Canadian Nationals - from the rider's side of the bars.

Source: Simon Stevenson

Mont Sainte Anne has one of the world's best Downhill courses, high speed with some serious tech!

There was no way I was going to miss this year’s Canadian National Championships. A staple of the World Cup Series since 1994, you see it in film after film and it’s a killer part in Seasons by the Collective. Mont Sainte Anne was amazing to race against the best in the country.Last year I had the pleasure of racing the Canadian National Championships at Mt Washington, my home bike park. It was a great experience so this year I had to travel to the complete other side of the country to defend my title as Master's National Champ. Knowing no French and never having been to Quebec before, I flew out early to sort myself out. Wednesday morning I grabbed the Dodge Nitro (my sleeping quarters for Nationals) and headed out. A quick tour of Quebec City and its beautiful old architecture, the place is 400 years old so there was a lot going on downtown. I’m going to have to go back and check out more of the city and if you get a chance you should do the same.

It’s a short drive to Mont Sainte Anne, about 35 minutes away from the city. When I got there it was like a ghost town, I saw a couple of bikers and that’s about it. I couldn’t see any of the Mountain it was so socked in and pretty moist but still really warm. Well I had to do something so I went for a hike, walking up the course I thought to myself, “It’s going to take me 10 minutes to get down this course!” Mt Washington’s course is pretty long too with lots of rocks so it felt a lot like home the further I ventured up.


Thursday I walked the course with some friends with a little better outlook. 1 o’clock, time to ride! I took my time getting to know the course scoping lines. Man did I ever feel slow on the first couple days. It was so nice to have Devinci in the pits to help out with any details I had with my bike, Thanks Guys and Gals. Simon, Julie, Yanik and the rest of the crew were loads of fun, from Right Guard bombs in the pits to soaping up the tube when changing my flat tire, my back wheel was sudsy for days (thanks a lot Simon)!


The weather kept getting better as the weekend arrived and the mountain came alive with racers and spectators alike. By Saturday it was nice and sunny but there was always some “Bad Bird” (as Sophie would say) talking about thunder showers on Sunday. I was up to race speed and felt comfortable for a race on the nice dry course.


After ripping all day Saturday, the Devinci crew took us down to the waterfall near by. It was amazing and only like a five minute walk from the resort, I should have been hitting that place all week even though it was super cold.


Sunday comes and what do you know, it’s raining hard just like last year, always a mud fest on race day! Everyone only gets one hour to practice and that’s it. I did my one practice run and man was it ever greasy. All I wanted was to stay in control and upright for my run. It was a challenge as the track was destroyed, new holes all over the place, some of the lines were near impossible now, loose rocks were popping out everywhere and those tech sections were something else in the wet. I made it through all that and then it’s was time to pedal like mad, crossing the finish line my muscles felt like they were going to explode.


After recovering I went up the course to snap some photos and see how slow I really was. Getting to watch Canada’s top downhillers on such a physically demanding course was a treat in itself. The organizers seem to run a pretty tight ship because this year, as well as last year, everything seemed to go right on time and by 4:15 pm eastern time we learned that Andrew Mitchell is the fastest man in Canada and well deserved, he demolished my time by over 30 seconds. You’ve been having a great year Andrew, keep up the good work!


Sheila Morris was the fastest lady of the day. Pinkbike’s own Danice Uyesugi got squeezed out of third by less than a tenth of a second and myself, I ended up at the top of the podium for the Masters men. I received my new Canadian flag jersey and my mission was accomplished. It was a great experience going out to Quebec and I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again (maybe next year).

I’d like to say thanks to my sponsors, friends and family and also the Chan’s and company for all their hospitality, it made my trip so much easier, Thanks guys!

Some pics provided by Dancie.

Check out all of Simon's pics here.(approx. 150 pics)

-slydaddy.pinkbike.com//

Simon and the rest of the Pinkbike.com/Devinci DH are proudly supported by:

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