Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Crazy Québec Nationals and Season Wrap Up


Warning this post is quite long so if you’re planning on reading the entire thing please make yourself comfortable.

Last week was a week of record breaking heat for most of eastern Canada. Within days winter was turned into summer with spring being decidedly skipped over. This was also the week when nationals were held in Quebec. This made for an interesting set of races.

 On March 15th we traveled from Canmore to my home province Quebec for the 2012 National Ski Championships. This came with the realization that I have now been skiing long enough to be revisiting locations for Nationals. Since this was my second time going to Quebec City for Nationals having been there five years ago as a juvenile.

The week started off with a team sprint. I teamed up with fellow Nakkertok skier and longtime friend Steffan Lloyd. The team sprint as it turns out would be a great day but it wasn’t without its mishaps. The plains or Abraham in downtown Quebec were in a state of meltdown. With temperatures reaching 15 degrees they had trucked in snow (some of which appeared to have come from a snow bank behind a Tim Hortons) to make a course. In the semifinal I felt flat on the first leg (having not warmed up very well due to the lack of a warm up course) on top of that my skis were running rather slow. Once I had finished my first leg I handed my skis to the coach’s to see if they could do something to make them faster. It didn’t take much, as it turns out a piece of chewing gum had gotten stuck in my grip zone causing the ski to drag. Gum removed the rest of the semifinal round went much better. Steffan was skiing really well and I was feeling better on each leg. Things were looking good, however when I was leading going down the last hill into the finish strait, I lost my balance on a slower section of snow and went down. I got up as quickly as I could and realized that although two teams had passed me I was well clear of the fourth guaranteeing our team a spot in the final. Needless to say it had been an eventful semifinal.

In the final thanks to a fast pace being put down by the Whitehorse team the race was soon strung out with three teams (Foothills, Whitehorse and us) making the front of the race. Steffan was skiing great and I was feeling awesome however my bad luck was about to continue. On the second leg my basket came off my pole and in the soft slushy conditions I was quickly distanced from the front two. From then on, there was no way back to the front.  With the relentless pace being set by the front two all we could do was try to hold on to third, which we did. I was pretty cool to stand on the podium at nationals in a year were I definitely wasn’t expecting to, yet at the same time is was extremely frustrating to lose the front of the race on bad luck*.
Steffan (bib 534)skiing with the leaders early on in the relay.
Photo Credit: Charles Brassard
Me navigating a downhill just before the basket indecent.
Photo Credit: Charles Brassard
Two days later it was time for the 10km classic. This was a race I was really looking forward to. Things didn't totally work out however. Somehow I felt flat and skied to a disappointing 33rd place.

The next day was the 15km skate. Having had a disappointing race the day before and with the field getting stronger with the addition of skiers having come back from competing on the world cup I wasn’t sure what to expect in the 15km skate (usually not my best race). With the temperature on the course surpassing 20 degrees it was looking like a slushy nightmare out there. Overall however things went rather well. I tried ski smooth and efficiently (soft slushy snow can be a bit like quick sand the harder you try the slower you go). Over all it was quite a decent race. I crossed the line in 32nd place in a tough field.
Twenty plus degrees for the 15km skate required some rather drastic wardrobe options.
Photo Credit: Bernard Pigeon

Next was the sprint day. I don’t have much to say about the sprint day. My body felt terrible and I made a bad choice of skis resulting in possibly my worst sprint day ever. I don’t know what place I came in but needless to say I was a long way from qualifying.

Next Up was the last and longest race of the season, my first 50km. With the crazy warm temperatures finally subsiding the course (which had been changed from a 10 to a 5km loop due to flooding) was for once fast and icy. I had a good start and early on found myself in a good group of skiers. As the laps went by I went through many high and low points. A 50k is such a long race that you have time to go through all sorts of different mindsets and feelings. You can go from feeling good and skiing comfortably on one lap to feeling like all the energy is taken out of you on the next. This is something I experienced in the last 10km of the race. At 8km to go I felt good and thought I could respond to any sort of acceleration, yet at 6km to go all of a sudden I felt like all the energy had been drained from me. Needless to say when the pace quickened with 5k to go I was unable to follow and faced a long (ok not that long) last lap of racing. In the end I crossed the line 21st having lost over a minute to 15th place (the best finisher of those in my group) in the last 5k. All in all it was a good race and a good learning experience.
Early on in the 50k
Photo credit: Bernard Pigeon

Now, just like that, the season is done. When I got back home (Chelsea home) from nationals there was no snow to speak of. Spring (and a bit of summer) had definitely arrived. Now I am kicking myself for not having sent my road bike home before nationals since watching the Tour of Flanders has put me in the mood to ride my bike (it won’t get better when Paris Roubaix is on next weekend). Looks like I’ll have to wait until I’m back in Canmore for that. Speaking of which I will be back there next year, training with the Alberta World Cup Academy for my second year and continuing to chase some crazy dream.

Thanks very much to my sponsors Classic Wood Mouldings, Dr Beverley Mckeown Dentistry and Salomon for your support. Honestly (and I mean this) it would not be possible without you. Thanks also to V2, Gatineau Nordic Sport, Fresh Air Experience,  the Nationals Winter sports Association, Ski de Fond Quebec, Nakkertok Ski Club and of course the Alberta World Cup Academy. Having such an incredible group of supporters is what makes everything possible. It’s been quite a season full of ups and downs with hopefully many more to come. I know I’ll be back next year.

Thanks for reading, that’s all for now.

Patrick    

* I know that referencing bad luck is not generally a good idea since pretty much everything is in your control. However my basket falling off was not the result of it having been poorly glued on but rather a broken piece that holds the basket on. This in my opinion does fall into the category of s*** happens.

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