Stage seven!!!!! The grand finale...a week of the TransRockies riding culminating in the last stage which would finish on Main street in downtown Canmore. The last day would be a victory lap of sorts with the minor detail of having to ride 26 miles with around 3,600 ft of elevation gain.
The point to point would take us from Rafter Six Ranch to Canmore. Stage seven would start much like stage six would...in a cold downpour. We left Rafter Six Ranch and got onto some dirt / gravel road for about 3 miles until we hit the single track. The ride along the road was more about trying to dodge the mud getting kicked up from the tires ahead of you. I found myself trying to tuck into a group and staying out of the line of spray being kicked up.
The single track was fairly non eventful for a couple miles as we rolled through some bumpy fields and I immediately thought of my team mate and his shoulder that was no doubt taking a beating on the bumpity bump bump bump of the trail.
At this point, we were cruising alongside the freeway that takes you into Canmore. The trail would run its course and then put us onto the freeway proper for about three miles. One of the lanes was coned off for us which was a good thing considering we we riding against the flow of traffic. At this point, we were riding into a strong headwind and the precip had picked up to a constant pour.!
I was in for a bit of a rude awakening when I squeezed my brakes for the first time on stage seven. The prior day's bike muddin' (a soon to be new sport in the hill billy Olympics) took a serious toll on my brake pads and the build up of gunk in my brake cables/housing. After a few test squeezes of the brake levers I figured at best there was no rear brake at all, but about 20% braking power left on the front brakes. This meant there would have to be a major adjustment in riding style to the finish...or in other words, it would be smart to play the downhills conservatively in order to avoid injury. This meant trying to eye the line of descent with a view of exit strategy. This would a particularly bigger challenge as the day progressed and the trail got more technical and my mind more fragile (proposed new name of team for future stupid events we might sign up for).
The highway would lead to the next section of single track that took us over some super slick wooden bridges (think oil layered on top of ice). DH got to witness a rider attempting to cross said oil slick wood bridges and consequently found the drink...brrrrr....it was a cold morning to start, let alone fall into a pond and pay the price of being wet and cold...or actually it would have been 'wetter' considering the steady downpour we had been paddling, I mean riding through.
The trail meandered up and down alongside a river for a while and had some steep punchy climbs with some equally punchy descents that were especially treacherous considering zero rear brakes and limited front brakes. I quickly realized what my margin for error was and it did not give much of a warm fuzzy. There were several times I thought my momentum would ultimately be stopped by a tree or going off trail but somehow the mind has an uncanny ability to run through the machinations of constant adjustments and was somehow able to find a window that adapted to new challenges.
We would make it to aid one and then back onto some great singletrack that had amazing flow In some areas. The biggest surprise of all was that the trail drained really well and we were not riding through mud bogs, but on nice soft forest cover. As nice and soft as part of the trail was, there were sections that made up for the gentleness with some wet roots and slick rock.
At this point, the end was sorta' kinda' maybe in sight and it was time to take a cautious approach and finish the event without further injury. As we approached Canmore, we got to aid station two and knew we had about 5 miles left. We left aid station two and climbed what would be our last climb of consequence in the TransRockies. The descent was once again an excercise of mastering mind over body as the hands squeezed the brakes and the little brake pads responded with a laugh...
I descended and the got to our last turn before getting on Main Street in Canmore and then waited for Hersey as we would finish TransRockies together as a team, much like we had started almost seven days prior. I waited for a few minutes and started to get an uneasy feeling thinking that maybe something had happened. As I thought this, a couple of riders went by and confirmed my suspicions. One of the riders said "He is pretty hurt", to which I had lots of questions but no answers because they did not even slow down long enough to tell me what that meant. As I turned my bike around to go find David, I wondered what that meant. As I got to the bridge, I saw DH riding towards me with one hand on the handlebars and the other wrapped in a makeshift sling made from his camelback. I realized old habits die hard, and Mr Hersey was back to his old tricks of once again tackling trees...and with his bad shoulder no less....and in the last two miles of the event to boot! Nothing like going out with a BANG, or in this case a THUD.
We crossed the finish line, picked up our finisher medals and proceeded to the medical tent where the volunteers were overly concerned (after all we are taking about you know who here) about David's shoulder that was hanging two inches lower than his other shoulder. It took some convincing for David to get them to understand that he had ridden the whole race with his shoulder like that (after all, who in their right mind would go through with an event like that with a gimp shoulder??? Hersey, that's who). David put some ice on his shoulder and I could hear the Monty Python voice in my head repeating 'It's just a flesh wound'...so in a way, the TransRockies wrapped up much like it started..
Pictures forthcoming as we get back into the connected world and I am able to upload.
The point to point would take us from Rafter Six Ranch to Canmore. Stage seven would start much like stage six would...in a cold downpour. We left Rafter Six Ranch and got onto some dirt / gravel road for about 3 miles until we hit the single track. The ride along the road was more about trying to dodge the mud getting kicked up from the tires ahead of you. I found myself trying to tuck into a group and staying out of the line of spray being kicked up.
The single track was fairly non eventful for a couple miles as we rolled through some bumpy fields and I immediately thought of my team mate and his shoulder that was no doubt taking a beating on the bumpity bump bump bump of the trail.
At this point, we were cruising alongside the freeway that takes you into Canmore. The trail would run its course and then put us onto the freeway proper for about three miles. One of the lanes was coned off for us which was a good thing considering we we riding against the flow of traffic. At this point, we were riding into a strong headwind and the precip had picked up to a constant pour.!
I was in for a bit of a rude awakening when I squeezed my brakes for the first time on stage seven. The prior day's bike muddin' (a soon to be new sport in the hill billy Olympics) took a serious toll on my brake pads and the build up of gunk in my brake cables/housing. After a few test squeezes of the brake levers I figured at best there was no rear brake at all, but about 20% braking power left on the front brakes. This meant there would have to be a major adjustment in riding style to the finish...or in other words, it would be smart to play the downhills conservatively in order to avoid injury. This meant trying to eye the line of descent with a view of exit strategy. This would a particularly bigger challenge as the day progressed and the trail got more technical and my mind more fragile (proposed new name of team for future stupid events we might sign up for).
The highway would lead to the next section of single track that took us over some super slick wooden bridges (think oil layered on top of ice). DH got to witness a rider attempting to cross said oil slick wood bridges and consequently found the drink...brrrrr....it was a cold morning to start, let alone fall into a pond and pay the price of being wet and cold...or actually it would have been 'wetter' considering the steady downpour we had been paddling, I mean riding through.
The trail meandered up and down alongside a river for a while and had some steep punchy climbs with some equally punchy descents that were especially treacherous considering zero rear brakes and limited front brakes. I quickly realized what my margin for error was and it did not give much of a warm fuzzy. There were several times I thought my momentum would ultimately be stopped by a tree or going off trail but somehow the mind has an uncanny ability to run through the machinations of constant adjustments and was somehow able to find a window that adapted to new challenges.
We would make it to aid one and then back onto some great singletrack that had amazing flow In some areas. The biggest surprise of all was that the trail drained really well and we were not riding through mud bogs, but on nice soft forest cover. As nice and soft as part of the trail was, there were sections that made up for the gentleness with some wet roots and slick rock.
At this point, the end was sorta' kinda' maybe in sight and it was time to take a cautious approach and finish the event without further injury. As we approached Canmore, we got to aid station two and knew we had about 5 miles left. We left aid station two and climbed what would be our last climb of consequence in the TransRockies. The descent was once again an excercise of mastering mind over body as the hands squeezed the brakes and the little brake pads responded with a laugh...
I descended and the got to our last turn before getting on Main Street in Canmore and then waited for Hersey as we would finish TransRockies together as a team, much like we had started almost seven days prior. I waited for a few minutes and started to get an uneasy feeling thinking that maybe something had happened. As I thought this, a couple of riders went by and confirmed my suspicions. One of the riders said "He is pretty hurt", to which I had lots of questions but no answers because they did not even slow down long enough to tell me what that meant. As I turned my bike around to go find David, I wondered what that meant. As I got to the bridge, I saw DH riding towards me with one hand on the handlebars and the other wrapped in a makeshift sling made from his camelback. I realized old habits die hard, and Mr Hersey was back to his old tricks of once again tackling trees...and with his bad shoulder no less....and in the last two miles of the event to boot! Nothing like going out with a BANG, or in this case a THUD.
We crossed the finish line, picked up our finisher medals and proceeded to the medical tent where the volunteers were overly concerned (after all we are taking about you know who here) about David's shoulder that was hanging two inches lower than his other shoulder. It took some convincing for David to get them to understand that he had ridden the whole race with his shoulder like that (after all, who in their right mind would go through with an event like that with a gimp shoulder??? Hersey, that's who). David put some ice on his shoulder and I could hear the Monty Python voice in my head repeating 'It's just a flesh wound'...so in a way, the TransRockies wrapped up much like it started..
Pictures forthcoming as we get back into the connected world and I am able to upload.
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