Hardwood Pre-Ride

Good morning!
It's going to be a hot one today, so getting my work out of the way early so I can get out there and enjoy it. :)

I had the pleasure of giving the Canada Cup course at Hardwood Hills a test run this past Sunday with one of my peeps. One apology before I get started. I had hoped to take pics of some key areas to share with you, but it started raining about 5min into the ride and I didn't really feel like drenching my Iphone.


I've got one word for it...relentless. It starts with the typical long double track grind of a climb into the woods (no wood chips this year though!) and then breaks off into the trees for a really nicely flowing mix of single and double track. It really does feel like you are climbing for a good 10-15min though. You get the odd little descent but the course really does seem to climb for ever from the start.

Technically speaking, it's not all that difficult. I haven't done any real trail riding in a couple of years and I had no problem with most everything on the course. I can't speak for the expert course as I only road the sport course, but I had no real issues. Hardwood has always had a great flow in the singletrack and that still holds true for this race.

Two points of interest though. The Rock...if you've ridden the course you know what I'm talking about. You're bombing through the singletrack and come up to this large rock in the trail. You have two choices, ride the rock or go to the left of it. Ride the rock and trust the rock. As you approach it really looks like it's got about a 4ft drop off on the other side and it's not until you are right on top of it that you realize it actually has a really nice roll out down the back side. If you hit the rock just left of center it gives you the perfect line into the left hand turn at the bottom of the little hill. If you go to the left of the rock then you have to work around the rock which leaves you in a really bad position to make the turn at the bottom, which will force you to scrub a lot of speed. First point to remember, don't trust what you see, trust what you know when you roll up to that rock for the first time on race day.

Second point...I'm not sure where exactly this is, but there's a sharp right hand turn that drops you into a steep little down hill full of placed boulders, almost cobblestone like. You have two line choices heading into the turn. Low to the right, or high to the left. From the approach above it really looks like you want to stay low and to the right, until you get to the turn and realize that you've been funnelled right into the outside apex of the turn and have no easy way to get through. Looking back up the trail from the turn, you can see the line is to stay high and to the left which gives you a direct line to the inside of the corner and plenty of space to come around the turn and set yourself up for the rocky descent. If you get a chance to pre-ride this week, give both lines a try and you'll see what I mean.

Beyond that, I didn't really see anything technically demanding. Fitness and climbing legs are going to come in handy. As is a a smart approach.

This course is all about burning matches. When to save them, when to burn them. This holds true right fro the start. You need to know what kind of racer you are and where you "belong" in these races. If you are consistently coming in around the 10th place spot in your AG, then you really have no business trying to hang with the podium guys off the start. Especially at this course. That first climb is long, gruelling and leg sucking. If you get caught racing somebody else's race you will burn way too many matches off the start. Push your own tempo and stay within yourself off the start so that you have the endurance to last the whole race. These are long laps, with a lot of bone jarring. Expend too much energy too soon and you will fall off at towards the end. Better to pace it smart off the start and spend the race reeling in those who went too hard too soon.

Final note, it's looking like it's going to be warmer than we've been used to this spring so keep hydration top of mind. There aren't a lot of great places to grab a drink on this course (remember, relentless) so drink whenever you can to maintain performance.

Ok, now go have an awesome race!