Windham PRO XCT – First Podium!

by Andrew L'Esperance

Last year the challenge at the World Cup in Windham was the dust, this year at Windham PRO XCT it was the heat and the mud! Mountain bike races are never the same, ever. That is one of the things I love about this sport. In the lead up to a race like this the conditions are always changing. The first day the course was mostly dry and a low profile tire was best, but that changed quickly with overnight thunderstorms that hit Windham hard. There are a lot of bike setup decisions that have to be made before you hit the start line. Here is my bike setup for this race:

Bike: Norco Revolver FS

Tires: 29×2.2 Kenda Honey Badger XC PRO with TR casing on Stans Valors

Tire Pressure: Front – 21.5 PSI Rear – 22.5 PSI

Fork: Rockshox RS-1 setup with 15% sag at 100 psi with 3 tokens

Shock: Rockshox Monarch XX setup with 20% sag and 145 PSI

With a setup like that I hit the ground running and had a really good race this past weekend! I finished up 4th in a very strong field of North Americans and Europeans. This was my best finish at a UCI HC event thus far and I am really happy I made it happen.

Check out some photos from the weekend of racing from Caroline Gauthier

Holy dust, you could taste it off the start, you couldn't really see where you were going, just rallying full gas to get out of it!
Windham World Cup 2015. Holy dust, you could taste it off the start, you couldn’t really see where you were going, just rallying full gas to get out of it!
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Ice vest was key to arrive at the start line cooled at Windham PRO XCT.
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With the World Cup in MSA last weekend, we had a very strong field of athletes from across North America and Europe at the Windham PRO XCT.
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It was all about keeping it smooth and upright on the slippery rocks at the top of the course.
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The mesh undershirt that McNeely and I both wore from Endura keeps us surprisingly cool on the hot days.
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Super happy with my performance! 4th on the day.
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McNeely looking composed. It was a long race in challenging conditions!
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Raph Auclair looking good in the technical. We trained together this winter in Victoria, BC in similar conditions to Windham…wet.
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Navigating the rock garden after the long climb to the top. With the wet conditions this section was significantly more challenging on race day.

 

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