Tales from the Trails
It had finally arrived; BC Bike Race was due to start tomorrow with a short prologue in North Van. I had been training since January for this, I was ready for this race mentally and physically, but I was nervous.
Why did I ever agree with my coach that doing this 7 day stage race SOLO was a good idea???
Up until just 3 weeks ago Alana and I were partners, we knew each other very well; we raced together great and had a blast on the trails. Then we split up (amicably), so I could race solo and she found another partner.
I had more than a few doubts running though my head: who is going to raise my spirits when I’m tired and down? I won’t have a partner to share the joy of the ride with. Who’s going to monitor me and know I haven’t eaten or fueled when I should have? Who’s going to help me if I have a major mechanical? I can deal with the basics, but I’m no MacGyver!
Guess I’d learn the answer to all these question and probably a few more bits of wisdom along the way!
Day 0 Prologue
Last weekend after the Test of Metal Race, the founder of BC Bike Race, Dean Payne, gave us a tour of North Shore’s finest riding and we cruised through the prologue.
It was a fun blast through some single track with very little technical challenges, taking all of 11:04. It was primarily to ensure the timing chips in our racer plates were working.
Having blown the nerves out of our legs, we packed up and caught the ferry over to Nanaimo. We had pre booked a B & B overlooking Departure Bay so we could sleep in and be well rested for Day 1. The racers were catching the 7:00AM ferry over the following day.
Day 1 Nanaimo 70km
After a warm up through the hilly residence of the Departure Bay I headed into the starting shoots for an 11 AM start. I find the starts a bit nerve racking, as almost 500 racers are confined to a very tight space. Being Day 1 everyone is excited and nervous and has way too much energy, not to mention a little twitchy. One false move can bring down the pack of riders. We toured through the town of Nanaimo for a few km of paved road with a police escort up through some of the old town. On the climb up Harewood Mines Road towards the abyss you could see the pack slowly start to split up.
As we were climbing through Nanaimo I saw some friendly faces and some of the girls in the Open Solo category. I didn’t know any of my competitors, so I paced myself off the girls I did know. I was a bit worried that I was up front with them- was I starting too fast? If so I’d surely pay for it later in the day!
As soon as the police peeled out, diesel engine the pack blew up! You could quickly see how the pack was seeded by rider ability - this spaced it out nicely for the single track ahead. We took a turn into the start of the abyss which is a fun, flowing single track section filled with rocky climbs, and rooty descents. The single track was really fun and I finally was able to relax and enjoy the riding. After 2.5 hours the dreaded muscle cramping set in- was this payback for the start? I had been plagued by cramps all of last race season and in the early season races this year. But luckily I was able to spin it out and was fine for the remainder of the day. I kept the intensity up, because although I won the prologue stage, today would be a true indication of the competition and I had no idea where I was during the race.
After 4:32 of riding I arrived back in Nanaimo with a big grin on my face. The trails were a blast; I felt good, didn’t have any mechanicals and was first in the Woman’s 40+ solo.
Arriving at tent city the volunteers have the tents set up, bags ready to be retrieved, showers awaiting your dusty body, and a smorgasbord of food and drinks for hungry, tired racers.
At dinner they raffled off 50 spots for a water taxi ride on Day 4 instead of a trip on BC Ferry. My teammates and I were in there and secured our spots. The less waiting around the better!
Unfortunately tent city was situated at the bottom of a hill on the TransCanada Highway. My mind wouldn’t stop, going over today’s stage, planning tomorrow’s stage- nor did the trucker’s brakes stop and I was freezing all night long.
Day 2 Cumberland 60km
I felt like I slept 15 minutes, woke feeling tired, like I was hung over. Went for a quick breakfast, then jumped into the truck with my teammates and drove to Cumberland. We had some laughs to lighten the spirit and caught some much needed ZZZZ’s . Today I was wearing the much sought after yellow jersey. It was both thrilling and intimidating. I felt like a target.
My warm up helped blow some of last night’s cobwebs out and I was feeling better, today should be fun Cumberland’s trails are sweet buff single-track. We buzzed though town and blasting onto the smooth twisty path on the forest. Then we hit the big gravel climb, the steep rough drop, a gravel climb into a headwind. I found myself with some friendly and very tall Auzzies, which were great for me to tuck in behind and draft off. We agreed to swap services- they’d pull me on the road if I’d lead them trough the single track so they could follow my lines. Perfect! The Auzzies were finding the technical sections a little more than they bargained for. One more gravel climb before more single-track on the edge of town. My legs were feeling like lead when I hit the single track, the punchy climbs are not my strong point and I was struggling- the fun card was punched.
Day 3 Powell River 53km
It was an early morning, but better than previous years when our wake up call was 4 AM!
The wind blew all night and the tents were flapping causing a restless night among all. We were transported by bus to the ferry and off to Powell River. There were some delays on the ferry, I won’t delve in the stinky details, but there were some issues with 500 racers boarding one ferry and using all the toilets at the same time.
Once disembarked, we had a 1 km waterfront walk to the start line. The original start time of noon had been pushed back to1 p.m. Organizers advised us they had to trim 5 km off the course due to time. I didn’t hear any protests. The course descriptions was fresh cut loaming single track with lots of roots and rocks- i.e. suck the energy out of you, but it was a short day.
The race start was in 60 sec intervals in groups of 50 people. I was lucky enough to be in the B group, which should have put me in a good position for the single-track. The gun fired and we rolled through the park and headed up some gravel road – my brain was willing, but my legs wouldn’t cooperate. I couldn’t hold onto the pack and was soon swallowed up by the C group. It took about 45 minutes for my legs to come around and I finally felt good, even though I was choking on dirt!
We passed by an elementary school and all the kids are outside with thunder sticks and cowbells yelling and cheering. It was an awesome sight to see. A big train chugged along for a couple km, down to Deadfall fire road, then into the single-track. It was just as promised, twisty, tight rooty, rocky. Sections of it didn’t flow well and never will, but for the most part it was fun and it not so soft that it sucked your energy, but you had to be on all day. It was a difficult day to eat and drink as it was so technical. I thought I was being so smart and grabbed my bottle as we were walking over a bridge and proceeded to drop it and watch it roll into the water- bye, bye bottle and I was past the check point- oh well, wasn’t like I was drinking anyway!
I spend the day with my Auzzie buddies again, leading them thru the trees and thankfully they pulled me in on the dirt track home- my legs were done I used everything I had just to hang onto their wheel!
We arrived to the most amazing camp site set up on a beach next to the ocean, it was beautiful. The dinner at Powell River Recreation Center was fantastic. Thanks to Dave and his crew at the Laughing Oyster Restaurant. The food was amazing after this day of attrition!
Day 4 Earls Cove –Sechelt 60km
I woke up feeling terrible! The cold that I had been fighting all week had taken hold. I could hardly speak- my teammates were looking worried, I was feeling worried, but I had some time to recover before we started riding today. More buses and ferries and waiting. Today was our water taxi day- Sweet! It turned out to be a super fast crossing from Saltery Bay to Earls Cove in a fishing boat. The ferry was delayed, so we arrived much earlier than the race and rested on the lawn.
The start was from the Earls Cove Ferry Terminal, along the road for 1km, and then the great climb started through the rainforest to Klein Lake Park. We rolled onto a single-track trail that lead to some fantastic views of Ruby Lake and Sakinaw Lake below, with a fun descent into Ruby Lake Resort. We picked up the Suncoast Trail, a single-track route that was designed to allow people to get from ferry to ferry exclusively on trails and back roads. It was a rolling and non-technical trail that jumped in and out of the forest, onto small logging roads, and under the power lines.
We hit the road for a short distance and dove off road again before gaining some altitude on logging roads. The undulating section of logging and power line roads – some old and some new – was fast and easy km, with several creeks crossing along the way to cool off.
I was having the ride of my life; it was such a fun day with everything thrown in. I felt great, forgot I was racing; enjoying the trails and the company and the most spectacular views of the surrounding mountains and lakes.
With the climb behind us, we hit a very fast, tight, double-track descent to the next logging road. Blasting along the logging road our group rode right past the turn into the single-track. I saw the pink flag as we flew past by it and reeled in the rest of the group. It was some seriously sweet single-track that crosses through lush west coast rainforest, followed by a hardcore granny climb in search of more sweet single-track!
We finished up in the town of Sechelt. I cleaned my bike, grabbed a quick shower so I wouldn’t offend my massage therapist and got the essential full body tune up. Ready to rock for dinner and awards. What a day, what a ride!
Day 5 Sechelt to Langdale ferry terminal 65km
Oh no, it’s not just raining, it’s pouring- I hate starting in the rain. The perpetual question of clothing goes round ‘n round at breakfast. I decide on my rain jacket- easy on and off. A big consideration for me as I have been wearing a rollerblading elbow pad all week to protect my elbow that hasn’t healed from the 12 stitches I acquired at COP, just 2 weeks before the BC Bike Race- but that’s another story!
I found it tough to warm up this AM. Cold, wet, tired and sick! Once I had squeaked into the starting gate- I’m always one of the last one’s in because I go warm up and don’t like standing around getting cold- the adrenalin is flowing and game face is on. The start was not pleasant with all the spray kicking up in my face, but if you want the benefit of the draft, that’s the return you get!
Once we got into the trails it stopped raining and the riding was fun. The roots were slick and made the riding a little more challenging. I love this kind of riding, through the forest with the ferns and cedar trees, lots or roots and logs to pop over. As we got closer to Langdale the fun factor went exponentially up. I’ve ridden this section a few times, lots of skinnies and bridges (which make me nervous- elbow injury!), flowing, swoopy, fast single-track, followed by the dried up riverbed that I flew through on the verge of control, bouncing my way down- but I wanted to be on the 1 o’clock ferry- must go faster!
I arrived just in time to have a quick clean up in the bathroom, change into dry, clean clothes and get herded onto the ferry. Last ferry transfer, over to Squamish where we get to stay for 2 nights.
Day 6 Squamish 60km
Today will be so fun, most of the course we had ridden 2 weeks ago during the Test of Metal race.
We started on a gravel road climb, after 30’ my 2nd place competitor shows up, Nicky, she’s very excited to see me on the trail and is pushing pretty hard. She goes past me on the road so I keep an eye on her, but it’s early in the day and I know I need to race my own race. There is plenty of single track and technical descents where I can make up time.
After 2 hours my stomach throws in the towel and will accept nothing but H20. This is not good, it happened to me 2 years ago on the first day of the race and my performance went steadily downhill. You can’t race on H20 alone. Oh well keep pedaling! I followed Nicky into it the first technical section: the ½ Nelson- at the first corner she pulled over and let me go by, WOW that was a blast- huge bermed corners, tabletops, flowing and fast. And it went on forever. We popped out onto the road for another climb. Nicky caught up to me again. I could hear her coming and it sounded like she was breathing really hard, I checked my heart rate, it was right were I wanted it, so I let her go and drafted off her up the road. After 10 minutes we dropped into a super steep loose technical descent. She let me go again, it was very sketchy, maybe I should have walked it, but I was feeling pretty good and wanted to go for it. I cleaned the whole section, right at the bottom there was a tree and a big boulder that you had to squeeze through. I clipped my bars on the tree and very nearly bit it, but managed to recover. I didn’t see Nicky again.
By the time I crossed the finish line my guts were very unhappy. I went to our tent section, and laid on the grass curled up in a ball until I could stand up again. At least we didn’t have to move locations today.
Day 7 Whistler 20km
It started with the long slow bus ride up to Whistler. In previous years the final day has been … heinous! Let’s hope it’s been revised. We line up in the start gates to take off straight up the hill. I was in the 3rd start gate. Half way up the hill I look across and see Jeff and Mical, who are in 2nd place in the mixed double’s category and started in the first gate. Then Alana passes me and she started in the 2nd start gate and is winning the Woman’s team category. Something very strange is going on! We head into a nice single-track climb that takes us up the hill and across into the decent. We’ve been warned about this trail; it, there are lots of “tricks” on it and it’s more of a downhiller trail. I’m feeling really tired today and know I just have to roll across the finish line to win overall. I need to keep it together and ride safe. Halfway down I realize that I’m riding like a granny and being way too cautious. Time to let it go a little and have some fun, all of the table tops were flagged, nothing too crazy unless you went into the corners or tabletops too hot. The remainder of the day went pretty smooth. We finished up on the Lost Lake trails which were really fun, had some rocks, little drops and plenty of fun stuff to make you pay attention, but not inflict any pain. Day 7 was much better than the previous years!
We flew down the ski hill, into the village to cross the finish line for the final time! What euphoria! Dean and the officials were giving out Finisher’s medals as each rider came across the line.
We got a bite to eat, hung out in the hotel room, sorted out accommodation for the night. My Mom and sister drove up from Vancouver for the awards ceremony in the afternoon; it was great to have their support, as well as the support of friends throughout the race. It certainly gave me a lift during the tough times.
So 8 days later the race is over. It was an amazing experience, I had a lot of fun, learned a lot about myself and racing, as I do in every race. As it turns out none of my worries about racing Solo came to fruition. I didn’t have any major mechanicals and didn’t hit any lows, mentally. I enjoyed racing Solo very much, in fact I think I’ll do it again next year!
I am grateful my coach pushed me to this new level and challenged me to race BCBR solo, although I didn’t have a partner to share it with, I had plenty of team mates and buddies who all rode the same course, to reminisce with.
I can’t say enough good things about the BCBR! The volunteers and organizers do their best to make it an extraordinary experience for every racer participating, from the leaders to the riders in the Challenge race. If you are looking to challenge yourself mentally and physically, and want a great mountain biking experience, BCBR is THE race!
Jason at the Ski Stop in Banff was instrumental in keeping my bike in top working order and getting it through the race. If you need a new ride, he provides GREAT customer service and will work with you to get a bike that works for you. Be sure to look him up: www.theskistop.com
Carol and Jo-Ann rebuilt me and kept me in top working order throughout my season! I too can attest to our mantra in the clinic: “PHYSIO and MASSAGE IS NOT FOR SISSIES!” Thanks again ladies, I couldn’t have done it without you!
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