BIKE RACING & TRAVEL UPDATES from Adrian Retief: Finding my legs in Quebec

With the van finally in our ownership we made our way to Mont-Tremblant in Quebec. The 700km drive took us some time as we battled our way through torrential rain and thunderstorm. But this gave me time to finally remember the main reason for this trip and start to mentally prepare for the bike race in two days.

We arrived the afternoon before the race and I managed to get a few laps on course in the rain. Though it was my first time off road in a few weeks I felt comfortable and was enjoying riding the amazing trails the race track was set on. Supprisingly the track was very grippy in the wet and I didn't need to change to mud tyres for the race. The rain didn't let up for the rest of the day and night, but thankfully had cleared by the time we got up in the morning.

A back row start postion in the 70+ rider field meant for a hard start but good passing opportunities allowed me to slowly worked my way up the field throughout the race. With the severely deteriorated course making for lots of running with the bike and with the stress of the previous week, meant I really battled out there. I ended up finishing 36^th which is a little way off where I was hoping but not getting too hung up on the result. Was good to get that hard work out into the legs.

The next race was in Baie St-Paul, also in Quebec. Thankfully I could get some better preparation before the next Canada Cup as we arrived a week before the race and were able to stay at a campground that backed right onto the race course. Though very cold the weather was otherwise good to us and made for an enjoyable stay. Will and I were enjoying sitting around for most of the day after the hectic week before. Getting in some solid Breaking Bad marathons on my laptop and strolling around the town checking out some of the impressive art work.

By the time the race rolled around, I was starting to get into the right shape and was ready to make up for the result the weekend before. The course was very technical and hard to ride while fresh, so riding in the race in a fatigued state was going to be hard but I felt ready. Had a better start position here too, but after a riding a little too conservative at the start I made up some places halfway through the first lap and was sat in 16^th. I rode the rest of the race in this position, not able to pass anyone and not being passed by others behind me. Overall pretty happy with the improvement from the last race, but know I have some work to do before the next race in Colorado Springs in 3 weeks.