Canada Cup Part 3 of 3- Hardwood Hills

It wouldn't be fair to race in Canada unless you race in the rain at least one weekend. This was the weekend for sure.The Toronto area got 4-6 inches of rain. That was what the area got in all of April and May!! And of course it happens to be the same weekend of the race...Sweet!! To be honest the track was really not that muddy. Just a film of mud over hard packed sand and roots. I guess it doesn't sound nice but believe me I have seen worse. Good thing the soil drains well in Ontario!!

(The track the day before the race)

The race went So-So again. Having bad luck with a call up (2nd to LAST row) and slowing for one crash right at the start, stopping for a second crash, having cold legs trying to catch back up from nearly dead last, and standing near dead locked in the first piece of single track had my hopes for a top 15 sort of out of touch. I made good work of getting back into the 20's or so. With a group of 5 just ahead i tried my hardest to get back up to them. The track didn't lend very many opportunities to make up a huge amount of time due to the lack of technical rock sections and just being down right fast. Unless you were Super Man and or having an above average day of racing (neither of which i am or was having) what ever position you were in after the first 2 laps you sort of got locked in to that spot. I did manage to make up 4 spots in the last lap and finished a solid 21st out of 60+ starters. I'm happy and feeling more confident in my fitness abilities and am looking forward to more high end racing in a few weeks.

If i had to choose one stand out piece of equipment for the three weeks of racing in Canada i would have to choose my Racing Ralph Schwalbe Tires. These have to be the most versatile tire tread. Wet, Dry, Roots and Rocks they work great in everything. Set it and Forget it. No messing around here!

                      Race number from the weekend!!

                                               
   Local Wildlife: The lawn of the condo we were staying at was loaded with Black Squirrels.


~Seamus