Mont Saint Anne Worlds Take #2
It’s funny how time flies. Carl and I were reminiscing about our first MTB World Championships last week whilst sweating in the basement of our condo in Mont Saint Anne, Quebec. His was the first Worlds ever, 1990 in Durango. Mine was 1998 right here at St. Anne. We agreed that it doesn’t seem like 12 or 20 years in either case. Carl remembers his Bridgestone with drop bars just like I remember my Gary Fisher with USE suspension seatpost and 2x8 drivetrain. Each of us got some sideways looks from our fellow junior competitors for our respective setups and then proceeded to have the time of our lives racing a bunch of fast guys with funny accents.
It was pretty much the same this time around. Except we both kind of got smoked after the sideways looks… Oops. Maybe hardtails and an accent are what we needed. That sounds boring, other than the accent. Those are hilarious.
Morning trip to the Giant tent to check out the Hurricane Earl rainfall total and think about tires. Turns out we just ran the new Michelin Race'r dry tire under sunny skies and perfect weather. Even though we totally tricked Kelli into using the Grip'r wet tire. Haha. Joe might have been laughing as he helped me set sag too... Justin at Fox did a rebuild on my proto 2011 RP23. Thanks, Justin.
Jake Orness Photo
We both got to hear a bunch of confused shouting in a variety of tongues for the first two start loops as the fairly small (90 or so starters) Elite Men’s field tried to fit through even smaller gaps in the trees. The start clock is there to quantify just how poorly we’d managed ourselves during the opening minutes, what took the leaders seventeen took us twenty or twenty-one. That sucks. But, there’s a solution: We should have simply sprinted up the hills on hardtails and yelled crazily at everyone in our general vicinity. Instead we tried to keep our cool and pass on the descents with our super sweet Maestro suspension but just got balled up by guys who suck. At shredding. They’re pretty good racers, for a few laps at least.
Eventually things opened up and I started working up from the 50’s. Awesome. Nothing like the Worlds you’ve been so fired up on for the last two years (despite that little winter hiccup) pretty much in the toilet twenty minutes in. I pulled off a respectable ride in Switzerland last month under similar circumstances but somehow the form that made that possible was long gone. Willow was right again, although her timing and optimism was a bit off. She said I’d come back strong and surprise myself by being in the mix but might be stressed enough from the effort that the form would only be short lived. We decided this could be overcome. Turns out it couldn’t, at least by me. Bart Bowen and I thought things were going well, training was on track and SRM test data was better than it’s been in a long time. Something was just lost in translation, maybe it was the emotional strength to seal the deal. Or maybe my body had enough with rebuilding itself already…
Looks like a lot of work... Nice day though, eh?
Jake Orness Photo
I rode up to 29th eventually, feeling better as the race wore on and having a solidly good time riding in PERFECT conditions delivered by an overnight passage of Hurricane Earl. The Maine boys were out in force giving up the support but the Spainish support must’ve been better. My race highlight was being half a lap behind Spain’s Jose Antonio Hermida with two to go and riding parallel with him. Usually he’d respond with a smile and faux sprint to my initial “Wanna race?” request, but before I even threw out the next one, with an “Are you winning?” half a lap later, I knew the answer. He did. Nice work, and thanks for dancing with Spencer’s Sister Emma later… So proud.
Sam Schultz and Todd Wells were the top Gringos in 20th and 21st. Solid rides but it’s frustrating that none of us rode near our potential at home court advantage worlds. What’s wrong with us? Maybe next year we’ll represent in Champerey, I’m already holding out hope for that one. Planning for it even. Good thing Willow was there to fly the flag on the good stuff. She rode within striking distance of the lead the whole race but eventually ended up winning a sprint for third. Bronze ain’t bad. Maja Wojlos…. Let’s just call her Maja W from Poland, won the lady’s rainbow jersey just barely in front.
Oh yeah, Same Hill totally redeemed himself after missing most of the World Cup Downhill season by winning on the ever-burly track here. Convincingly, with a three-second margin. Dang, I need to talk to him about comebacks. Our little British buddy Danny Hart confirmed his 8th overall in the World Cup with an 8th place here. That kid is fast, and smooth. And has an awesome accent…
Anyway, hometown Worlds is over and I kind of blew it. Pretty frustrating but I’m in such uncharted territory this year that I can’t really complain. And, once again, the recovery program on Sunday involved a boat on a lake in Central Maine after Harvey drove me home. Catching up with some folks I’d last seen about when my first worlds happened was a good way to tie it all back together. Seasons come and go, but we’ll still be out there, trying hard and having a good time.
Thanks for reading,
AC
Check out this video from Singletrack.com. Jamie lent me a camera for a lap. It's pretty funny...