Canada
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Just back from 2 weeks in Canada for the TransRockies and here is my story.
Wednesday 6th August
Flew from Gatwick direct to Calgary which was amazing because we flew over Greenland. Clear skies meant we could see all the glaciers! There were heaps of them stretching for miles and miles! I was totally unprepared for this (along with most of the plane) and we crowded the windows gazing out at the untouched wilderness.
Landing in Calgary our plane missed the jetway and we all had to sit back down so that the plane could be shunted back a few feet. Off the plane straight through customs and immigration and reunited with my bike which didn't look like it had suffered heavily.
Taxi to the hotel to meet up with my TransRockies team mate Lee John. Lee and I had successfully completed the Cape Epic 2 years ago and I was keen to catch up with him. He had flown in a couple of days before and no doubt had a few stories to share about culture shock in North America as he lives in Zimbabwe. However he was out, so I put my took my bike out and put it together relieved that it appeared to be all in good repair. You never can tell after leaving it to the mercy of the baggage handlers.
To the Red lobster for a meal and had to get used to Canadian size servings, everything is bigger in Alberta!
Thursday 7th
Lee and I struck out for Canada Olympic Park which is where the XV Olympic Winter Games were held in 1988. For anyone who's interested it's also featured in the film Cool runnings about the Jamaican Bobsleigh team. Luckily for us in summer it becomes and lift assisted mountain bike park. Some nice riding to be had, nothing to strenuos, we didn't want to injure ourselves 3 days before the big race but it's nice to be able to get out in the sunshine and do a little exercise to try and scrub some of the jetlag off. I had been awake most of the night just staring at the ceiling.
After a good days downhilling we trundled into Calgary along the Bow River and we amazed to find a Police speed trap on the bike path! Neither of us were speeding but were amazed at the short sightedness. The rest of the world is trying to encourage cycling but not Alberta. We also wondered how things would stand up in court with no legal requirement to fit a device to measure speed then giving you a fine for speeding?
We stopped past Calgary Cycle and got I got stung for a set of new tires. I knew I needed some but never got around to getting new ones before I left. Silly me. Nice guys but when you are used to paying trade and you have to pay retail you get a little bit upset. Good tires though, Maxxis Ignitors, I can recommend them. I did get 2 flats during the week but I really can't blame the tires!
We went to Boston Pizza and I had probably the worst pizza I have ever had! Cheddar on a pizza ... why?
Friday 8th
Packing our bikes back in our bags we headed back to the airport ot catch the shuttle bus to Panorama. Lots of pairs of people with big bike sized boxes standing around at the airport. Lots of different countries represented from Belgium to Costa Rica and UK to USA. The trip was fairly uneventful except for a a truck burnt out on the highway, not the load but the actual engine and cab completely melted down! This back up traffic for miles!
The journey from Calgary into the Rockies is amazing. To the East of Calgary the land is flat and flat can be but heading West it starts out flat but starts to gently roll into hills and before you know it you are driving in valleys of really impressive mountains!
Arriving at Panorama we got allocated our room and seeing as I had organised it at the last minute only posh rooms were left. A very nice view from our balcony down the valley though. It seemed a little bit wrong but in the end we still put our bikes together on the carpet in the hotel room.
Walking around the mountain resort there were some very fit looking people wandering around and some very flash mountain bikes!
Saturday 9th
Saturday was signing on day and he first of many ques. We picked up our team numbers and bags and assorted paraphenalia. It was also a chance to catch up with a few people I have met at various different races around the world. When you go a to more than one of these big mountain bike stage races the chances are you meet some of the same people, or at the very least people who know people you know. This was no exception and it was good to se people I haven't seen for a year or even 2. All were looking forward to sharing another big race experience.
We had planned to go for a short ride after sign on but it had started raining so we just chilled in the hotel. No more training could help us now! There was a greeting dinner and we were shown the course for the next day. Looked exciting but tough. After that the weather had cleared up a little so we took advantage of the lift tickets and took the easy way up the mountain to have a look around. Hard to think we would be going up higher than this the next day under our own steam!
Packed all the stuff I was going to need in the bag provided and early to bed ... at least my jet lag had worn off and I managed to get some sleep.
Sunday 10th Stage 1 Panorama - K2 Ranch (52.3km, 2478m climbing)
Up early and the pre race nerves had kicked in. Lots of pfaffing with bags and bikes was done until dropping the bag off and heading to the start line. A quick pep talk on the line including what to do when confronted with bears and we were herded into self seeded starting grid.
Loud techno music and cheering and sirens and we're off! Everybody goes out at the events likes there's a sale on somwhere! Adrenaline getting the better of people who know there is 7 days to go! The start of the day was a big climb! 12km long and going from 1100m to 2300m! I'm not the best climber and was riding fairly conservatively but we got to the top and got into the singletrack reasonably well but were stuck behind some people who are just amazing climbers but lacking in some technical skills. Roadies?! Why do they even come to mountain bike events? Nobody is impressed with your climbing skills when you're holding up 50 people on the sweet singletrack!
(It was around this time it started raining ... then snowing! We were fairly high up in the mountains but still it is August?!)
I managed to get past to the the log jam only to realise Lee hadn't managed to. Turns out he had a problem with his seat post so I had to wait for him (The teams of 2 are supposed to stay together for the whole race, being more than 2 minutes apart will gain you a 1/2 hour penalty). We both got past the slower riders this time and rocked the sweet singletrack down into the valley.
Coming into the K2 Ranch we had no idea where we were in the big scheme of things but we had a good days riding and the sun had come back by the end of the stage. Turns out we placed 39th in the open men. The food was great and everyone was looking forward to the next day as we settled into our tents.
Monday 11th Stage 2 K2 Ranch - Nipika (73.7km 3813m climbing)
Todays stage took off along the road for the first 20km and big packs were forming everywhere. My partner Lee has an ethical aversion to drafting in mountain bike races but I don't. So I tacked on the back of some large packs, as long as I wasn't more than 2 minutes in front of him we were all good and I got some easy riding. Lee caught up on the first climb as he is in general a better climber than me. He was carrying a bit of a weight penalty with his dual suspension bike to my hardtail but it kept us toegther quite well during the week. His bike slowed him down on the climbs and allowed him to keep me in sight when the track turned down the hill.
Some nice doubletrack was followed by some logging roads until the first aid station. After that the course turned uphill in a big way. the first section on loggin roads was steep but rideable, then it got steeper and everyone was off there bikes pushing. Then it got so steep that we couldn't even push our bikes and the whole field were carrying their bikes on their backs struggling up a very steep gully! This was where a lot of people got into trouble. Everyone was concentrating on where to put their feet so as not to fall vack down the mountain and we missed the course turn off. All of a sudden everyone was stopped. People at the front of the pack and a long way up the hill were shouting down the hill to see where the last course marker was. We were about 300m past the turning but there were other who were infront/uphill of us who were along way past!
We all headed back to the turn and we now encountered some serious problems. Fast people from the top hill were now mixed in with slower people coming up the hill who hadn't made the same mistake. There was much frustration as all people funnelled into the tight singletrack. Most people were very polite but it's not ideal to have someone much faster than you on your tail as your trying to ride down stuff that you are not confident on. For me the riding was excellent, tight twisty downhill singletrack on loose soil with exposed roots. I loved it!
After the next aid station the track turned uphill again and we got passed by some super fast people who had been along way up the mountain when the navigation problems first arose. Then a nice technical downhill where the course followed a river down a gully and the track crossed it multiple times. this tie it was my turn to get stuck behind some slower riders while Lee cruised down in clear space. We met up again at the last aid statin of the day and pushed hard to the end of the stage.
27th for the day was a good result for us but the times for the stage were neutralised because of the course problems leaving us in the same place overall.
Nipika was a popular overnight stop with hot pools and the weather had gotten better, it hadn't rained today! I was starting to get a tan!
Tuesday 12th Stage 3 Nipika Time Trial (44.15km 1514m climbing)
This day was proobably our favourite day of the whole race! It was fairly short stage and mostly singletrack. Teams set off at 1 minute intervals so most of the singletrack was clear, just you and your partner ripping it up together. The course was spectacular in both course and scenery. The tight twisty tracks ran along the banks of a big river, sometimes high on a cliff sometimes at water level.
We attacked this stage and had a lot of fun. Only one team passed us and we passed 13 other teams! 25th for the day was our best result and an indication of how much we enjoyed ourselves. We seemed to go very well when the riding was hard and technical and not so well when it was on roads whether logging, district or tar.
We finished the stage completely spent but happy. I, in particular, spent a lot of energy biscuits on this day! ............................. It didn't rain again! :-)
Wednesday 13th Stage 4 Nipika - Whiteswan Lake (109.7km 2567m climbing)
The longest day of the whole race and not much exciting riding. Lots of district road and 2 major climbs the second of which was 20km long but seemed to go on forever and ever. The worst part though was to gain all that height for no sweet reward. Just up on a dirt road and down on a dirt road, what happened to all the singletrack?
62nd on this stage.
Thursday 14th Stage 5 Whiteswan lake - Elkford (88.5km 2147m climbing)
This stage didn't even come alive until the 70km mark! Nearly all of the mornings riding was on the same sort of roads as yesterday (some was even the same roads!). 2 major climbs today the first being 12km long and the second 30km long! However the last climb got more and more technical and by the time we were again hike-a-biking I was loving it! Strange as it sounds the more technical/steep a climb is the better I do. I enjoy the challenge of a technical climb and can usually ride further up a trail before I have to walk than most.
There was a funny moment on one of the river crossings though. One of the shorter girls (sorry Sally I had to) got stuck whilst carrying her bike accross a flowing river. She just froze and had visions of getting swept downstream until a couple of guys could get to her and give her a hand.
The joy of this stage was the descent from the top though! It was down this rock shute which we had been warned was unridable! PFFT! I ripped down this descent at lightspeed over taking people left and right! I even overtook one of the camera motorcross bikes on the way down! These sorts of desecents are the real reason I do these long cross country races. You never get to do stuff like this if you just do downhill riding because these tracks are way in the back of beyond and you have to ride out and find them. I really, really enjoyed it and even my first puncture a little later couldn't wipe the smile off my face.
Elkford was a great town to stop in as well, lush grass of the local baseball field under our tents and great food from the local community, out in force to support us.
68th on this stage
Friday 15th Stage 6Elkford - Crowsnest Pass (102.4km 2998m climbing)
The second longest day and the most climbing. As you can guess there was not a lot of good riding on this day either. The stage seemed to be all climbing, not much of it technical. A road climb out of town and some packed singletrack onto wide district road where lots of packs formed. The first dirt climb was about 15km long leaving us looking down on mountains we had been looking up at on the earlier road section. 3 short steep climbs at the end broke our hearts before dumping us down into town.
After dinner I went for a walk to the local supermarket and found myself amongst a gaggle of riders buying orange juice and ice cream. Cravings are a funny thing!
69th on this stage.
Saturday 16th Stage 7 Crownest Pass - Fernie (78.8km 2101m climbing)
The final day saw us lying in 56th over all and only 12mins from top 50 so we were going to give it a big push! The start went straight into a road climb and some hike-a-bike so everyone was tighly packed so when it came to the downhills I started to take some creative lines to get a head. I take full blame for my second puncture ... completely off the course and going really fast downhill I hit a big square rock. Not only did it puncture the tire it pushed one of the spokes out of the hub! By the time we had fixed the puncture, put that spoke back in and the other 2 which were about to fall out we were as good as dead last!!!
Motivation waned and we suffered through a long boring stage. There weren't many people to talk to and those we did see we passed fairly quickly. It was the hottest day by far which was a nice change (unreliable sources (local taxi driver) put the temperature at 37C). Again lots of climbing for not much good riding reward until the last 9km a hard climb in the heat of the day put us at the head of some of the best singletrack we road the whole race. The locals in Fernie had hand crafted these trails for themselves and we were lucky enough to share them.
Then it was over. 550km 17,623m climbing. Some great riding and some average riding. Good organisation and great people. All in all it I had a good time. The people always make these rides and this was no exception. I made a lot of new freinds who I look forward to seeing again at events in the future.
There is already talk of La Ruta De Los Conquistdores November 2009 ...
A big party and lots of good byes.
Sunday 17th
Sleep in a little bit, 6am breakfast calls can become a bit tedious but when you're trying to get the calories in it's vital. Packed my bike away, probably not going to be ridden again for a while ...
Caught the Greyhound to Cranbrook and a taxi to the airport. The plane was delayed and turns out there were only 9 people on the flight so they sent a smaller plane ... a 9 seater Beachcraft! So we won't be flying very high above the mountain tops then!
Flew into Vancouver and caught a taxi into Kitsalano where I met up with my brother his wife and my almost 2 year old nephew Alex. I have seen him since he was a babe in arms and he has changed a bit since then! Walking, talking, demanding, tantrums ... the whole personality on the way to being developed. They are visiting Canada on a work related trip and just happened to coincide with my visit and it was rgeat to see them.
Monday 18th
More sleeping in! After dropping Cathy off at UBC we headed down the beach and had fun throwing rocks into the sea. Some shopping at MEC and then back to the house for afternoon naps ... me not Alex!
Later I managed to catch up with a good friend, there were others that I would have liked to have caught up with but unfortunately time was short but if you're in my area why don't you drop in and see me. I'm sure I'll be back in Canada at some stage.
Tuesday 19th
After a short walk in a local forest where Alex turned a fallen tree into a crocodile's back to be walked along my brother dropped me off at the airport. A long flight where I didn't get much sleep rolled quickly into ...
Wednesday 20th
Driving back from Gatwick I had to stop and have a sleep for a few hours which is much easier in my van than on a plane.
Thursday 21st
Back at work but severely jet lagged ... sorry boss I didn't get much done today.
What's next?
