The Weekend Warrior!

BC Bike Race - final day 7 - Fun and done!

I made it to the end! The emotions are "Yeah!" and also a bit of "Really? Over so soon?". It was a great adventure and one that should be on EVERYONE's "Bucket List" of events to do in life. Whether the longer Epic course or the more manageable Challenge distance. The experience is the same - a great week of riding your bike in some of the most beautiful riding on earth and supported by the great BCBR team!

For my race today is was a bit of a good-bad-ugly. I felt good this morning and ready to go for this last shorter course. Started quick then the front 70 or so took a wrong turn after 3 minutes of climbing and came right back down a trail almost to the start! Yikes! This all while the remaining 300+ riders just kept going the correct way - up. So when we re-climbed we had a lot of traffic to ride buy as we rode up one of the Whistler Bike Park downhill runs called "Easy Does It". I did get into a groove and had a wicked time riding back down another Bike Park run called "Crank It Up" with lots of jumps and sometimes a bit crazy on our small XC bikes!!!

Then as I was in a good gang, with about 25 minutes to go I got a flat tire on an uphill?? What's with that? Bummer so started to change it and pulled out my spare tube only to see that it was the wrong valve type for my wheel! Total looser move and pilot error on me for not making more sure. Duh! I nice guy threw me his tube and I pumped it up with the worlds smallest and crappiest pump....6-7 minutes later I was finally done and on my bike for the final slog to the finish. So overall I came 8th in the 40+ solo men's category. For the rest of the afternoon the kiddies played around the base of Blackcomb and went on these "bungee trampolines" - they loved it! A great banquet was had at the Fairmont with about 650 people and now to bed. I'm tired and bruised and happy, all rolled into one body. Cheers

BC Bike Race Day 6 - Squamish riding rules!

Short post. Busy day with family and friends after the race. It is funny that you never can relate how you feel in the morning to how you race. I woke up bagged and dragging my feet but had my strongest day yet! Was it the 2 coffees and 2 Red Bulls? Who knows!?

What also gave me energy were the spectators, friends and family that came out to watch. That lifted my spirits and helped me push harder. Today I finished 6th in my category and now up to 7th overall I think. Tomorrow is the last stage in Whistler. A little bittersweet 'cause it means that my "adventure bike camp for adults" is coming to an end! My fun week of living like a pro cyclist also ends - eat, ride, eat, sleep, eat, ride.... It has been a blast. Shimano also hosted a great kiddie race today and both our kids joined in the fun. The BCBR crew made a sweet course in the grass and had it all marked out like a pro course and some of the winning pro riders came out to lead the pack - they even had Dave Narona there with his zero emission Electric motocross bike as the lead moto! Fun for all, even if there were a few tears. I thin some of the kids were exhausted by the time the race started as it was 1-2-3 lap race depending on their age but many of them must have done 20-30 laps for warm up!!

Off to Whistler tomorrow for the last and shortest stage of the week and a celebratory banquet for everyone that evening. Cheers

BC Bike Race Day 5 - easy day it wasn't but Canada Day it was !

Happy Canada Day!

After 18 3/4 hrs of tough mountain bike racing in 5 days I'm pooped!

I am really feeling it in the arms and hands from all the pounding (needless to say the lung/legs are tired as well!!)

I am really happy with how my bike has been holding up to all the pounding - my Specialized Epic has been a perfect choice for me and thanks to Cam and the guys at Skiis & Biikes in Collingwood www.skiisandbikes.com it is running great. One of the interesting aspects of this race is seeing all the different styles of bikes from fairly traditional dual-suspension cross country bikes to single speeds to freeride bikes. Guys and gall are racing all sorts of rigs out there. It is quite impressive to be climbing and suffering in the granny gear on a long climb and see one of the single speed guys come cranking up past you out of the saddle and hammering. The way they describe it, they actually have 3 speeds "sitting, standing, walking". But by far the most impressive is Kris Holm who is racing the entire length of the slightly shorter Challenge course on a mountain UNICYCLE! That's right, I said unicycle. And he is ripping it up out there. Wow is all I can say. The guy is wild!

As for today's stage, I think I had it in my brain that because it was 20 km shorter today than yesterday it would be an easier day! Well we covered over 4,000 vertical feet of mostly granny gear climbing and in the damp BC coast rain. At the end we did have one massive 12 km descent to the finish but man it was not an easy day to get to that last descent. The course was great but the body was not quite there. I think I held my own in the general classification but not sure as I never checked. My focus was on racing for the showers as soon as I could after the finish line so I could get all cleaned up prior to our last ferry crossing of the race from Langdale back to Horseshoe Bay for out drive up to Squamish that will be our home for the next few nights. Again Check out the Dave Silver race photography as mine are not so great:
http://www.gallery.davesilverphotography.com/bcbikerace/

Here is the Day 6 preview video to checkout tomorrows action in Squamish!

Cheers

BC Bike Race day - Sechelt Super Switchback Singletrack Sufferfest!

Today was a long stage! It took me 4hrs 20 minutes and I finished 10th today. (again that is 10th in my group NOT 10th overall) We raced 63 Km from Earls Cove to Sechelt and did 1700 metres of climbing! The hardest part was there were no real fast sections that would work to eat up miles and a ton of the climbs were granny gear singletrack! If I had to guess, I would say I spent about 2 hrs in the granny today when all added up. For me I throttled back a bit until the second feed that was 20km before the finish then I opened it up a bit and had fun on the remaining climbs and descents!

Interesting BCBR fact -- the race organizing crew had to negotiate and sign 137 separate trail permits to allow us to races on the 400 plus km of the course! Wow! Who knew!

HIGHLIGHTS/LOWLIGHTS

** In my category Simon Pulfrey is rocking it hard and leading it for us old(er) guys. He is an ER doctor in North Vancouver with a busy schedule and young kids too. Props to him!

** funny "lemmings off the cliff" moment -- about 30-40 of us all went the wrong way and dropped down an open power line then hit a road and found some course marking take which led us to run the course backwards for about 10-15 minutes. Could do nothing but laugh when we climbed up a nice piece of single track back up to the power lines and saw racers heading directly at us! We then all picked up our bikes and like a bunch of boxcars at the train station did simultaneous 180 degree direction changes and went back down. Dumb!!!! **James Wilson and his guys at Obsession Bikes www.obsessionbikes.com have come out in full force and are working on and repairing bikes day and night! The mechanics some of them have logged multiple 24 hrs straight shifts! Not just an all-nighter but a 24hr shift straight. These guys are working hard and the unsung heroes and THE main reason the overall finish rate remains high! Hats off to them! Tonight I took a few pics of them at dusk and there are currently 48 bikes waiting repair, and that is just those that need work at 9pm! They are doing everything from minor wheel truing to completely rebuilding shocks and replacing wheels and cranks and even doing a loaner bike when a frame is broken! Not many pics today as 1) my BB takes crappy pics and 2) I am forgetting more and more

Check out:
http://www.gallery.davesilverphotography.com/bcbikerace/

Cheers

BC Bike Race Day 3 - Powell River, my new love!

Today was a slightly shortened stage as there were a few minor ferry delays so they ended up shortening the stage by 5 km to 48 km (loved that) and the riding in Powell River is EPIC! Wow, I had never been here before so didn't know what to expect but this is a beautiful area and the riding is lush, fresh and plentiful. We got off the ferry ride and walked to the start in Willingdon park about 1 km from the ferry terminal where we picked up our bikes and got ready to race! Today was a better day for me and the legs felt better and the course better suited my grinding/power style or riding with short steep climbs and rolling twisty, rooty singletrack. I decided to go easier off the start and I think it payed off better dividends in the end. I had a flat near the top of the last 10 km descent back to Powell River below and the ocean but still managed to finish 8th on today's stage and have now moved up to that same spot overall in my 40+ solo men category. Less writing today and more pictures and links to the official BCBR photographer - Dave Silver, as I'm tired! Some fun highlights

**An entire primary school of kids let outside of their school with their teachers to cheer and scream at us in about a 1 kilometre stretch near the 1st climb! We all loved it and felt like we were pros in the Tour (well at least for 30 seconds!)

** Reconnecting on the ferry and riding for a while with the Traslin brothers - Andy & Mike. Great guys I knew from ages ago ** Sitting down with 5 nice guys from Calgary who all came together to race the same cat as me the 40+ solo. They loosely called themselves Team "sponsored by my visa card". They were here just for the love of it and this was another "Mancation" week for them. Apparently they normally plan sea kayaking trips together is various locales. Fun to see friends continuously planning new adventures together! ** Sweet Loam! the funky earth/bark mulch mixture that covers the forest floor here in PR. Makes for wicked riding!

** Ride guide photo here and embedded http://tweetphoto.com/29916479 ** the amazing scenery and people that I really didn't have too much of a chance to see as I was trying to just keep the tires glued to that sweet loam (see above) photos that are way better than I could ever take http://www.gallery.davesilverphotography.com/bcbikerace/

Off to bed and up at 6 for breakfast, then a bus to Saltry Bay and ferry to Earls Cove then we start from there and end in Sechelt in the heart of the Sunshine Coast! Woohoo it will be a long 63 km tomorrow so will tempo my pace for sure. Will only be day 4 of 7!!

Cheers

BC Bike Race day 2 - Cumberland BC rocks! (and rolls!)

I am beat but happy with all the great riding we've been doing so tonight my blog post will be in bullet point format ;)

*Woke up at 6 am and breakfast in the Nanaimo area right on the rink(no ice) - how Canadian! *Bused up Island to awesome Cumberland - one broke down and glad I wasn't on it as they got to the start 5 min before the gun!

*Started at 10 am in Cumberland on the main street and town came out to cheer! Cool

*Love, Love, Love the 1st hour or so of flat(ish), rolling, bermed, buff singletrack. Race in a freight train of 20+ riders. Again cool

* latched on to them for the 10 minute road gravel section - thank got for that!

*then on to the long 10 km gravel road climb - got dropped but kept them all in sight - happy with that

* at the top was the 1st aid station where I grabbed food and tightened my lock on grip as it was spinning a bit *then a wicked, Wicked 10k descent with rock outcropings, and amazing views of the Comox Valley

* once finally on the valley floor made it to the second feed station - need 5 minutes there to just stand in front of the salty ruffles chips bowl to scarf down! - needed it for sure then!

*Then another 5 k ascent and finally dropped into Cumberland for the finish

*Saw my beautiful Heather and our 2 kids in the grass by the finish line - so rode over and gave them high-fives before crossing finish in 3h:26m:58s - I loved it and they loved it to. Way cool

*I placed 8th in my category today and moved up to 9th (from 11th) overall in my category - yeah!

* then dinner with friends in town - Tita's Mexican and a cold beer!

* back at tent city and the beer garden for another beer - double yeah!

* now off to sleep as I am bagged!

* tomorrow we wake in Cumberland and take a bus to the Powell River ferry crossing and start our day 3 right in Powell river. *over and out!

BC Bike Race day 2 - Nanaimo Gnarly!

Today was a great 1st day on the bike actually any day on the bike is a good day but today was a GREAT day! 67 Km and a ton of climbing on Nanaimo's finest!

Started with a 6 AM wake-up and packing sleepy kids into the minivan for the trip from Deep Cove (thanks Ted & Steph for the hospitality) to Horseshoe Bay to make the 8:30 ferry over to Nanaimo. All 500 racers were on this ferry and all our bikes had made the trip over the night before in big tractor trailers. Once on the ferry we all had a good racer breaky of bacon and eggs and coffee then waited to dock in Nanaimo to walk off and stage right in the ferry terminal! What a cool sight to see us all walking out the belly of the ferry our onto the landing and over to our waiting bikes. We started with a police escorted, neutral 8 km roll out of town and once we got through all the traffic the police escort left and the race began in earnest. The course today could be well described as a series of power climbs that never seemed to end! A ton of climbing but that always led to some great singletrack descents! I think the 1st hour I was just focused on riding and holding my position but once I reached an hour and a 1/2 I started to smile and realize I was enjoying some of the most fun riding of the season so far! For the most part, whenever I had the urge really hammer 'cause I saw someone ahead that I wanted to catch I would start singing my internal mantra of the day "Six more days...easy fella...6 more days". At about KM 40, just after the 2nd feed station (when they informed me we still had 25 km to go when I was really hopping to hear 10k!) We opened up to about 10 km of gravel road. I must admit it was a bit of a slog albeit a very scenic one, and the last 2 km I was hoping to see someone as I rode the whole road solo. We finally came to a junction where 2 fine course marshals showed me the course direction and shouted "long sweet downhill!". Well that was music to my ears and I got some energy back. Had a great time and went hard on the DH to catch up to the guys that dropped me on the earlier road. We then all road into the finish in Nanaimo in a loose group and a sprint lap around the high school track to give it that classic Paris-Roubaix finish vibe. Nice one BCBR crew!

I am now in 11th overall in my "old man" 40+ solo male category and finished today in 4 Hrs and 5 min. For full results they are posting daily on the www.bcbikerace.com As I write this from my comfy tent here in the finish line "Tent City" I can overhear tons of racers, with accents from around the globe, relive day 1 with their friends and new tent mates. It is rather cool that 2 knobby wheels and a love for dirt and twisty ribbons of wooded trails brings all these men and women together for a full week of adventure. Thanks BC Bike Race for this week to come!!

Now off to bed as we have a 6 am wake-up, a quick breakfast and a bus ride to Cumberland for another wicked day. Cheers!

BC Bike Race - Day 0! - Registration and Prologue

Well here starts the great adventure known as the BC Bike Race. This is really just a great excuse to ride a bike in great single track for a full week. As the organizers said today at the mandatory race meeting, really, this is like "Bike camp for adults!!!" In the next seven days we are probably going to have the best week of our life on a mountain bike and ride a summers worth (or more) of epic singletrack in 1 week!

This is the 4th year for the event and they have changed, tweaked and improved the course every year to keep making better. A few quick stats & facts that I heard today
** racers have come from 21 countries!
** we are going to cover about 400kms in 7 days and 70% will be sweet West Coast singletrack!
** there are all kinds of riders here from the fastest in the world (the likes of Chris Shepherd, Geoff Kabush (winningest North American racer ever), Katherine Pendral (won a World Cup or 2 (?) this year to some dudes that are WAY over 40 and carrying a few extra pounds for sure! The funny thing is those "old" guys look like they are having the most fun out there!
** Kris Holm is a world famous mountain unicyclist. And he is doing the full 7 days!! WOW
** We will climb over 25,000 ft during the course of the race

So today was a day or "gettin' stuff sorted out". All 500 racers had to go through registration, receive their Dakine travel bag that will be their home for the next week, choose which Ryders glasses they wanted and pick up the rest of their schwag - and there was lots of it! We then all went and raced a prologue which is a short course (10-15 minutes) in time trial fashion, each racer leaving the start 30 seconds after the previous. I had a blast and even though I said I wasn't going to go hard because it would not mean much in the overall, I hammered right from the gun! Hard to control the nerves and energy after so many months of prep. Well the ride went fun and fine for me except on the last downhill where I forgot that I was not on a big suspension downhill bike but rather my XC race bike and got a front tire flat so I ran the last few minutes to the finish. Oh well! Was still a blast. We then all convened back in the tent for the racer meeting at 5 pm then all went our ways to meet back up in the morning for the ferry ride over to Nanaimo to start stage 1. The racers will walk off the boat and pick up their bikes and actually start right IN the ferry terminal! Sounds like its going to be cool!

Over and out, off to bed.

Is 40 really the new 30??

So I've been told....so I'm going with that!

While I sit here less than 24 Hrs from the start of the BC Bike Race I am reminded at how this journey started. It was from pondering this inevitable and unstoppable march of time and asking how the heck did I get so old so fast? Wasn't I just 27 yesterday? Not a care in the world and just vagabonding around and riding my bike as much as I wanted to? One too many blinks and I am married, 40, two kids (and a third brewing for a January arrival) a dog, and a busy job. I love my life don't get me wrong but how did I all of a sudden become a "responsible" grown up??

Well that question I guess is at the core of why I wanted to do the BC BIKE RACE www.bcbikerace.com. I wanted to prove to myself that I am still in fact the same person (albeit a tad slower) as I was back in the day. Nothing like a good 7 day kick in the pants (8 in you include tomorrows prologue start) to remind me that I am not as old as the word F-O-U-R-T-Y sounds when it thunders through my head! So off to the start tomorrow in North Van for registration, schwag pick-up and a short warm up race called a prologue (called day 0). Then in earnest the race starts on Sunday morning (day 1) when we take the ferry over to Nanaimo and us racers walk off the ferry and we all start day 1 epic right in the ferry terminal! Woohoo. This is going to be a great 7 days of fun. For me this is more like a 7 day, fully supported mountain bike adventure expedition in some of the best singletrack in the world all rolled up and disguised as a race. A great excuse to go outside and have some fun!

**Scenario 1**
"Honey, I'm turning 40 and feel old so I want to do this epic BC Bike Race to feel like a man again and prove to myself I'm not finished living yet. What 'ya think?" "Oh honey, that sounds like a great idea I think it would be good for you!!"

**Scenario 2**
"Honey, I want to take off out West and go ride my bike with the boys for 7 days and have a blast" "Yeah and I want to go lie on a beach in Fiiji with no kids. Get over it!"

Thanks BC Bike Race!! ;)

Tips for your first epic | Cycling Backs - Dr. Colin Wilson - BC Bike Race Chiropractor