We will let the conspiracy theorists argue over whether this post is about the National championships of spectating, or me spectating the national championships.
Armed with my Alberta MTB Racing cowbell, I headed down to Hawrelack park in the morning, for what would be a very long, relaxing day outside.
Gave back to the community by volunteering for the women's race in the morning at the top of Emily Murphy hill, which consisted of me sitting in a chair in the shade, ringing my cowbell when the pack went by, and doing my best Bob Roll when answering questions from n00bs. I had a police officer with me who let select cars through and turned back the n00bs who were trying to drive down to the park, so I didn't have to do anything. After enjoying a macchiato from Da Capo, and a sandwich from Fresh Start served by a cute girl, I went out to ride a lap of the course with the full road closure.
Met up with some Hardcore teammates, and watched the men's race. I decided not to race, but I saw some cat 3's and 4's who man'ed up. Within a couple of laps, I could see them falling off the back. I did a couple of cat 2 races last year and got shelled, and the race was as long as the longest ride that I had ever done. After a fairly active first couple of laps, the race lulled, but then I realized that they were only halfway done! Then I saw lots of fast Albertan riders get dropped. Definitely glad I didn't race today!
Pumped to see some Alberta rep. in the break of the day with Spencer able to stick in until the end to claim 14th. Although the pack was whittled down, there was still a select collection of Alberta riders who finished the race. Dom Rollin put on a show for the crowd with an impressive pull but as a strong pro tour rider, he was heavily marked.
Cool race, would be cool to have it in Edmonton next year, I would try to get ready for that. Interesting to hear the opinion of the public on that one! Props to Sheldon Smart for beating Rob Jones to the athlete interviews!
No comments:
Post a Comment