"Once Discovered, Never Forgotten"

So I got my first Elite podium at Buckwallow. Finished third and was only 20 seconds off the win. With most of the top guns out west for the Canada Cup and nationals, the field was wide open. My goal was a top ten, but when I saw the field I new a top five was within reach.

I had the course dialed after doing 6 or 7 laps Tuesday, then 3 more Saturday. I was going fast and riding the technical stuff very smooth. I have always loved Buckwallow, since my first time riding it two years ago, when I sucked but still had fun. Buckwallow is not comparable to any trial system near Niagara. It's a different world. Trails like this can only exist on the Canadian Shield, where you can find exposed rocks bigger than your house, and have plenty of car sized ones to link to flowy turns. The course was reverse direction this year, making some lines interesting, but nothing overly tough.

I had my tire pressure way down for this race, with 15psi front and 18psi rear. With big Conti Race Kings set up tubeless you can go this low (depending on your weight), and really benefit from the increased traction and comfort. I also have some new rims now, the Stan's Alpine. They look like the Olympics, but are lighter and have the new wider inside with smaller sidewalls. The beads of my Race Kings seemed to really snap in and sealed up very easily.

So onto the race. I started at the back and was the last guy motoring along the doubletrack start. I got by maybe five guys before the first singletrack, but still had some ground to make up on the top 10. I always felt like I could be going faster than the guys I was following, so when we came out on the doubletrack, I would go faster and bridge to the next group. I was in a train with Anton, his teammate and a Mountain view guy for a lap, and was willing to work with Anton on the doubletrack, but lost him by the first singletrack of lap 3. I was alone for a while, and kept my pace high to hold my position. I was stoked to be in fifth. On lap 5, I caught Tall tree Neil on the big climb, and asked "are you Elite?" He said nothing but started to hammer to hold me off. I guess that's a yes? I held his wheel for a while, and was confident that I would get by him before the finish. While we lapped one of his female teammates, she totaly blocked me. "I said on your left" She drifted left. "ON YOUR LEFT" she moved all the way left till I was off the trail, and as I passed her through the rough, she laughed and said"Ohhh Left" I said "ya do you know which way left is??" I shut the gap down on Tall Tree, and we passed Zack before I passed him. Before the last sinletrack section I caught Souter, and held his wheel through the trail. I disliked his pace, but there was no room to pass, and I figured sprinting for second would be fun. A lapped rider fucked up the big rock big time so we both had to dismount, loosing time on Stu who was in sight. When we came into the feed zone the sprint began. I was gonna go around him on the right side, and as I started to pass he drifted right. I yelled "ON YOUR RIGHT", and he went all the way to the right forcing me to brake and coast across the line to avoid being squeezed into the fence. Weak man. Just weak. The most exciting thing in cycling is the one on one drag race sprint. I love watching these, and being in these, but Souter totally ruined this one. I had a solid chance to beat him, I can sprint, but it would have been close, it would have had all the spectators standing on their toes in excitement.

I did not say anything to him, because, he knows. I will get him back by ending his winning streak at the Lake to Lake.

Thanks for the cheers Jeff, and others. Thanks so much Henri Family for the weekends accommodations, and feeding and such.

Lots of training going down this week with no race this weekend. Will update soon.

Peace out.