BC Bike Race Day 7

BC Bike Race Day 7
Originally uploaded by Steed Cycles

Day 7
July 4, 2008
Whistler to Whistler

Once again, we are treated to riding in home territory. The start is just down the hill from our winter home and the initial climb basically goes right past the front door and then up the ski hill. We drove up to Whistler last night and spent the night at the cabin thereby missing another early morning wake up call and bus ride from Squamish to Whistler. The start was at 1000hr so we moseyed down to the start at about 0930hr. My legs were definitely showing the signs of our maximum output yesterday. I was not sure what they would feel like as we immediately attack the mountain out of the start with a several hundred meter climb most of which requires your granny gear.

Out of the start, it was clear that there would be no records set today. My legs felt like concrete, and my speed was comparable to having a bike made of concrete. I tried desperately to hang on to the front pack as we started the initial climb but was quickly dropped. Tim was gone and then disaster struck. As we headed up the first gravel road to reach the ski hill, I stood on the pedals and my chain broke. The rest of the field sailed by as I struggled to break out the broken link and insert a quick link. Thankfully, fellow Steed rider Trevor Stone stopped and helped and I was soon on my way. Only downside, now I had to pin it on the climb to catch Tim and make up time.

It was clear that today was just not going to be our day. As I made my past the field on the climb up Whistler Mountain my legs just had no spring. The descent down Babylon by Bike and on to See Colors and Puke was difficult with all the back riders. I was flying down the Riverside trail at the bottom when again the abuse of six days of hard riding came through. I hooked a bar on a tree trying to cut corners and did about three barrel rolls into the bush. No injuries, bike OK, but maybe we should tone it down a bit. Tim was waiting as we climbed out of Farside and headed for the Highline trail. I think that he must have waited for about 15 minutes. Soon after I witnessed one of the greatest crashes I have ever seen, we again had mechanical issues. As I descended down the steep rock face on Tunnel Vision, one of the riders of the third place women’s team endoed at the bottom right in front of me. She landed right on her face and I was sure that she would not get up. But surprise, surprise she popped up, shook herself off, and kept going. Tim was again waiting at the bottom of Tunnel Vision, but now had sheared off one of the bolts holding his front brake caliper to the fork. The adapter was swinging in the breeze off the bottom bolt, but fortunately not catching in the rotor. The brake still worked (sort of) so we soldiered on while we discussed if there was anything that we cold do to fix it. We decided there was little that we could do, and felt that it was still possible to reach to the finish so headed through the first aid station.

The rest of the day just seemed to never end. The highlights were that I rode a few trails that I had never before seen in Whistler, particularly a trail called Danimal that has been the recipient of a lot work this year. There were some really cool linked wall rides and the trail flowed super well. Pretty much every trail for the rest of the day was super technical and required a lot of short bursts of power to navigate the rocks, roots, and stunts. Eventually it ended with my body pretty much at the end of its tether.

The final party was at the top of Whistler Mountain in the Roundhouse and was extremely well organized. Final awards were presented with the lead changing in our division as the team of “Grip it and Rip it” passed the team of “Different Bikes” on the last day and won by about 1 minute. It shows that you have to push in these races everyday to the maximum, as you just never know when disaster will strike.

After the award ceremony and dinner, the whole pack descended on the GLC to celebrate the conclusion of the 2008 version of the BC Bike Race. The party went on until the wee hours of the morning.