U23 Women XC: 16th Website: www.velirium.com Three different flight itineraries later and I finally find myself in Mont Saint Anne on Thursday afternoon. We grab some groceries, and drive the hour to the venue. I build up my bike in record time in order to get on the course that evening. 6:30pm and I am rolling! I am delighted at what I discover. Slick rock faces, rock gardens, gap jumps, rooty descents, pump track sections, creek crossings, and the infamous Beatrice feature make up the downhill portion of the course. The uphills follow a similar tangent of gnarliness. “This can’t be right,’ I think as I come to one of the climbs, ‘There’s simply no way we are supposed to go up this.’ But I am wrong. It is right. We will be going up it. Every lap. One thing is for sure: Mont Saint Anne is not a course for the faint of heart. This race would absolutely relentless. Waterfall exploring! I ride laps in the dwindling dusk until the forest sections become entirely dark. I feel flawless on course. Then, happy, sweaty and exhausted, I make it back to the hotel to decompress. Friday is my 19th birthday and I have a nice spin with Haley, do some yoga, read my favorite book and then head to the local waterfalls with Haley and Cole. Turns out its more of an ice bath then a soak but its lovely all the same. As we get out, the weather rolls in. In seconds, it is pouring. It rains into the night. Saturday, I get back on course and discover the technical element of the course has been three times amplified. Woah. The dancing feeling from Thursday’s preride sticks: my bike is another limb. I float over Beatrice and glide over the rest of the A lines. Not everyone is so lucky. The energy on course is electric as riders explore new lines. Riders everywhere seems to be on edge, apprehensive about our battlefield the next day. Many friends are nursing new bruises and two USAC riders get concussions and won’t be able to race Sunday. I close my eyes and visualize the floating feeling. I am ready. Sunday is here before I know it. A 5:30am wakeup call shoots me out of bed. I can hardly wait to get going. A peek out the window confirms my suspicions, it rained all night and is still drizzling. Ooooh it's going to be exciting out there. A good warmup later, we are on the line. The whistle blows and the group explodes forward. My legs don’t. I fall to the very back but then quickly settle in and start moving up. Through the pumptrack, through the first single track climb, over the gap jump, onto the rock garden… I grab a couple more places. I pass Nicole Koller, ex junior world champion and keep moving forward. I’m sitting in a pack of seven girls. I come into Beatrice and it’s like ice, I slip. Off my bike! I attempt to run down the slick rocks. It is not my most graceful, but I’m back on, charging. I lose the pack but close back in quickly. Lap two. I am sitting in 17th, then 16th. I can see a pack of six girls a couple seconds up. There it is. The top 10 I want desperately. The legs feel good and my strategy to keep moving forward is working well. Focus Kelsey, I tell myself. I dig deep and catch two girls battling it out on the climb. One makes a messy pass and it quickly results in a crash in front of me. Their bikes are badly tangled. After some scrambling, I slip by. I come into a garden of wet rock slabs and my tires are out from under me. Bam. Back up, deep breath. I hop on but something is wrong: my seat is missing. I can’t afford to lose that pack again but I am definitely a little slower without a seat. I get to the pits as quickly as possible. Julien changes the seat as I get a drink of Osmo and watch girls stream by. Back on! Now I just want to move up as much as possible. I catch the Canadian National Champion quickly and push past the leg burn. I come down hard on the new seat and my heart sinks as it tilts forward at a downhill slant. My mind races: Should I go to the pit again? No. This is fine. An angled seat is better than no seat. Plus, I have a race to do ;). Go, Kelsey, go!! My legs scream but I grab another position, and then another. Suddenly, I realize that I’m on my final lap. This is it. One last chance to give it everything. At last, I am back in my preride flow, riding smoothly. I cross the line in 16th, my best World Cup finish to date but wishing I had avoided the trip to the pit. Huge thanks to Team USAC for all the support this weekend! It’s always an honor to wear the red, white and blue. Now home for the first time in four weeks!
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