The last of the Quebec based Canada Cup races came and went last Saturday. For this race, I’ll start at the beginning of the week because it was by far the favourite location and race for most.
Mont Tremblant Quebec is located approximately 2 hours outside of Montreal...no idea what direction! It’s kinda like a Whistler of the East. My crew arrived Sunday afternoon after watching the downhill at Bromont. After a delicious dinner of beef fajitias we fell asleep, happy and contented to be in Tremblant.
I woke up early the next morning as I slept on the pull out couch and it was PRETTTYYY uncomfortable! So my ride started at around 7:20AM. It was such a cool ride, I just kept riding this old road out to a little village outside of Tremblant, climbing up different ski hill “braps” on my way. The next day I rode to the top of the Tremblant ski mountain which was AMAZING. It was such a good climb. STEEP and lasted for about an hour. I followed the service road u and all along the road there were millions of trails BUT they were banned to cyclists as the residence there didn't want the mountain to accommodate cyclists!?! The top of the mountain was amazing, so high and sunny. The hills seemed to roll out in front of me like throw rugs. I took a billion pictures!
Wednesday the course finally opened for the one time a year cyclists were allowed to ride Tremblant trails and I took full advantage. I trained really hard on the trails to try and get a good feel for the course. It was sooooo cool. It started on a climb, logging road climb, and then ducked into a technical single track up hill. I had done tons of training runs on the course with the Manitoba girls and I felt confidant going into the race...not to mention the triple brew coffee I was fed before the race. Literally I was shaking. It was INSANE. I’m making it a race ritual! So anyways, Me and crazy frenchie (Adrienne Pichette) got the whole shot at the start of the race despite my shitty starting position (due to the Bromont disaster) and I followed her wheel off the start until the single track where she started to fumble. I passed her for a little while, but basically Adrienne lead the entire race. Second lap came around and I was right with Adrienne still, I got so excited! Given’er up the climb she seemed to be fading, but we remained tight. When the downhill came along I wanted to just soar. But, to my surprise I didn't have any front brakes. The entire brake pad system had FALLEN OUT! I was screwed. I did what I could with a back brake only, but basically lost a lot of time and confidence going down. I got passed by another crazy french girl on the third lap downhill and finished third. I was so ridiculously stoked! It was soooo much fun! Definitely one of the best races of my life.
After the race my boyfriend, Eric, and his parents took me out for an amazing, fancy dinner at the Fairmont hotel. It was WICKED. Sipping on New Zealand white wine, feasting on lobster and an amazing asian buffet we left full and with a successful glow.
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