White Rabbits and Cardiac Arrest...er....Classic!

This Sunday marked the last race in a string of 7 consecutive race weekends. It was also Provincial Championships, held this year by West Coast Racing at Burnaby Mountain. Last year, this course stood out because of its long, steep climb up a walking path. This year, the organizers spiced the climb up by sending racers up a less long, steep-er section of singletrack (I’m pretty sure nobody sane would normally use it as an up!). There was ample reward at the end of the climb, however, as the course ducked into a fast, burmed, rooty, twisty, switchbacking singletrack descent. It is a descent that favours a good rider, demands full attention, and reminds you if you are a little over-tired.

I’ve been a little nervous all week about climbing out of the hole I dug last week at the Test of Metal, so at the start I watched Anne Yew and Nic Leary (new Zealand's XTerra Nat'l Champ) climb away from me. I kept it nice and steady up the fire road and focussed on making it as far as possible up the singletrack section (not even the pro men could clean the entire climb) before getting off my bike. I passed Anne and had Nic in my sights up the rest of the climb and down the descent. Up the mid-lap fire road I watched Nic stand up and hammer away. I kept up my steady (read: anti-explosive) pace to keep the gap consistently less than 100 meters.

Throughout the rolling singletrack climb just after the lap point, I started gaining on Nic and started the fire road just behind her. She again stood up and climbed away on the climb, but through the steep single track climb she dabbed sooner and more often which allowed me to pass her just at the top. I descended with her less than 50 meters behind me. At the bottom of the mid-lap fire road she attacked up the road. The gap stayed at about 75 meters for the rest of the race.

Up the climbs and down the descents she was always the fleeting white rabbit just around the next corner, but I was never able to close the gap, which stayed the same up until the finishing line. A bit of a disappointing day, as I maybe should have gone when she attacked; but overall a solid ride on a coupl’a tired legs. At the podium ceremony, I received the Provincial Championship jersey, as Nic’s race licence is out of province. So, although I didn’t win the race, I did get to claim the title and keep the series leaders jersey.

In the men’s race, Drew took the hole-shot up the first singletrack climb, led through the first lap until Matt Green took over for the next 2 laps followed by Tom Skinner until Mark Leishman (Nic Leary's team mate) took the lead near the feedzone/lap point area and charged to the finish. Men’s and Women’s Top 5 final results follow:

Elite Women's:

1. Nic Leary 1:38:46

2. Joele Guynup 1:39:35

3. Ann Yew 1:42:37

4. Linda Robichaud 1:51:58

5. Annie Gornall 1:53:03

Elite Men's:

1. Mark Leishman 1:43:13

2. Thomas Skinner 1:43:47

3. Matthew Green 1:43:56

4. Tyler Allison 1:44:24

5. Drew Mackenzie 1:46:35

A hard course, a great day of racing, and a great event! West Coast Racing did an awesome job of organizing with a fun course, post race bbq, and great drawprizes from the race sponsors. The weather turned out perfect for racing with a pre-race shower for dust control and not-too-hot sunshine during and after the race—I even got to work on getting rid of the farmer’s tan!

Next up, a mid-week day off for Canada Day, two weekends of solid Vancouver Island and then back into three weeks of the BC Cup at Whistler, Bear Mountain, and then Mt Washington!