The day after the disappointing race in Sun Peaks, we headed off to Silver Star to get some early practice for the BC Cup race the next weekend. Silver Star has always been one of my favorite mountains to ride. Unfortunately this year, it seemed like everything was a bit small, with the race course being the most fun trail that we rode.
I knew the course really well from riding it so much last year, but it still took quite a while to get used to it and to increase my speed. Three days of practice before official practice started on Saturday definitely helped and I was feeling really good, ready to redeem myself after the last two races. On saturday I did 10-12 practice runs. That’s a lot, but the course was so fun and it didn’t take too much energy out of you that it turned out to be a good thing.
My seeding run went pretty well, I rode all my lines and again, didn’t pedal too hard. I seeded well inside the top 10 and I was really looking forward to Sunday.
The course held up well compared to the last two races because it rained almost every night so it was nice and tacky. As with every race this year, course holds were a problem because of riders crashing. Waiting at the top of the hill for over two hours isn’t a horrible thing, but when you’ve planned out your meals to have the optimum energy and hydration, it affects not only your body, but your mindset. Finally it was my turn and I was ready to lay down some power. Too much in fact.
As soon as I was out of the start gate, I pushed so hard that I wasn’t able to switch gears quick enough and ended up riding the first section with my wrong foot forward, which messed up my focus. I thought I was prepared because I had practiced starting and playing around with what gear I should’ve been in. I guess those two hours of waiting caused some anxious energy.
It seemed like after that, I couldn’t get back to racing mode. I kept on making silly mistakes and almost dove headfirst off of a wooden drop because my wheel slid out on a flat corner. It was only on the bottom part where I regained my focus and started laying it all out. I knew that there was a speed trap after a wooden jump and whoever got the fastest time, won some money. I knew that I wasn’t going to do well in the race because of my run, so I decided that I was going to shoot for fastest through the speed trap. I pedaled as hard as I ever have, and ended up way overshooting the jump, and almost flew into a ditch. Neither of my goals were accomplished that day.
