In his best race of the year, Jasper’s Cory Wallace took first place honours in the inaugural 2009 Solo TransRockies Challenge in British Columbia last week.

Finishing 15 minutes ahead of his nearest competitor, Wallace said this win was a good confidence boost after a disappointing 13th place in this years 24 hour Solo World Championship in Canmore.

“I was stoked,” he said, “I didn’t know how I was going to go because my fitness has been kind of off and on.”

“It’s nice to have a good finish because you kind of begin questioning yourself.”

For the young hopeful, who’s now looking forward to defending his title at the Bow 80 in Kananaskis next month as well as shooting for podium finishes in the United States 100 Mile race and the Cheakamus Challange in Squamish/Whistler, the win shows he’s a serious contender for the Canadian National scene in 2010.

“It gives me a lot of confidence because the top team (winners) are two of the top ten cyclists in Canada,” he said, “and I was putting a lot of time into them so it gives me a lot of confidence going into next season.”

While the season isn’t over, Wallace is already thinking about next year, with his eyes on the World Championships in Quebec and the National Championships in Canmore.

“That’s the focus next season, to make it into the top five in Canada to be selected for that, and then keep these long events as an end of the season thing,” he said adding that he’s probably in the top five long distance riders in Canada, but only the top ten for the cross country.

“It’s a lot more high end to do the Canada Cups because the events last two hours tops and it’s just one day. It’s a little bit different training,” he said.

For Wallace, a shift in training will mean more focus on the downhill and technical runs, as he has an inept ability to scale mountains which was demonstrated during the TR3.

“I know going into next season that climbing’s not an issue, but the downhill and technical sections – those guys had a bit of an advantage, so I think I’ve just got to spend some time on the bike and try and boost that up,” he said.

“You’ve just got to balance it all,” he added, “climb fast, and descend fast.”

His climbing abilities were highlighted in the first day of the TR3 where after just two kilometres into the 12 kilometre climb he “had a gap on all the guys”.

Despite a good start and a six minute lead on his nearest competitor, a technical avalanche chute was the only way down and resulted in a costly mechanical breakdown for the Jasperite.

“[It] was just super steep and out of control. I should have been walking it, but there was guys filming it and being in the lead you have to look good,” he laughed.

Forced off his bike, the Jasperite commenced fixing his flat but was a little unlucky with his first carbon dioxide container blowing up on him. Though the second one fixed his flat the tube popped out and went flat again.

“So I sat down, began looking at the mountains and picking flowers,” he said.

Being in the lead, the racer watched as the lead team experienced the same bad luck on the down hill and were forced to stop about two hundred feet above him.

As he picked flowers and waited, Wallace watched as the next soloist flew by him. But soon after, the lead team came and helped get him back on his bike.

Even with this mishap the Jasperite showed off his climbing abilities again and managed to catch Colin Kerr, from Bowen Island, on the last climb of the day.

“I went by him fast, but in the last descent I took it kind of easy because I didn’t want to flat again,” he said noting that he’d never ridden the trail before so he was a little wary of the conditions.

“He (Kerr) caught me at the bottom and we sprinted to the finish line and he got me by half a wheel,” he added.

After coming a close second on day one, Wallace said he spent most of the second stage by himself although the beginning highway was a pack of about 25 guys.

“Going up the last climb of the day, the team leaders caught me, but they told me I had about 15 minutes on the solo, so I was kind of stoked,” he said.

But what goes up, must come down and Wallace still had what he called a “super sketchy decent... you had to go off little cliffs, across avalanche slopes, and in a creek.”

Jumping off and on his bike about 25 times, Jasper’s biker said it was tough on the mind because of its slow and steady pace.

“You don’t train for that, you train for cycling. In those sections, you’ve got to just give’er and know that no one’s doing that well on it,” he laughed.

Wallace said he was happy to have a nice cushion between him and Kerr going into day three, as it was a time trial and he felt Kerr had the advantage.

However, the biggest battle on the day turned out to be the weather. “It was super, super muddy that day,” he said.

“I knew Colin (Kerr) was going to be fast so I wanted to pin him at the beginning, but we hadn’t done the loop so we didn’t know what was coming.”

It was these unknowns, coupled with the torrential rain that meant visibility was extremely poor, which proved to keep Wallace on his toes, as he missed a bridge and then hit a tree on the track in the first two minutes.

“There was this 2x6 that we had to hit and I completely missed it, bailed into the creek and then half way down the hill I bounced off a tree and pretty soon Colin (Kerr) was just behind me.”

Despite being a little shaken up, Wallace just kept on riding and soon gaped Kerr on another hill.

“You’ve just got to stay in the flow. As soon as you get out of the flow you begin fighting things and you just can’t. I just had to tell myself to calm down a bit,” he said.

Due to the poor conditions, Kerr actually got off track and cut the cross which meant he finished ahead of Wallace. But, once everything was resolved, Wallace was the firm winner of the inaugural event.

With another win under his belt, Wallace has gone to rest his body and mind in the back-country before heading back to town for the Alberta XC Provincials which he and Freewheel are hosting in Hinton.