Epic Racing around the World

How do I sort this out and turn daily 4+ hour stages into a few words on a computer screen? Typically I take photos then write a story around them. Words often don’t do things justice and photos can be equally challenged to convey a situation and an experience.

The BC Bike Race has been a battle. Not the type of battle you imagine in usual mountain bike race….a battle that begins with a starter’s gun and a violent explosion from the starting blocks. In a typical XC mountain bike race we’ve stored up so much energy at the start that we’re squeezing our breaks and pushing on the pedals while on the start line…ready to go. The violent effort of the race causes the gaps and creates an instant gratification or sense of loss.

Here…things just fall apart. Bikes. Bodies. Course markings. A general sense of fatigue and the slow death of dehydration or hunger pains.

To feel and look like this…well, sums it up quite well sometimes.

Today’s stage rolled through a small port community and out into the wilderness. A gentle single track climb became a steep fire road/power line track and a selection was made at the front that consisted of the main contenders. No one attacked, “it” just became the front of the race…and likewise, people just slowly disappeared from the front, also.

Flats are the #1 problem. From there its feed zone chaos…and today in particular, a giant La Ruta-esque swollen river crossing with an insane cliff hike-a-bike afterward that was so steep that to emerge without assistance was impossible.

Last night Bart and I held onto the leader’s jersey by one second. A single second after 9 hours of racing and all the circus that went into those miles and hours.

Barry Wicks from Kona crashed before the river crossing, then there was a split coming out of the river, another at the following feed zone, flats, misadventures, enough to put most of the contenders out of the picture for awhile…until they caught back up with 30k remaining. Fresh blood from Seamus McGrath and Chris Sheppard split our group on a fire road false flat and caught Bart and I out before an hour of the roughest and rawest single track we’ve seen yet in the race. Bridges, stunts, logs hollowed out a ridden as rails, a few missed turns, you name it. The last our of today was pure BC…and somehow Matt Ohran can still take photos of himself while riding one handed.

Bart and I lost a bit of time but rode in with Tinker and Mitchell after regrouping each other (and ourselves) to hold onto 3rd overall…but we have a real bike race on our hands now. Matt and Sue continue to grow stronger and hold their own against many of the strongest male teams and still sit solidly in second place.

We’ve seen huge chunks of time come and go in these three days. I can only imagine what the next 4 will have in store for us.

Well…I know those days will involve several ferries…and the sitting around that goes with them.

Cheers.