Mont Trembant Canada Cup

Another Mont Tremblant Canada Cup has come and gone. This was my sixth year in a row racing the Mont Tremblant Canada Cup. My first year here was as a second year junior and it certainly it seems like a pretty long time ago.

This weekend had me thinking about the younger athletes as home in Nova Scotia that were racing at the season opener in Truro at Victoria Park. Some of these athletes are certainly at the same level I was six years ago; so keep up the hard work, enjoy it and the opportunities and experience will follow. (Just something I had on my mind this weekend while going through the photos from Victoria Park)

I would say that this past weekend was my best Canada Cup yet. I have had better results, but never with such a deep field and never with as strong a race start to finish. I finished 8th in Elite, racing in a group for 6th place for most of the race. This is also very exciting considering this is among the first few races of the season for me and I am just getting back into the swing of racing. I’ll be aiming to improve upon this result this Saturday at Baie-St-Paul and take that momentum into Europe for World Cup #4 in Albstadt, Germany.

Leading into the race there was a big question mark in place as far as course conditions were concerned. With a lot of rain in the forecast before the event it was certain the course would change. Tire choice would be critical. After a team meeting on Saturday night we were asked to wait until the morning to evaluate course conditions to make our tire choice. I made the decision in the morning to go with the Kenda Karma in 1.95. Guthrie and I were together after the start and he yelled, “How ’bout this tire choice eh?” as we were off our bikes running though the first bit of single track. Was I ever happy with my decision.On the day I was climbing very strong but even more so, I was on my technical game. I closed down gaps and passed riders on the downhill and kept it smooth. Overall it was a really strong performance for me and I hope to improve as the season progresses.

We also had a great weekend as a team. Norco Factory Team added two riders to the roster this year, Peter Disera and Cayley Brooks and this was the first race of the year when we were all together. As far as travel and living together is concerned we are dialed. On the bike we had some great performances with podiums in both the Men’s and Women’s Elite categories. Guthrie rolled in 5th sharing the box with the bog boys and Haley stepped on here first elite Canada Cup podium in good company also taking the top U23 placing.

The full results from Canadian Cyclist can be found here. Check out some photos from the weekend below.

Check out reports from a few of my teammates Haley Smith, Evan Guthrie, Andrew Watson.