On the Trails with Peter Disera: Pizza and Pasta

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!