I should drink more beer

Chugging a beer when you are out of breath at the finish of an hour long race is hard. But that's exactly what you have to do to win the Blitz race in Bend, OR. Your time doesn't stop until that beer is empty and there is big money on the line, so you better drink fast! 

That race takes place in Bend and it's on an invite-only basis. Only about 20 women and 20 men take part in the race. We start in a parking lot at the top of a trailhead and race all the way down to a golf course where a table with glasses of local Deschutes Brewery beer awaits you. Hundreds of people line up the golf course and the atmosphere is quite spectacular, especially considering that it all happens on a Wednesday night. 

Inside the main race, there are other competitions that are all worth 500$ to whoever wins them:

• The Hole Shot which is awarded to the first person to enter the single track after the start; 
• The Speed Trap goes to the fastest person passing on a stretch of pavement towards the end (they have a speed radar to calculate that); 
• The biggest jump goes to the person who gets the most air on the last jump on the golf course;
• The Arm Wrestling competition: Once the race is over, all the racers gather on a stage for an arm wrestling tournament. 

That being said, you have to pick your battles. I was going for the overall race and the hole shot. 

From the gun, you have to do a lap of the parking lot before entering the trail. I was in front of the pack and in great position to get the hole shot, until Joanna Peterson took an inside line to cut in front of me and get the hole shot!  I was quite surprised by that. I had seen that line, but didn't think it was super legit, so I went for the real entrance of the singletrack and she outsmarted me to take the first 500$ of the night. I got "enduroed". It won't happen again! We all had a good laugh about that afterwards!

Going for the hole shot!! Pic by: Steve Henrich 

"WHATTT!!!!" Jojo enduro-ing me! (Nice work Jojo!) Pic by: Steve Henrich

She then moved to the side and let me go in front of her as we entered the first pedalling section of the race. Katka and I quickly got a gap and went found a good system: every time the one leading messed up, the other one would take the lead so we kept the momentum going. It wasn't a planned strategy, but it worked out perfectly as we exchanged the lead a few times. The rest of the race kind of went like this: 

• Katka and I ride into people who are riding up the trails: "AHHHHH!!!"
• Teal catches up to us! "Yeah Teal!!"
• All three of us follow each other into the back-to-back drops section. BAM! "Ouch. Hit my suspension pretty hard. All good though!" 
• We accelerate in the pedalling section and eventually Teal lets us go. 
• Katka messes up. I go in front.
• I hit a pointy rock with my front tire and hear air coming out. I see a splash of Stans and the wheel finally seals. "Crap." I don't think I lost too much air, but then I kind of wash out a little bit in next few turns. "Gotta be careful Magh!" 
• I mess up, Katka goes in front. She messes up, I go in front. Repeat. 
• Suddenly a dog starts riding with us! "AHHH!!" He rides between us for at least a good minute! 
• Thinking to myself: "That trails so fun!" 
• "We are going too fast, I don't think I can drop Katerina." 
• Towards the end. Katerina yells : "I'm not sure if we are on the good trail anymore!" 
• Me: "No we're good! I see some orange markings on the trees!" 
• Little do I know, she is laughing to herself... I later learned that orange paint on trees had nothing to do with course marking. It was for logging purposes. Anyway, we were on the good trail! 
• Exit the trail and hit the pavement. Me: "Let's team up for the speed trap! I'll lead you out!" 
• Katka: "Okay. I'll slingshot around you." 
• We get to the speed trap...
• ..... 
• .....
• Katerina: "Never mind, I'm spun out!" 
• Me: "Me too!"
• I lead on the pavement. "Hmm, I should probably not leave it to the chugging...Katerina must be good at that."
• Still leading on pavement.  "Well that's stupid Magh. No way I can attack if I'm already pulling." Katerina gets around me on the last steep hill. I follow. We jump.  
• "Okay, I'll just follow her and try to relax and calm my breathing before the chugging." 
• "Who knows, I might be good at chugging beer!" Lets relax. Deep breaths. 
• Katka gets off her bike. I get off my bike. We start drinking. One sip: "Oh CRAP! I'm already out of breath. Come on come on hurry up Magh. Just chug it." 
• Looks a Katerina. She's already halfway done. I drank one sip. 
• She pauses to laugh at me. 
• "Come on come on Magh." "ooohh it's coming up my nose"  
• Katerina is done. "Crap I still have half of it left." I finish. "Phewww finally! Now I feel like burping." 
• We hug! "This was the best event EVER!" 
• Katerina: "I knew all these years of drinking would pay off one day!" (By out-chugging me, she won the race and earned 3000$, while I won 2000$ for 2nd place. It was a 1000$ chug-off.) 

The Chug in images. From Steve Henrich. 

We then hung out to watch the other girls and the men come to the finish and exchange race stories. Later that night, there was an arm wrestling tournament, which brought a lot of excitement amongst the racer and the crowd. Geoff Kabush was pretty impressive and won ever single rounds to take the victory. He later said: "I don't understand. I still can't believe I won that!". Meanwhile, Katerina and I both were eliminated in our first rounds. 

All in all, that was one of the best Wednesday nights ever! The mountain community is so fun. That event was a mixe of cross-country, enduro and downhill riders but the chemistry and camaraderie among all of us was quite special. I felt extremely privileged to be there and enjoy this event and share good stories with all these people. 

I really hope to be back next year. Until then, I'll go practice my beer chugging and arm wrestling skills... 

Huge thank you to Erik Eastland and The Blitz crew for putting on such a great event and giving us this amazing opportunity. Also thank you to Ryan who hosted us for a week and Katerina for organizing everything. 

Until next time, Bend! 

Note to self:

Here are some cool places you enjoyed in Bend, Magh. Make sure you hit them up next year! 

• Ocean Roll: The famous local specialty pastry. It's a croissant dough rolled with sugar and cardamom. I got to taste it at the Blackporch coffee. 
• Mother's Juice: Good salads, sandwiches and juices. Great lunch spot. 
• Chow breakfast place: Healthy and delicious breakfast options. 
• Spork: Kind of a healthy and fancy fast food for dinner. You order at the counter amongst many options of rice bowls/salads (I had a Korean bowl with rice, bbq ribs, fried egg, kimchi and veggies) before choosing your table. 
• For my parents: Remember to tell my parents that they should visit Bend. It is beautiful with its many giant conifer trees and snowy mountain peaks in the background. There are many golf courses that mom would enjoy and a lot of amazing trails that dad would love. Downtown is cute with many cute shops and good food!  

Ocean roll. 

Troy and Geoff in the finals of the arm wrestling. 

Gâteau à la rhubarbe et au café Barista

C'est la saison de la rhubarbe!!!! Puis, soyons honnêtes, c'est pas mal toujours la saison du café...alors quoi de mieux pour profiter de la saison qu'un gâteau qui combine ces deux ingrédients?! 

J'adore la rhubarbe, et chez nous, quand elle est en saison, on se fait un devoir d'en profiter! 

Hier soir, on avait le goût d'un p'tit quelque chose de sucré, alors on a décidé de faire ce gâteau à la rhubarbe et au café. Nous avons regardé plusieurs recettes en ligne et finalement, nous avons apporté quelques modifications pour arriver à cette recette délicieuse. 

Un parfait mélange de "un peu sucré mais pas trop", une belle touche de fruits sûres et un petit goût de café subtile mais délicieux. Bon appétit! 

P.S
Le goût de café du gâteau ressort encore mieux lorsqu'accompagné d'un bon petit Espresso Macchiato (espresso avec un nuage de mousse de lait), comme collation de milieu d'après-midi. Ces derniers jours, mon café de choix pour l'espresso est le Venezia 1645 de Barista! 

Ingrédients :

•  1 tasse de sucre
•  2 œufs
•  1 tasse de Café liquide (Nous avons utilisé une tasse de Café Barista préparé avec la machine espresso. Et ça a donné un vraiment bon goût de café distingué, subtile et délicieux!)
•  3 tasses de farine
•  2c à thé de bicarbonate de soude
•  2c à thé de cannelle moulue
•  ½ c à thé de sel
•  3 tasses de rhubarbe hachées
•  1.5 tasses de fraises (on a utilisé des fraises congelées)
• ½ tasse de pacanes hachés
• un peu de cassonade pour saupoudrer sur le gâteau

Étapes :

1.  Préchauffer le four à 350F. Graisser le fond d’un pot de 13x9po.
2.  Battre le sucre et les œufs dans un grand bol jusqu’à obtention d’une texture onctueuse.  Ajouter le café et battre encore un peu.
3.  Dans un autre bol, mélanger les ingrédients secs (farine, bicarbonate, cannelle et sel). Incorporer au mélange d’oeufs/sucre/café et battre juste assez pour que le tout soit combiné.
4. Ajouter la rhubarbe et les fraises. Transférer le tout dans le pot à cuisson 13x9 po. Saupoudrer de cassonade et de pacanes.
5. Cuire au four jusqu’à ce que le centre soit cuit. Environ 45-60 min.

Lessons from Grand Junction

There are two ways I could look back at this past weekend.

One would be to focus on my sub-par performance of yesterday, dwell on the fact that I didn’t do as well as I had hoped and have a sour memory of the event.

Or, I could think of all the positive things that happened during the weekend and remember the Grand Junction Off Road as a super fun event.

In the past, I totally would have chosen option one. I would have felt sorry for myself, dwelled on all the things I didn’t do well, and allow that one mediocre day to affect my self-confidence. This is no fun. And in the long run, having this bad attitude after all the bad races takes a toll on your overall motivation and makes you question why you are even doing this if it makes you so miserable.

Nowadays, though, I prefer to choose option number 2. I’m having so much fun doing what I do (racing my bike) and wouldn’t change it for anything in the world. Of course, I took some time to reflect on the race and tried to figure out what mistakes I made to make sure I can learn for the future. But once that is done, you have to move on. I know I’m not going to change that race by marinating in my sorrows for days. Instead, as I’m sitting in the plane and smiling by myself, I can’t help but to think of all the positive and fun things that happened this weekend...

•  Experiencing Grand Junction's famous "clay" and getting a good dose of laughs: Our Thursday pre-ride turned into an adventure as we got stuck in a snowstorm, which turned the soil into “bentonite” (very thick clay). Katerina and I had to hike while lifting our bikes from the ground because the clay was so thick that it prevented our wheels to turn. We had to stop every 10 meters to clean our bikes with wooden sticks because they became too heavy. It was miserable and hilarious at the same time! 

• The trails in Grand Junction are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G : Katka and I were riding pretty well together and had fun following each other’s lines. Also, the sceneries of the mesa and red canyon were beautiful!
   
• Going for it in the crit: In the Fat Tire crit, I attacked with 4 laps to go and went on a solo breakaway. I ended up being caught by the group with half a lap (about 40 sec) to go, but that set up Katerina perfectly for the win! It was awesome! I was pretty happy about that attack because I normally hesitate way too much before attacking, but this time, I really went for it and it almost stuck. That was a personal win for me...and a real win for the team!

Photo by Bill Freeman. It was fun using our team "numbers" during the crit. 

• Watch and learn - "Ha, that's how you do it": After the race, I watched Geoff Kabush win the men’s crit with a solo breakaway and by watching how he made it stick until the end, I learned how I needed to adjust my technique for next time. 
   
• The Mountain biking community is amazing:  The crowds at the crit in downtown Grand Junction were huge and the atmosphere was vibrant. It’s always enriching to speak and hang out with all these people. Everyone is there to help each other and the camaraderie is great. 
   
•  Grand Junction is a very cool place: We were staying downtown and it was nice to be able to just walk everywhere. The Main Street is very cute and has many cool shops, restaurants and street art. Nice place for a bike race!

Picture from Epic Rides. During the whole weekend, the whole downtown was closed for the bike race and a music festival. 

• Learning from the best and finding our groove: Saturday morning, we had another great pre-ride. Katka and I exchanged the roles of leader/follower and I felt like we kept getting better and faster at riding those fun and challenging trails together. During that pre-ride, we ran into Geoff (Kabush) who also gave me some very good technical pointers and advices for the race. We got to follow him for a few sections and it was eye opening to see his line choices and learn about his approach to the race. The guy has so much experience and he was generous enough to share that knowledge with me - I felt lucky to be able to learn from such accomplished racers. 

I don't have a picture of us pre-riding, because we were too busy pre-riding. So instead, here is a picture of Chris working on my bike :) 

• Sunday morning was the 43 miles backcountry race. Nothing went wrong, I guess I just had an off day…I simply wasn’t able to pedal as hard as I wanted and the other girls were faster. But, there were still many positives aspects to that race:
  •  Stayed relax, breathed well and didn't panic. 
  •  Felt like I was riding the descents pretty well and I was having so much fun doing it!
  •  Kept my head in the game and fought until the end (which paid off because I caught some people towards the end).
  •  Made some good decisions: I really went for it on the last descent and honestly, I don’t think I have ever descended so fast. That was cool. But I guess I over did it since I flatted my rear wheel as I had the 5th girl in sight. (Not the best decision). I kept riding for a few minutes with a soft tire and the traction was actually amazing ahah! But it was becoming softer and softer so I eventually stopped to put some air– that was a good decision, because if I had waited a bit longer, I would’ve had to put a tube and lose even more time.
  • Drinking and nutrition intake was on point! (Thanks to Chris and Myron for the feed!)
  • Katerina won, which is always cool! As usual, she taught me valuable tactical and technical lessons throughout the weekend. 
  •  Ended up 6th, which isn’t too bad considering that in the same conditions, one year ago, I would have "half-given up" and finished way further.

Cool photo by Bill Freeman

Photo by Kenny Wehn. Salty and tired after the race.

In the end, it's always a question of perspective and there are often many ways to looks at things. This more positive mindset allows me to be a lot happier and enjoy the process and the small progress a lot more. The Grand Junction Off Road 2017 will stay in my memory as a great weekend and as I’m going back home, instead of crushing me, these not-so-great results make me extremely motivated to rest, work, and come back better for the next race.

If you have never ridden in Grand Junction, I would suggest adding it to your bucket list of places to visit! Great food, cute town and gorgeous playground for biking, hiking and taking pictures. 

For now, I'm back to the shorter kind of races with a Canada Cup in Baie St-Paul next weekend. Excited for it!

That's not me, it's my friend Serena. But isn't it beautiful?! Photo by Dave McElwaine

At some point during that race, we rode in that canyon. So pretty! Photo by Dave McElwaine

CX Fever Project Part I - What is the Fever?

They say that passion is a strong and uncontrollable emotion.

From the moment I first jumped on a cyclocross bike and entered a race, I fell in love with the sport. With every additional ride and every event I entered, my love for the sport kept growing…At some point, after a few years of riding and racing, I started feeling a weird, uncontrollable excitement every time I was thinking about cyclocross.  And I could never stop thinking about it.

It's hard for me to pinpoint exactly what makes me feel this way about cyclocross. It could be the sense of community that surrounds the sport, where everyone wants to help each other and everyone works together to make the sport better. Even if we turn ourselves inside out to beat one another during the race, once we cross the finish line, we know we couldn't do this if it wasn't for the others, so everyone embraces the competitive spirit and the fact that we all make each other better.

It could also be the festive and positive atmosphere that we find at a cyclocross venue; where no one judges and everyone is free to be completely themselves. Actually, being different is something sought after in cyclocross. Everyone is there to have a good time, cheer on the others, push themselves to find new limits, and once it's all set and done, laugh about it over a beer while watching the afternoon's races. 

The actual racing is also very addictive to me. The races are short and super intense, so if you want to do well, you absolutely need to be 100% focused on the present moment during the race. All your senses need to be sharp. I love the feeling of shredding corners, the challenge to conquer a particularly difficult section, I love the tactical aspect of racing and I love that feeling of digging deeper than what you ever thought possible, just so you can hang on to one more position or make it up a very steep climb. Sometimes, when I'm nervous before a race, I just take a second to imagine myself riding on the course and all of a sudden, I naturally start smiling and the butterflies in my belly start flying in formation, rather than chaotically disturbing my stomach.

I just love everything about this sport. It's actually quite difficult to explain how it makes me feel. That uncontrollable excitement has never left me and it's so powerful that I can only compare it to some type of fever…a very warm and positive type of fever. I call it CX Fever.  

After a while of feeling this way about cyclocross, I started realizing that I had found my element – that thing I am madly passionate about and in which I want to fully invest myself. 

After all, we're just a bunch of weirdos who love to bring ourselves to exhaustion by riding circles in the mud....Maybe that childish simplicity and pure joy is the beauty of it al! 

It may sound silly, but every time I go to a cyclocross event, I'm so happy and excited by the fact that some people took the time to create and map a course for us to ride on. I know that's the whole point of signing up for a race, but man does it make me feel lucky and giddy to get on it and practice! 

CX Fever Fund

One of my biggest goals with the CX Fever is to make it viral. I want to share that joy with as many people as possible and make them as excited as I am to ride their cyclocross bikes.

Ever since I started racing, I’ve been very lucky to have good people supporting me, mentoring me, and allowing me to develop through the sport of cyclocross. Recently, I felt like I wanted to do the same thing and share this opportunity with a young girl to learn more about the sport she loves; CX Fever seemed like the perfect platform to do so. The CLIF Pro Team and I partnered up and were very happy to welcome Hannah Bauer to our team for a full weekend of racing at the Continental Championships, in Louisville. 

We received over 30 applications from young, motivated girls from Canada and the US. It was extremely motivating for me to read all of them and get to know these young cyclocross racers a little more. It has also been quite overwhelming to see the support of the cyclocross community about the project; so many people got into it and wanted to help with the project. I guess I am not the only one feeling the Fever! I won't lie though, it was extremely hard to make a decision and select only one girl to be a part of the project.  However, when I read her application, it was very clear to me that Hannah Bauer had a strong CX Fever. 

Hannah is a 17 year old girl from North Carolina. She started racing cyclocross 2 years ago and is now part of the J.A King cycling team in her home state. Hannah is a very serious student, being part of the Model United Nations program. She was quick to tell me how the sport has helped her grow into the woman she is today. When asked why she had the fever, she simply responded “Because it’s impossible not to! If you know me, you know I like a challenge; I will do whatever it takes to tear down any obstacle standing in my way. Luckily I found cyclocross, because this crazy sport has faced me with the most difficult barriers, from facing my fears and taking time off the bike to get over a bad injury.”

Hannah's drive is contagious and the whole team is anxious to be spending the weekend with her. Our hope is that she leaves the weekend more in love with the sport than she was when she arrived and that she is even more motivated to pursue her goals. 

See you all at the next cyclocross race. Watch out though, because the Fever... it's contagious.  

"I want to learn everything there is to know about the sport of cyclocross! Like I do in school, I really love to ask my coach, mentors, etc. questions about cycling. I think it's extremely important to utilize every resource available to you in order to excel in any given talent." - Hannah Bauer

Whiskey Off Road

The Epic Rides series is called "epic" for a reason...Actually I don't necessarily like that word too much because I think it's been way overused for stuff that isn't particularly remarkable or heroic. But in the case of the Epic Rides, it ain't no false advertising! In fact, these events really are  "epic" on many different levels. 

First of all, all three events that compose the series are in beautiful locations; Prescott, AZ ; Grand Junction, CO;  and Carson City, NV. So the views on the course are always great and the towns always welcoming.

Secondly, the atmosphere around the events is really fun. Over 2000 people participate in the race during the weekend and everyone is psyched to be there. You can feel the great energy as you walk through the streets where the event takes much of the downtown, covering main streets with expo tents and bike vendors. Also, there usually is great live music throughout the weekend. 

Finally, the courses are so damn challenging (and awesome, too, as they go on the coolest trails of the area) that they require every ounce of mental and physical energy that you have. Just completing these courses is an achievement and make you feel quite heroic (that said, only if having two cramped legs, being completely crossed eye and being totally spent is your kind of heroism). But when you actually race on these courses, it really makes for an "epic" day on the bike.

For all events, the schedule is the same; Pro fat tire crit on Friday evening, amateur backcountry race on Saturday and Pro backcountry race (50 miles) on Sunday.

The first event of the series was the Whiskey Off road, happening this past weekend in Prescott, AZ.

Dave and I drove to Prescott on Wednesday with a plan of doing a little BBQ in a remote campground and sleep in the van for the night. It sounded like great plan, until our van decided it needed a little break. Instead, we got stuck on the side of I-17 for an hour and a half until we got towed to Prescott by a guy who took great pleasure in telling us all about his personal life and ex-girlfriends. Our evening ended at the Olive Garden and in a hotel room…how do you like #vanlife now? ;) 

We ended up doing the BBQ in the parking lot of the Holiday In Express the next day! 

The next day was spent pre-riding parts of the course, relaxing and learning all about ancient guns fabrication from Chris’ uncle.  Who knew guns could be so interesting!

We had dinner at Chris' aunt and uncle. His uncle is an artist. He crafts ancient-style guns with his hands. He makes everything from scratch, even the gun mechanism. 

At 88 years old, he is still very passionate about building guns (and shooting them) and about history. We had such a good time learning about how he builds them and what role different types of guns have played throughout history. Thanks Wulf and Leanna! 

Fat tire crit

Friday was the fat tire crit. For the crit, there are no standings, time or points going into the series overall. The rule is you have to start in order to participate in the backcountry and the goal is mostly to put on a show, so some people decide to take it easy or drop out after a coupe of laps. That's totally okay, but personally, I think it’s cool to give it your all and be a part of the race. That’s how I’ve been “raised” my my teammates and team manager on CLIF – if you are going to enter a race, might as well do it for real! It's also a great occasion to test yourself, have fun and gain good tactical experience. 

On Friday afternoon before the crit, Katerina and I got to hang out at the Soul Ride tent to sign autograph and meet cool people who were going to race the Whiskey on Saturday. 

The crit course was about 2minutes long and had 1 very steep climb, one very fast descent, and one straightaway with strong headwind. We raced 20min + 3 laps on it. 

Many people were out cheering, which made the atmosphere awesome! Was in the first 5-6 people the whole race. Ended up 4th after Chloe and Rose crashed on the last corner. Luckily, they were okay! Erin Huck won and Katerina got 3rd. Photo by Dave McElwaine

Whiskey 50 miler backcountry race - 80km, 2050m D+ 

The first year I raced Whiskey, I knew I was in for a long race. Although, since it was going to be so long, I was convinced it would be slower than a cross-country race and only the fact that it was such a long distance would make it hard in the end. Boy was I wrong.  That year (2015), I got dropped instantly and realized that even if it's long, it is still a race and those ladies go as fast as possible almost from the gun! It was a shock. 

This year though, I wasn’t so naive. I knew it would be hard from the beginning and I was mentally ready to suffer for the whole duration...which I did haha! Here’s a photo recap of how it went: 

Ready to go! 

Here is my friend Myron (Todd Wells mechanic) - Even going to the feedzone is epic in those races. We are lucky to have motivated people helping us out (Chris and Dave for us this weekend) Photo by Les Stukenberg

From the start, I knew I wanted to positioned myself at the front. It was a beautiful day out there- the nicest it's been in the last 3 years of that race. About 42 women started. Photo by Dave McElwaine. 

Kate and I sprinted for the first single track and we exchanged the lead for the first 30-40 min of the race. Less chances to crash and get dropped if you are at the front! Photo by Dave McElwaine

About 45 min in, Kate and Erin accelerated. I tried to follow, but I couldn't do it. They rode away from everyone and it created a separation in the group. Chloe, Rose, Katerina and I formed a group and rode together for the majority of the race. Photo by Dave McElwaine. 

All 4 of us worked together to try and bridge to the leaders. Mentally, it is much easier (and more fun and engaging) to be riding with a group during those long races...even if you still are on the limit the whole time. Photo by Les Stukenberg. 

There was a lot of suffering involved that day. You always think you can't hold this pace any longer. But then, your teammate gives you a little "Nice work little one" or "Keep it up" between two breaths and suddenly, you realize everyone else is in the same situation and you force yourself to hang on just a little longer and a little "Good job!" back at her. Photo by Les Stukenberg

Eventually, Rose Grant started accelerating up the 12 mile climb (about 2.5h into the race) and I got dropped. I tried my best to hang on and found myself yo-yoing 30s-1min behind them for a long time. Quite honestly, I kind of wanted to do like our van and take a little break once engine blew up!
Photo by Les Stukenberg

Salty, tired and happy at the finish line. In the last descent, I gave all I had trying not to touch the brakes as much as possible... Until I decided to wiggle my toe and my right leg completely cramped, before I even got to the infamous Cramp Hill (not a good sign). Then, it was my left leg's turn to cramp. I kept pedalling as smoothly as I could, and eventually, I crossed the line in 6th.  I lost a lot of time on that last stretch as I struggled keeping momentum and speed through the fast traverses with my cramped legs. On the bright side, I felt really good and had lots of fun on the singletrack downhill!
Photo by Kenny Wehn. 

Congratulating each other at the finish line! There is immense respect between all of us, especially when we spend so much time suffering together and getting the most out of each other! Photo by Kenny Wehn. 

In the end, I was happy about how I raced because I positioned myself better than in previous years and was more aggressive during the race. Although, I won't lie that I was hoping for a little more result-wise. But that won't come without a bit more hard work! It was a great weekend and it made me super motivated to work hard and come back stronger for the next race in Grand Junction in 3 weeks. 

We finished our yearly Arizona trip with a good diner with Todd, Meg and Coop at a new Tucson restaurant and a little race with Coop in the parking lot! Now I'm back home in Canada and excited to ride the home trails. 

Cheers!
Maghalie