BC Cup #1 & Island Cup #4

Last weekend marked the first weekend back at racing after some false starts to the season in March and April with the early season Island Cups.

BC Cup #1 was the Rat Race on the Sunshine Coast. The Sunshine Coast is beautiful--lush green forests set against a rolling coastline with small towns that seem to slowly fade into forest. From our island, it took 2 ferry rides and a total of 2.5 hours of driving to get to Sechelt where we were staying with the Short family. We left work at 4pm to arrive at 11pm ready for bed. The next morning we woke up, headed to the race course (we bummed rides all weekend....so getting to/from venues was a bit of a crap shoot...luckily, thanks to Jeff and Heather and Eric and Peter and Smoky and....all of our stuff, bikes, and persons got everywhere necessary...and all in one piece!).

No pre-ride possible, I headed out on a bit of the course to warm up, the trails were fresh with a solid climb, some mud, a creek crossing, and a start that headed up a fire road. I realized, during a long staging process, that this was the first BC Cup of the year....and with the starting "go" we headed off on the beginning of the BC XC season. The start was not as blistering as I expected and Melanie Vaughn, myself, and Stacey Spencer headed into the double-track climb together. A wrong line choice had me off my bike and running--thank you cyclo cross dismount/remounting practice!--and then I slowly settled into the climb.

Melanie took the lead at the top of the climb and I grabbed onto her wheel for the descent. It was fast, flowy, and relatively smooth with a few narrow bridges over creeks and logs to keep things interesting. The descent was so fast that it went by too quickly and I was back to climbing, losing Melanie's wheel as she climbed away. Through the feed zone part way up the climb--had some awesome supporters reminding me to SMILE! and then back to the climb, another short descent and then back to the loop point. Finished up 3rd, relatively happy about that...but there is definitely some work to be done!

The course was hard with a lot of climbing, but, because it was mostly single-track, even the climb was fun and challenging. The descent served as a great reminder of just how fast you can go on a mountain bike (I would have loved to watch the pro-men's field!). The race was tons of fun, and very well organized...but the post-race fun was short lived as we hopped back onto the first and then second ferry to make it home that same night.

The next morning came way too quickly...waking up I was not prepared to head back out on another XC race...but up to Duncan we headed for the Cobble Hill XC race. Tara and Mike Pollack put on an awesome event that burnt my already toasted legs and had me stretching it out on climbs and just enjoying the beautiful descents that (after this weekend I've officially decided) never last long enough! Another, albeit painful, third: two XC races in two days...I'm pretty sure that is a form of masochism!

Heading North....

We had a few days between Paradise Royale and the Mackenzie river of noteworthy but not blog worthy riding, one was a pre-ride of a course we opted not to race, the other was a short ride through a section of the beautiful but poorly timed/planned (on our part) North Umpqua River Trail.

Our last day of riding was a spontaneous trip out to the McKenzie River Trail 1.5 hours east of Eugene, Oregon (where we were staying with my fantastic cousin John). The trail is 27 miles long and (similar to the North Umpqua Trail) was built by the BLM as a multi-use trail. We started out halfway up the trail to climb up the more technical section. The trail started on river-level buff singletrack that wound around and through a beautiful mossy forest for several kilometres before starting a gradual climb.

The climb brought us into a lava field that had been overgrown by moss. The lava field was technical but the lava rocks were grippy making the climb challenging but completely rideable. The climb topped out at a lookout over a brilliant blue pool surrounded by bright green moss.

From the pool lookout I took the lead--the further into the trail we got the harder I pushed...the momentum made the twists and turns around trees and into burms smooth and rhythmic. The trail may have been developed for hikers...but it is beautiful to ride on.

A patch of snow here and there turned into snow piles that blocked the trail and forced us to hike. We hiked until we realized it wasn't going to disappear and then started to descend back towards the car. The only disappointment for the ride was that we weren't able to make it to the waterfall...so when the decision came to head to the hotsprings and back towards Eugene or north to the waterfall and around the scenic route to Portland we opted for the latter (see photo below!).

We arrived in Portland, showered and relaxed...then headed to an amazing dinner at The Melting Pot. The next morning we got up (still full from dinner!) and headed out with coffees on a walk around the city to rustle up some hunger before heading to (we were told) THE spot for breakfast in Portland--Mother's. Once we found Mother's we discovered that they are closed on Mondays....so we kept walking and discovered Bijou Cafe. A woman outside told us that the food was delicious--and organic! (Dawn and Tanya I thought of you!) The breakfast was amazing! All the ingredients were local, organic, and the combinations were amazing...definitely a keeper for pre-USGP meals next winter!

After breakfast it was time to head back to the hotel, pick up the car, and head to Drew's tattoo appointment for winning Single Speed Cylocross World Championships. The appointment was at Atomic Art Tattoo Studio with Roll Hardy. Roll is an amazing artist...we got a chance to glimpse some of his paintings he has done in between anecdotes of working in the tattoo industry.

An hour later and we were on our way home, hoping for light traffic through Seattle and the border so that we could jump on the ferry....we made the 9pm boat and finally settled into our own bed after a pretty amazing 5 day adventure! To view all the photos from our trip click HERE and HERE and HERE!

The Long Road Home...

My use of the word "home" here is a bit controversial, as "home" will always be California, even as Victoria becomes more and more "home." After a wonderful visit in my California home with family and a few friends, Drew flew in, had quick meet and greet dinners with each side of the family and we headed on our adventure. The next few posts are from days over a week ago...but I am just starting to get caught up from all the excitement!

The first day of the adventure was actually in SoHum (Southern Humboldt) just east of Shelter Cove. The trail was a loop aptly named "Paradise Royale" as it is perched upon a remote peak in the King Mountain Range. We read about this trail in Bike magazine's "Trail" issue and decided that we had to ride it. We drove until we thought we were lost, along stunning but heinous roads that would switchback on themselves so much it was dizzying.

We rode the trail from the Tolkan Campground. It started with a smooth and flowy descent for few kilometres, crossed a stream, through a meadow, and then started climbing. The climb was long, but with good rhythm: steep with rolling rests. The kind of climb that makes you want to hammer because the more momentum you have the faster and easier it is...except that you earn every kilometre of momentum. At the top we hoped for a lookout, there wasn't one, but through the trees along the highest points of the trail were glimpses of a sea of green forests stretching miles and miles in every direction. The descent was fast, with loose gravel, smooth trails, and lots of off camber bits. The best part was actually climbing a rolling section just before getting back to the Tolkan campground, it was tighter and twistier with less loose gravel and more reward for smooth, skilled cornering.

The trail was beautiful, but the drive home was stunning--lungs tighteningly beautiful, actually. Before I go further, Humboldt is not your normal area to grow up in. It takes 1.5 hours to get to a major highway to take you to a major city. The area has banned Walmart from opening, one city has a ban on fast food restaurants, there are beaches with cows (the kind that moo!) on them, not condos, and the redwood trees dwarf even the largest houses. Growing up here removed "remote" even further outside of society. The drive home was my idea of remote...where you have to worry about having enough gas in your car because there is no such thing as a "truck stop."

The route we took home follows the Lost Coast, the entire way is a two lane road that climbs to the edges of the King Range and then descends down onto the most achingly beautiful stretch of beach imaginable. To the left of the road (heading north) are beautiful dunes inhabited only by cows, to the right are rolling hills that open up into fields that run into barbed wire fences and an occasional tamed farm house yard. The road is mostly straight with brief jags around rock outcroppings that interrupt the smooth hills.

We paused at Cape Mendocino (above) before starting our ascent (nicknamed "the wall" to people who have ridden the Tour of the Unknown Coast) back up and over the hills and into Ferndale where we hooked back up with highway 101 to head back to my mom's house for a huge and delicious dinner of homecooked enchiladas with home-made cream puffs for dessert (for the record, my mom has a cult following for her meals...I'm pretty sure you can taste all of the attention and care she puts into every dish she makes).