to all of the ocean winds. It was a gnarly time. At the top of Gibraltar, after racing up it, we continued to climb a little. After hitting snow at 3600 feet it was time to descend. A tight, windy, steep descent was what awaited us. It was fantastic! It wouldn't have been terrible for the ride to have ended there, but this was not the case. It just so happened that i got into the group with some of the fast U23s, we held 45-55km/h going down the PCH for about 45 minutes. It was ridiculous. Just a fantastic time!
The rest of the camp included more mountain passes, riding through Malibu (seeing some sick cars), battling the head winds in the strawberry fields, and some attempted surfing. I celebrated my birthday while I was in California. Pretty cool to turn 18 in such a cool place. The team organized a Throwback Thursday themed party, equipped with cakes and thrift shop attire. I got an amazing suit out of it.
California is definitely one of my favourite places now. Living on the ocean, riding in the mountains and chilling with movie stars is a lifestyle I could adapt to easily. I look forward to making many more trips there in the future.

Cyclo-Cross World Championships - the Race

The 2013 Cyclo-Cross World Championships in Louisville, Kentucky started off a bit interesting. With tornado warnings early in the week, hot weather turning to snow, and then potential flooding the races were bumped up to Saturday. This meaning that all four of the categories would race on Saturday. Not a huge deal for us juniors seeing our start just became an hour or so earlier.

On the morning of the race, it was cold obviously, and there was a fresh dusting of snow on the ground. This was going to make for an interesting seeing just two days before everything had been a mud pit. Meaning that all of the mud and muddy ruts would have become frozen bobsled tracks. Almost too Canadian for comfort...

The course was open for training for an hour before our start. The boys and I headed out for a lap or two before retreating to the heated trailer to jump on the trainers. After a good warm up it was time to make our way to the start boxes. The start was the part of the race that I was most worried about. It was going to be violent, fast and potentially deadly. I was sketching out a bit, not going to lie.

Rolling up to the line I was the 20th call up. Quickly forcing my way up a bit towards the front and I became second row. This was going to be a good race, I felt good, confident, but insanely nervous. When the light turned green, we were off!
Sprint, sprint - BREAK! (As buddy here almost takes you out flying across in front of you) Around the first turn and down the straight, settling into single file, picking them off one by one. Over the first sand pit, avoid the cartwheeling American. Up the stairs on the flyover, run over the German that tripped. Up the switchback, sliding on the icy ground. Battle for your spot, don't give in, don't give up a position - this is worlds!

The first three laps or so were successful, moving my way up from 21st to 12th. Then it started to slip away a bit on me. A position here, a slip there and I found myself in 17th. Battling with two British guys where I found myself in some tough competition. Between the screaming back muscles and the phlegm ridden breaths I held it, all the way until the icy off camber section. I slide out and they were quick to go past. For the last lap I chased and chased but couldn't pull them in. 19th is the position in which I finished. 19th in the world.

Good day at the office.

Kentucky is sinking man, and I don't wanna swim!

Finally arrived in Louisville KY.
It was a long drive after finishing up my remaining two exams early in the morning. We, my father and I, arrived at the hotel around 1am where i quickly got settled and was quickly off to bed.
The next day a group ride went out at 10am on the road. The course had not yet been open to pre-ride. However, the masters course was open; and boy was it messy. The road leading to the venue is covered in mud. Cars and trucks parked at the side of the road have sunk up to their axels in the mud. The masters course its self was partly submerged in areas. There are pictures covering Instagram and Twitter with water up to people's axels as they ride through. Good times, good times for sure.
It has been good that they have kept our course closed and consequently in good shape. There is a solid 1-2cm of water between the blades of grass on the flat sections. Anywhere you step water rushes out of the ground eager to soak your foot. Unfortunately it doesn't seem like it's going to be a full out mud fest. Tonight and tomorrow night it is supposed to drop down to -11C - basically making any of the mud rock hard. At the moment we are scheduled to start in -5C weather. Should be a real good time.
All for now. Time to get out on course on the bikes!

On the way to Cyclo-cross World Championships

The countdown has begun to the 2013 CX World Championships in Louisville KY. As expected, the nerves have begun to accumulate. This is going to be an exciting experience and something that I have never done before. Not only is it CX Worlds but it is also a race in the very early season. Since I am primarily a mountain biker, my basement is normally the pain station for the winter. It is going to be an exciting and new experience racing mid winter. I have, and will continue to, prepare my fitness for the event; however the absence of outdoor experience on grass and with other racers is unnerving. Solution? Go ride outside! A warm spell experienced at the start of January has assisted.
Preparations are being made for departures and equipment. Thanks to Norco I have a beauty of a bike to ride for the race! Timing is going to be exciting for this as I finish writing my last exam and then jump in the car to drive to Louisville with my father. What a great way of finishing a semester!
Well, all for now!
Updates will come pre-race!