Day Seven: 49k Whistler

Well the last day finally arrived. We were tired and sore from the day before, but optimistic that in a few short hours (hopefully) we would achieve our goal of completing the BCBR. The morning was very overcast and cool in Whistler. I had my clothes, helmet, gloves in a little pile next to my car--prolonging the inevitable moment when I would have to get into my lycra. Without warning a dog walks up and without hestitation starts to take a piss on my jersey. Talk about insult to injury. Turns out the dog belongs to a local guy from Seattle who kicks my butt in our local series. And now his dog was doing the same. After a few choice f-bombs, the dog's owner took my jersey washed and dried it in a hotel sink. Yep, that was my last "clean" jersey for the week, so I had to wear it. Luckily I hadn't put any food yet into my jersey pockets! Hopefully this would not be a bad omen of things to come for the day. Dave and I made our way to start chute B to check in. When we tried to check-in we were told that we were back up in start chute A (where I contend we belonged all along). So back alongside our friends, the gun went off and we headed out of town into the mountains. The first 30 minutes was nothing but climbing. And I mean climbing. 1600 feet or so over about 3-4miles. It was steep and very rough going. The week had certainly taken its toll on us and we decided that today we would ride for fun. (Actually a friend had exclaimed on the start line that during this race we had "ridden the fun right out of mountain biking!). The trails today were no less than spectacular. Twisty-turney, buffed out, high berms, fast, slow, wooden bridges, wooden ladders--you name, today the trails had it. We took it very easy on the technical sections given my spills yesterday and the fact that we just didn't have the quickness to react. It would be fun to come back and ride these trails again when we were fresh. We did encounter a large black bear along the trail--as if all the riding wasn't enough--but it simply was not interested in us. After a seemingly long 5hrs we finally heard the sounds of the finishline. It was quite a feeling of accomplishment and relief to cross the line, safely, and full of smiles. Dave and I had a great time this week and I felt really lucky to have such a good teamate. Our bodies held up but a few days of R&R will be welcome to work through all of the aches and pains.