I've race at Mount Saint Anne a few times  in the past but never do I remember hurting so much. The course is like no other, short hard punchy climbs followed by short technical sections through the woods. You basically climb for a minute or two turn around and go back down, turn around and then go back up the mountain. There were times that I thought I was on the down hill course. Especially one rock-garden decent. I saw more pro's crash on this sections on the two days of warming up then I ever have seen fall in my entire career. Then to top it off the course over laps its self a few times. By far the best spectator course I have ever seen, also by far the most confusing course I have ever raced. I was so dazed during the race I had know clue where I was on the course, where the start finish was or what lap I was on! But none of that really matters in a world cup. See racing a world cup is completely different than any regional or even national level race. 

Lets talk about the start- they are crazy! take 120 of the worlds best riders load them up with adrenaline and caffeine and then say go. Once the gun goes off you have less than 1k to sprint like crazy before coming to a standstill a the trail head of the section of single track. I stood there for a few minutes off my bike talking with Barry Wicks about how cool it was to stand there like an idiot while Absolon built a lead on us.  By the time things clear out a bit and you can actually ride your bike you are 1 lap into the race. Absolon has put 6 to 8 minutes on you now. Now the race really starts. 

See racing a World Cup is like racing two races at the same time. First off you are racing for placement, but secondly you're racing against the clock. If you are more than 80% off the leaders time then you get pulled. So while Absolon crushes the field with his 20 minute laps, that means I can not be more than 16 minutes back or I get pulled. When you loose 6-8 minutes on the start due to bottle neck congestion from being at the back, you are then stuck with only a few laps of racing left before you get pulled. 

So for the first 3 laps I bacially red lined it on all the punchy climbs trying to maintain position. Then I would try and 'recover' on the decents while hopefully passing some Eruo's who don't know how to ride on the slick rocks and roots. This plan worked until lap four when I went into damage control. I couldn't really focus and didn't really know where I was. I just tried to keep a steady hard pace and go until someone told me to stop. 

Overall I finished 76 out of 120 starters or so. Not the best result, but nothing to be ashamed of either. I knew that this was going to be the hardest of the big 4 races coming up. After having spent so much time racing long enduraces races such as the BC Bike race I just didn't have the power required to race a world cup like St. Anne. My thought procedure would be that St. Anne would be somewhat of a shock to the legs, but after that they should be good to go for Bromont, Snow, and Whindham. I am ok with that, I still had a great time and it was a great experience. It truly is an amazing exeprience to race with the best athletes in the world, even if you do get your butt whooped

 start  

race    

side kick 

 one pic of the sketchy decent during a pre ride

check out the photo gallery for more pictures!!!