the salmon arm salty dog went pretty well for my dad and i, (being that it was a team race) we were 5th in our category. i was able to pull of some pretty good lap times. going into the race i wanted again to work on breathing more controlled breaths which i was able to do. there were also a few athletes that i wanted to place ahead of in lap times, our first lap wasn't comparable because i started first for my team and they started second on theirs and the starting lap is a bit longer so their first lap times were about a minute faster but on their second lap/my second lap after their teammate had gone twice my times were a few seconds faster.
some things that i would like to improve on would be: -stable core while riding(i was bobbing to much which decreases efficiency) -do five laps instead of 4 All in all this was a great training race i definitely recommend doing it, i'll probably be back next year unless there are some Canada cups that i can race.
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The surrey Junkyard Dog bc cup went pretty well, I was 3rd, after being sick with a cold prior and during the race i felt pretty good with 3rd.
The course was absolutely flat so it wasn't exactly my kind of course, it was a bit tight so it was definitely up to who could be the smoothest through the tight corners. It had rained the night before so a few of the wooden features were unridable. On the course there were some road bits that I could push but wasn't able to make up enough time on second. I felt pretty good throughout the race but i think that I should have pushed harder through the woods sections. Even though I didn't push hard enough through the woods I was able to focus on the three things I wanted to work on: -breathing slow and controlled breaths(I found that this really helped focus my mind) - better tyre choice(I am currently running the ardent race tyres from maxxis and if you are looking for a new set of tyres I strongly recommend them) -faster on the descents(there was no descending however I have gotten a lot faster on the descents since the canada cup) Things that I would want to improve the next time would be: -give 100% the whole race and don't stop till the end -learn to rail corners even faster All in all the Junkyard Dog went pretty well and again with every race comes the learning benefits. The bear mountain canada cup went pretty decently(I got 6th) . Going into the race i didn't focus on anything to work on I just wanted to sort of find my legs for the season.
The course didn't really suit me for the reasons that it was a power man's kind of course, it had no climbs over 100-150 meters, it was really slick and muddy and technical. Being a small rider with not the most powerful legs, I wasn't able to let my weight factor in on the the climbs so I was often out powered by bigger riders on the punchy climbs(on courses like the test of humanity where there are lots of longer climbs I will usually place higher than the athletes that beat me on these types of courses) . The descents on the course were really fun, they were full of mud, roots, rocks and on the flowy bits berms and jumps. I am not THE faststest descender but I was able to hang on the the other riders while doing so. The things that I want to work on for next time are: -breathing slower( I breathed to fast and as a result wasn't able to focus as well) - better tyre choice( i was running hard pack dry xc tyres and was slipping a fair bit in the mud) -get faster on the descents (period) All in all I had a super fun time racing and hanging out and meeting new people who ride. And with every race comes the benefit of learning what can be improved the next time. |