BC Cup Finals at Sunpeaks

After a whirlwind week of 5 workdays we headed to Sunpeaks Resort just past Kamloops, BC for the BC Cup finals. After missing 2 ferries and getting a late start we got in to the resort about 10:30pm after a beautiful drive over the Coquihalla highway. Saturday, morning of the race Drew and I headed out for a coffee run, race registration, and breakfast. After running errands and getting the sleep out of my eyes I headed out for a pre-ride of the course. The course was a bit of a shocker, tough, steep climbs, rough descents, and then more climbs.

For the race start they started the Pro Elite Women behind the Pro Men and Junior Men. Up the climb Sandra Walters sprinted to stay onto the back of the men’s field. I bridged up a third of the way up the first climb and tried to hold on to Sandra’s wheel until the climb got steeper and she pedalled up and away. I dialled it back a bit and steadily turned over my pedals over the climb and into the first section of singletrack. After a dusty schute the course dropped into singletrack via a rooty line or a bridge that led to a skinny. Down the singletrack and back into more climbing, down a bit more singletrack, back up another climb, and down a big fire road descent back through the village area, a single track climb and a final singletrack descent.

I rode the race with no sign of Sandra in front or Christine behind me. The rest of the race was a mental battle as my legs suffered up the climbs, my lungs threatened to wheeze, and my single track skills were rough and bordering on comical. The last lap of the race everything came together a bit and I savoured my last 27 minutes of cross-country racing for the year.

This cross country season has been a huge stepping-stone for me. I finished up 1st Overall in the BC Cup Series, won the BC Provincial Championship title, and got 3rd at the Test of Metal. I have a lot of work ahead of me for next cross country season including more hours on the bike, work on my technical speed, and improvement in my suffering ability (apparently you can ALWAYS suffer more....).

For now, however, I am looking forward to cross season. This cross season Drew and I are planning on travelling a bit more with trips to Seattle for Starcrossed and Rad Racing’s USGP, Edmonton for Canadian Nationals and Jim Horner UCI, Toronto for UCI races, Portland so Drew can defend his Single Speed Cyclo Cross World Championship title and then again for the Portland USGP’s, and then a final race weekend in Bend, Oregon for U.S. National Cross Championships.

Drew has been presently surprised with his season as he has used the mountain bike season to prepare for cross. He has consistently improved throughout the season to finish up 2nd overall in the BC Cup Series (and 2nd in the final race of the BC Cup).

Drew and I would both like to thank Gary Fisher for their help this season and the sponsors of Island Racing Club: Robert W. Cameron, La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries, and BB Physio.

Crank Worx...work...and now Sunpeaks!

The last couple weeks have been crazy. A weekend at home spent working, catching up with friends, dinners out, riding bikes, and cleaning house! Another coupl'a days at work and Drew and I were off to Crankworx for the second weekend of the mountain bike festival (aka Mountain bikes Disneyland).

Crankworx is something everyone remotely interested in cycling should experience; it is big, glittery, guilty, and horribly fun. Every night is a different party (though we managed the keep the crazy nights to a healthy minimum), every day is a different event--from downhill racing to cheese-rolling to the Slopestyle main event. There are all the Whistler trails to ride, tons of vendors to show their wares, and endless things to do.

I worked for the weekend at the Shimano booth. This year's booth incorporated mountain and road components, with the hit of the event being Shimano's electric Dura Ace Di2 road component group. We had a great crew including Dave Narona, Larry Zimich, Kelly Sherbinin and Darren Butler from Endless Biking, and the Shimano crew that included Greg Hammond and Elladee Brown.

We headed home on the Sunday 10pm after watching the Slopestyle Saturday night from the top of the Kona tent and then putting in another work day on Sunday. Back to work Monday and now we are headed off this afternoon for BC Cup Series finals at Sunpeaks Resort. This is the last mountain bike race of the year on a course I have never raced....looking forward to a great final race weekend of the season!

Mt. Washington: Six down and one to go....

This last weekend marked race 6 of the 7 BC Cup races in the 2009 Series. It was a bit of a loaded weekend for me: last weekend's crash was still fresh in my mind, the week leading up to the race had a serious lack of mountain bike riding, I was tired and feeling flat from multiple 30+ degree days with a lack of lake-time, and the pressure is mounting for me to actually win a BC Cup race.

The race was up in Mount Washington Alpine Resort, which is on the island...which meant NO FERRIES!! Friday we headed up to pre-ride the course, which was the driest I've ever seen, then headed to some friend's house for an amazing dinner and a night's sleep on the farm. Saturday we woke up to clear skies and after a quick breakfast, headed up to the resort for our early 10am start (a bit of a relief after reviewing the expected heat for the day!).

Off the start line Katherine Short tore off and up the first ski-run climb (literally...straight up a ski run!) with Jean Anne McKirdy responding behind her. After my legs had been lulled to sleep at the line waiting for the start, I wasn't ready or able to respond. I kept my pace nice, steady, and comfortable up the climb to pass Katherine just before the singletrack. Into the singletrack I bobbled and pulled aside to let Katherine (still on her bike) past. Back onto the bike and up the steep, ugly second section of ski-run where I was able to catch back up to Katherine and pass her before heading into the rolling singletrack that followed.

My legs were working fine, but my normal technical confidence was definitely lacking; rather than speed, I was forced to focus on riding a clean, steady race. I stayed within myself on the descents, kept it just-above-comfortable in the working sections, and just-a-bit-more-uncomfortable on the steep climbs. I kept my second place position for the rest of the race without seeing anyone until the 3rd (and last!) lap when Katherine rounded a corner 10 seconds behind me at the half-lap point (with about 15 minutes to go). I attacked on a rolling section of fire road and headed up the climb at much-worse-than-comfortable pace to head into the singletrack. With one of the senior guys behind me I focussed on riding smooth through the downhill and steadily hammering the climb through the feed zone.

After the feedzone, the lap descended down a fire road and then climbed up a loose double track, across a road, and then up a technical singletrack and into rolling, rocky, rooty singletrack and into the finishing straight. I put myself into a very ugly place on the uphills and subsequently bobbled on an uphill rock face. I couldn't get back on my bike (a theme from last week's crash??) and had to take a deep breath and force myself to calm down. Onto the bike, across the rock mesa, down the rocked road and into the finishing straight only 1 minute ahead of Katherine to finish up in 2nd. Drew kept the household balanced with a 2nd place only 2 seconds behind Tom Skinner!

Next, I'm looking forward to a weekend off at home, Crankworx in Whistler (with Shimano) and then a final BC Cup at Sunpeaks Resort in Kamloops, BC-a resurrected course for the series, but a new course for me!

The rest of the 3 day weekend Drew and I spent playing tour-guide with one of my best friends from high school, Hannah. We spent a beautiful day hiking, swimming, and climbing in the Sooke Potholes (above), then headed to Sombrio for a late-afternoon hike on the beach. Sunday night we headed downtown for food from Ferris's Bar and Grill and sat across the harbour listening to Symphony Splash followed by a fireworks display....not a bad way to spend a weekend!