January 27, 2010 – With coach Eric de Nys at the wheel, we embarked on the long trek South to the SuperTour races taking place in Methow Valley, Washington Jan. 16-17. Methow Valley is around 10 hours driving from Canmore in a fairly remote area of central Washington. Having never been to the Methow area before, I had no idea what to expect. It’s always great to go somewhere new and after checking things out online, I was eager to see what the area had to offer.
I was however, a little uneasy about the accommodation Eric had booked, in my travels I’ve discovered that it’s usually not a good sign when you can’t find any info about a hotel online. After having searched feverishly online and not finding much more than a phone number, my expectations were low. We rolled into the small western themed town of Winthrop around noon on Friday under heavy rain, grabbed some lunch and then found our hotel. The hotel was called The Virginian and surprisingly it turned out to be ok. I’d give it a rating of ‘rustic’, but overall not a bad place to stay…plus the price couldn’t be beat!!
Methow Valley boasts over 120 miles of groomed ski trails which left me wondering why I had never been to the area before! Warm weather and a busy weekend of racing meant that I would not see much of the trail system but maybe someday I’ll make it back to explore more…
Four days of steady rain is never a good start to a race weekend but with a little cooperation from the weather and some really hard work from the volunteers (trail workers shoveled ton upon ton of snow onto the race course Friday afternoon.) they were able to pull off two solid races. The sprint event on Saturday was held at the Liberty Bell High School near Winthrop and despite all the rain in the days prior, the course was in excellent shape. Unexpected clear skies and cold temps overnight helped the course set up really well and made for rocket fast sprint racing. The day started off poorly for me, I turned in a terrible qualifying time but was able to turn things around in the heats. I felt stronger and stronger through the day and in a hard fought final, I was able to come away with a 2nd place finish.
Due to the warm weather and lack of snow in town, Sunday’s 15km classic race had to be moved from the high school up to a nearby alpine ski area called Loup Loup. Unfortunately, the warm, wet weather returned for Sunday creating really difficult conditions. With new snow overnight and heavy wet fog through the day, harries was about the only thing working reliably. With the soft conditions, the track quickly got washed out and squirrelly. Almost the whole field ended up racing on some form of harries and despite the miserable conditions, harries were actually working quite well. I put together another decent race, finishing 3rd in a very tight 15km.
The atmosphere in Methow Valley for the race weekend was great, the locals were very friendly and it seemed that everyone in town was excited about the race. There was a great turnout for spectators and the races ran quite smoothly considering the difficulties with the weather. It was great to be a part of such a top notch event put on by the organizers and thanks to the volunteers for all their hard work…hey, any place that gives out coffee and beer for awards is alright with me!!
In the Tape Deck:
Track: Doctor Doctor (Fred Falke Remix) Artist: Just Jack
Track: The Freshmen, Artist: Villains (An old one but a good one! This one will take you back to the 90’s!)
On the Tube:
This kid is hilarious here.