Alberta Cross Cup #5: Canmore Cross

Round 5 took the provinces fastest cross riders to the breathtaking mews of Canmore. Nestled in the gateway to the Rockies organizers chose to make use of Canmore's world class cross country ski trails to challenge the riders in ways they never had been challenged before. This course was different, very different. Although not at all typical cross it offered incredibly high speed loose descends, long straight power sections and very little technical difficulty. The course surface was comprised of pavement and hard packed gravel with odd loose sand and dirt sections. It wasn't my style, but that is part of the challenge. High speed was the order of the day.
I started well finding myself in the second group just behind and early escaping duo of Heemskerk and Hopping. On lap two I lost my chain and misshifted a couple of times to throw my chain over and between my front chainrings, forcing me to slow dramatically to get my bike going again. This ultimately cost me the second group and I drifted back to 6th position which is were I finished on the day. The entire race I struggled to stay on top of a good gear and felt the power deteriorate with every lap. I was not happy with my performance and am now stepping back completely to make sure the body is ready for what should be a great double header on home turf next weekend.
The Elite Mens performance of the day award is not as easy to decide on this week, therefore I am giving it to two outstanding riders. First off Ryan Hopping (Red Bike) becomes the first person to beat Tim Heemskerk in Alberta cross (in a race Heemskerk finished), ever. Ryan turned up the turbo and went sub one hour dethroning Heemskerk and the undisputed king of Alberta Cross and take his first Alberta Cross Cup victory. Very nice. The second incredible performance was from a young man by the name of Brian Robinson (Bow Cycle). He went from a horrible start to blasting through the entire field to finish 3rd in his first Elite race. He was fresh off a winning Expert category campaign and took the upper ranks by storm making his Elite debut very memorable. Congrats to our two top performers this week.