I am on my way home now from the US Open. I am not exactly a happy camper but thats how it goes sometimes.
I went there to win, that was my goal and it didn’t quite happen. I had a pretty rough weekend. I loved the course, it suited my style but I was having a difficult time with constistancy. It was one of those tracks that you would be totally pinned on and then you would just get slightly off line and next thing you know you would be on the ground. I had quite a few good crashes out there, one in particular that really scared me. I tomahawked head first into a rock breaking my helmet and putting a couple of cuts on my face. My helmet and my Leatt brace did their job. I am so happy that I had my Leatt on.
Qualifying was pretty bad for me…I crashed, washed out and rode like a retard…not so cool. Yah so that run was a disaster but it was confidence inspiring because I was pretty close to the rest of the girls in time and I knew I could take a massive amount off my time with a clean run. On race day it started dumping rain a bit before we were to go off…it looked like a freaking monsoon. I was so excited for the rain, I loved the course in the dry being so loose and sketchy but I LOVE the wet so I had a huge grin on my face when the rain came. I went up before my race run and found the rockiest trail I could find to warm up on and test my traction. Mud and rocks are a little different everywhere so I just wanted to see how they would hold me. I rallied the rocks and was like fuck yah, game on. I sat up at the top and was feeling pretty confident. I started off my race run and it was a little slick in the first few corners but I was like, meh, pretty much what I expected so I pushed on. When I got to the first rock garden I got squirly as the mud had tracked onto the rocks pretty good and it caught me a little off guard but I kept going for it. You have just gotta commit and let the bike slide, if you relax…you’ll be fine. The next section was this off camber rock slab well just as I got on it I hesitated for a split second and that was it, I was down. That was my day. I fumbled for my bike and decided I would be better off to just run up the little uphill after the section as oppose to pedal because I was not going anywhere after that. I hoped back onto my bike and proceeded to the next rock garden but I lost all my mojo. I could not ride! I know as well as anyone you can’t have the slightest bit hesitation when riding in the wet and I messed up. You live and you learn.
The US Open mad me so mad and now I want to lay a smackdown. or two. haha. I have been working hard and I know what I want to do and I am going to do everything I can to what I have set out to do. Right now I am bumming pretty bad but in hindsight this weekend could be a blessing in disguise…it takes mistakes like this weekend, a big race with a lot on the line to really give you a slap in the face and make some changes. As much as it hurts, its the races like these…these mistakes that you make and learn from that get you to the top.
My main focus now are National Championships, the 2 Canadian World Cups and Crankworx. I have only have one race in the next month and a half so I am just going to focus, get stronger and work on my weaknesses.
Men:
1 Sam HILL Monster Energy-Specialized
2 Gee ATHERTON Animal Commencal
3 Brendan FAIRCLOUGH Monster Energy-Specialized
4 Jared RANDO Giant
5 Curtis KEENE Specialized
Women:
1 Miranda MILLER Santa Cruz-MMR
2 Kathy PRUITT Jamis
3 Fionn GRIFFITHS Norco
4 Melissa BUHL KHS
5 Micayla GATTO Commencal
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So a lot has happened in the last few weeks. I won that race on the Sunshine Coast, stoked to pull out another ‘W’. The course never grew on me. I had said how boring it was in my last post and how I was hoping it would get more exciting…not the case. haha. All good though. I have done a couple of XC races in Whistler. Thursday nights are toonie races in Whistler…pay a toonie, get a race, dinner and a beer. Such a deal. The Bike Park opened. Super sick. Opening weekend was so fun. I rode with so many people- totally loving it. I am obsessed with my slalom bike right now, the SX Slalom is ridiculous. I was having more fun on that than my DH bike in the park- you’ve gotta work for it. I was so worked after full day of it in the park. I went to a couple of movie premieres…pretty sweet. Bikes are out. People are out. The sun is out. Its summer!!!
Sorry for the lack of updates. My computer decided that it was over it and died. Unforunetly I hadn’t backed up my site in a couple of months so I had to do a transfer of info which isn’t a big deal but is a bit time consuming. While I was at it I decided to redo my site. I like change. What do you think?
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I just got out to the Sunshine Coast for the annual Rat Race. I have heard so much about this place but have never made it out…till now! This is my first time out here and its pretty cool. I am staying in this sweet cabin with a view of the ocean and some interesting memorabilia. Its one of those places that makes you want to eat crab, clam chowder and play board games. ha.
I took a few laps on the track today. I like it but I don’t love it. There are some absolutely awesome corners…like jump from corner to corner kind of corners…I love that. There are also some fun doubles. There are like three sections I love. Between all that it is pretty flat and a bit boring. Right now the track is a bit wet and I am not rolling very fast. I am running way more pressure than normal and I feel like a snail…especially after the track last week which was super fast!! I think that if it dries up like its supposed to it will be pretty sick.
Andrew Mitchell got challenged to ride a pit bike (ie. 16” wheels!!) down the track in less than 5 minutes. He did it in 4:10. What a legend. Thats gnar.
Heading to practice now….should be fun!!
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This past weekend was the first stop of the brand new Pro Gravity Tour series. The Pro Gravity Tour is the new national series for gravity racing that has replaced NORBA. It is a five stop tour that spans the United States. I think there was something like 400 racers, definitely a sign that gravity racing is going in the right direction.
I had a smile from ear to ear all weekend. I just had so much fun shredding the corners and getting loose and riding with my friends. And socializing…of course. It was a good weekend for me as I took the first win of the season. It felt so good to jump start the season with this win. My new Demo 8 felt amazing, I have only been on it for a couple of weeks now I feel like have been riding it for ages. The new geometry is great!
It started to rain just before qualifying on Saturday but I love the rain so I just had fun and ended up qualifying first. Come Sunday I was the number one qualifier so I went off last. I was so nervous…I was like scared shitless. ha. Anyway, my run was pretty stiff but I managed to keep it together to the bottom for the win. It was one of the hardest runs ever cause I was so tense, I fought it the entire way down. There were a lot of fast girls there this weekend so it felt so good to end up on the top of the box!!!
Curtis Keene, my teammate, took the win for the boys which was so sick! Curtis is on fire this year. He won the first Fluidride cup, got 22nd at Sea Otter with a flat and now this win. He is in Europe now for the World Cups…keep an eye on him because he is in destroy mode.
It was so rad having the traveling circus out to the northwest. The guys at Fluidride and Ndub productions did a fantastic job…every event gets better and better!
I drove down with my friend Mike Goldstein (http://www.goldsteinproductions.ca/) and we did some filming down there so stay tuned as I will post a link with the final product in the near future.
Thank you to all of my sponsors. Specialized, SRAM, Race Face, Leatt, Point One Racing, Sunline, SixSixOne, FiveTen and Travis Lucas for keeping my bike running how bikes should be run.
Men’s
1. Curtis Keene (Specialized)
2. Luke Strobel (Team Maxxis)
3. Ryan Condrashoff (X-fusion-Intense)
4. Andrew Mitchell (Devinci)
5. Joey Schusler (Yeti-Fox Shox)
Women’s
1. Katie Holden (Specialized)
2. Kathy Pruitt (Jamis)
3. Katrina Strand (Oakley)
4. Abigail Hippely (Yeti)
5. Darian Harvey (Cannondale)
Press release here:
https://www.usacycling.org/news/user/story.php?id=4133
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