MT.ST.ANNE, QUEBECA whole day for just an hour of practice. Actually the Juniors and elite women get an hour, then the elite men had an hour to themselves. Cleaning all the mud off my gear took longer.
This morning it was raining, so at 9 am I was out there in my rain gear and spike tires ready to go. Tried to squeeze a few runs in today, the rain tends to bring out new lines and building speed takes awhile to feel good. Anyway, I caught most of the downpour on that first run, lots of tear offs, muddy head to toe, yada yada,, Upper turns are the slipperiest. The holes are bigger when you ride slower in case you were wondering, braking effects the ol hands too, so a lot more physical today. Even saw a few rivers running down sections, so I hopped in em and tried to float down:).
Once the rain actually stopped, and I could see, the track was ripping. There is like a sandy stone texture in the dirt out in the open that holds well. Overall there are about 5 or 6 different types of soil and textures though, so adaptation is also a skill. I was having good fun feeling at home in the mud, not as fast, but fun.
Bryn got his ankle strapped up this morning and was gonna give it a go, but had some problems clipping out and has now injured his thumb, stretched the ligament we think. Dunno why this place treats him this way, but it is my mission to get down this hill quick for him:)
Didn't see much of anything else.XC bandits had their race just now, bit of rain bit of sun. Looked like an awesome track, but tons of climbs. Poland took a win in ladies, willow Koreber of the usa got a medal!! Spain won the men's race and our ol teammate Burry Stander took a bronze.
Boxxer world champs were pretty fun too. Len vs Evan in the final. Dawson was knocked out in the semi:) HB was on the megaphone, wearing a US national jersey, Fuzzy shorts and camo crocs, which is his normal outfit sans jersey.
This event is where Rock Shox technicians rebuild a World Cup boxxer, head to head contest for who can do it first. There may be alcohol involved, and to finish, you have to build the fork but also skull a beer. Think it started with a shot too, so finalists are in prime form after a few rounds. Real prestigious event.
Matti Dupelle had a fan club being a quebec-qua and all. I din't know his nickname was - Turtle, but I guess he does looks super turtle-y. He is Pivot bikes mechanic this year, but used to work for sram, and used to wrench for rennie on Santa Cruz. He had the Rennie army photo from last year taped to his back. Pretty funny.