Ontario Cup #2 preride

It's that time again. The way my schedule is, tonight was my only chance to ride the course for the second Ontario Cup race of the season, well except race day. The Molly Monster new exactly what was happening and conserved her energy and slept the whole way to Albion. I think I need to teach her to drive.

I was surprised not to see more cars in the parking lot, I think the next few days will be crazy down there. Not much has changed in the start. Short steep climb right out of the gate.

The start is going to be very important, we head right into a long double track section.

Most of the single track is typical Albion Hills and what is used in the 24 hour races held here. Fast flowing trails, lots of pine trees, lots of roots. Still very fast.

Took it fairly easy the first lap and saw a moment of weakness out of Molly.

I think there was something in this water because she picked up the pace right after wards.

This does not give a real idea of this hill. The infamous Green Monster. Traction today was pretty good, they are calling for rain on Sunday. Traction could be an issue here. Thoughts of a change of tire are sorta hanging out there.

I think this is probably going to be one of two climbs that will be the sketchiest. The whole coarse was in really good shape with the bit of rain we had. This section was really muddy, if it rains it will be fun.

Someone is prepping for that neutral tech support. Wheel and cassette all ready to go. This was about 200 feet after a small log drop. Someone is thinking.

There is a few new trail cuts integrated in this year. They are very fast but the setup for them is very important. They are rough enough that you can't pedal that much in them so if you loss momentum at the beginning of it picking up speed is a little bit difficult.

The Monster and I picked up the pace a little for the second lap. This is a really fast coarse. Lots of big double track sections. There is just enough technical parts to slow up the roadies. The new sections are basically, who has the nerves to stay off the brakes the most. I kept it aerobic for the lap, coasting the downhills so Molly could keep up and rolled around in roughly 33 minutes. Molly of coarse short tracked it when ever she could. They would have to run a lot more tape to keep her on track.

She still had energy for a swim though.

Tire thoughts right now are still leaning toward my dry tires.

If you want to check out the full lap, Neil has posted one at RaceDayRush.com Check it out