Book of Chad

We went to Hammerfest a day early to get a good 4-hour training ride the day before. It was cool to do some laps of the course then head off and do some freestyle exploration of the area. During our practice laps, we enjoyed the company of Cody Scott, and Rob Britton, as well as a few laps with our friend Diego. We had a great day and headed to the camper for a full meal and a good rest.

We woke up and although it was a bit cold the weather was better than initially forecast. The sun was out and it was race day. There was a great crowd gathered and the expert field was deep again. We lined up for the start which was a long open section into a left turn, through a single file gate. Everyone was pretty safe through the gate and we turned up the main climb. The first part of the climb snaked back and forth which gave a full view of your competition. The second part was more technical and single track through the trees.

Then it went up and down for a while. Rob Britton said the second part of the course made him feel like Luke Skywalker, flying through the trees. It was a pretty fun course with a lot of pedalling and hardly a dull moment. The final part of the course had a long open fire road which served as the only area to get a quick drink or gel down before going through a bumpy rooty section to the start-finish lap.

My race went well and I had some really good battles. The only incident for me was I just barely rubbed a tree at a fairly high rate of speed on lap four. I keep the bike upright and only have a scuff on my right hand to show it. However, on the last lap, as I came out onto the fire road I saw Lindsay walking with another racer holding her bike. I quickly slowed to make sure she was ok and got the instructions to just finish. At the finish line, I put my bike down and as Patrick to watch it as I ran back through the course. I got back to where I saw Lindsay and they had loaded her into a truck. I took her bike and got back to the camper to load up for the trip to the hospital.

Lindsay and I spent quite a few hours in the emergency room and in the end, the damage was substantial. A dislocated right pinky finger that was also broken, a broken right hand, a pretty wrecked right thumb, stitches in the knee and a pretty bruised and swollen left arm. She is pretty tough however this is most likely the end of the XC season for us. There are other options and racing this spring so we will see what the next little while holds.

RACE: Hammerfest XC
Laps: 5
Time: 1:28:44
Avg Heart Rate: 180 bpm
Avg Power: 244 W
Place: 19th