Iron Lung XC and Organ Grinder 5hr enduro

Considering the week leading to the race…it went pretty good.

It was a busy week. Cleaned the the trailer,short circuited (ans smoked) its power converter, visited beautiful Ft McMurray for work, sold our house,sent the in-laws home and got a flat on the way to work on Friday.  Packed up the kids and the camping stuff too late and arrived to the Nordic Center at 7:30pm on Friday.  Not much energy left to preride…

Bogi went first,then I took off for a lap around 9pm…until a sharp rock cut my front tire just before the Laundry Chutes.. my second flat on the same day (3rd int the last 12 months). Having no time,energy or inspiration left we headed to the Three Sisters campground. The first night of camping with kinds is always a gong show. They are too excited to sleep,so no-one sleeps and next day is a guaranteed disaster.

Somehow made it to Beamers coffee in the morning and woke up finally after an XL coffee mocha. Before Bogi’s race I was able to preride the course,which was a ton of fun. One of the best courses I have ever ridden in 18 years of mtb racing.

Bogi and the sport field took off first. Bogi,Leanne,Ramona and Carthy all rode strong Bogi taking 8th in the huge and strong field.

Just as she finished Soma started his race in the U7 category of Little Lung race going hard in the beginning,but  crashing after about 150m meters. Thanks Dad for full-face helmet. His 2nd race…so much to learn at the age of 5. At the end he did manage to do a nice sprint and were super happy to take the candy medal and goodie bag award.

In the afternoon it was my turn. I always want to win. Every race. Tired or not,slow or fast, my plan is to win. However there always seem to be issues with this  plan’s execution. I keep trying tho.  Some of  complications are the local riders that are way faster than me. Other issues are the pro riders who are way faster than the local riders who are faster than me. And the list goes on.  Anyway I lined up with several pros and many local elite riders at the start line and we took of in a very friendly pace. For about 250 meters. Then hell got loose. Someone accelerated and we took off like a 737 on a runway. Managed make it to the top of the climb in 8th place and actually felt pretty good. The top 5 were disappearing fast but I had a satisfying small gap on some big local guns.

On lap 2 (!) the expert machines Graham Torrie and Gordon Jewett passed me on a downhill. They were riding like no tomorrow. Until that point I thought I was going well. Everything is relative.

My climbing speed is not where I like it to be but it is improving. Managed to stay around top 10 for most of the race,but on the last lap my right knee started to hurt badly again. Tried different movements,but the sharp pain continued. Eventually I had to slow down a bit and lost few spots. Still finished 12th,which I am happy with considering the field quality. Stefan Widmer took 1st,in an impressive fashion as he always does.

Had a better night sleep on Saturday night camping with Alistar and Ramona At Bow River Campground. Then headed to the start of the Organ Grinder race. Not wanting to rename the race to Knee grinder we decided to change our registrations to do more babysitting and less riding. Leanne and I teamed up,while Bogi went for the solo race. To limit the knee pain I got my fancy bike out,the Niner Air 9 with gears and even suspension. Once Leanne finished her 3rd lap,it was my turn in riding and hers in babysitting. Did two easy,but fun laps mostly using the left leg and enjoyed every bit of singletrack. Finished 6th in Mixed Team category. Bogi took 13th in open solo women and I got fired as her mechanic right after the race. Cory Wallace just hammered it in the whole way and won by a landslide. What a cardiovascular machine.

Scott and Justin represented Team Singletouch on Sunday in the two mens category. After a broken seatpost,some good looking bruises they finished the race on a high note,with great lap times completing 5 laps. Scott told me after his 2nd mtb race:“I totally can see why you guys are doing this”. I hope Scott and Justing are hooked now.

Thanks for Stefan and Cory for showing us how this business is done. Thanks CMC/Bowcycle for the great course and organizing.

Time to see a physiotherapist.