Firestone NMBS

I knew it wasn't a great sign that I was weighing the pros and cons of actually lining up for the Firestone short track race during my warm up 30mins before the start. I felt like ass and it wasnt the heat. I have been sick on and off for a month now. What should have been a simple cold has become a monster because I had kept training and racing and traveling before I was healthy and now it was biting me in the ass. I hadn't ridden my bike since the Houffalize World cup because I was so tired so my legs felt good but my head and throat and lungs were getting worse - again. I finally had a good start position for the short track so I didnt want to lose that, and I figured I needed to know for sure how I was felling for the XC so I convinced myself to start. At worst I could drop out if I felt horrible.

Start gun went off and I had good legs so I went into the first corner 3rd. Apparently it was a dustbin behind us so its a good thing I wasn't back there sucking it in. The Luna girls sorted themselves out soon enough and caught us at the start of the second lap. They blew by me so I ended up leading the chase group. I could hear the announcer talking about how Kristin Danielson (Velo Bella - Kona) was having a great ride so I knew she was close behind. She pulled on strong and I hid behind her wee frame for a bit. I tried to give back to KD but made my move a little late as a few other girls were coming on strong. We had a pretty good chase group going but I got antsy when a few girls passed me. I tried to go with them when it narrowed and ended up sliding off a gopher hole and hit the dirt. I got up fast but had lost the chase group. Spent the rest of the race chasing myself but by then my body temp was up, my throat was killing me and I couldn't breath through my nose. Heather Irmiger (Subaru Gary-Fisher) passed me with some authority so I grabbed her wheel and held on to the finish. 10th place in the end I think. Not bad on paper but I felt horrendous afterwards and its only been getting worse.

So I sit here thinking the smartest thing to do is skip the XC tomorrow and concentrate on getting healthy again. Unless I have a miraculous recovery by tomorrow it looks like my first ever DNS. But I am sick of being sick. Its time to kick this and race healthy again.

photos to come.....

The euro report. Written as I am trying to stay awake until a respectable 9:30pm so it might not make sense in some places...

Reality check
Well, it takes a euro world cup to tell you where you really stand in the grand scheme of things. And although its hard on the ego, its always good to do it early in the season so you don't get cocky racing the North American circuit. So Sneddly and I decided to go to Houffalize, Belgium for a euro whoppin' at the world cup opener 1) because the race is legend and 2) to chase some UCI points. It wasn't hard to convince me as I love racing in Belgium - the fans are nutty and the pastries are tasty. Apparently it wasnt hard to convince athletes from 20+ other countries either because there were 250 men and 125 women registered to start.

Belgian sun?
Packing for Belgium was usually easy - be prepared for wet, muddy conditions. But this year they were in the middle of a euro heat wave. It was crazy - sun every day. In Belgium? Kris and I still had our Maxxis Oriflamme slick tires on from Sea Otter with full intention of changing them to knobbies at best, mudders at worst. But after a pre-ride in the dry, dusty conditions we both decided to run them for the race. Many a euro superfan stopped to point and stare at our slick tires as the weekend went on. They are somewhat of an unusual sight here I guess.....

Kona europe
Tom Eijssen from Kona had offered to support us at Houffalize so Kris and I were super pumped when we saw Tom and his girlfriend Nienke setting up the familiar orange tent. A few of the other Kona riders were there as well (Will Bjergpelt, Klara van der Vaart and Bas de Bruin - apologies if I have butchered your name) so it felt comfortable right away. Actually it felt like euro bizarro world where everything was exactly the same, only just a little bit different. If they had frites they would have definitely dipped them in mayo......

16%
I had a decent start position so I can't use that as an excuse...29th out of 125 girls is a great place to be - especially when you are facing a substantial 16% grade hill to spread the field. I had a good start and didn't torch myself up the start hill but I could tell pretty quickly that my legs had one speed only for the day. Unfortunately that speed wasn't crazy fast just steady. Steady is good when you are doing a training ride but steady isnt great when you are racing euro style where every minute is 4-5 places. I was slowly moving backwards to 44th as girls passed me the entire race. Fellow Canadians like Kiara Bisaro and Sandra Walters, and speedy Americans like Georgia Gould and Katerina Nash passed me early on but I also noticed some big names like Laurence LeBoucher (won a world cup cross race a few months ago) suffering with mere mortals like myself. It was a blow to the ego but my brothers training plan was to build towards a long MTB season not rock the first world cup. A smarter plan but I did miss my sassy cross legs....

I shook it off, bought a chocolate croissant and went to watch the mens race with the rest of the 30,000 superfans. Kris pretty much reversed my race. He had a horrible start and was 159th on the start loop but gradually worked his was up to 110th by the second last lap and then picked off 30 faders on his last lap to finish 80th! He looked really strong at the end.

Thanks the Kona Les Gets team - the euro bizzaro world gang this time - Tom, Nienke, Bas and Will. It was awesome having your support so far from home. It is almost 9:30 so I must sign out....