Wednesday: World Championships Middle Distance

The best part of Training Camp being so difficult, with unmarked trails and miles of nettles, is that the recently updated maps and clear trails of the actual races were EASY. At least it seemed like that for me J.

Wednesday dawned slightly less cold and rainy than the day before, but chilly enough that we brought plenty of layers. There was rain expected during some of our race times, which made choosing a kit a little challenging.

The Middle Distance format is generally in a larger, less urban area than the Sprint, with more controls and longer distances between controls. The Elite Men had 26 controls, with a 21km optimal route; the elite women had 20 controls with a 16km optimal route; the men 50 (Joe) had 21 controls with 15.5km optimal route, and the women 40 (me) had 20 controls with a 12km optimal route (too short, in my opinion J; next year masters women’s course will be longer). The estimated winning times were 55-60 minutes depending on the class.

Abra

Transportation was complicated by start and finish areas separated by 6 kilometers of road. And the time difference between the first team member to race (Peter) and the last member to race (me) was about 6 hours. Lots of waiting for some of us. Happily, there was no universal quarantine for the duration; riders were allowed to stay in the parking area before they raced. Because we had late start times, Joe and I shuttled the vans between the start and finish, hung out at the finish for a while, then Peter drove us back to the start to wait.

The course was fantastic, with well-mapped trails and a bikewack that didn’t sting. There were two distinct parts of the course: a flatter, more open section at the beginning and a hillier, slightly wilder section, separated by a 1-2 meter deep trench (which I never actually saw).

Tom

Tom did quite well and qualified for a slot in the long distance race on Friday, where he’ll be racing with the top 60 riders in the competition.

Joe scooting to the finish.

Joe’s derailleur exploded, taking part of his frame with it. He ran/scooted the final 10K of the course.

Today, Thursday, is a rest day. We did a little bit of sightseeing, took some pictures, and got Joe an entirely new drivetrain.