Canadian Open

Sunday I awoke, got my gear together and headed up the hill to do a couple quick training laps. The trail had gotten considerably rougher over my rest day and a few new lines had developed, but for the most part my lines still held. The course had dried up a fair bit in the open sections, but in the trees it was still pretty wet and the roots were still slippery as hell. The last section through the boneyard was finally open, so I got two runs through it and it was a joy. I got two solid practice laps in but my suspension had broken in considerably since its service during the week, so on the larger features I was bottoming pretty hard and I felt the need for change. I then spent some serious time dialing in my suspension with the help of the boys at the Giant tent until I felt satisfied, and then took a play run in the park to feel it out and get used to how it reacted. Nothing is more satisfying then finding a perfect suspension set up, so I was thoroughly stoked upon finishing that run. The rest of the day until my run I chilled out, made some good food and chilled out at the Fairmont pool. The weather improved considerably, and when I went up for my run the course had dried out a ton. This was especially a relief going over the big triple step-down under the chair, which had a steep off camber slimy rock face corner run in directly into the muddy lip you had to pop to clear a good 35-40 feet to make the wide open landing so you could send another gap. Up top I had a solid warm up, visualized a number of times and got my head in the right place. In the gate I was stoked but relaxed and in total control. My top section was super fast, and the only part of the track I was unsure about how I would fair on, a steep, sniper slippery rooty run in to gap line into the run in to a big rock double went super well.

The landing cornered right into a super steep rock face roll over to tech corner section before the big step down, and there were about 30 drunken Aussies and 60 others cheering super hard.

It was fairly epic to pin it in front of such a large, appreciative crowd. I got pretty loose under the chair, but managed to nail the big step down and the whole middle section. At that point I briefly noticed my right shoe feeling loose before I sent the last step down under the chair. When I landed and hit the super chunder right corner into the trees my left knee pad slid right off my knee, and I was briefly thrown off trying to tell myself it didn’t matter as I descended into the start of super tech middle section. When I hit the tight right hander at the bottom of the initial wooded pitch my foot nearly came out of my shoe and at that point I had Gee Athertons words “this is falling apart man” running through my head when he had his shorts come undone and slide down his legs at the World Cup Finals last year. My middle section was a bit of a blur for me fighting to get my shoe back straight on the pedal without my foot coming out over the super tech and steep rocks and roots. I managed to survive the tree section and the super steep gnar root chute upright, albeit awkwardly, with a few near deaths. On the flat, wide open exit to the trees I finally had a chance to sit down and get my foot straight on the pedal. Once accomplished I hammered across the flats into the bottom section. The bottom was super fun, full of jumps, fast corners, cheering spectators and the commentators booming over the loud speakers. As I came through the finish with one knee pad and one shoe in tact all I could do was shake my and laugh. Despite everything that went wrong I was thoroughly stoked to have the opportunity to run such an amazing track and have such a good experience. The track and the atmosphere left me buzzing, and after racing this track everything else is going to feel like childs play, so I am stoked to take this race and build this week into my race run at Sun Peaks this weekend. In the Open I ended up 38th out of 64 pros from around the world who started, 6 seconds off 20th and considering the misfortune of my apparent poor preparation, definitely within striking distance of a really solid result. Ahh, I will earn the right to a run devoid of stupid errors yet. Another good lesson.
Now preparation begins for the Canada Cup Finals, BC Cup Finals and Provincial Championships taking place at Sun Peaks this weekend. I am super pumped. Wish me luck.
J