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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9/19/2018 06:58:31 am
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AuthorSavilia Blunk, 20 | XCO MTB racer for Liv Racing Archives
March 2020
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