Bianca's Canada Cup #2 Report

Bianca raced her first pro/elite Canada Cup in Mont Tremblant last weekend, where she finished 11th overall, and was the third U23 woman. Here is her race report.

Arriving in Quebec on Thursday, I was pretty excited to get on the Mont Trembant course the following day. It would not be my first time riding the course, but I remember loving it! I had raced the exact same course last year only I was a junior. This year would be different, much different. Their were many more women in my category this year, most of them being older, more experienced riders. This made me extremely nervous, it was to be my first elite race at the Canada Cup level. After the pre ride I was relieved to find out the course hadn't changed a bit, other than it being in much better condition than last year due to much less rain in the previous days.

Before I knew it, it was race day. As soon as I arrived at the race I recognized lots of girls from last year, they were also juniors and had made the jump with me to elite.Most of the girls though were definitely not new to the elite category and this was a bit intimidating! Looking around on the start line I had no idea of where in the pack I was going to fit into at the end. This race was going to be longer and more intense than I was used to. Right off the start the women were aggressive and pushed hard. Starting is not a strength of mine so I found the pace tough.

Eventually everyone sorted themselves out and we headed into the single track. Not sure what position I was holding I settled in. Right from the start I could tell I was having an off day. I struggled to keep my balance and my legs just didn't want to go. Somewhat discouraged by what I was feeling in addition to a whole new pack of girls I cant say I was having a ton of fun. Even though I had a tough time keeping my head in the race I managed to keep riding.

Not even half way into the race I was thrown another curve ball, I went down on a bridge which caused the cable in my rear derailleur to slip out. Now I had no gears in the back except for the hardest one. I wasn't sure what to do. I could just suck it up and push through it till the end of the race or visit the tech zone. After realizing how much pushing such a hard gear was sapping my already tired legs I chose to stop in the tech zone. For the first time ever I found myself standing in the tech zone watching all the women I worked hard to pass during the race ride right past me as I was standing still (literally!). After what seemed like an eternity my bike was ready to go. Still not able to shift properly, it would be good enough to at least finish the race.

After three more laps I crossed the finish line, exhausted and pretty happy to be done the race. Personally, I was not happy with my performance. There were many things that I feel I could have done differently. For one, I could have done a much better job of hydrating! I came across the line only to find I had a pounding headache due to the long race in the heat and a lack of water. This was definitely not the best race of my life, but hey, everyone has a bad race once in a while all you can do it learn from them and move on.

Bianca