Settling into the Bromont lifestyle

I'm a little behind the times and should have started this as soon as my race season started, but here's an update to fill you in on the last 3 weeks.


May 22nd - Mt. Tremblant Canada Cup #1

2011 got off to a rough start even before the races began. It was tough to leave home this year, but with too many commitments to back down from, I left St. John's for the first stop of the race season in Mt. Trembant.

It was my first real practise session on my new Intense M9 and things weren't going well. New bikes can take time to get used to and the Mt. Tremblant race track can feel awkward at times. The guys at Outdoor Gear Canada (OGC) were on hand for tech support as they are one of my main sponsors this year, helping me out with Intense Cycles, Fox Racing Shox, and Mavic rims. After a few drastic suspension changes, each practise run felt better and better. I knew the track because I raced it last year and was looking to improve on my 4th place finish from 2010.

My race run felt pretty good as I hit all the lines I wanted to, but rolled into a few rocks the wrong way and lost some carrying speed. When I came down, I grabbed the hot seat, but was bumped out and finished 4th in the Elite Mens catergory. I was happy with that considering how early in the season it was for me, but everyone wants to win!

May 29th - US Open, Diablo Freeride Park, New Jersey

It has become routine now for a lot of the Canadian racers to head south over the border after Tremblant and enter this awesome race. The US Open attracts stiff world cup competition due to the hefty $7500 cash prize for winning the Pro Men's category. It's a great racetrack and gets a lot of media attention.

I've been suffering with the heat a humidity of the Appalachian Mountains. The temps climbed to over 40C when the humidex was factored in. It was something I needed to get used to racing in, after leaving St. John's with a hoodie, pants and beanie.

Practice went well because I was dialing in the bike and the track is amazing. It offers everything a racetrack should - a good mellow start, rock gardens, jumps, woods and open sections, as well as some pedalling sections. I just sqeaked into the top 50 qualifiers in 42nd spot. I rode conservatively because I didn't want to flat or crash and not make finals. What I didn't realize was the depth of the field. Last year I qualified 20th with a cruisey run - lesson learned!

Sunday came around and it was race day. I really wanted to improve on last year's result of 18th, but knew I would have to step it up from my speed in the qualifying run - a lot! I hit the first half of the track without any mistakes, but lower down I got a bit sketchy on a new section which was constantly changing. I guess it played on my mind throughout the rest of the run and I just couldn't get back into a smooth rythym. At the end of the day I finished 19th and took 11 seconds off my qualifying time with a 2:32, I was a little pissed to be honest. I wanted to be the 2nd fastest Canadian to Steve Smith who smashed out a smoking time and took 2nd spot, but Kyle Sangers of Ontario put in a good run. Final times were tight and if I had been 3 seconds faster, I would have made the top 15. The truth is you learn from your mitakes.

Photo credit: Ben Stanziale