Provincial's Pre ride

This weekend has a ton of races going on with the East Coast Open and the mtb Marathon in Mansfield and of course the pre ride up at Highlands Nordic. I chose to keep it relaxed and save some money and stress and went out to Highlands. Got there nice and early after a way too short of a sleep. I'll thank my car for that one - never decide to work on drum brakes at 6 in the evening, it will have you up till' 12. Had a planned 6 laps to do, 2 recon, 1 tempo to test my lines, 1 1st lap pace (about top end of z4), and 2 laps at an easy tempo. My first reaction of the course was wow this is awsome - which surprised me as I normally like wide open courses like Kelso and not one with a bunch of tight twisty single track and limited double track. I still loved it though. I actually found that I rode smoother when I started pushing the pace. A lot of the single track you can pump and really throw the bike around in corners since the trails were damp but not wet. The only potential problem that I see with this track is the lack of passing opportunities. To pass you're going to have to pin it one of the steep double track climbs. I think that is why I'm looking forward to this one, you are either climbing or descending, it's sort of like Mansfield meets Woodnewton or Hardwood. The climbs are pretty steep and not super long, this is usually one of my strengths later in the race which should help me out. As for the tight twisty, rocky, rooty course I was feeling confident and comfortable with it throught the 6 laps so I don't think that it will be too much of a negative for me during the race.

I have to look over the bike tomorrow as the shifting was a little off. It ran fine but it was making a little extra noise in the rear and hopping off the big ring once and a while. It was most likely from the rock garden at Kelso when my rear triangle smacked the rock after my rear wheel got bounced.

Tomorrow will be an easy day with a ton of relaxing. I'll be headin out on the road for an easy spin for an hour and then off to the gym with Manda for a core workout. This should leave me more then rested for Tuesday's race. The car is pretty much fixed so I won't have to stress too much over that. Huge thanks to my dad who has basically put his last couple Friday's down the drain to help me, without his help I wouldn't have a car to drive right now.

Hope the rain holds off for tomorrow morning.