I can sum the race up with one word...WOW! I have never been to a better race. I got to Vancouver on Friday morning. Chis Jeffrey's and I drove to Whistler and got are rooms in the athlete village. (rooms were awesome, really nice beds and close to race site). After getting the rooms and bags unloaded from the car it was time to put together bikes. I was just about done my bike and I was hunting around my bike box for my pedal and I could not for the life of me find them. So I texted my dad and sure enough they are on my garage floor. So then I had to make a trip to the bike shop to see if they had a pair i could use, sure enough they did. The next day I did my pre race prep and had a hard time figuring out the course, I was still floored by how crazy the trails where. They were very technical and really pushed me to my limits in places.
Race day my alarm got me up at 5am. I had some food to eat and then did the last few things to get my bike ready for the race. I had a very calm feeling before the race. I never really felt nervous. Most time for itu style races I get very uneasy before the start of a race. I did my normal pre race prep then started doing my final bike and transition checks to make sure I had everything i needed for my race.
The swim was good swam on the feet of Conrad for the first loop then fell off the pace on the second loop. had a bit of a slow start to the bike but started to settle in and get going. I rode the bike as hard as i could. It was very technical and really pushed me to my limits there were a few features on the course that were out of my league but with my pretty big ego had to do them. I really grew as a mountain biker that day. learned alot about riding that technical trials. I came off the the bike feeling pretty good, alittle banged up from the bike.
When I reached down to put on my k-swiss running flats I started to cramp really bad in my ham sting. I don't think my body was ready for that much climbing and technical riding. I started out on the run and for my first 5km I was feeling great just passing person after person. Then the climb up the mountain hit and as soon as i started to climb up the mountain my back went and i could not get it to stop cramping. I was running up the hill like the hunch back. after getting to the top it was time for the down hill. On the down hill my hamstrings started to grab on me so i just tried to stride them out and they i was trying to take i as mush fuel my body could take. Then on the second lap I didn't have any cramping problems and got into a pace.
I finished with a smile on my face. for the first time i kinda felt like i accomplished something. It was the hardest course I have ever been on and it was a epic day looking back there were alot of places I could have packed it in and gave up but I kept grinding and finished. If anyone has pictures of the me finishing I would love to see it... I was number 2. As soon as I finished I grabbed my ham sting because they locked up really bad.
After the race i was so impressed with how the finish was laid out and the after race food was by far the best of any i have been to! they had rib hamburgers hot dogs every kind of salad you can think of. They also had so many prizes for the age groupers witch was nice to see. All I can say is you will see me there in 2011 just an unreal race!!!
Karsten Madsen
