Winthrop Washington

Thanksgiving long weekend ....



So the race season may be over, but we are trying to make the most of what is left of the biking season and headed down to a place I had heard about for a long weekend of fun.

Wow what a weekend. The plan: drive down Friday night (5-7hr drive), smaller ride Saturday, full day ride Sunday, smaller ride Monday, with some eating and drinking in between!

Saturday was one 2 hr climb up and a 1hr back down. The cold had set in, even with the hard work of the climbing, the feet and hands still didn't get blood back into them until about half way up, to go numb again on the descent. What amazing views at the top!
Finishing the day off with roast chicken, BBQ salmon, veges, and wine !
Today was my first real longer ride and test on my new Norco All mountain bike - Fluid 2. What a lot of fun!



Sunday was the day - the big day - we got to the trail head at 10am for a 8hr day ahead of us, with -6 deg start, we were boppin and hoppin around trying to warm up - but all was good with blue bird skys!
We started our 4hr climb, winding in and out of the forest and open sunny views. Crossing frozen creeks, regrouping every time we spread out too much, to reach what was finally a warm sunny meadow that we stopped and had a bite to eat, looking up at the summit we were about to embark on via a grinding 30mins hike a bike.



8000ft summit was reached, taking in the 360 deg views. We had a ridge traverse and then down 'angles staircase', tight switchbacks on a loose rocky bouldery trail with a drop just a foot from the trail.
What lead into a flowy but dusty fast super fun trail. We had now one more climb. We got trapped by 20+ horses coming down the trails and 2 motorbikes heading up having a stand off, we decided to throw our bikes back on our backs and cut the switch back by hiking up. One more tough climb, then we were done, all downhill from here. Time to race what was left in the sunlight to make it back to the car.
2hr mixed trail downhill, flowy, rocky, dusty, amazing scenery, insanely fun!
Home to a roast turkey and more wine.



Monday I would have been happy to not ride and just chill, but off we went for a 2hr ride through xc ski mountain trails, to what turned out to be a super fun ride. No big climbs, just flowy, rolling, fast hills. What a way to finish off the weekend.
Loading the car up mid afternoon to tackle the long weekend traffic back across the border!

Definitely a place to make a yearly trip of - so many trails out there.

BCBR Videos

THANKS TO DAVE NORONA FOR TAKING THE TIME TO TAKE THE FOOTAGE, EDIT, AND POST THESE VIDEOS THROUGHOUT EACH DAY OF THE BCBR http://www.noronalife.com/blog/



DAY 1





DAY 2





DAY 3





DAY 4





DAY 5





DAY 6





DAY 7

Day # 7 and Wrap Up - BC Bike Race

Day 7 was true punishment - but with relief I didn't have to completely distroy myself. With Karen now out of the race, the next girl back was a few hours. I still pushed hard - how could you not be working hard when off the start line we had a 45min+ head to the handlebar climb - part hike a bike - that you dreaded to look up as all your would see was more hill !
The sun was shinning strong and it was heating up. Some fun downhill in the middle around Cheakamus River and then back to head to the handlebar up Highline trail where focus had to be on otherwise your back wheel would slip on the steep loose gravel road and you would be hiking the bike again. Into Tunnel Vision, with a fun rockface rolling drop into more cool single track down to our last 2km pavement climb to do our final descent of the 7 days into Whistler Creekside.
For was was meant to be a relative short day of 30km, with the elevation gains it still took 2hrs 40mins. It was quite amusing getting some comments from other riders during the day. They would come by me asking if I was ok and if maybe I had a flat tire or something (eg really asking why was I riding slow today and that I shouldn't be back in the pack with them !!) ha ha - I guess as mentioned above I didn't have to truly push it today - just played it safe to cross the line to keep 1st place :)

Thanks to all following for the week.
Will see what photos I can find that were taken and post sometime this week.

Overview:

• Absolutely outstanding organsation from BCBR. The logistics and volunteers that went into this event was mind blowing and it all ran unbelievably smooth
• Best Day - by far Day # 3 in Cumberland - tons of fast fun single track with no brutle hills
• Worst Day - by far Day # 4 (Earls Cove to Sechelt), most elevation, hotest day, and coming down off a high from day # 3 !!
  

Day # 6 - BC Bike Race

I am very excited that there is now only 1 day to go!
Today was a fun day, bunch of trails I knew and most of the course I knew so that helped a ton. Start was better then I expected and slightly different route then I thought it was. Some great single track that I haven't ridden in a while and got a clean run on all the long downhills. Then the last 1/4 I was really feeling it. My new plan to make myself eat more didn't work. I pulled apart a powerbar into bit sizes pieces and put under the leg part of my bike shorts so I could nibble at it on the first half of the course to stop the bonking towards the end like the last few days. But to find 10mins into the race it had melted and blended into my shorts from the heat of the day and heat of my skin - no powerbar for me, just 3 gels :(
So yes the last 1/4 was a struggle but all in all, had a good day and kept the pace strong.
Karen came in about 3mins ahead of me (although she is no longer ranked due to her broken frame and only completing half the course yesterday, so was a little more fresh), so I would have been going into tomorrow with about a 10min lead if she was still in. But now I just have to play it safe and finish the course tomorrow to take the win.

I am definitely completing wiped, I feel ok while out on course but afterwards I can barely function!!

Am up in Whistler now, relaxing at a friends house, had a nap, some sushi, washed bike, and will soak in some epson salts and off to bed. Short day tomorrow, only 25km, but about a 1hour steep steep climb off the start, something like 600m elevation in 5km's - ahhhh - but then its all rockin fun after that !

http://www.bcbikerace.com/Media/Blog/
http://www.noronalife.com/blog/?p=339
http://www.facebook.com/inbox/?ref=mb#/profile.php?id=503751095&ref=profile

Megan

Day # 5 - BC Bike Race

Tough start today. Police escort but still sprint over short sharp hills through Sechelt with heart rate through the roof in the first 5 mins, then into a granny gear steep climb up through a construction zone. Single track started, although freshly made single track, equals very bumping and lots of effort to ride it! We were all over the place and felt like beginner riders ... haha.

So still climbing we came to our first fun descent. Karen was in front but I was confident I would catch her at the end of the day with the 10km downhill to the finish at the ferry, but to pass her half way through the course on the side of the trail with a snapped frame. She is out of the race.
We went into our last climb of the day, but this was a monster of a hill, luckly it was a trail climb and not fire and fully shaded as it was a smoken hot day out there. After the never ending hill, I was feeling wiped. I am not eating enough out there. My legs feel good, but my energy levels are super low. We came into the last food aid station to be told we were 3km's from the peak and it was all downhill after that. I was around a new crowd today (and yesterday) as my usual group are stronger climbers so were ahead of me. We hit the final descent for the day, a well talked about trail called 'hwy 102'. Wow this thing went forever. I was on a mission to catch the first ferry so I could get home earlier in Nth Van, I was loving the trail and caught a bunch of people. Parts where kind of sketchy with the condition we are in. eg not much co-ordination or balance left by day 5, so judgement and concentration had to be at 100% across the log bridges and tight turns.

I rolled into the finish and straight on the ferry. At home now, getting bike dialed at John Henry Bikes and sleeping in own bed before another early rise to head up to squamish for day 6. Another tough start for tomorrows course, straight into a pavement climb, so I will get stuck behind everyone when we bottle neck into single track, but will push as hard as I can to not drop back too far :)

Megan

Day # 4 - BC Bike Race

As I expected today was my least favourite day !
Not enough single track and way too much climbing ( and mostly on fire roads – or hike a bike single track), and very very minimal flowy fun downhill.
Everyone hurt today. Hot, long day, (5hrs), not enough food eaten and couldn’t wait for it to be over.
Shitty start into a pavement climb where everyone just blew by me …. Ha ha.
I was waiting all day for the girl Karen to pass me on the climbs but never saw her, so towards the end I had figured she snuck by me at somestage with out me knowing. And yep, she was at the finish line when I got there, came in 10mins earlier. So my lead is now down to only 13mins. Its going to be a tough last 3 days.
I have the advantage of knowing day 6 and 7’s course but there is still a bunch of climbing that she can make up the time. Tomorrows course has been cut down a little due to permit issues, and means one big climb has been taken out and more single track has been added, so this is good new !!
Tomorrow night I get to go home, sleep in my own bed and pick up my car before the Squamish day, and have a place to stay in Whistler the next night, so can get plenty of rest.

Excited for the well talked about last 7km of tomorrows course, some amazing single track down to the ferry terminal – I am sure that will bring a smile to my face ☺

Megan

Day # 3 - BC Bike Race

WOW and OMG is all I can say about today!!

I placed myself right up front today as knew it was my style course and for sure didn't want to get stuck behind people on this day, I heard the trails were epic and wanted to experience them at speed :)
It was a complete hammer off the start with a few kms of road and straight into single track. I was in great position and the flow and speed was there from the beginning compared to the last few days. We had about 30km's of pure xc trails, then a big 10km / 45-60min climb right in the middle of the course up a fire road, and was in with a great bunch of guys (all from Nth Van). Broke my chain and had someone help fix it pretty quick, while I see the other solo girl now pass me, I jump back on the bike to chase. We arrived at the peak and then had a 20min+ downhill section, I caught her pretty quick and was stoked to have a chance to pass straight away. I had a complete clean run down some amazing trails and was loving it. Back out to some fire roads for a bit where I had a couple of guys to work with and they were looking after me and making me work to stick in!! then another 20km of more unbelievable trails. After 4hrs I still had a smile on my face. Got an extra 6mins lead today to make it a total of 23mins. With still 4 days to go, this really isn't much (couple flats or mechanicals, or some open road climbs where she catches me pretty quick - so still lots of hard work to go).
Sorry no pics but am sure there are some on the website www.bcbikerace.com

Megan

Day # 2 - BC Bike Race

Today was tough. I had the leaders jersey on but decided not to place myself right up the front as the profile of the course looked to be a straight 5km climb off the start, so would have just had people pass me. What a big mistake. After getting the police escort through Nanaimo we hit the single track and I was too far back to keep the flow - people walking ridable sections, bottleneck, and just pure slowness on some sweet track that you could fly through. By days end it probably cost me at least 20mins. After about an hour it opened up and we were in and out of single track with some great climbs and flow. Although we were for sure ready for the half way 35km point as that was the peak for the day. Moslty down from there. The down was fireroad with some crazy head wind and I was on my own with no one to work with and draft off. I hammered for about 10km before finally the Norco boys caught me with the other solo female rider. I jumped in and we worked together as a group of 4 and was giving it everything to stick in. We hit some single at the end to finish what was a long grueling day !
I was neck and neck with the other girl all day and came in only a few seconds ahead of her. 17mins lead still from day 1.
It was a little bit of a frustrating day in terms of position, bunch of people would pass me on the uphill and then I would get stuck behind them on the downhill and have to try and pass them!!

Megan

Day # 1 - BC Bike Race

What I was hoping to be a home town advantage today didn't turn out quite that way!
Or should I start with saying I won first solo female for day 1 !!!

Straight off the start was a 2km road climb and straight into single track - Equals 400 people trying to funnel into 1 line after 5-10mins from the start. Now my strength is not climbing so I couldn't quite get myself into a good position off the start. So after the funnel and some standing still and walking, we still had approx 30min climb ahead but more chances to pass. I slowly started to warm up and make some moves on people to the top of the first descent called 'severed dick'! Let's just say, if you are not from around this area - then this descent was going to be tough with a lot of scared riders walking their bikes down. But this was my strength, I know this trail well and ride it well, but to find myself stuck behind lines of people walking. I was patient for about 5 mins, then I teamed up with a few Norco Guys and we made our move - calling 'riders up' and 'track' (eg get off the trail if you are walking cause we are coming through !!)
So we managed to stay on our bikes for the entire descent but was much slower then I normally ride it. At the bottom of the first descent and an hour into it, it opened up and the riders started to spread out. Some xc trails and out through the burbs to hit our next climb of Mountain Hwy. This climb is a nice one, open and not so steep.
Time for the second descent and to the finish. I was now in my element - no one in front of me and free awesome fun technical descent to make up for some lost time. After some hoots and cheers down the north shore trail 'Pipeline' I crossed the finish line in 2hrs 12mins and first solo female and received my yellow leaders jersey to wear tomorrow :)
Although I could have been 15mins faster if I had a better start, I was still stoked with day 1 - knowing there is still 6 more days ahead.

I have never ridden any of the trails for day 2-5 so am excited to experience some new stuff of what BC has to offer. I get to stay at home tonight, but am camping it for the next 3 nights, so not sure what updates I can get done, but will keep my facebook status updated. Tomorrow is more then double the distance of today and the biggest for the week at 70km. Expecting about a 4hr 15min time. Lets see what the terrains like though.

Megan

BC Bike Race

Wow ok, it's been like 10 months since my last major race and the last time I posted on here.
Tomorrow I start my big race for 2009. BC Bike Race - a 7 day mountain bike stage race. I have had a bunch of lead up events and now its time to test the body again.

Race Overview:

Day # 1 - North Vancouver 30km
Day # 2 - Nanaimo - Vancouver Island 70km
Day # 3 - Cumberland - Vancouver Island 65km
Day # 4 - Sunshine Coast 65km
Day # 5 - Sunshine Coast 65km
Day # 6 - Squamish 67km
Day # 7 - Whistler 30km

This race hosts the most single track riding any other race in the world has. Day 1 is on my local trails here on the mountain out my back door with the finish line 100m from my house, so I am super excited to have some home town advantage of knowing what to expect. The more technical a trail is in this race, the more chance I have in placing top 3 - lol - I am not the strongest climbing, so have to make up my time on the downhill!!

Race updates can be found daily on www.bcbikerace.com

Stay Tuned
Megan Rose