Epic Racing around the World

Next week marks the next big event for the team - The British Columbia Bike Race - seven days of mountain bike racing in a team format (two riders per team) on some of the premier single track trails the planet has to offer.

The MonavieCannondale.com team is fielding THREE teams if you (or we) can believe that. The format of the events is that a team is made of two riders who must ride/race together for the duration of the event. The race propaganda, and I quote, states “one epic journey… two dedicated athletes working together and creating a bond that will last forever.”

That’s a little bit of a “too much information” situation for me. What happens in the back woods of the Canadian wilderness stays in the back woods, as far as I’m concerned, but…regardless, we’ll be racing on for a week in a location where a single day would be an epic adventure on its own. Multiply that by seven days?!

In the pro/open category, for our first team we’ve partnered together the veteran with the rookie - Tinker Juarez and Mitchell Peterson. Tinker has yet to lose an endurance event in 2008, and Mitchell will be returningfrom the World Championship with fresh legs and a hunger to perform. Just stay out of their way on the downhill…wide berth would be the key phrase.

Team Dos - the family of fatherhood team comprised of Bart Gilliespie and Jason Sager. Both have newborns at home so when they’re not drooling on themselves (like their babies), or goo-goo/ga-ga’ing over the scenery, poopy diapers, sleep schedules, and Graeco strollers will melt the hours and kilometers with fabulous conversational topics.

Next up for BC Bike Race is the co-ed team of Sue Butler and Matt Ohran. I have a feeling that Sue will be pulling Matt around by his nostrils for 600 kilometers. They’re both gadget people, so there won’t be a lack of equipment or gear between the two of them, and I personally and curious to see the chemistry that develops between the six of us around day 4 when we’re all tired, bruised, beaten, and up in each other’s grille in cramped living conditions.

So what paths have we taken to prepare for this event? They’ve each been different, no doubt.

Sue is fresh from returning from the Nature Valley Grand Prix road stage race in Minnesota….

While Matt and Bart have been criss-crossing the Wasatch Range in Utah….

And sewing up casualties in the process.

They say the key is to practice on a piece of uncooked chicken. I don’t know, uncooked chicken gives me the willies. Here’s Bart’s account of the epic event, including sewing up Alex Grant.

Mitchell will be returning from Italy and the U23 World Championships this week, putting head to pillow at home, then shortly afterwards climbing back into the aluminum tube bound for Vancouver. Hopefully he’s not too banged up from his crash yesterday. His account of the flight to Italy is classic….

Tinker’s been riding his bike back and forth to the grocery store…keeping it green, or pink, as it may be.

I’ve been….well, let’s hope experience with stage races counts for something because the racing miles have been pretty low lately. Sometimes, a bit too low.

On the multisport front, Rachel Cieslewicz has been tearing it up on the Xterra circuit…and when I say tearing it up, I mean winning the overall at the local duathlon…men and women’s categories included!

Stay tuned as we get a post-World’s check in from Mitchell and, then starting Friday, daily updates and the insider’s view from Victoria Island for Day Zero of the BC Bike Race.