BC - XC Marathon Series # 4

Gear Jammer

The last few weeks turned out quite different then planned. Ann and I had planned a road trip to drive and do a mountain bike Canada Cup in Edmonton on July 11th and then drive to do Canada National Champions in Canmore the following weekend. I was excited to race at the next level. This all changed when I heard rummors that you had to be a Canadian Citizen to race at Nationals. I confirmed this to be true and we figured to then drive all the way to Alberta to Edmonton to just do the one trip wasn't really worth it.

Disappointed, but not much I could do. I filled the weekends with fun stuff and fun rides locally, which then led me to doing Gear Jammer - race # 4 of the BC marathon series. I was currently winning the series, but unfortunately you need to be at race # 5 to be able to win the series and I will be traveling across Canada for work during this time.

So Gear Jammer. Ann and I rode most of course the week before, so that helped with knowing the route a little better. I decided to start out not red lining it, and kept the pace off a little until after the first hour as this was going to be a 3hr+ race. The first hour was actually surprisingly ok and enjoyable. I had wonderful Richard supporting crewing for me today, so after an hour in to it, he was there waiting to give me a few fresh bottles of water.




It was now time to turn up the dial a bit and start making up places. We had the rolling hills heading over the back of the course and I caught 1 girl and we now had the heat of the day beating down on us. Through the first water aid station and the steep climbs started. She dropped to small ring and I attempted to stay in mid ring - to my surprise I passed about 10 people on the first climb. Me passing people on the uphill very rarely happens!! I was pumped. This lead to the single track Skookum climb, I kept it in mid ring for half of it and passed another bunch of people. Still in disbelief and wondering if this was going to blow me up!!

The downhill starts, smooth ride, but dusty and hard to see. We head over to another short steep climb to the top of Recycle. I catch Karen, and attempt to pass but got blocked and we both fall. I jump back on and continue. I catch another girl on Pseudo downhill and am loving the flow and work they have done to this trail, I am really enjoying it. I pop out on the gravel road and see Richard again with another full bottle for me - what a treat !!
Short road climb and I am still in rhythm. I drop down to the Darin's Foot Bridge crossing with some speed - within a flash, I find had clipped my handle bar on the bridge and had launched myself half way over the railing and was now looking at the rapids of of creek below and my bike jammed in the bridge .... shit !! I untangle myself, jump on, and continue - sore knuckles but felt ok, just a bit shaken up.

I pass another girl on the climb to Plunge. My ride down the plunge was pretty average - could have been better and probably lost a minute or two. Ok - just crumpet and a few other trails to go. Compose myself. I hit the first climb on crumpet and feel my first real bonk. I drop to granny gear and all I can hear is my front brake rubbing - extra resistance is not what I needed. In the crash, I broke my front shock remote, bent my brake lever and I guess caused my front brake to rub. I have my last swig of gel and by the time I reached the top I got a little energy back.

Over to Seven Stitches and a few hike a bikes. The last part took forever - I wasn't familiar with these trails. I pull through the finish line in 3rd place in 3hrs 4mins 30secons.

I was done, but had a really great race and was stoked with my climbing today. I was one lucky girl to then get a stretch and ITB rub from Richard at the finish line.




We head back, shower and head over to Ann's for a BBQ and beer in the setting sun for the day.

1 Brandi Heisterman 02:57:14.6
2 Ann Yew 03:01:19.6
3 Megan Rose 03:04:30.3
4 Kari Studley 03:06:25.9
5 Karen Trueman 03:07:24.9
6 Katherine Short 03:09:28.0
7 Linda Robichaud 03:23:31.9
8 Julie Melanson 03:47:10.8
9 Nicole Price 04:05:10.6
10Tonja Dwyer 04:16:11.4

24hrs of Light - Yukon

This one was going to be one of the highlights for the year. A little more laid back and was 'meant' to be a more social event ! 24hrs of light - meant just that - it was a 24hr mountain bike race that you could do solo, in a team of 2, 4 or 8 - riding it relay style, aiming to do as many laps as your team could do in 24hrs .... with one rule - no headlamps allowed. In this neck of the woods so far up north, the sun never really went down in the summer.

We were pumped. Richard, Matt, and I were a team of 3 racing in the team of 4 category - and well, as competitive as we all were - we were going for the win ! but also to be social - it can be done. We were Team Innovative Fitness.
We arrive after a 2 hr flight, all pulling out our Blackberries and Iphones to quickly check our messages to get some work done at the same time. Oh no - no Rogers Cell coverage in the Yukon - oh well, guess it was a 5 day holiday with no work to be had on this trip, we put them away and got to business.


Within 4hrs, we had our bikes built, had picked up our 30' foot RV, stocked it with some amazing food, bought a BBQ to cook this amazing food on and had a cooler full of beers, and had set ourselves up at the race start. Although it was only the Friday night and the race didn't start until 12pm the next day, we were not moving. Take a look at the set up we built ourselves.


We built the BBQ (well the boys built the BBQ while I went to the team meeting), and we had steaks cooking and beers in our hands in no time. What a start to a great trip. We drank beers and played arsehole until we thought that Emmery should drink no longer - maybe it was a little past midnight (but Richard was saying more like 1.30am!) - with the sky still so bright it was hard to keep track of the time.

Ok race day. Emmery was feeling a little under the weather, but he was an absolute trouper! We cooked up a sweet breakfast and got ready. Our plan was doing 1 lap at a time to tag off to the next team member. Approx 45-50mins laps. Order Richard, me, Matt.
Richard crushed the first lap coming in 3rd and I was on my way for my first lap, riding up ... more up .... then .... more up. What the ??!!
I was waiting patiently for the reward of the downhill but was also immersed in the amazing scenery. The reward was at the very end with a 5 mins down ... ha - ok better get the climbing legs on. I tag off to Matt, we are now in 2nd.




We had our own little competition going on, of who could do the most consistent laps!
We rolled on for the afternoon, wondering how long we could maintain these lap times and filing into 1st place by the 3rd lap. We had about 10 laps each to do. As we got into the night (although still light) we decided to do double laps to get more time off and try and rest of bit. We saw all sorts of riders and all sorts of teams dressing up in costumes - including a couple of guys doing laps in the nude - yup - full nudity - that has got to hurt!



I was the lucky one that didn't get a lap in the darkest hours of the night. For 2hrs, it was pretty low light in the woods. Matt decided to have a fight with a tree going at full speed - but I think the tree won, after taking him off his bike and having to take time to get his head around what had just happened. The course was tight - narrow trails with trees right at your handlebars. One off movement and you were going down and going down hard.
We draw in close to the last laps of the 24hrs. Richard heads out for his 10th and final lap, we were all so tired and not looking forward to our last laps. As I start my last lap I realize, if I do a 46min lap, then Matt will also have time to do a 10th and final lap - Richard and I do 10 laps, then I was making sure he had to do 10 as well ;)
I come in right on cut of time, grab the baton, smile and pass it off to Matt - he has 48 mins to complete his last lap to get in before the 24hrs. Of course he was going to make it.
We won and set a course record. Well done boys, it was great fun racing with you both.
What a fun event. The train museum area 5km out of town where the event was based, was action packed for 24hrs, continuous music, camper vans and tents set up all over the place, tons of prizes, tons of great costumes, fun trails with great scenery. But we were worked and destroyed - we went hard and each covered about 130km at Zone 5 pace.


We cooked up a BBQ, had some Beers, went to the Rec Center to shower, did some laundry, then kept ourselves awake until 9.30pm and crashed out cold for a solid 11 hours.


The next day was just as much a highlight. A friend of mine that was a local took us on a 2.5hr mountain bike ride to show us some of the best trails of what Whitehorse had on offer. Although our tired legs and bodies didn't like it too much, we managed to put smiles on our faces and enjoy a great ride of flowy trails and amazing views - while trying to focus on the tight single track at the same time.







What a weekend. Dropped off the RV, re-boxed our bikes and was ready to head back to Vancouver after an eventful weekend.

Race highly recommended to anyone interested.

Test of Metal

Ok I know this is a very late blog, 3 weeks late in fact, but its been busy times.

I was all geared for the 67km Test of Metal race this year. I was feeling strong and definitely felt ahead of the game then last year. Although this race is really not my strength in terms of the course, I was aiming to wipe 8 mins off my time and was going for a 3hr 15min time. Placing wasn't a huge deal for me for this event as all the big girls seem to show up for this one (eg current leader of the world cup circuit Catherine Pendral).

I felt I had a great start, much strong climb and good position amongst the 1000's other riders. Into the single track at the top of the pavement climb and smoothly through Jack's trail, that they have seem to bull doze and make it look like a trail hwy, much to my disappointment.

Dead end loop, robs corners, roller coaster were all good and I looked on time at the 1hr mark. Over to the feed zone for the first time through in about 1hr 26mins and head over to 9 mile. The heat was beating down and I was drinking more water then expected, I decided to do a quick stop at the aid station half way up 9 mile - wow what amazing volunteers, they had my bottle filled within 10 secs and a piece of watermelon in my hand on the fly and I got a breath of fresh air. I kept pushing on. No-one around me to work with. I got to the top of 9 mile and last climb of Lava Flow in around 52mins for the climb (was aiming for 48) - I had lost a few minutes but thought my time was still looking good.

I had a clean run down ring rip creek and the plunge - although quite painful. Too much air in the tires and too much air in my shocks - but guess it made for a more efficient climb, so just thought of all those other riders on hard tails and non- tubeless wheels with high pressure and decided to just suck it up !!!

The split on the downhill was 29mins - right on time (from Graham's predictions he gave me!). Although coming back through the feed zone and looking at my overall time, I was stunned and disappointed. I was way off pace, when I thought I was moving along quite nicely. I think I was at a time of 2hrs 54min knowing crumpet was around 30mins. I dig deep and finish as strong as I could, with no one to work with on the final straight stretch out of crumpet woods, finishing in a time of 3hrs and 26min and 7th place.

Slower then last year - I couldn't understand it! but no complains, I felt great, I fueled great, and had clean race. Just wasn't my day. There were many with slower times so it made me feel a little better that maybe it was the heat that got to us? but Brandi that I did beat 2 weeks prior in Pemberton did beat me and got a time of 3hrs and 14mins.... so maybe not ;)

All in all, great race, nice weather, dry course and I guess amongst all the pain, a fun day!

I was super pumped for the next weekend to head up to the yukon for 24hrs of light.

Megan

North Shore Fest

BC Marathon Series # 2

This was one of the races I was excited about for this year. It’s the only one where the race is in the trails that are out my back door that I know very well and has some great fun technical riding!!

After days and days of rain – the weather gods were looking out for us and brought in some great sunshine just for this one day! We all gathered at the start line. I saw a couple of girls I had not seen before, all decked out in Trek gear with bikes I never knew could come as light as they were!

The start proved a surprise for everyone where we had to drop our bikes and run in the other direction. About a 400m run back to the bikes, then straight onto the newly built bmx track for some fun on the burms and jumps to a tough little climb – the pack was getting spread out already and heart rate was up to 181 already!

We went into Richard Juryne Trail for a tough climb. A trail that can be mostly ridable on a fresh day on your own. But with a line up of riders, made it tough, so it was mostly a hike a bike. This race was going to prove to be no time for recoveries. We moved into Circuit 8 trail and dropped down to the river over to Bridle. Was a clean good start and the pack spread out really well. Worked hard through bridle and the new trail and over to old buck 20min climb to Severed. My back was killing me and didn’t climb so well.

Severed downhill was in a pretty wet and tough state but managed to have a clean run down and was stoked with how I was going. This lead into a tough hike-a-bike. I felt like I needed an extra lung!! Heart Rate still over 178. I was coming into bottle top, knowing Richard was going to be waiting at the bottom for me to come out. Another clean run. I hit fishermans trail, and found out I was in third with the 2 girls ahead being the Trek Girls, with one only 30 secs ahead. Richard climbs homestead with me – a tough steep climb. I was hurting but could see her ahead. I pushed hard knowing the finish was almost here. She saw me coming and was pushing hard too. At the top of the climb we both took off, she enters the last trail still in sight. I work hard back up Richard Juryn trail, for the last decent ….. 12 seconds behind her in the finish line with a time of 2hr 25mins …. So close!!

The girl that won, was 6 mins ahead, to find out she came 2^nd at the last Canada Cup and is on the Canadian National Team! So was all good with that …. Lol! Was impressed with both of their technical riding considering they were not locals and probably not familiar with these trails. I was happy with my 3^rd place finish.

2 weeks until Test of Metal – the next big one.

Top 3 Results:

Mical Dyck 02:22:04 (Trek Canada) Victoria
Joanna Harrinaton 02:28:24 Whistler
Megan Rose 02:28:36 (John Henry Bikes) North Vancouver

Nimby Fifty

This event came on the radar only about a month ago. A new event in a new location that I heard has some great trails - Pemberton.

Drove up on Saturday morning - pouring rain the whole drive up! It managed to calm down to light rain by the start. There were about 250 riders lined up at the start in the middle of grass field, and I was super excited to ride the trails that I had heard about over the last few weeks.

The start was actually for once great! Threw a couple of mud puddles just to get us all dirty from the start and a flat start for about the first 5mins then into a 10min climb that I actually felt stronger then normal. The field spread out pretty well by the first single track. About 30mins into the race we start the single track climb - I heard about this 1hr+ single track climb with 101 switchbacks! Was loving it but it was tough. Tight switchbacks, technical sections, where you could look up and see a line of riders on all the switchbacks ahead of you. I could see a couple of girls in sight and that was my aim now - to either keep them in sight or catch them by the top of the climb. I was closing in slowly. I passed and few about 15mins we kept swapping positions depending on who would dab and get caught off balance on the climb.



They managed to both be in front on the start of the the descent, much to my disappointment, but Joele went down and the other girl past. She was ripping it, so I just tried to hang on to her wheel on what was some amazing downhill trails, so much fun. Trying to put a gap between us and Joele. We were all fighting for 3rd place. I managed to gap the other girl on the next climb, it was tough and steep and then we went into the last loop before heading to the finish. At the time I wasn't sure how far there was too go. This loop included some sharp painful hike a bikes, that was crushing me into the ground!

I caught and past Wendy Sims, she was having some mechanicals, but with no effort she took back off ahead. So I am now working to hold my 3rd place finish. We go into the last descent, wow what a bunch of fun!

I cross the finish line 25mins behind Catherine Pendral (the current world cup leader) and 2 mins behind Wendy Sims. What a great race.



We were covered head to toe in mud - no hose, creek or water to be found. We wipe ourselves down with a towel, change, put our disgusting muddy bikes on our car and head to the beer and band. We hung around for the evening and party of a fire, some hay bails, a band and some great company to camp there the night.



We headed back to Vancouver in the morning after breakfast at the wildwood and stopping in at Whistler to get a few runs in on the Whistler Bike Park - what a great weekend!!

Top 10 Results:

1 Pendrel , Catharine 02:29:31 Kamloops
2 Simms , Wendy 02:52:32 Nanaimo
3 Rose , Megan 02:54:15 North Vancouver
4 Guynup , Joele 02:57:46 Victoria
5 Heisterman , Brandi 02:58:03 Brackendale
6 Paquette , Fanny 03:02:36 Whistler
7 Short , Katherine 03:05:34 Halfmoon Bay
8 Robichaud , Linda 03:07:02 Victoria
9 Allen , Sylvie 03:13:29 Pemberton
10 Bell, Page 03:17:31 Pemberton

BC Marathon Series # 1

ORECRUSHER RACE - SQUAMISH

There are 2 series in BC this year, BC Cup Series and the Marathon Series. I will be doing most of the races from the Marathon Series, although you need to race the last race to be able to be eligible to win the series, and I will be away with Cyclebetes then - oh well, will do what I can.

So orecrusher was a pretty flat by rooty rough technical course. So with no significant climbs and a more challenging course - this was my kind of race.

After arriving earlier enough to prepare and get a good warm up in and ride the course, I stood in line at registration for 45mins .... my plan was out. I now just had time for a quick 10 min warm up!

It was a lemons start (eg run 300m to go and get your bike to start the race). Heart rate straight up to 180. So it was about a 40km race - we had 6 laps to complete, each lap about 6.5km's. First lap I moved into 2nd and stayed with Ann. My aim was to stick with her and see how I felt about half way through. I pushed to keep with you her on the slight climb of the course, then past her on the fast flowy section. Into 2nd lap, she past me on the climb again - I figured this was how it was going to be for the 6 laps! My heart rate was still through the roof, my stomach was in knots, I had to back off and let my heart rate settle as I knew I couldn't maintain this. I backed off a bit, it settled half way through the 2nd lap. Ann had a big fall at the end of the 2nd. We chatted for a bit into the 3rd, she was hurting. I moved into the single track and now just pushed to keep her behind me. I was feeling strong and was able to keep my pace on the slight climbs. I kept pushing hard thinking she was right behind me.

I pulled through first place! woot woot.

Was stoked with how I felt and how the Norco Faze 1 didn't skip a beat on the rough course!

Top 3 Elite Women Results:

Megan Rose - North Vancouver - John Henry Bikes - 02:16:17
Ann Yew - North Vancouver - Team Whistler - 02:20:13
Linda Robichaud - Victoria - Team Whistler - 02:24:41

I was waiting for some pics to put up, but haven't found any yet!
M

BC Cup # 1

3rd Race for the year. The BC Cup Series was about to start with the first race kicking off on the Sunshine Coast of BC. I headed over with Ann. After a short ferry ride, quick stop for food, we got to the start and geared up. I just came from 9 days off the bike on a holiday in Japan, so not sure how the legs were going to take this!



I remember this course from last year, a brutal long climb and a super fun downhill. We had 3 laps to complete. After a 2km hill climb to the start we were ready. A steep hill climb start to our first downhill, I had a little too much air in my tires and was just trying to adjust being thrown around a little more then usual. At the bottom of the downhill there was a creek crossing, last year I managed to ride straight through it, although not able to get around the person in front of me, I actually fail to unclip and find myself sitting in the cold cold creek!!

After a battle with another girl to take 4th place, I now got a lead on her by the 2nd lap, so was chasing 3rd. Back was feeling great compared to last year and legs were feeling stronger! Although each climb I was getting a little slower with fatigue, but each descent I was getting a little faster keeping my lap times very consistent. I was on the last 10+min downhill to the finish and was giving it all I had to try and catch that 3rd place, but had no-one in sight, I come across 4th place, to find I was only 37 sec off getting the 3rd place finish to the girl I had beat by only a few seconds in Cumberland.



Had a great race though, tough but fun course. Felt 100 times better after the race in Cumberland a few weeks ago, was a lot more coherent and not so destroyed, so that was a great thing!

Elite Women Results

1. McKirdy , Jean Ann 01:47:22
2. Yew, Ann 01:53:13
3. GUYRUP, Joele 01:54:40
4. Rose , Megan 01:55:17
5. Short , Katherine 01:57:37
6. COLLINS, Karen 02:08:46
7. Melanson , Julie 02:20:13
8. Lynch, Christine 02:22:56
9. Armstrong , Paula 02:27:05

Island Cup Series # 3 - Cumberland

Second race of the year. I decided to head over to the Island to Cumberland to race. Cumberland was my favorite day of BC Bike Race last year, so I had to return for more fun on the amazing network of trails they have there.

6.30am ferry over. Met up with some Team Whistler guys and we got picked up by Joe at the other end to drive us up to the race. We got a decent warm up in and was ready to go for 12pm.

The line up of riders was great and a good show of girls. There were a couple of top riders there - eg Wendy Sims - international level rider. So I was now aiming for 3rd place and I knew it would be a battle to beat Karen - that I was up against at BC Bike Race last year. 30km mountain bike race, 10km laps - 3 laps to complete.

Nice climb off the start into single track, back out onto a significant fire road climb. The sun was beating down and it truly felt like summer already. Karen was in front on the climb. Into some flowy single track, to another short climb before some some wicked xc trail riding. Caught Karen on the downhill. It was a little sketchy with only 1 brake (my front brake pads were toast).

Into Second lap, I got the call that the girls were ahead by 3mins. I was now aiming to hold my 3rd position. 2nd lap felt better - more warmed up and in the flow and had a clean run with no one in front of me. Back aching!!
I go into 3rd lap - I get the call that the next girl is only ahead by 1min. I hit the last lap as hard as could. My brakes fluid had pumped up a bit so I now have 2 brakes working and more control!
About 2km from the finish I spot her ahead, lucky for me we are still in technical single track so I am gaining on her. I hit it hard pass and pull through to the finish in 2nd !!!

What a tough race, I was worked. Average heart rate of 173 and max of 181. We hung around for a bit after the race then head back to the ferry. To miss it by 2mins. We now had a 2hr wait until the next one, arriving home at 9.30pm - what a long day - but great one! .... And come home to home cooked meal of Salad, Chicken and Yam fries that Richard had all ready when I walked in the door - Oh Yeh - Im one lucky girl !!

Hopefully some photos are to come but they are not up on their website yet.

Top 10 Results:

Expert Women
1	Wendy Simms		2:23:21.00
2	Magan Rose		2:26:03.00
3	Joele Guynup		2:26:31.00
4	Karen Trueman		2:34:05.00
5	Sarah Seads		2:36:31.00
6	Glenowyn Carlson		2:37:09.00
7	Karen Collins		2:46:15.00
8	Nikki Licht		2:51:06.00
9	Julie Melanson		3:00:00.00
	Melissa Dekker

Megan

Dirty Duo

First race for the year - a fun local event to get the legs burning and lungs pumping again ready for riding season.... and well this race sure did that - with an average heart rate of 173, there sure wasn't time to relax and smell the rose's!

The course has been in perfect conditions for most of the winter with absolutely no snow that allowed us to keep our bikes out for the entire winter - but well this is dirty duo, so of course down came the snow just 2 days out, followed by a perfect amount of rain to make the course a mud pit on the lower trails and an icy slush pit on the higher trails. This just made it all that much more fun!

After a quick trip for emergency repairs to John Henry and hour before the race to fix my locked on brake, Jeff had me all fixed up and on time to the race. Thanks Jeff! and with my tubeless now all set up, my Norco was all ready to go.
We were off at 11am, straight up hill, lungs blowing up within the first 5 mins and a nice little technical climb up Richard Juryn Trail. Over to circuit 8 and drop down to the creek and into Bridle, covered head to toe in mud already. Battling back and forth with some of the 25km runners on bridle between the short up and downs of the trail, we hit old buck climb - backs killing me, I stop for a quick stretch. Push on up old buck and pass Tutti cheering us on! (or was he yelling at me that I was going to slow??!) Up baden powell and now hit the snow, with persistence I keep trying to ride up it, but finally give in and walk the last part in ankle deep snow. Ok we are now at the top - NEDs trail here we come, fun but sketchy with the layer of snow and wetness. I hold on for the ride my Norco is about to take me on! I am thankful for the 5 inch of travel on the front of this new race bike!

After an endo on bottle top - I am crossing the creek for the last section. back up and down Richard Juryn and I am at the finish line in first place and placed 4th in the men's division. I am happy with my first race for the year!

Thanks to John Henry and Norco for getting me and my bike to the beginning of the 2010 biking season.

M

IT'S TIME....

Well with the warmest February on record for Vancouver, biking season is off to an early start..... and with the excitement of me receiving my new 2010 xc race bike yesterday - a Norco Faze 1. This year I will be racing as
"John Henry Bikes / Norco"

After being destroyed on a ride in Squamish on Saturday by a few of the Team Whistler boys, I got inspired to get myself back in action!! Plus I have a super fun line up of events and races this year, so had better get a head start on getting this body ready! I am going to be working hard to keep this ITB injury under control and actually gain some strength back in the legs this year - I'm pumped!

Quick night ride with Richard last night to test out the new ride. Feels great, rides smooth! Looking forward to making a few tweaks and setup adjustments and getting back out on the trail in about an hour with Ann Yew and giving it a bigger test!

Ok so here is my 2010 line up - give or take a few:

March:
Dirty Duo
EV Road Spring Series

April:
Possible Sea Otter MTB California

May:
BC Cup # 1: Sunshine Coast
BC Marathon Series # 1: Orecrusher
BC Cup # 2: Nanaimo
BC Cup # 3: South Surrey

June:
BC Marathon Series # 2: North Shore Fest
Sunshine Coast MTB trip with the girls!
BC Marathon Series # 3: Test of Metal
24hr of Light MTB: Yukon

July:
Chil Coltins Trip

August:
100 miler Bend Oregon
Cyclebetes 3 weeks across Canada

September:
Granfondo Giro 120km Road Race
Crank the Shield: 3 day MTB stage race, Ontario

Stay tuned for more updates...

M