I’ve had just over 5 weeks off of UCI racing. I’ve been training hard and feel my fitness is in a great place. I participated in the provincial MTB championship (like state championships) in Milton Ontario. It was an XC race however it was almost 2 hours in duration. I used it as a tune-up for the upcoming race block. I had good legs and was able to win but almost 10 minutes! This was great prep for marathon nationals in Whitehorse Yukon!
I have been looking forward to this event all season due to its race location. I had never been this far north anywhere in the world and was very excited to check out the new landscape. I flew in on Wednesday, giving me a few days to shake out from the long travel day (over 5000kms of flying). In the days leading into the event, I spent time checking out the local tourist attractions such as a location called Miles Canyon that is on the Yukon River and checked out an old Steamship from the 1930s-50s that was used to move supplies from city to city before the roads were built in 1950…. I got 2 days in on the course and felt great with the trails. Riding up here is amazing, lots of climbs with rewarding views, and technical fun descents. 10/10 riding destination.
Race day was Sunday at 915. We had a heavy frost overnight making for a brisk start to the day. The race was 90km with around 2100m of climbing. The course seemed very flat with long sustained drags at 2 percent in the first half of the course and a number of short steep punches right at the end of the lap. I really wanted to put myself in a position to win right off the start. The pace was insane for the race's first 10 minutes, and 1 rider broke away early. I slotted into 4th behind 4-time 24-hour world champion Corey Wallace with 2 place 30s or so ahead.
We pushed hard all lap one trying to keep the leaders close but couldn’t bring the gap back. Towards the end of the lap, I went down on an icy wooden bridge and found myself solo in 4th place with 60km to go. I regrouped from my crash well and went into time trial mode. For the next hour or so I was by myself. Towards the end of the lap, I caught a rider who went out hard and was able to ride away over the late lap climbing sections. I headed onto the last lap in 3rd place about 75 seconds behind second. I dug as deep as I could to bring the gap in. I felt I was quicker on the back portion of the lap and with about 30 minutes of racing to go I could see 2nd place. I felt confident if I could reach his wheel I could beat him. I went all in and caught him right at the base of the steepest climb on course. I could see from his body language he was suffering so I went for it right away and pulled a nice gap on this climb. I was able to hold on for second place on the day, finishing the 90km in 4.5 hours.
It was an amazing experience and a race I am super proud of. I hit some of my best numbers and fought as hard as I could for the entire duration of the race with no lapses in concentration. My fitness is positioned very well for the final 2 world cups of the season this October.
After the race, we headed northwest to the bigger mountains in the Yukon, Kluane National Park. We hiked the sheep mountain trail and added a summit from the backside to get a view over the Lake. It was a great way to finish off the trip, and is one that I won't forget!
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