Day One: 89k

Well the day finally arrived. Day One of the BC Bike Race. All the months of training in the cold wet Seattle winters; all the weekends (lost) in the forest pursuing 5hr rides; all the mornings before work trying to get in a few extra hours of saddle time; had all led to this. We were ready and so was our competition. The weather was beautiful, but hot. Very hot in fact as we stood in the starting chute waiting for the 9AM departure. The chute opened at 8 and we got in line about around 830. It was tough standing in the sun, but this was probably one of the smarter decisions we made all day. By starting so far up, even if we were getting passed by faster riders coming from behind we would still be starting ahead of some 600+ riders. Amy said that it took a full two minutes for the last riders to cross the start line. So the plan was to do two "promenade" laps around the venue (we were at some hoity toity rich kids school--think Dead Poet's Society--and the campus was not only expansive but beautiful). The race directors decided to changed (literally at the last minute) the promenade laps into "hot" laps. It was on from the gun. And there was carnage. The most carnage came in the form of destroyed/gummed up drive trains as the riders were sent across a newly cut farmer's field. The long grass got in everyone's chains and cassettes. It was a mess. In fact race favorite (Chris Eatough--who won this race last year) went into the field first, got caught in the worst of the grass, and ripped his rear derailleur off. It was carnage. Then there was the T-bone crash my buddy Aaron witnessed when one rider did not realize the course turned and he went straight. Luckily Dave and I were in front of this mayhem. So once the race got underway, things settled down and the sun got hotter. Throughout the day, Dave and I took no less than 12 endurolyte tablets each. This was the second good decision we made. I think the increased sodium fended off any cramps that may have been lurking in our muscles. Otherwise, Dave and I just stuck to our game plan. Slow and steady. And survive the first 3 days. We stuck to the plan, suffered a bit on some very steep climbs and bombed some super fun descents. The last 12miles found us on an old railroad grade. Pancake flat and straight as an arrow. Teams wizzed by us. But we stuck to our plan to keep a steady pace to the finish without killing ourselves. Dave tucked in behind me and we both put our heads down and thought happy thoughts until an hour later we popped out at the finish line. We had one day under our belt and I think it was a relief to both of us that we had made it through. Really it was not worse than any training ride we may have had. 5hour 44minutes. 5300ft of climbing. To our surprise sticking with our strategy paid off. After day one we ended up in 7th in our category (Veteran's 80+) and finished 48th overall. Not bad for two guys with day jobs. If only Dave had been 66. Then we would have been in the Veteran's 100+ category and we would have been in first place.