Tr7 stage 1 is in the books! It was great to get the seven day stage race underway and stage 1 did not disappoint. Stages 1 through 3 are in Fernie and despite their distances, they pack a climbing punch.
Pictures included:
team number:
start/finish area
Stage 1 took us in a time trial format where we were staggered by one minute intervals. We set off up the first climb and knew we had a quick descent only to be quickly followed by the biggest climb of the day. The biggest climb included sections that kicked up 38 degrees in some areas which validates the elevation profile of gaining around 1200 feet of vertical gain in around 1.2 miles for an AVG incline of 15%!!!!! It was all rideable but OUCH! Some of the switchbacks were so tight and steep that you had to go past the switchie to a tiny lollipop where you turned around so you could get going up the switchie.
We climbed until we peaked at around 5000 ft and then started a steep and fast descent that had some tricky areas that you had to pay attention to or else you could end up off trail and head down a steep decline.
The scenery was just stunning! It was so captivating that it caused a little excitement on the descent for me. I was so focused on the scenery that my bike followed my line of sight off trail and quickly enough had me ass over tea kettle. A quick dust off and it was time to get back on track. It took me out of my flow for a little bit but it would soon be time to get the climbing hat back on for a short and punchy climb.
We hit the aid stations quickly and tried to keep moving.
The excitement came circa mile 16 when my team-mate's chain broke and we pulled over to get the chain fixed and get going. We got passed by about 7 people as we got the bike together. In the back of my mind I kept thinking that once a chain goes, it is usually significantly weaker and breaking again is not uncommon....at about the time these thoughts were going through my mind, I heard Dave yell out, "hey T" and I knew exactly what was up...at that point we figured it might be best to keep rolling with the broken chain since we were thinking it was mostly downhill.
Oopsy....so the last 4 to 5 miles were tough for Dave. He rolled the downhills and had to walk/run the flats and ups. We eventually rolled in and I could see the agony on Dave's face. We rolled into the mechanic's tent and they promptly located 3 other links that were cracked and would have blown if we had done a second fix on the chain. The section we fixed, was good but it was just a few weak links short of a strong chain...not so good.
The stage was around 20 miles in length and around 4,600 ft of elevation gain. Day two awaits us tomoorrow and has about the same distance but more climbing in store for us.
Giddy up!
Pictures included:
team number:
at the peak:
Stage 1 took us in a time trial format where we were staggered by one minute intervals. We set off up the first climb and knew we had a quick descent only to be quickly followed by the biggest climb of the day. The biggest climb included sections that kicked up 38 degrees in some areas which validates the elevation profile of gaining around 1200 feet of vertical gain in around 1.2 miles for an AVG incline of 15%!!!!! It was all rideable but OUCH! Some of the switchbacks were so tight and steep that you had to go past the switchie to a tiny lollipop where you turned around so you could get going up the switchie.
We climbed until we peaked at around 5000 ft and then started a steep and fast descent that had some tricky areas that you had to pay attention to or else you could end up off trail and head down a steep decline.
The scenery was just stunning! It was so captivating that it caused a little excitement on the descent for me. I was so focused on the scenery that my bike followed my line of sight off trail and quickly enough had me ass over tea kettle. A quick dust off and it was time to get back on track. It took me out of my flow for a little bit but it would soon be time to get the climbing hat back on for a short and punchy climb.
We hit the aid stations quickly and tried to keep moving.
The excitement came circa mile 16 when my team-mate's chain broke and we pulled over to get the chain fixed and get going. We got passed by about 7 people as we got the bike together. In the back of my mind I kept thinking that once a chain goes, it is usually significantly weaker and breaking again is not uncommon....at about the time these thoughts were going through my mind, I heard Dave yell out, "hey T" and I knew exactly what was up...at that point we figured it might be best to keep rolling with the broken chain since we were thinking it was mostly downhill.
Oopsy....so the last 4 to 5 miles were tough for Dave. He rolled the downhills and had to walk/run the flats and ups. We eventually rolled in and I could see the agony on Dave's face. We rolled into the mechanic's tent and they promptly located 3 other links that were cracked and would have blown if we had done a second fix on the chain. The section we fixed, was good but it was just a few weak links short of a strong chain...not so good.
The stage was around 20 miles in length and around 4,600 ft of elevation gain. Day two awaits us tomoorrow and has about the same distance but more climbing in store for us.
Giddy up!
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