Almost

August 8 - Kelso MTB O-Cup #6
It has been a while since we've traveled via Hwy 401 to a race but this past weekend saw an early morning departure on Saturday with Milton, Ontario as the destination. Only one major slowdown on the 401 in the outskirts of Toronto and we made it intact (just a little stiff and crossed-eyed from the drive).

Personally, I have not been much of a fan of Kelso. I think it stems from my early days racing mountain bikes. Kelso (I believe) was my first senior expert race (as a master-aged rider) en route trying to upgrade to Senior Elite. That race was not a pretty sight. Ever since Kelso has been a love-hate thing for me (purposefully skipping it on occasion). Part of it is because of THE climb at Kelso. This year though, I was pleasantly surprised. Maybe Kelso is growing on me. Perhaps it had to do with the score of blackberries we came across on the pre-ride (not quite as good (or as BIG) as BC berries but good enough for me to stop for 5 mins and fill my mitts full!) and the super dry conditions. The running of the course this year was made of one big climb at the start of each lap and then some fun, twisty, swoopy trails for the rest. No section ever too long of one thing. Very well done. The climb, well it was however many minutes of grinding but we all had to do it and I actually like climbing (as much as one can "like" climbing...) this year with my super light Stevens Scope (a wee hardtail 26" wheeler).

The race. I'm not one to get super pumped about a bike race. (I think I am getting more mellow with age...) Sunday was no different. Standing in the startline I'd done everything as per usual/same routine - ho-hum. But once we got the 'go', I automatically 'went' and actually had an ok start (uphill...) managing to get up a few more spots before the big climb started. Once a line up the climb had started, someone in front of me bobbled and forced a few of us off their bikes. Almost made it. Run, jump back on the bike and keep climbing. (Got around one or two more riders). I could see the leading riders just up ahead, so I kept pushing. A few back and forths with two riders over the course of the race and then by all accounts if I recalled correctly when I passed Sue H. on the last time up the climb it put me into 3rd spot!

Now Sue is for certain a better technical rider than I am so I knew I needed to put some space between us which I managed to do in the climbing bits. All was looking good until, uh-oh, chain suck with less than half a lap to the finish. Trying not to panic (I'm generally not prone to get a lot of mechanical problems so it is unfamiliary territory for me) I really struggled to get the chain out of the spokes. It was stuck. Wheel had to come off. Sue passed me (as did a ton of guys). End of the show. Well, almost. I got the chain back on then got back on the bike to make sure not to lose 4th spot. With a bit of careful shifting, I rode the one last 'tricky' off-cambre climb and headed to the finish line. All done but for the crying - no crying actually. I was really happy with my ride. It was a perfect day, I had great support in teammates Mel and Rachel who cheered and fed me (thank you ladies!) and to top it off Rob P won his race!

One last MTB O-Cup on the schedule. It is almost over. First time in - ever? - that I will have done all the MTB O-Cups.

So far (for the last eight years) it's been a great ride!

-- Tricia K.