The BC Bike Race began on Saturday, June 26 with a quick little ride on Mt. Seymour’s Richard Juryn trail- the Prologue. What’s that? Good question, it seemed to be a ‘taste’ of North Shore riding for our BCBR international comrades who travelled from 18 different countries. Apparently the last year the North Shore trails hurt and scared too many riders, so they had to keep it short and sweet. The next day the real fun began with a ferry ride to Nanaimo. We started off from the ferry dock, rode through Nanaimo and into their local trails called the Abyss. The trail started off pretty congested and we didn’t really get riding at our own pace until the Challenge group separated from the Epic course. The trail was new, had a scenic waterfall but a bit short for our liking. We finished 2nd and 3rd in about 1:35. It was a bit disappointing for our first day, too short and not enough time to appreciate the sweet singletrack. That was OK though, with our fresh legs, we went out and re-rode the fun Abyss part.
Monday we woke in Nanaimo to catch the bus to Cumberland. The bus ride got exciting when the bus ahead of us had an engine fire. Trail riding here was awesome as well. You’ll hear a trend from me, every day I thought the riding got better. For stage 2, Heather took the podium and I was 3rd. In Cumberland we had a dine out evening. The Galloping Moose fed us well, lasagna and chicken, another common theme and our dinner company was great. We started with Heather’s friend Rod Dagneau, and then we had Chris Holm join us. He’s the unicycle guy and it was great getting to hear his stories. Mike Traslin joined us next. Not sure of his pro status today but he has mountain biking, downhill skiing and Ryder sponsorship on his athletic resume. His brother Andy came later with another friend and we stayed well past dinner visiting with our new friends.
Stage 3 had us travelling on to Powell River, another ferry ride. Powell River riding had a lot of uphill trail riding on some fresh new tracks- read loamy soft, slow trails. The highlight was getting back to camp and selecting a tent on the waterfront with a beautiful ocean view. We went for dinner at the Powell River arena and I’d say this was out best meal, roasted pork, parmesan pasta, and the most awesome date cake! We missed the podium pictures here but Heather was 2nd, robbed of first by a minor detour, and I was 3rd. Bedtime came quick.
Our next stop was Earl’s Cove by ferry, the Sechelt stage. The challenge course started midway through the Epic course. I think we skipped the uphill climb and traversing the ridge to the point where the awesome singletrack began. We didn’t miss out on the uphill climbing; we just skipped the biggest section of it and got to ride the sweetest section. I’d say this the first time we appreciated doing the Challenge course over the Epic course cuz all that uphill and downhill singletrack was a lot more fun with fresh legs. The podium run continued, Heather 2nd and me 3rd. Heather narrowly missed first again by making a rookie error of forgetting to unlock her fork on the final rocky descent where she was quickly passed by the competition.
Thursday we had a luxurious sleep-in till 7!! No ferry transfer, we rode from camp to our next destination, the Langdale ferry. This had a lot of the Rat Race elements and personally my favorite day. As well we did the same course as the Epic riders. Heather placed 2nd and me 3rd, another theme you might note repeated a few more times. This was the only day that the weather was not so great. It was raining when we started and it was good to have our luggage pulled from the truck to retrieve our jackets. The whole trial was wet and cold but it still ROCKED! We finished in time to catch the first ferry back to Horseshoe Bay. It was a close call for me, but honestly I was riding for the last 45 minutes yelling at everyone I passed ‘get outta my way, I gotta catch that ferry!’. Like the princesses we are, we were rescued from travelling by bus to our next camp in Squamish by Prince Charming Chris- a friend we had met throughout the race.
Camp in Squamish was in the Brennan Community Centre field and dinner in the gymnasium. After a bit of muckin’ about, we had sweet hot showers in real showers, legs shaved, the whole deal. I felt like a new woman. The awards had Heather 2nd and me 3rd again, dinner was lasagna and chicken- blah, blah, blah. But in Squamish our story takes a bit of a turn.
Turns out Heather’s GI track didn’t like the lasagna and it came back on her all night long! Not good. She ended up sleeping in the medical tent hugging a garbage pail. I thought her favorite Soy latte might be a welcome treat after evacuating her intestinal tract but oh no, this bug was taking residence in her gut. Nothing was welcome. Tough girl still wanted to ride, so we buddied-up and rode off the back of the pack in Squamish. It was crazy, Heather was still gagging and dry-heaving riding up University hill but she toughed it out. It wasn’t so bad riding slow up the hill; we had fresh legs to appreciate the BMX rolly-polly trail before hitting Powerhouse Plunge. I was stoked to ride almost the whole Plunge without unclipping! I think Heather was hangin’ on to her stomach contents and might not remember that part so well. No podium for us in Squamish- but still remarkably close considering we might as well have walked up the first half of the course.
Once we reclaimed our princess status and Heather was still very unwell, there was no going back to the camping-thing, Price Charming drove us to Whistler to more proper accommodations- the Westin. Life was getting better every day- but Heather was still unwell. She napped, bathed and made it out to dinner for 4 pieces of sushi! We had another sleep-in before starting the last stage in Whistler. The race began in Blackcomb, up the hill over to the village and up the big hill through the mountain bike park. I’m not sure of the name of the trail but there were some crazy cross country riders doing all kinds of downhiller tricks! Some good, some not so good and there were a lot of ‘yardsales’ along the trail. I was happy to get out in 1 piece. We crossed back through Blackcomb and entered the Lost Lake trails. Lots of fun over there too, finishing back at Blackcomb base. This time I was 2nd, Heather was 3rd. Overall for the week Heather was 2nd and me, 3rd.
What an awesome adventure and the best part was doing it with my friend Heather. We were a great team riding our own races but looking out for each other. We met lots of interesting mountain bikers and made a few new friends. I think my mountain biking skill set stepped up a notch or 2 and I hope to get back to any or all of the trials we saw over 7 days. In the end I was glad we did the Challenge and not the Epic. Both of us were more than capable of doing the Epic, but it was more ‘fun’ to the Challenge. Would I do it again, yup- I’d do the Epic with some support, but I’ll defer this decision until I investigate all the other awesome adventures there are out there next summer.
Thanks for reading my story.
Kelly
Heather’s Two Cents Worth!
Kelly has done a great job of summing up our BC Bike Race Adventure. It was fantastic to be able to share this experience with 500 other mountain bikers and some great volunteers who took care of us along the way. It was fun to race and to especially have Kelly’s support during the week. Kelly was patient enough to pull me through stage 6 , which was a tough day without any food or water staying down. Thank you Kelly! As mentioned – Prince Charming chauffeured us to our destinations and an early trip to Whistler! Thank you Chris! The Challenge course was definitely a Challenge in more ways than one - and a lot of fun – It was great to see some of the sweet single track BC has to offer and to navigate some trail. It was also great to see one of our fellow club members, Laddie, at the finish line. Thanks also to our sponsors Different Bikes who helped get our bikes ready for the event and NSA and Peak Performance for helping us with our race food supply. What a nice surprise to have a cheering section. Thanks Laddie! This is an experience I will not forget – words cannot describe it fully. If you are ever up for adventure – the BC Bike Race is one to try.
Thanks for reading!! I hope to see you out on the trails!
Heather
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