When most cyclists sign up for a mountain bike race, they can expect to climb on their bikes and ride either loops of a single circuit or a point-to-point course of trails. It’s doubtful whether they anticipate a scenic ferry crossing as part of the “warm-up.”
For the almost 400 BC Bike Race participants, an early wake up in North Vancouver precluded their BC Ferries morning voyage across the Georgia Straight to Vancouver Island. The sun shone overhead as many riders relaxed on the upper deck to map out their race strategy for the day.
Once the vessel docked in Nanaimo, racers donned their day’s kit and traded their street clothes for their mountain bikes. Close to 400 riders toed the start line in the shadow of the looming Bear-On-Bike crowned arch for the countdown to the 10:45am start.
With the start horn, two Royal Canadian Mounted Police members on bicycles led the controlled start that carried racers to their first drop in of the day. From there until the first feed zone – anywhere from 80 minutes onward – riders gobbled up endless polished singletrack. The inside scoop on this area is that the passionate riders in the local mountain bike club hand-build and painstakingly maintain the trails, some of which were purpose-built for this second BC Bike Race stage. Their efforts were not lost on the pack.
Seamus McGrath and Chris Sheppard (Team Jamis – Santa Cruz) were new to the trails in this area. “We didn’t know what to expect but it was honestly some of the best trail that we’ve seen. It was relentless, fast, flowing, tight technical. A little of everything – drop offs, bridges – everything of what mountain biking is about. There were some great new sections. Whoever built it deserves a bunch of clapping!“
Posted on BC BikeRace.com
The tempest that unleashed high winds and heavy rainfall onto the Vancouver area on Saturday night did nothing to ease the pre-race jitters building among the almost 400 racers set to roll up to this morning’s start line of the 2009 BC Bike Race.
Already anxious about the legendary, and often deemed “gnarly” North Shore singletrack, racers arrived at the North Vancouver starting chute to find dark clouds lifting and the sun working hard to shine through.
With the impressive BC Bike Race logoed arch looming high above them, the mix of elite and weekend warrior mountain bikers were an impressive sight as they waited for the third annual race to get underway.
At 10am sharp, the wait was over, the start gun fired and the pack worked its way up the 3 kilometer residential road climb up to the trailhead. The sight of mountain bikers is nothing new for inhabitants of this North Vancouver neighbourhood – they’re blessed with living within spitting distance of some of the best riding around, so cyclists come with the territory. Until today, though, residents hadn’t seen anywhere near this many riders spinning down their streets. It was an impressive site worthy of the onlookers’ applause and cheers.
And with the paved start conveniently spreading out the pack, the first riders dropped in to the much anticipated Mt Seymour singletrack. More climbs awaited as racers grunted up Old Buck and the Baden Powell trails to hit their first technical descent of the day – Severed Trail. Through the really technical sections, some racers found themselves running off their bike more than riding on, but with seven full days of riding ahead, it makes sense not to risk crashing on something outside their comfort zone.
From Severed, the course drew racers through Bridle Path and Bottle Top after which they made their way over to Fromme Mt. More leg burning climbs lead to the top of Pipeline trail – another local classic with plenty of stunning man-made bridges and berms that are incredibly flowy for those who are in the groove. The roots, rocks, bridges and drops of the North Vancouver mountains made for a helluva welcome carpet for the BCBR participants.
During Saturday’s press conference in Vancouver, the banter among the top three men’s teams hinted at the battle that was to come this week. Day One did not disappoint. Seamus McGrath and Chris Sheppard (Jamis/ Santa Cruz) said they were here for redemption and their aggressive attack on the North Shore course secured their first Stage win of the week in a mere 1:35:14.
Last year’s overall winners, Kris Sneddon and Barry Wicks (Kona), and year one winners Chris Eatough and Jeff Schalk (Trek/VW) rode practically within arm’s length of each other for much of the course as they put constant pressure on the lead team. More than halfway through, Trek/VW’s Schalk took a tough fall on the Pipeline trail for which he later required stitches in his top lip. That opened the door for the Kona team to put some time between them, as Kona finished in 1:36.29.
Trek/VW’s misfortune today reminded those of us at last year’s finish line that Eatough and Schalk are an incredibly determined team. On opening day last year, Eatough suffered a huge mechanical issue in the first circuit of the day. Trek/VW had to push to the limit in order to claw their way back to the lead pack from being more than 30 minutes behind the last rider on course. Eatough’s strategy was simple, “You have to keep going, no matter what happens.” One year to the day later, Schalk delivered on that strategy too, bloodied face and all, as Trek/VW rallied back to a 1:38:57 finish.
Without a doubt, the competition in this category is absolutely sizzling!
Professional cyclists should consider freezing their sperm before embarking on their careers, say researchers. They found sperm quality drops dramatically with rigorous training. The Spanish study of top triathletes found those who cover more than 186 miles (300km) a week on their bikes have less than 4% normal looking sperm. At such levels, men would have “significant fertility problems”, the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology heard.
The BC Bike Race is the brainchild of a passionate group of longtime mountain bike and adventure race professionals based on the west coast of British Columbia.
So you have those vacation days stored up to getaway from the Man and you can’t decide on the destination. You have a list that you just can’t reduce to one: Mount Antero one of Colorado’s 14ers, Rocky Mountain National Park: Lily Lake Loop, The Rainbow Lakes outside Boulder, CO, or the Harrisburg Short Track outside Charlotte, NC. You are looking for a good solid opinion without calling every hiking shop near the destination to get their thoughts. Well then check out Backpacker Magazine’s Destination section. They have lots of advice – from editors to readers like you and me. And then go outside all day.
Our friends over at Outside Magazine have posted their Summer Buyer’s Guide. If you are trying to figure out what sleeping bag to pickup for your affair with the Sierra or pair of boots for time in the Rockies then head on over to the buyer’s guide and get an educated opinion.
Chris Horner won’t be starting the Tour de France after he was overlooked as part of the nine-man squad revealed Wednesday by Astana.
The veteran Horner crashed out of the Giro d’Italia in May and was hoping to be back in top shape to earn a Tour slot, but he was not awarded one of the nine spots on the loaded Astana team.
Another surprise name missing from roster was reliable Spanish workhorse Benjamin Noval, a veteran of Tour-winning campaigns of Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador.
The team revealed last week that six of the nine spots were already secured, with Armstrong and Contador being joined by Andreas Klöden, Levi Leipheimer, Haimar Zubeldia and Yaroslav Popovych.
That left six riders fighting for three remaining spots on the heavily favored Astana.
Filling out the final three spots are Sergio Paulinho, Gregory Rast and Kazakh rider Dmitriy Muravyev, three riders who will bear the brunt of the work on the flats and transition stages before the big guns take over.
Two other riders who were on Astana’s shortlist but didn’t make the cut were Jani Brajkovic and Tomas Vaitkus.
The rest of the team doesn’t need much of an introduction.
All eyes will be on a possible duel between Armstrong and Contador as the pair wrangles for control of the race and perhaps the team, though everyone insists that the squad will rally around the strongest rider in the race.
Armstrong, 37, is returning to the Tour for the first time since…
This was probably one of the funnest weekends our family has had since moving to Colorado. On Thursday Grandma Brazelton came to town to hang out for the weekend. We took Katie to yoga the night she arrived, she didn’t like it that much, then Chipotle for dinner, she liked that.
Friday we headed up to my buddy Craig’s condo up in Winter Park. While we were up there we celebrated Carter’s 3rd birthday (lot’s of pictures at the link). Amazing Friday/Saturday in Winter Park with the family. Both days I was able to get out for a road ride. Riding at 9,500 feet will get ya.
Sunday morning Julie and I headed out early to white water raft on the Poudre River while grandma watched the kids. Neither of us had been rafting for years, Julie was nervous, I was excited. We went with a company called A Wanderlust Adventure and our guides name was Randy. As you can see from the photo’s and video’s below the day was an absolute blast. The water level on the Poudre was at an all time high from all the rain we received this season. High water meant fast water and our guide Randy was loving it on the category 1 – 4 rapids. I sat in the front of the boat and was given the roll of calling out the cadence for the stroke. 1, 2, 3…1, 2, 3. Julie sat behind me pretty much getting a free ride.
3 hours later we had survived and I don’t think Julie and I ever stopped smiling. I would highly RECOMMEND A Wanderlust Adventure and look forward to taking our friends and family on trips with them in the future.
This video was one of the category 4 rapids.
The evening ended with steaks with our friends the Gilmours at their house. Perfect end to a super fun weekend.
