Tracy Moseley in the air! Photo thanks to John Gibson
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Whistler is talked about as being the best mountain bike destination in the world and having not been there for 4 years I was looking forward to seeing all the new developments. The Crankworx festival has also grown over the last few years and I was going to be taking part in 4 different races over the week. Last time I was here the garbanzo chair lift was not open and there were no trails on the upper slopes of the mountain. This time I was going to be racing down a selection of these new trails in the infamous Garbanzo downhill race, top of the mountain to the bottom. It was set to be a true epic of a race.
With the weather conditions as bad as those I left behind in the UK it really was a challenge to get down some of the root strewn sections and more importantly to be able to see ! I used a whole pack of 7 tear offs in my race run and still had plenty of mud on my goggles at the finish ! I took the win ahead of Fionn Griffiths.
I then had a few days to recover and get to grips with the next race down the most famous trail at Whistler, A-Line. It's a trail of jumps and berms, so much fun ! When racing however it becomes pretty physical as you have to squash the jumps and pedal out of all the corners. I had a pretty good run and this time took 1st ahead of Micalya Gatto.
I had just received my new short travel bike before I left for Whistler, so I was really looking forward to riding it in the dual slalom race. It's been quite a while since I last did a slalom. It was a brand new track for the race which took some practice to get right. The berms were really tight and you had to be so precise to be able to carry speed all the way down the trail. I loved the challenge and enjoyed the racing, eventually making it to the final and taking first ahead of Joanna Petterson.
The Boneyard! Photo thanks to John Gibson
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My final event of the week was back on my big bike for the Canadian Open downhill race. As the slalom ended up being on Saturday I did not get much time for practice of the DH race, so really found it hard to remember all my lines and I made a few big mistakes in the run, but still managed to sneak ahead of local rider Clare Buchar to take my final victory of the week. It was a great week of training with all the riding and racing. I now have a few days at home before heading to France for the last racing and preparation before the World Championships.
Moobag
