Kootney Krusher 50k, Nipika resort BC

Just another mega awesome weekend racing the Kootney Krusher 50K MTB at Nipika !! This is by far one of the most amazing courses I have had the opportunity to race on. The scenery and views from the cliffs were amazing, (never mind trying to stay in front of Trish !!! holy crap is she fast !). With Maria and Nick all packed and the trailer ready to go we drove to Nipika on Friday morning. Set up the campsite and jumped into the freezing pond by the lodge.... urrrrr... Then, decided to go to Radium for the music fest and the hot springs (way better idea)-->> The night at Nipika was nice, bit cold but pretty quiet.. Woke up at around 8:00 and after breaky rode to sign up. Met Alana, Deane and Andy and few others friends who drove early morning to the race. I choose 32/19 gear and without pre-riding the course was ready for another race @!! Off we go and 5ks into the race I was still behind Andy, crap I am keeping up with him that is a good sign uhoooo!! and then something unfortunate happened as Andy was flying over the handle bars in a steep descent where he dented his front wheel and was forced to drop-out of the race ::--((( (are you ok Andy I yelled; yes keep going I am out, he said). After a few more ks (probably k7 or so I took the wrong turn and it cost me more than 10min.....) as I am getting back on the "actual" race course I found myself behind Craig Marshal and 3 other guys... I knew something was wrong and that I probably took the wrong turn.. 20min later I passed Trish (who also was behind me before I got lost), anyway at that point I could say good bye to a possible podium ::--(((( I wiped out my tears and kept a good pace until I dropped Trish (yeap that made me feel better lol). Grabed my bottles as planned in the two feed stations and had to used some extra gels when I felt my energy falling down. The course was so neat that I couldn't stop thinking about the idea of taking Maria and Nick for a hike after the race to show them the beautiful cliffs, the color of the water and the bridges!! omg it was amazing>> (so I did that, and right after some food and rest>>     

 I took them out for a nice 1 or 2 k loop around the canyon>>>

I don't think it was the best idea to go out for an hour long hike after the 3:30 mtb race with Nick in my back!!, but family is first and I will never say I am tired after a race to them !! they are always there for me and that makes me tireless for them :-))))

))) So, overall the race was good, I felt 100% good during the entire race, good gear selection, good food (I think that I have improved a lot in the food and drink intake during the races and that is definitely paying off this season). Nice course for a single speed (not sure if I could say the same for a hard tail, but it didn't bother me that much). Lyle, the race organizer is an awesome dude and knows how to put together a good race and BBQ !! what else can I say, I will be there for sure next year (even if I am not in good shape) because the course and scenery are totally worthy. I hope Andy can come back next year to try out the entire course on his hard tail, it was a real bummer that he dented that wheel!