We made the long drive up to BC on Saturday (actually, Fraser did all the driving ... I did my part by staying awake the whole time). We landed at my brother's place in Invamere on Saturday night and hooked up the trailer. Home sweet home for the next week. On Sunday we were planning to head up to Canmore to pre-ride but the map hadn't been posted on the site yet (they promised to post in on Monday) so we stayed put and had a relaxing day checking out the trails here in the area and hanging with family.
My brother has a very fun, very active two year old as well as a new-born - such a great family. My parents are also here and brought my sister's daughter with them too -- we are very lucky to combine family and racing this year!
On Monday we made the drive to Canmore, and although the map still wasn't posted we found the 'team' course easily enough. We did one loop and then headed out for food -- hungry!!! We spent the night there and went back to do some more loops. They had started to mark the Solo loop but didn't finish it yet - so we got lost initially. Back to the truck we replenished our bottles and headed out for a faster lap. Fraser quickly left me in the dust and i met up with a New Zealander and an Australian who knew the Solo bit of the course so I followed them through it.
So.... let me describe the course ... I want to start by saying that I may have missed parts of it (actually, i am convinced I did). It starts out with some good climbing to seperate the field. Wide climbing followed by single-track climing and a single-track descent. After the next road climb you don't see the road for ... um ... the rest of the race. This course has the most single-track in a WSC course i have seen yet. It's going to be fun. It's going to be bumpy. It's a full suspension course that is going to make me love my Norco Faze even more. It's going to be hard on the body and hard on the mind. In a nut shell, it is a course worthy of the title for 'World Solo 24hr Mountain Biking Championships'. Am I physched? yes!
After that loop we packed up the truck and made our way back to Invamere. Today we did a nice loop on the Spirit trail (think fun, fast, twisty, roller-coaster singletrack). It was a good day. i am enjoying this time off from work and am enjoying the rest I am geting as well as getting to visit with the family.
It's going to be a great race.
