TransRockies - Stage 6 Pix

not many pictures during the ride proper due to the downpour but we did get some pre race and post race pictures...

the calm during the storm....about 20 mins before starting time:

 post race muddiness madness!

 I especially like the shrubbage hanging off Hersey's camelback on the lower right

 some mud pie anyone?

 notice the guy behind me on the left and just how clean he looks relative to my mud caked mug....

 the bikes needed (and need) some love....they got cleaned up that night but time to replace all cables and housing...

TransRockies - Stage 5 Pix

View from base Camp for Day 5

 View from base Camp for Day 5

 View from base Camp for Day 5

 View from base Camp for Day 5

 starting area for Day 5 & 6

 starting the singletrack on day 5

 sweet trail winding through aspen grove

 summit view from big climb of the day

  summit view from big climb of the day

  summit view from big climb of the day

  summit view from big climb of the day

TransRockies - Stage 4 Pix

Stage 4 Pictures:

Starting line - carnage from day 3 superman fall.....the wound kept opening up all week and would not heal.

 cresting our high point for day 4:

 more Day 4 highpoint views:

 day 4 ridge view

 on the descent, following the river and valley

 grinding out from Aid Station 2:

 great trail

 river crossing before hitting the last couple miles of pavement - the current was actually pretty swift.  A couple of people went swimming with their bikes and all (unplanned)

TransRockies - Stage 7

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.

TransRockies - Stage 6

Mother nature unloaded her fury on us for day 6.  I woke up during the night a couple times to hear the rain pouring outside.  In the back of our minds we were thinking that even if day six had good weather, we would be on for a bit of a suffer-fest due to all the rain.  

Mother nature was not yet done by the morning and the heaviest rains started to deluge as we sat in the mess tent eating.  All the riders had a look of anxiety due to the longest and hardest stage now having an extra element of suffer added into the mix.   It was raining so hard that they actually staged us in the mess tent and then we went to the starting line where we waited for a couple of minutes in the cold and rain until they sent us off.

While at the starting line, they informed us there would be a re-route due to the biggest climb cresting at an exposed ridge that we would ride along for several miles.  Given the weather, they routed us around that big climb.  Apparently the organizers were a little gun shy due to history.  There was fresh snow up on that ridge and in a prior year they had tried to run that stage through similar weather and had to turn riders around and treat hypothermic riders.  They decided to err on the side of caution which seemed like the prudent decision.

We started off on the road for another uphill start.  After about 600ft of elevation gain over four miles, we got on some steep (notice the reoccurring theme of 'steep') single track that we climbed for a few miles.  Once we hit the downhill, we proceeded with caution as the rocks and roots that were slickity slick....throw some sketchy mud in there for good measure and it made for a fine messy mud fest.

It continued to rain on us off and on for the entire day so it was just time to put it out of your mind and ride.  Once I hit the first punchy climb, I noticed that my small chain ring had so much chain suck that it rendered all riding in that ring impossible.  It was time to suck it up and put on the big boy pants for the rest of the day and ride in the middle ring....

After a treacherous descent along muddy cow bogs, we ended up on a dirt road to get to the aid station.  We rode for a few miles on undulating terrain that was just enough to make it difficult.   One of the riders commented that even the road was heavy which I thought summed it up really well.  

Eventually we earned our way to the aid station and refueled and moved.  The dirt road to the next aid station had some steep rollers with thick mud that made riding not so fun.  The bike was collecting mud like a hippo in a mud bath followed by a roll in pea size gravel...them there tires felt heavy!

At aid station two they actually had a make shift water station to at least get the mud off the drive train.  We did a quickie rinse and moved onwards.  At this point we were about 20 miles into our ride.

The re-route nicked off about 8 miles and 2000 ft of elevation gain so the prospects of a shorter day than we were anticipating sat well....about four miles after aid two we passed one of the tandem bikes/riders who were walking their bike.  They hit a ditch and destroyed their front wheel.  The rim came completely apart at the seam and there was little to nothing they could do that walk.  

The next few miles were fun and fast but full of mud puts that could easily swallow your tires or redirect you into the ground.

We got back on a road until we got directed around a dam where the mud ponds were more abundant than trail.  It had been raining so long and hard by that point, that the water was just collecting and all you could do was to ride through them and keep your mouth closed so you did not get a mouthful of mud/horse/cow dung stew.

We made it to the finish and were happy to be done with a day that provided ample challenge with all the terrain and rain.  We rode 34 miles and about 4,000 ft of elevation gain.  Much of that riding was done in heavy mud that really slowed a guy down.  The showers felt glorious but I realized that I had gotten a wee bit chilled during the preceding hours as my fingers started to ache as they had warm water flow over them.  I guess I should have been clued in at the end of the stage when we were cleaning our bikes at the cleaning station and the river water we were using actually felt warm!  At one point during the ride I looked ad DH and I could see he was starting to get chilly and he put on another layer and it took two of us to zip up his shell due to the cold hands/fingers that had little to no mobility and felt like wooden clubs.

The curse of Cox mountain returned today to stage six  of the TransRockies so in a way we were just following tradition and partaking in the misery that has become day six legacy/lore. 

We survived and there is one more stage to go...let's see if mother nature is more agreeable tomorrow....

TransRockies - Stage 5

It was with a little trepidation that I toed in at the starting line at day five of the TransRockies.  The concern was that the legs felt a little heavy on day four, and day five had more kilometers and more elevation gain than any other day to that point.

The other thought in the back of mind was that we had the quickest turn around from the finish of one day to the start of the following day.  Day four had a noon start time and we finished around 4 and the start time for day 5 was 9 in the morning.  After four days of riding, it was time to figure out where the legs were.

We started the ride up a dirt road for a few miles uphill until we turned off and followed a river for several miles.  It was typical river trail where it was wet and rooty in areas but kept you engaged due to the windy nature of the trail.  We got kicked off onto a road and followed a trail that paralleled the road for a bit until we eventually crossed it and arrived at aid station one.  

Just before aid one, I managed to find a mud spot that launched me off my bike and I landed on the exact same spot of my wound from day three.  As fate would have it, the wound was just starting to dry up landing full force on it opened it back up.  Quickly enough I had a little trail of my own..made up of blood dripping down the forearm.  

To that point, the trail was a lot of fun.  It was fast and twisty and you could maintain speed which was good considering the 42 mile day that we had in store.

We left aid one and started a steep climb that went on forever...towards the top, it got steep...I grunted, groaned, might even have dropped a F bomb or two and then it got mean.  The angle increased and it went from being steep and rooty/rocky to ultra steep and very rocky and non rideable.  We eventually crested to some killer views of the mountains and went down a very very stee descent that was rocky...when I say rocky, I mean there was no dirt at all.

It was steep enough that I could feel my rear wheel wanting to lift so in an effort to get more weight over my rear tire (to avoid the dreaded endo onto a bunch of sharp pointy rocks).  There was a brief (no pun intended) moment of panic as my shorts got caught on my saddle and I could not weight the rear tire.  Disaster unfolded in my head as I had to lean forward to unhook my shorts and try the same maneuver over gain.  I was concerned that the subtle forward center of gravity would be enough to spell E-n-d-o!  Somehow I managed to avoid the worst and get everything back to where it needed to be.  

After some nasty down, the trail turned into super fast and flowy downhill.  It might just have been the best downhill throughout the event so far.  After a fun and long descent we pulled into aid two at around 28 miles and Hersey had the bonkaroo going.  He had licked the inside of his water bottle dry and was psyched to be able to sit at the aid station and refuel.  The problem was that the damage was done and we would have to be careful not to go further into the reserve tank.  We had about 14 miles left another first half of it was on trail that we had overlooked as being more or less downhill...well, we were partially right, it was less downhill...

We spun through some trail until we got kicked off onto then road for the last few miles...the only downside was that we were pedaling into a headwind and had to climb about 800ft to the top until we got to descend. 

The last few miles were all about just trying to find your happy place, knowing that soon enough the day would culminate.

It took around 6 hours and we rode for 42 miles and over 6,200 ft of hard earned vert.  Now the challenge is to rest up,hydrate, eat,eat,eat, rest and try to get mentally and physically ready for the hardest day of the event - day 6, this being stacked immediately behind the second hardest day of the event: day 5

Can you say ouchie?

TransRockies - Stage Four

Day 4 started with a 3 hour shuttle from Fernie to North Fork where we would embark on a 30 mile point to point ride and end up in the Little Elbow camp area.

Hersey and I had to wake up early and get out bags dropped off by seven and then load up on to the buses.  The first pleasant surprise of the day came the buses showed up and they were the plush coach buses.  When we did BC Bike Race last year, we were moved around via school buses and we were fearing the worse for the long 3 hour ride to the race start.  The last thing we were looking forward to was a long ride on a stiff school bus with equally stiff bodies.  I am a relatively small dude, but those school buses make me feel like a giant with my knees at my chin...hard to get comfy.

The coach buses were deluxe and there would be little reason to fret the ride.  I even managed to check my eye lids for leaks and can confirm they are in good order.  I even saw Hersey getting a little shut eye.

We got to the start line with an hour to spare and kept ourselves entertained by tinkering with the bikes and swatting at bugs.  The start finally arrived and the new TR4 faces were ready to put the pedal to metal, or is petal to the medal or mettle?  

Hersey and I had a plan for the day...the plan was to take it relatively easy in order to save little sum'n sum'n for the double big day whammies on day five and day six which are the longest and hardest days for the event.

We headed up the first hill and quickly noticed everyone laying down the hammer.  It was a steep first hill to take you up and I admit to being fully awake and engaged after the first 20 minutes slog.  We followed dirt road that meandered through a valley until we got to the meat of the day...the big hill.

The climb started off gentlelly enough but the higher we got, the steeper it got.  We once again struck the hike a bike pose and slowly plodded along,albeit making progress and being teased by a few false summits.  We finally crested and were treated to some very impressive views of the Canadian Rockies.  Very very cool.  

We motored downhill on rocky terrains which reminded me of Leadville.  We had many a stream and mud crossing which caked up our bikes and bodies with some good of Canadian mud.  We reached a meadow and could see our aid station in the distance.  At this point my shoes were doing the mud squish with every pedal stroke.  I did see some big kitty prints on one of the crossings so we were definitely in big critter country....and yes, we did both carry bear spray!

We re-fueled and got moving.  We followed a cow path through a meadow/valley which would eventually lead to our last climb of the day.  There were some steep punchy climbs and we staggered through them until we got the downhill payoff.  The downhill was super fun but I dialed it back snatch after I saw the second bad wreck of the day.  

At the bottom of the downhill, we got a taste of some fine Canadian. Rocky mountain water as we had to cross a river that went up above my knees.  I was hoping not to yard sale and managed to fight the current and slippery rocks to stay upright.

The remaining 3 miles went by fairly fast as they were on road. We got to the finish line and promptly parked ourselves in front of the food in order to replenish for the first of the two back to back big days.

It was almost 4 hours of ride time through some great country and we will find out just how hard we worked on day four when day five starts....hmmmmm????