From east to west, mini tour madness
The powers that be decided this year to make all but two of the NorAm races mini tours. This forced sprint specialists like me to race more distance races than usual. Surprisingly these mini tours have been quite good for me. These mini tours combine your times from the first two day of racing to determine time penalties for the start of the final distance race. The format gives a significant amount of bonus seconds for doing well in the sprint, helping sprinters stay in the mix in the distance race.
It has been a lot of fun learning how to distance race again. The pursuit format ensures that you are surrounded by others to push you when you feel like you’re dying. Sometimes these people are even your team mates. The pictures below are from Western Canadian Championships, where I had one of my better distance races in a long time and it was my team mates Mya and Sarah that were there to push me when I was dying. Props to Mya, a Junior who started 30 seconds back and crossed the finish line first in our train (2nd overall).
I had a strong sprint and prologue, so I started the pursuit in 2nd. With Sarah only starting 7seconds behind me. Here I am charging ahead on the first lap trying to not get caught.
Mya and Sarah ended up catching me around 6km on a 10km course. I tucked into the train for a couple of kilometers before trying to make a break on the last hill. Here Mya and I are heading into the finish with Sarah not far behind.
This photo was labeled RMR nap time. I think we were all pretty spent by the end.
Here’s to being this tired at the end of all distance races.
