After the amazing experience that was the BC Bike Race last summer, the natural order of events was to look at other stage races. I talked to a few people at BCBR who had done the TransRockies and they also had really good things to say about that stage race. The idea had been rolling around in my head for a while and a friend sent me an email this past week asking if I was a GO.
It did not take much convincing to get the ball rolling...The TR is a little different than the BCBR in the sense that it seems to be more of a team event. Solo riders can either do a 3 or a 4 day flavor of the race, but only teams can sign up for the 7 day full course meal.
In quickly looking at some of the stage profiles, it looks like the distances are similar to the BCBR but there is significantly more climbing (not that the BCBR days were light on the climbing). My hope is that with more climbing, comes smoother riding...if it is a combo of lots more climbing and equally difficult technical terrain as the BCBR, it will be time to climb deep into the hurt chamber for 7 days.
The scenery looks spectacular, the riding looks hard & relentless - but would you want it any other way? The big unknown is the weather. If the rain holds off, then it will make for a bunch of happy riders, if not....well time to go into the next darker room in that hurt chamber. Cold, wet, gritty riding can make a long day in the saddle a really really long and miserable day in the saddle. Those are all variables that are beyond our control so time to start focusing on riding and logging some miles.
The timing of the TR will be interesting because it will start the week after I attempt the High Cascades 100 on the single speed. It will either be a good barometer of where the fitness is and more miles is hopefully a good thing....or the collective abuse and wear/tear on the body will make for an interesting couple of weeks on these more or less back to back events. Regardless, the fear of sufferage for these events should be enough to get me off the couch and on the bike.
This might just be the year I buy a training plan and put some method into my madness. I have more or less gone by the mantra of riding, and riding, and riding some more....trying to get out consistently during the week and then stacking 2 bigger back to back days during the weekends. My 2c is that I have not done a good job of doing 'rest weeks' to let the body recover so perhaps by following a plan, it will force me to follow a more regimented plan.
time to noodle and process what it is that the TR is....
It did not take much convincing to get the ball rolling...The TR is a little different than the BCBR in the sense that it seems to be more of a team event. Solo riders can either do a 3 or a 4 day flavor of the race, but only teams can sign up for the 7 day full course meal.
In quickly looking at some of the stage profiles, it looks like the distances are similar to the BCBR but there is significantly more climbing (not that the BCBR days were light on the climbing). My hope is that with more climbing, comes smoother riding...if it is a combo of lots more climbing and equally difficult technical terrain as the BCBR, it will be time to climb deep into the hurt chamber for 7 days.
The scenery looks spectacular, the riding looks hard & relentless - but would you want it any other way? The big unknown is the weather. If the rain holds off, then it will make for a bunch of happy riders, if not....well time to go into the next darker room in that hurt chamber. Cold, wet, gritty riding can make a long day in the saddle a really really long and miserable day in the saddle. Those are all variables that are beyond our control so time to start focusing on riding and logging some miles.
The timing of the TR will be interesting because it will start the week after I attempt the High Cascades 100 on the single speed. It will either be a good barometer of where the fitness is and more miles is hopefully a good thing....or the collective abuse and wear/tear on the body will make for an interesting couple of weeks on these more or less back to back events. Regardless, the fear of sufferage for these events should be enough to get me off the couch and on the bike.
This might just be the year I buy a training plan and put some method into my madness. I have more or less gone by the mantra of riding, and riding, and riding some more....trying to get out consistently during the week and then stacking 2 bigger back to back days during the weekends. My 2c is that I have not done a good job of doing 'rest weeks' to let the body recover so perhaps by following a plan, it will force me to follow a more regimented plan.
time to noodle and process what it is that the TR is....
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