Panorama and Kicking Horse

Extreme summer roadtrip! First destination....Panorama! It was gorgeous, and I just couldn't get enough of the amazing views!

Upper Pits and Pretty Views!

Little Rock Garden on Course.

The course was not one of my favorites, I never really found my flow and I was missing both of my riding/training partners so I was a tad disheartened. I managed to string a decent run together on race day and despite a minor altercation with a tree, I still pulled off a second place! The best thing about Panorama was that we were staying here:

Hot Pools, Cold Pools and Waterslides...oh my!

We left Pano, and headed East to Calgary for some family time. I always enjoy my Calgary visits, we get to do some pretty cool things. This time around we got to go to the amusement park, the zoo, the pool, the Costco liquor store! Awesomeness. My sister and her family are the best of hosts!

Walking on water in Kootenay National Park.

We headed to Golden to spend the next five days in Kicking Horse. Last year, this race scared me so badly, the course is so steep and gnarly that as we were pulling out I remember saying "I'm glad I don't have to do that for another 365 days!". Well, fast forward 365 (ish) and here we were. One of the reasons we came earlier was because there was a celebrity ride scheduled on Mount 7 down the ex-Psychosis course. Seriously, click that link and watch the video if you are unfamiliar with this event. It's pretty scary! Well much to my disappointment (relief?), it rained that day and the ride was cancelled. 

Friday was casual practice day, I was again bummed to be without my usual riding partners but was extremely lucky to get to practice all weekend with the amazing Smash and Shorty. First lap, we rolled to the top of the course, I was so nervous to see if this course would claim my confidence like it did last year....

NOPE!! I nailed that sh!t (pardon my french) and felt amazing. It just went to show how much I had improved over one year, I had won right there in my mind and didn't even care how I finished! So over the course of that day and the next, I dialed in some lines that I could never even have looked at last year and got more and more comfortable on course. We squeezed in some fun river time too! 

Happy Girlies!

Race day, SICK. AS. A. DOG. I was beyond stuffed up and had zero energy. Had we not been on the other side of the province, I probably would have stayed in bed all day but we had come out this far and I was gonna race dammit! I tracked down a nasal strip to keep my sinuses open and went up for a practice run to prove to myself that I could in fact do a race run in my state. Other than my ears not equalizing, and coming down totally deaf, I was pretty alright. I kicked back and rested to preserve what energy I did have for the race run. I didn't even have it in me to be nervous before my run as I just didn't have it in me. I pulled it all out for my race run, it was clean, I nailed all my lines and I even pedaled my ass off. I came down number one! I even clocked the second fastest women's speed through the CCN speed trap, second only to World Cup racer Claire Buchar! Wow!

Congrats Masters Women!

It was a successful trip for sure and I am so excited for next year! Instead of dreading the Kicking Horse course, I am ready to improve even more. The organizer for this race puts on one of the best events of the year and it makes the trek out there so worth it! Oh and Chanel really enjoyed it too....

Smash and Lap dog!