Finished!

Here we are crossing the line after 7 days of some hard riding. It took us over 31hrs to complete the race. We ended up 10th overall in our category for the week. We were pretty stoked with our result.

Happy 4th of July

Andy dressed in Stars and Stripes for the last stage.

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.

Day Five: 65K "The Best of Squamish"

Day 6. (Hard to believe we started racing six days ago. The start last weekend seems like it was last month). We found ourselves today in the self-proclaimed "adventure capital of British Columbia": Squamish. For those who have never had the pleasure of journeying to BC, Squamish essentially lies between Vancouver and Whistler (site of the 2010 winter Olympics). I have been here on numerous occasions to mountain bike . It truly does have some of the best trails I've ever ridden. Of course having ridden here, I knew all too well what lay in store for us: lots of challenging trails and some serious suffering. The day started out with us trying to enter our customary "Group A" start chute, only to find out we had been moved back to start Group B. Bummer. Lots of fast teams out there. No matter. Once the gun went off we quickly moved up into the middle of the front and ended up about where we would have started anyway. We headed out on pavement and quickly climbed up, up, up through the neighborhood developments. Dave's gears weren't shifting properly so he was really working hard to get up the hills. After we climbed some more, we finally entered the woods and the real fun started. After some really nice trail riding we ended up climbing some more and then entered into a very technical section of trails. Dave's prowess lies in his ability to move down the mountain at breakneck speeds without fear. My strength lies in the climbing. Compared to Dave, I might as well be standing still while going downhill. We started down and encountered some really steep pitches. Some pitches made me think twice and I got off and walked. Others, I just sat back and went for it. Dave made all of them. We entered an area with a really steep rocky descent and I hesitated for about half a second. That's all it took and I was over the bars and sliding on my back and arms. Not fun. Luckily it was just a few scrapes. I was back up and riding again in a second. Shortly after this crash we encountered our (much faster) friends Andy and Aaron. Aaron had crashed, spun his handlebars and snapped off the hydraulic brake line for his front brake. Both Dave and I thought their race was over (in order to be a "finisher" both team members must finish all the stages together), but they thought they could slowly work their way through the course. I was skeptical. (Turns out they not only finished the race with Aaron riding without a front brake, but he also broke his chain and had to ride out in only one gear. They finished the day only about 5-10 minutes after us. Amazing). So Dave and I plodded along and did some more climbing. Dave was climbing really well--despite his grunts and groans as the steepness failed to relent. After a few more significant climbs, it was time to go back down. We had a ball descending for another 20 or so minutes at breakneck speeds. Then it was time to enter the famed "Powerhouse Plunge." The Plunge is one of the most technical sections of singletrack in Squamish. I have ridden it numerous times and thought I knew what to expect. Unfortunately the fatigue of riding hard for 5 days prior had really taken its toll on my body and senses. In the Plunge I had another "sliding" crash down some rocks and re-scrapped up my arm and now added a nice goose-egg to my leg and back. At this point my confidence was shot and I opted to walk anything remotely rocky until we were out of the Plunge. After exiting the Plunge, we were off for some more climbing in Crumpet Woods. Dave protested, but I assured him numerous times that "this is for sure the last climb." We finally rolled through the finish line just around 5hrs. It had been a very hard day in terms of trying to stay focused while being so tired. Despite the crashes I had a great time riding in the woods. This is what it's all about. Tomorrow we're off to Whistler for the final stage.

Stage 5: 65k

Oh the Sunshine Coast. Such incredible riding. Finally a day that felt like a true mountain bike race. Lots of singletrack and minimal dusty roads. Our race started at 8AM (a bit better than the 4AM wake-up call the day before) but it was still an early morning. (Did I mention that this was my 2 year wedding anniversary. My wife was happy to have been given a 7 day trip across British Columbia--I can see it in her eyes every time she loaded our suitcases into car). The weather was great. A bit overcast and cool. So we set out across town on our way to the trails. During a very high speed descent there was a pretty bad crash (on the pavement no less), but luckily no one was badly hurt. Once on the trails we had a very fun day in and out of the singletrack. There were lots of wooden bridges--some very wide--some very narrow. I would guess that we rode about 50% of them. I think the week has slowly been taking its toll. We were tired and made some silly mistakes in the woods. These trails would have been incredible to ride "fresh." There was lots of climbing--mostly in the woods--which was more interesting and challenging than riding up dusty roads. The last 9k was all down hill and we screamed down the trails to the finish. The finish was at another ferry terminal and we boarded our final ferry of the race. We relaxed on the boat and made out way to the mainland where we would finish up the last two days of the race.

So Cold!

God the ice bath is cold. Since we lost our massuese (we had one for the first 3 days), we had to resort to the old tried and true method of freezing our muscles post-ride. This pain was worse than anything I experienced on the rides.

Stage 4:60k

Today was an early day. Up at 4AM to mix up our water bottles and get our food ready for the day. Then, pack the car and drive to where a fleet of buses were waiting for our 5:15 depature. Then we were wisked away by luxery motorcoach to the first ferry terminal of the day. We boarded the first ferry and had breakfast while crossing from Vancouver Island to the Sunshine Coast. Once across, we bused to another ferry terminal and boarded our second ferry of the day. Needless to say the competitors were dragging. The coffee was horrible on the boats and we had a very hard time waking up. Everyone had a hard time waking up. So once we got into the ferry terminal the race directors set up the start chutes and set up the starting banner. Then all the competitors grabbed their bikes and we were off. Straight up the pavement with no warm up. We started at 11AM and it was hot. Even though we were only riding 36miles (a short day by BC Bike Race standards) it was a long day. Dave and I battled through the heat and battled our competitors. The singletrack riding was tough yet again but a welcome relief from riding on the fireroads. I think a few of our efforts put Dave in the "hurt locker," but luckily I gave him the key to get out. The first 20% and last 20% of the race we really jammed. However, the middle portion took its toll on both of us. We ended the day on a great note and hammered the trails home. Another day done. We are now over half way there!