A picture and a brief note from each of the past four Canada Cups.

Time flies, life is busy, sometimes the stories write themselves, other times they need time to brew.

Baie Saint Paul XCC – 2nd (May 19th)
Hanging on to Maghalie Rochette until the defining moment in the race where she went on the attack and my seatpost immediately recognized I didn’t quite have the legs to go with her and (in)conveniently broke. Gingerly nursed my way around the last couple laps to hold on for second.

Short Track (Fred Webster)

Baie Saint Paul XCO – 2nd (May 20th)
First real Canada Cup podium! Despite not feeling totally committed to a race effort after being dropped at the end of the first lap, it still shaped up to be a personal best result. I’m also really happy to clean all the features and technical sections on the course, including ones I didn’t even consider looking at last year.

Really, really awesome to share this race trip with fellow “ex”-skier Brittany Webster

Mont Tremblant – 2nd (May 26th)
Exciting but unexpected to be racing in the Canada Cup leaders jersey just one year after my first ever Canada Cup at the same venue in Tremblant. Despite my best efforts to keep expectations and goals to the back of my mind, it’s become more difficult to go into races and just “see what happens” now that there is context and comparisons to be made.

On the up (Matt Stetson, Canadian MTB)

Road Provincial Championships – 3rd (June 3rd)
Fun to mix things up and shake people up, that’s all. Road racing is a bit frustrating, but I can definitely see how the tactical elements and being able to work with teammates would make for very interesting and rewarding competition.

Trying to be as aero-as-possible on a CX bike (Andrew Watson)

Horseshoe Valley – 2nd (June 10th)
Four second place finishes at Canada Cups in a row… here’s to consistency with a nod to improvement!
I tried, tried, tried, my very best to be in the race, but I got steamrolled by Haley Smith pain-train and then my race became one for another runner’s up position. This race left me torn between being super proud of a determined effort, being 4minutes closer to the winner compared to this race last year, and yet still being exasperated that I’m over 3minutes back in second place.

Ryan was the wheel MVP this weekend. Back on his feet now though, and more stoked than ever.

Hardwood Ski and Bike – 5th
I was really digging this course, positive feelings, good energy, but then just had one of those days where I simply could not ride my bike properly. Heat – probably hurt me more than most, I’ll play the skier card here – could have done for about 40C cooler. I was right in the mix for third until an ugly last lap. I’m at least content having stuck with it to the end.

Keep on keeping on (Mark Hamilton)

This was a long string of races, 5 weekends in a row, and full-swing at work too. It’s good to be busy, I prefer it… but it’s also nice to have the next few weekends open to take some time and maybe try to fit some of that “recovery” thing in between the rest of “life” :)

There are two more rounds of the Canada Cup left – one this weekend (June 24) in Whistler, and then the final round in early August out in Kentville, Nova Scotia. As things stand now, I’m hoping to clinch the Overall and close out the Canada Cup series in Kentville.

But, that’s still a ways off.

Until then, just going to keep working on it.

Four weeks til Nationals.