He wasn't confident going in, but that didn't stop Cory Wallace from defending his title at the Canadian Mountain Bike Marathon Championships in Squamish, BC, Aug. 16.
This is the second year in a row the Jasperite has claimed the national title, but in an interview Aug. 25 he said this time is even sweeter than the first.
Part of the reason is that Wallace had to take down some tough competition along the way, including a rider he'd idolized since he was a kid: Geoff Kabush, a former Olympian who has been claiming impressive finishes all year.
Racing on a shorter, more technical 63-kilometre course this time around, Wallace wasn't sure he would be able to hold on against cross country riders who excel at shorter distances, so he made sure to prepare and focus hard as race day approached.
"I really focused in the two weeks leading up to [the race], because I knew it was going to be really tough," he said. He skipped a big race down in Colorado, and he and his teammate, Kris Sneddon, hoofed it down to the course early to check it out and get in some practice laps.
"I made some sacrifices to make sure I was fully on board for this one," Wallace said.
Those sacrifices paid off, as Wallace and Sneddon set the pace right out of the gate on race day. The idea, Wallace explained, was to separate the elite riders from the rest of the pack, and it worked. After a short time they, along with Kabush and two other riders, had broken away and were fighting for position.
Kabush wasn't making it easy for them—refusing to ride in front and work with the pack—so Sneddon and Wallace used each other’s strengths to wear him down.
"We knew Geoff was a guy we'd need to work on. He's wise and tactical and he knows what he's doing," Wallace said. "So I started attacking the climbs, and he'd have to chase me up the climbs, and Kris would attack the descents and he would chase Kris down the descents."
But even that wasn't enough, because after about two hours Kabush broke away, and Wallace found himself riding in third place, with Kabush and his teammate completely out of sight.
On his blog, Wallace wrote that after that happened he didn't expect to catch such strong riders, and had begun to justify his 3rd place finish in his head.
"This lasted for a few minutes until I got angry at myself for thinking this way, got out of the saddle sprinted all out for 30 seconds to get the adrenaline firing," he wrote.
He sprayed water on his face, screamed a curse to the sky, and did everything he could think of to get his adrenaline going.
The mind games worked, and as he approached a long climb he saw Kabush struggling–"out of matches" as he put it—and this gave him the push he needed to fly by him.
Passing the rider he had put up on a pedestal for so long was "pretty special" for Wallace, and after that he knew he had to finish first.
He caught up to Sneddon on the next climb, and held his lead until the end of the race, earning the right to once again wear the maple leaf jersey designating him as Canadian champion, and compete in the world championships next summer.
Wallace said he feels good about his results lately, but still sees room for improvement, which is what keeps him motivated.
"There will come a time when you realize you've hit your peak—and there's not much you can do—but at this time I still feel like there's some tweaks I can do. It's good motivation."
In the wake of his recent victory, Wallace was also quick to thank Jasper's Freewheel Cycle and Wild Mountain for supporting him from the beginning.
