Getting it done at the US Grand Prix - The Canyons, UT

Our final race on the tour was the big one - the US National Championships incorporated into the US Grand Prix at The Canyons in Utah. This race had a real World Cup feel with hospitality for the riders (eg free food!) and lots of media. The course was bigger than anything I had ever seen: even bigger and scarier than Steamboat. However, I had a feeling that I was going to be able to deal with this one a little better, I was sure that I could stay relaxed and focussed with my new found zen! Training and competing was a little later here, with the girls going after the boys, so each morning I spent some time having fun riding in the park. This certainly helped me loosen up for the course.

With two training days Adam and I decided to break down the course into the 'top' to the big sweeping burm 4. This included 2 nicely built wu-tangs, 3 winding burms into a decent step up and then a funky rhythm section of 5 rollers shaped like a camel that were spaced so that the boys could double into it and out of it but for us ladies it meant some seriously loose legs!

Looking back to the start from the top of the second wu-tang

See that big sweeping burm way down there?! This is the 'top' section.

I totally conquered my goals for Day 1, managing to get more aggressive and balanced through the start. Adam filmed us and some of the better riders which was great for comparisons sake. Although I may have achieved my goals, comparing myself to Lindsay Jacoellis riding the burms made me realsed there is a long way to go!

Day 2 of training, the official training day was all about getting the middle section sorted. This was a long and rather flat roller section with a couple of larger step up jumps which I struggled to clear for the entire competition. However, I was hitting things, and I also started rolling through most of the lower jumps section of the course. I was pleased that I started riding the burms better, it is trickier than you would think to carry your speed through them!

Day 3 was for qualifications. Adam was not completely happy with me racing as I hadn't ridden off the step down until my final training run. However, I managed to convince him that I was up to it and did compete which I was pleased with. I was not the worst and fell pretty neatly into the cluster of Nor-Am riders - though there was a large gap to the world cup ladies that were competing. It was a pleasing day, however, I was disappointed that as so many girls pulled out my 12th place wouldn't let me progress to finals, only 8 being taken.

Here is the lower section of the course...

The start is way up above were you can just see the top of the red fencing!

And here are some photos from the bottom on finals day... it was pretty fun just being there, eating lots of food and drinking a couple of beers!

Nate struggles at life...

Justin chatting to two brothers who managed to take each other out in the quaterfinals, they were in the lead at the time. Bummer!

Happy Australians Amanda and Jarryd

Cam not sure if he is happy after leading Graham Watanabe and crashing in his heat

So that's a wrap of our time in Utah learning more about Mormons and the entire trip around the US. We celebrated on the last night with a stupid dare (mostly my own fault) that I couldn't eat 50 Chicken Nuggets - they are only $9.99!! God Bless America. For the record I managed to do it in 16 minutes, and was left feel fairly sick and sorry for myself - and $20 richer!! But I guess as always... when in Rome...

I'm back in sleepy Canmore now for a few weeks of training before a couple of local races and heading home!

Sending exhausted smiles from Canmore.