France—World Cup #1
The French know they’re special, and they take great pleasure in demonstrating this through their dominance in cycling. Maybe it’s because they’re such a confident culture, the French seem to float to the top of everything they pursue.....just like their croissants. I bet a croissant would float if you threw it in the toilet.
Anyway, the well-designed downhill course in Lets Gets is infamous for its motocross-like qualities....big sweeping turns and high speeds. But as France is in Europe, it usually rains there, and it did this year for our first World Cup. Oh well, so much for high speeds. In fact, the course’s mud had a such play-dough-like consistency, the sides of the 2-foot ruts would slowly fold into each other, thus grabbing one’s front wheel and stopping it promptly. It wasn’t about who didn’t crash, it was who crashed the least. .
In the qualifier, I proceeded to crash right near the top and break off my front brake lever. This seemed to be a blessing, because I had to pass three mud-bogged competitors who had started ahead of me. They must have been using their front brakes. Our bikes had to have weighed about 65 pounds by mid-course. Sure, this race might not convey well on Eurosport (Europe’s much superior version of ESPN) because the racers look so slow, but I had a sneaking suspicion I could do well battling these fitness-oriented conditions. The key was to maintain precious momentum (letting the mud , not the brakes, control the speed) and lean back, allowing the bike to find its own lines.
So with only two crashes in the final, I took third place, not bad for the first world cup this season. I also used my new Rock Shox lockout, and coupled with the pedaling-friendly YETI design, I felt I maximized the slow sections. It was several hours later I found out that Anne Caroline Chausson, the women’s winner, had gone off course and was assisted by spectators when climbing back on. This is usually frowned upon in downhill racing. But no one had really known until it was too late to protest. Well I’m protesting now, darn it.