Category: Junior Expert Women Result: 3rd After a beautiful week of recovering and training in the enchanted forests of Mont Tremblant, the US team packed up and drove on to Baie-Saint-Paul on Thursday before our Saturday Race. Baie-Saint-Paul is about a five hour drive north east of Mont Tremblant. We arrived Thursday afternoon in time to get on the new course and do a few laps. Since we were still two days out from race day the Junior Elites course wasn’t completely marked. I spent a while trying to figure out which course was my course and ended up riding completely different trails, but I had fun riding on some fun single track! I wasn’t too worried about not being able to see my course because I still had Friday to dial everything in. On Friday the race weekend had begun and the course was well marked. I went out for one easy lap with my teammates, and was super excited to find a twisty course full of roots, rocks, and drops, throughout, with some steady climbs as well as steep short ones mixed in. This course had a little bit of everything and I couldn’t wait to race it. I woke up Saturday morning to see cloudy skies and temperatures rising for perfect race conditions. After what seemed like forever, and a small mishap with my wheel during warm up (saved by the speedy and skilled USA mechanics Than and Miguel), I found myself on the line behind my US teammate Gwendalyn. Seconds after my field was called up, we were off. I followed a Czech rider out up the start straight at a hot pace and fell into second up the first sustained climb. I knew it would be important for me to get in front on the descents so I put efforts out on the climbs to get up there entering the single track. The course was made up of mostly single track with little passing areas so I knew it would be important to pick my lines carefully and be as smooth as possible. Entering the second of three laps I could tell some riders who went out in the front at the start were starting to blow and I was feeling extra fatigue from the demanding course so I backed off. I was sitting in about fourth or fifth for most of the race. Entering the final lap I gave it absolutely everything I had, made some tight passes, and moved up to third, almost catching second by the finish. I’m so happy to have had a successful second race of this trip and improve on my results from last weekend on a harder course. These past two weekends of racing internationally I have felt the benefits of the experience that I gained last year racing in France and Germany and I am so grateful to USA Cycling for creating these opportunities for the USA. I also would not be doing any of this if it wasn’t for the support of my family, my coach, Dario Fredrick, my team, and community and there is no way to express my thanks in words. I’m so excited for what the future holds.
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Category: Junior Expert Women Result: 4th After a tough race in Utah the weekend prior, I was super excited to be heading to Quebec for the first time to get the international racing underway. It’d been three years since I had been on this coast of North America, since racing in Ontario in 2015, and I was more than excited to kick off the next block of racing with the Coupe de Canada #2 in Mont Tremblant, Quebec with the rest of the National Team. We arrived Friday evening in Montreal and drove up to Mont Tremblant about two hours north. Driving at dark, we found our way through the quaint town to the place we were staying. Next morning was all smiles, greeted with cloudy blue skies and excitement. We built our bikes and headed out for a pre race recon on the course. I was full of excitement for the weekend of racing and to get out on the course. The course started down at the base of the village and wound its way up on the cobblestone streets through town and onto the mountain. It was filled with long climbs and technical rooty and rocky climbs and descents. With the recent rain there were a couple mud pockets, and everything was still slick. After a couple laps dialing in lines I was ready for race day. Sunday afternoon slowly rolled around as we put together last minute race preperations. We rolled down to the roads along the lake to start warming up for our 2:30 start. After a beautiful warm up under the shady trees everything was in place and it was go time. I was excited to see some strong competition on the line of Canadians and a European. The whistle blew and we were off with a hot start. Girls on both sides of me battled hard for position up the road climb. I was in about fourth as we left the town and entered the ski slop up a gravel road. I knew I wanted to enter the technical single track in a good position but I also didn’t want to blow up pushing too hard too early on the climbs. I got to the single track and at this point positions were unknown. There were riders right in front and right behind me. I stayed smooth on the technical sections, focusing on taking the fastest lines when possible and started to make a gap from the girl behind me through the woods. We exited the woods and started the next climb. I could always see my US teammate Gwendalyn Gibson close up ahead and that helped me pace myself as I pushed hard everywhere I could. Going in to the third and final lap I could still see Gwen and two Canadians right ahead. My legs were feeling really good so I put in an attack and caught up to their wheels as we entered the single track. Entering one of the final climbs I saw that Gwendalyn and Sydney were breaking away from myself and the other Canadian. I made another attack on the steep climb and quickly made a small gap on sixth place. I was closing in on third and fourth and I knew that every second would count. The roots were slippery and the muddy sections slick and there was no time to lose focus even for a split second. The trail opened up and I was able to slip around Gwendalyn as she took the left line and I took the right. The Canadian in third was about one turn in front of me and I couldn’t quite catch her in the end, finishing two seconds behind her, and less than 15 seconds behind second place. It was an exciting day against some stiff competition, and I’m happy to have had a good race and gained more experience on these types of courses. Like every race, I am walking away with more experience and having learned many more things about racing. One of the many things I love so much about this sport is the learning curve. There are endlessly new things to learn in every race, training ride, or race trip and I am grateful to have people around me to guide me and learn from. Some of these people include my teammates, my coach Dario Fredrick, who I couldn’t do any of this without, USA Cycling, and my family. This trip is off to a great start.
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AuthorSavilia Blunk, 20 | XCO MTB racer for Liv Racing Archives
March 2020
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