Fernie 3

Ill start off by saying that Fernie is my favorite place to ride. It has an amazing trail system and technical trails of all skill levels. I was super excited to race there, especially since the week prior I had a not so great race. I learned I should never race when I am that sick, never ends well. Needless to say I was ready to race and ride some sweet trails. Fernie day 1 Nervous and excited all at once, it was time to race. It was odd, but they seeded the women in front of everyone so we got off to an awesome start. Lots of men were sprinting off the start to hit the single track first, I held my own fairly well. Part of the problem was a couple of girls that could sprint but couldn't climb. So once climbing it ended up a big long line of racers and no way to get around them as it was a tight technical single track climb. So I held my place and passed a few that couldn't stay on their bikes in the muddy roots. When the trails finally opened up I was ready to race, at this point we were well over 1/4 way into the race. I felt like I had an extended warm up and the legs were good. I rode hard and moved up into 3 rd, we rode across some semi flowy single track that was at the time very muddy, which made it a little unpredictable and fun. I passed the feed zone which was about half way and was headed up to climb hyperventilation, this climb is tough, but I am a little sick and I love it. About a mile outside the feed I heard a big thunk and I couldn't pedal. I stopped to figure out what happened, I originally thought my chain broke. I soon realized it was much worse and I had broken my deraileur. I was so mad, my first though was my race was over. I had finally decided to walk back to the aid station. I got about half way there and realized I could probably turn my bike into a single speed. So that is what I did. It took quite a bit of time. The chain didn't acutally break, which is a little strange, then I got cold and couldn't get the chain back to gether. After more that 20 min of dealing with it someone gave me their quick link and I got it together. I didn't work well and I wasn't thinking when I picked the gear. So I think the chain fell off around 30 times until it broke at the top of the climb. I couln't push the gear I had put it in all the way up either so I had walked a lot of the climb. I was at this point in the race, I knew I was too far back time wise that I wasn't going to see the podium, but I didn't care I was determied to finish. At the top of the climb I broke the quick link. It took me a little to get the chain put back together, I got it and had a blast racing down the down hill. It was fun. There were a couple of slippery bridges so I watched about 3 people bite it, which was a little humerous because they went down one right after the other. Not sure what they were doing because I made it fine. There was a 2 miles road section into town, which got a little old with the super spin and the fact my chain stil wouldn't stay on well. I finished and was happy to do so, still mad that my race in the overall was out of the question unless they had a mechanical. I was almost 40 min outside of 3rd. Fernie Day 2 Thanks to an amazing husband that packs more that we would usually need he was able to put on a new derailuer and a used chain so that I could start day 2. I was excited for day 2, my legs were good and if I haven't mentioned before I love riding in Fernie. There was some pressure off in the overall as I new the battle I had was nearly impossible so I was going to race hard, but have fun. The race heads straight out to Hyperventilation to climb, I was actually excited to actually ride it since i had a single speed it the day before. I got in with a good group and we rode a decent pace up the single track climb. I would have liked to have gone harder/faster, but the long train of racers doesn't make it easy to move up. So I rode best I could. We hit the top and we were headed down hyperextension. It was muddy and slippery and steap, I thought I was going down it well until 2 girls passed me. After the second passed me I tole myself to "get it together" and start descending so I rode the 2nd girls wheel down. It was fun. I pushed are on the flats after the descent and got myself into race mode. I was able to get on the wheel of the girl in 4th prior to what I thought was the last descent. I was being the nice race and let them in front from the decent since they were faster. Well turns out there was a lot of ups on this section also. They wouldn't let me by so I rode them until the bottom and went by. It was a flat to the finish and they both sprinted back up to my wheel and I pulled them to the sprint for the finish. I didn't go for the sprint, which turned out to be a good thing because I had a link out on my chain and probably would a broke it had I sprinted. Fernie Day 3 Stage 3 took us over to the Fernie Alpine resort side to race. I love this area in particular everything is technical, rooty, and well muddy in its current state. I was back in race mode along with a friend of mine Erika and we took the first climb and rode hard. We must have climbed for 30-40 min before we would hit the most difficult decent of the entire 3 days. I can ride it all when it is dry, but I will admit I was a little nervous with all the rain and mud. I will start by saying I attempted to ride everything. I wasn't fast and only crashed once. It wasn't a pretty descent for me at all. The rest of the race was going to be very technical but not anything too far above my skill level. The race got a little confusing because the course wasn't marked well. At one point I rode about 2-3 min down the wrong trail and had to head back. I passed most of the riders back. The odd thing came about 40 min later when I started passing them again and a few other ridiers that were riding much slower than me and I couldn't figure out how all the people got in from of me. I knew I had gotten my 5 min back and was where I was prior to my mistake, but this didn't make sense. I finally heard someone say they had taken a wrong turn and cut the course by about 15 min. It was crazy, I knew I was racing in 3rd prior to all of this. The climb back to the resort took forever mud and roots and steep climbs for a good 45 min plus, then finish climbing up the road to the final descent. Thanks to my husband riding back up the trail to help mark the course better as he messed up the finish also I was able to find my way down the correct course. it was nuts. The results showed me in 5th, but 2 girls infront of me also took the "shortcut" so the officals decided to throw out the last race. Kind of a bummer because if I had made up a lot of time in the overall. All in all it was a great weekend of riding and racing. I love the trail and my Ripley was awesome. I don't know how many times I kept thinking to myself that I couldn't have ridden that on my 26er. With all the roots the Ripley made the ride a little smoother. It was great, that bike rides amazing!! My new VP VX trail pedals were awesome even in the mud. I was a little worried because I have raced the last 8 years on crankbrothers and wasn't sure how the mud would go over. I didn't have a single problem. Thanks again to all my sponsors Ibis, Vanderkitten, and VP components.