Round 3
Hardwood was the venue for O-Cup #3. This is where I grew up racing bikes back in the late 90’s, boy the trails have changed! Had a good chat with Andrew Watson about his 26" GT hardtail he dominated with back then at age 14.
Wanted to practice this track as a boneshaker loop was added to the 1:30 races. Track was very punchy and good single track with lots of sharp roots. Hit something and cut my rear tire, lost 30% air then it sealed. Couldnt find the cut so pumped it up and did another lap. Heard the air leaking again for only a moment. Later found the cut and decided to glue it. With no spare wheel or tire etc, fingers crossed. Always good to get pre riding in, its something often skipped these days. Having family in Orillia definitely helps with that as I can come up for the whole weekend. Mom has too much junk food in the house though!!
Low turn out again for the elite race, lots of U19 and tons of U17 so the race will be elite/U19 combined. Everyone Im confident I can beat except 1 U23 rider Leo. Did research on him and definitely going to be a challenge. However he rode 100km Saturday and rode 60km to the race Sunday…??
More frustration before the start, gears randomly acting up, B screw suddenly off, and no feeder as my family hasn’t shown up yet. Got the bike fixed, without any testing time. Got a feeder at the line and just made call up time.
Had a great start, after the boneshaker loop was in top 3 trying to follow the U19 leader Calium. Soon it was just the 2 of us. Calium was riding super chill and I was ok, but close to my limit. He was gone on lap 2 on the climbs. Lap 2 Leo caught up to me 1/2 through, and towards the end took the lead and rode away on the same climb. I had to relax on these climbs, not long but can put you into red zone fast.
I was in 3rd overall for the rest of the race, another u19 was 30sec back. I definitely faded more then I would have liked, power on the double track uphills wasn’t great. Stayed upright and no tire issues, just my back got real sore last 2 laps. I gave up 3min to Leo over 3 laps so disappointed in that.
Overall a solid day on the Salsa.
This coming weekend is the 24hour, so a fun race but still grind of a race.
