Checking In... From Mont St Anne! Bon Jour :o)

The last few days have been pretty darn good.  Back home in summer, when John was paid to walk around with a question mark on his back, he met a couple from Ottawa and they gave him their details and said to call if he was in town and needed a place to stay.  So on Tuesday and Wednesday nights we stayed with the wonderful Ottawa locals, Brian and Susan Gold - who showed us much more than we could have managed on our own, took us out for a veritable feast at the best local vege restaurant (the Green Door) and also to a Canadian BBQ with friends (not my first Canadian BBQ, but still always nice to BBQ), and Brian and Susan have made the trip to NZ a couple of times and their friends are heading over soon too, so there was a lot to talk about!

I found Ottawa intriguing.  I think mostly because it is a capital city and I was born and bred in ours so there is a sense of familiarity with Parliament buildings and the fact that so many government workers are around.  But it struck me as far more traditional in the British sense, in no small part because of the guards at the war memorial, and the fact that there is a changing of the guard parade every day (ok, in summer and for the tourists - but still very regal).  On Thursday I had a very easy recovery spin on the road bike so decided to incorporate seeing the changing of the guard in to the ride.  Well it was pretty unique in many ways - I rode a beautiful trail along the river to get to Parliament, saw boats being taken through the locs on the Rideau Canal because they happened to be there (still operated by hand - saw them again on the way back because it's a slow process), watched the procession march up the main streets then the ceremony itself, and then part way back down the streets (the benefits of being on wheels), before riding by the river again to get back.  All in warm temperatures with no wind, blue sky, and pretty much a very peaceful morning.  Nice :o)

Later that day, after a few hours driving, we arrived in MONT ST ANNE!!!  After what seemed like far too long to get through the traffic at Montreal, and some pretty challenging freeway action to get through Quebec City (from one off ramp to another for several minutes) suddenly there were signs for Mont St Anne everywhere.  I was mostly overcome with a sense of 'wow, I'm here, I'm in Mont St Anne and I'm going to race a World Cup!'.  Mont St Anne has been host to a World Cup for 11 years (I believe) so there is no question they know what they're doing, and they're also hosting the World Champs in 2010.  Gunn-Rita is already in town!

Speaking of Gunn-Rita, just like me, she is not allowed to race this weekend (because they close all the racing to Canadians only - it is their national champs after all).  I had been told in an email that elite was not possible but had hoped to sneak in to make up numbers in age grade.  John had been told by a couple of people that we would be able to race.  And the first 2 people we spoke to said it should be ok (in fact one said for a $50 late fee we could race elite - but that's a bit steep on top of entry fees anyway).  But as itturns out we are not able to race at all.  It's a little frustrating as I would like as much time on the course as possible before next Sunday, but one of those things I always knew was a possibility.  I should double check and make sure there aren't any road events around - but I think Velerium (the 3 week festival of mtb) will take precedence over any other events.  Still, it will be great to watch some racing and cheer on the girls I have met in the last couple of races, and with some early morning starts I can get time on the course before I get booted off for not having a race plate.  We're the furthest east we will get on the trip now and the sun comes up early and goes down earlier than anywhere else too, so early starts make sense.

So, today, after finding out I couldn't ride the course (of course I tried...) I went for a ride on some of the surrounding trails.  The humidity means it rains frequently and there were a few streams so things got pretty muddy!  I saw some of the course and itlooks fantastic and I can't wait to get on it and suss it all out.  But the big bonus today was that I finally saw some more bears! :o)  Mother and cub - I rounded a bend in the trail and they heard me and popped in to the bush, but as I came around the next corner the cub ran up a tree.  I couldn't pass this by so I stopped.  He was so cute, just sitting up the tree as curious about me as I was about him and I couldn't help but think of my little tree-climbing furball back home.  Mother bear stayed out of sight but eventually I heard a rustle and figured my time was up so waved goodbye and continued on my way.  I was just over time on my ride and about 5 minutes from the carpark but that was one experience I was happy to have.  Still haven't seen my moose yet but I just know he's out there somewhere... but mother and cub - that was pretty cool :o)

So, the next few days are all about soaking up the experience and getting time on the course while preparing for my first World Cup.  I'm excited, no doubt about that.  Competitive racing has brought me one first after another in the last couple of years and this is a pretty big one.  In some ways I want it to be the big event I sort of feel it is, but on the flip-side, to make sure I stay focused and do my best, I need to keep it more low key.  The process is the same - follow the programme to the letter (a few minutes for bear encounters excepted of course), recover, recover, recover - and be ready to unleash on the day.  I'm sure the bigger field and crowds will get the excitement levels right up there but that can only be a positive thing.  The Canada Cup's have been much more low key than I expected, but there's no doubt we've arrived at the real thing now.

Oh, and no, I don't even speak high school french but I'm suddenly thoroughly adept at 'bonjour', 'par le vous englais?', and 'merci'.  And trying to pick up a bit more of course.  In many ways it's close enough to english to be able to get the gist of it when I'm reading signs and brochures, but speaking it is a different kettle of fish altogether.  If all else fails, I do have a Lonely Planet phrase book and audio on the iPod - and hey, charades is always a good time eh?