We finally got up to the start of the BC Bike Race yesterday and after travelling for 3 days it was nice to set up camp for a couple of days. Cars, buses, seabus, and more buses finally brought us to our destination yesterday afternoon. I kept an eye on the weather as the clouds were threatening and it could have made for a really bad race day today. Fortunately, mother nature played nice and spared us the rain that was looming.
Day 1 was 54km and 1,200m of climbing (will download profiles once I get back home). It was a fast start with everyone jockeying for position on the 6km of road and dirt road. After the mass start, we got dumped into singletrack which all of a sudden came to a grinding halt once we got there....bottleneck extraordinaire! The trail was not all the technical where we turned onto it so I am not sure what the hold up was. There was a lot of stop and go for about a mile until things opened up and people got a little more spread out.
We stayed in super fun twisting singletrack for a few miles before we got dumped onto the road where we climbed for about 500m to the first Aid station. The climb was good because it gave everyone a chance to spread out a little more. The herd was starting to thin. Once we left the Aid station, we stayed level for about a mile before we got dumped into some super gnarly tek action. There were places that you just had to try and ride out because there was no place to bail at all. I was definitely not in my flow and it took me off my game. I generally consider myself an OK descender but the downhill really toyed with my head. I ended up going ass over tea-kettle a couple of times and then my mind never righted itself. You had to stay super alert and focused or you could end up taking a bad line with some big gaps to clear if you launched...DOH.
The bottom of the descent kicked us out on some gravelly doubletrack and we stayed on that for about 8km until we got to Aid Station 2...I heard a guy have a total yard sale about a minute after I got through a really sketch steep gravel section. I did not linger at the Aid Station and moseyed on. We had a short, steep, tekkie climb which eventually dropped us out on to new trail that was rooty and lumpy. It reminded me of my NE riding days with lots of rock and roots that forced you to slow down and then get out of the saddle to gain speed again.
All in all, it was a great day - no mechanicals and no injuries....I have a new found respect for the local crew who rides as these trails beat you up and the combo steep, root, rock, gravel is enough to keep you puckered up....time to get some rest and get ready for more pucker action tomorrow!
view of our 'Base Camp':
Day 1 was 54km and 1,200m of climbing (will download profiles once I get back home). It was a fast start with everyone jockeying for position on the 6km of road and dirt road. After the mass start, we got dumped into singletrack which all of a sudden came to a grinding halt once we got there....bottleneck extraordinaire! The trail was not all the technical where we turned onto it so I am not sure what the hold up was. There was a lot of stop and go for about a mile until things opened up and people got a little more spread out.
We stayed in super fun twisting singletrack for a few miles before we got dumped onto the road where we climbed for about 500m to the first Aid station. The climb was good because it gave everyone a chance to spread out a little more. The herd was starting to thin. Once we left the Aid station, we stayed level for about a mile before we got dumped into some super gnarly tek action. There were places that you just had to try and ride out because there was no place to bail at all. I was definitely not in my flow and it took me off my game. I generally consider myself an OK descender but the downhill really toyed with my head. I ended up going ass over tea-kettle a couple of times and then my mind never righted itself. You had to stay super alert and focused or you could end up taking a bad line with some big gaps to clear if you launched...DOH.
The bottom of the descent kicked us out on some gravelly doubletrack and we stayed on that for about 8km until we got to Aid Station 2...I heard a guy have a total yard sale about a minute after I got through a really sketch steep gravel section. I did not linger at the Aid Station and moseyed on. We had a short, steep, tekkie climb which eventually dropped us out on to new trail that was rooty and lumpy. It reminded me of my NE riding days with lots of rock and roots that forced you to slow down and then get out of the saddle to gain speed again.
All in all, it was a great day - no mechanicals and no injuries....I have a new found respect for the local crew who rides as these trails beat you up and the combo steep, root, rock, gravel is enough to keep you puckered up....time to get some rest and get ready for more pucker action tomorrow!
view of our 'Base Camp':
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