We headed out early morning under a fairly clear sky, cool temperatures and darkness. A short way up the first climb lost sight of most of the guys. Mike & I rode together for a bit and soon he disappeared. I knew I would be riding most of it by myself.
I continued up Big $, a nasty climb. The views on the way up were outstanding that morning, which helped a bit with the suffering. The 600m descent was challenging with a lot of new sections, which were still pretty fresh. I had to stop a few times because my hands were cold and it was hard to hang on.
The next trails were fairly uneventful and I felt pretty good. After grabbing some bottles of Infinit it was on to a 25km road climb and a 1000m descent off Porky Blue. There can be some sketchy sections so I rode pretty conservatively. It was back to town from there to grab bottles, lube chain, layers etc. This was the 50 mile mark and I was not entirely sure how things would go after that.
The next climb, Swine Flu I felt pretty good and actually passed a few riders on the climb ;-). Grabbed my lights and some more gear at my parents along the way. Off to the next section, Phat Bastard, Mushroom, Lactic Ridge. "Lactic", the name says it all. This is where I started to fall apart. I was walking and riding at this point and the outside of my left knee was getting really sore. At the intersection of Mushroom and Lactic I sat there for about 10 minutes trying to convince myself to continue going up. It would be mostly pushing my bike at the this point to reach the top. With approx. 60 miles under my belt I could not convince myself so I headed down. Ran into a moose (not literally) and had a minor mechanical so had to make the call for a pick up in the Park.
With approx. 65 miles and 12,500 ft gain I was happy with how far I made it. Next year I plan to give it another go. Anyone who finishes this thing is a rock star in my opinion! Yes, the other five got it done! What are you doing next August?! ;-)
A couple of weekends ago I raced the Six in the Stix in Cranbrook, BC. This is a 6 hour event with some fun single track and some hammers normally show up. This year was the biggest turn out with 60 soloists plus teams of 2. I checked out the course the day before and it was quite a bit different than last year. It felt like it would ride faster.
Race day was clear but a cool morning. It was great to see so many familiar faces at the start line. It was a fast start as usual but I tried to do my thing. I had Tanis, who took the overall women's win last year, in sight for awhile but eventually could not hold her wheel. It was lap #1 so I just did my thing and tried to settle in.
Most bizarre thing of the entire day was coming down Roller Coaster with some fairly good speed and spotting a couple of hikers ahead. I called out and they moved off the trail right away but their dog who was off leash was running right at me! Luckily the dog got out of the way in time. That was close!
Lap #7 would be my final one. Feeling a little fatigued but trying to stay focused. I was almost done and had lots of time to finish the lap. I felt good about the race and ended up taking the win for my category. It turned out the course was actually slower than last year. There was not a lot of recovery until the last section. All up 91 km and approx. 8378 ft gain.
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| 1st place soloists. Chris Mckechnie took the overall win! |
Last weekend was the High Roller Poker ride in Fernie. This is an annual event covering some of the best single track in Fernie. You collect stickers along the way to make up a poker hand, which is dealt at the after party. Best hand wins but the reality is everyone gets a prize as the donations from the local businesses are always amazing. It's a no brainer really, great trails, cool t-shirt, Mexican, and beer! I don't really even like beer ;-).
My buddy Dave came down for the event. He has never ridden in Fernie so it was a great way for him to get a taste of the trails. Another cool morning heading down to the Royal to check in, sign waivers, etc. We decided to start right away. There are really no strict rules. You can start later if you want and some people take all day to do it, stop for coffee or lunch, it's all good.
We started catching a group of riders, passing them and having a quick chat. Heading up the first main climb Hypervent, we had a chain of strong riders working up the switchbacks. We were having some fun calling each other out and no one wanted to get dropped!
The next section of trails were a little wet from the heavy rain we had the day before. They were a little more punishing then usual. Then we hit my nemesis "Lactic Ridge". I called out to Dave, this is where it gets nasty! The conditions made it tougher than usual but we suffered to the top and had a blast coming down S-Bomb/Brokeback.
We didn't see a lot of riders from then on. Just did our thing having fun and carrying on at a steady pace. Finished up and checked back in at the Royal. Great day on the bike and some good vert in the bag.
Up next is my final race of the season, 25 Hours in Frog Hollow. It should be a fun event with a group of us going down. Looking forward to it!