Iron Maiden

After it took me a while to recover and some rookie mistakes, I was back racing again in Canmore for the Iron Maiden (formely Iron Lung) race.

Course: The climbs seemed like the perfect length and the descents allowed for a good recovery. Rain during the week, and during race day made the course super slick. This is a similar course to what will be used for nationals, so if conditions are good, I should have an awesome race.


Engine: I found that I was climbing really well, and the climbs on the course always kept me motivated to hammer.


Technique: With the course being pretty slick, and me naturally being one of the weaker descenders, technique was not my strong point and I lost a lot of time on the descents.


TSN turning point: Probably on the Devonian drop on lap 1. Front tire washed out on the slick rocks, but I was able to clip out and slide down on my feet. Definitely rattled for the rest of the race.

I opted to miss out on the "Organ Grinder" 5hr race the next day (I probably would have done it as a 2 person relay), for a couple of reasons: #1 Giver-8-er and Kananaskiker really beat the shit out of me and I needed a couple of days to recover from each of those, and #2 The course was still pretty slick.

On another topic, I have started sport climbing. My brother and some friends are pretty into it, and I have obtained some cheap gear. Excellent "cross training" and a fun way to spend some time with friends and blow off some steam. I love the texture of real rock compared to the climbing gym, but I am still a n00b.