cx nationals part 1

Arrived in (d)Edmonton late Thurday evening a bit after 10pm local, I'd heard it'd be cold here, but was not actually expecting to see snow on the ground... take me home was the first thought.

Got settled at the lovely Argyle Plaza, chef reccomends, cheap(ish) and massive rooms, if all else fails I could book my room out for a spin class!

Friday would be chill out (and trying litterally not to chill out too much) found the neares grocery store, stock up and relax 'till later in the afternoon to ride.

Course was due to be open at 4pm along with registration, could have gotten there earlier as I'd heard most were riding around 2 o'clock. a few detours turned a 10min ride into a good 45min warm-up before registering and hitting the course. It was in good shape, varying from 0-3 cm of snow but packing into ice. Temps never went above 0 as predicted, so ice was looking to be a factor. 3500m course, lots of turns, and if it were dry it'd be smoking fast. Thoughts for raceday, unpredictable at best.

Saturday I was awaken to see a few flurries landed over night and cold temps. Race time would be -5 with strong winds out of the north (-12 to 15 ish windchill?). The master C and B races went first, and as hoping not for, icy. Probably the only condition I don't like (re: Morrisburg 2008 shawn almost broke a hip) decent warm-up though, felt good, not confident in tire choice, but I only brought one set so that'll be my choice (tufo makes a great tire, but it's not great below zero). I was a bit uncertain about clothes so went with more is better, felt a bit constricted, but was warm (will shed a layer for sunday). On top of that, it would be a short race, usually races are 60min, but for nat's this would be to protocol, at 40min, and actuall finish time was around 36min (4 laps) a full on sprint!

Started second row, with 23 riders in the grid. Small (but manageable) pack, good for today's conditions. had a great start, immediately to the front (about 5th wheel) and ready to jump as needed. may have gotten a bit too anxious however, took a coner hot and clipped a post and went down. I was able to get up and continue on made up some ground moved back as high as 6th again, but a slip-up on the slope, knocked me back to 8th. At the halfway mark, I was regaining confidence, and using acceleration and straight-aways to any advantage possible, and moved quickly back into 7th chasing to within seconds of 6th place.

So happy with a top-10 finish at 7th, really wanted podium, but realistically knowing that on frozen ground its a crap-shoot, and anything can happen. Will try again tomorrow at the Jim Horner GP, conditions are expected to be about the same, will fiddle around with tire pressure a bit more in hopes of some help there, maybe the course will get chewed up a bit this afternoon, although it will likely only refreeze overnight (please no more snow!) and be just as slick tomorrow.
More chilling out and relaxing at the Argyle for now, I feel like such a pro this weekend, so far it has been; fly in, sleep, get up eat, rest, eat, ride, eat, rest, sleep, get up race, come back clean up, eat, rest, currently on the internet, the rest of my weekend will be, eat, rest, sleep, get up, eat, race, eat/pack go to airport and go home.. awesome!
Looking forward to seeing to tomorrow, and even more to getting back to Kelly and Leiden!