Raid De Charleviox

Le Raid De Charleviox is a mountain bike race in Quebec, Canada that consists of a 30, 50 and 75km race option.  Mat Waghorn and I opted to race in the 50km as this was going to be more of a specific type of race time for us in preparation for our World Cup races coming up in 2 weeks.
Today the sun was out blazing and it was looking like there was going to be some nice dry tracks for us to race on (most of our riding has involved some sort of mud since we have arrived) so I was feeling excited about getting the big wheels turning!
My start was not the greatest though as the course very quickly shot down a rough downhill and I dropped my full bottle out of my cage!  I simply had to turn around to retrieve it as there was no way I was going to use my spare bottle out of my back pocket for a 2 hour plus race!  Nevertheless I pressed on and quickly and sharply rode through the pack back to the front to where Mat and our friend Julien were riding still warming up their legs so that was a bonus!
As soon as I was back up the front Mat and I knew it was go time so off we went riding side by side looking very sharp as a Team Kiwi like riding style!
Just after I said to Mat about keeping clean this race we turned the corner and were riding amongst swamp land and we sure got MUD!  I just managed to bail out of going full on over the bars at low speed when I was negotiating my way around several mud puddles when I landed my front wheel in a deep rut and was stopped in my tracks!  Anyway that was all part of the fun and after dismounting to tramp through a very impressive bog we were back on dry land and starting our first main climb in the race.
Once we had completed the first half of the race there was a good climb leading up to the highest point in the race with a couple of downs mixed in.  It was some steep and rough climbing and I knew if I kept some good momentum the big wheels would shoot over this terrain nicely.  As we came around and back up a climb at the 27km mark I put some pressure down and noticed Mat was slipping back.  This told me there was an opportunity to do something here so I dropped the hammer and opened up a gap.  After reaching the highest point in the race and enjoying a fast and loose downhill I had the final climb to get up and then ride home to the finish.  With the win in site I was smoking my way along the final part of the course and finished the race in very good time and very pleased with my ride!