Sunshine Coast BC Cup #1

April was probably one of the biggest month’s of my life....which is what I’ll use to explain my (almost) complete lack of blogging. Between heading down to Sea Otter to race, getting engaged, celebrating my birthday, and moving into our newly purchased house, things have been falling by the wayside – blogging, riding, laundry...I’m sure there are other things too!

This past weekend marked my return to “real life.” We headed to the Sunshine Coast for the first BC Cup of the year. This race is not easy to get to for us – it involves taking a ferry to Vancouver and then another ferry north to Gibsons. In the past, this has been an easy race to overlook because of travel costs and time (the two ferries total about 2.5 hours of on-boat-action each way, but the waits in between add another 2-3 hours each way, with 2 hours of driving....it starts to add up!) but after racing there last year, the trails are so much fun, the area so beautiful, and the turnout (generally) so high, that it is not a race to be missed!

On race day we headed to the race sight a couple hours early. We ended up with a primo parking spot near the registration and awards area (things are looking good!) and started getting ready to warm up. My original plan was to head out for a loop of the course, but after dawdling a bit, I didn’t want to miss the start and decided to warm up on the fire road and some easy-access trail.

The start of the race was anaerobic ugliness. Jean Ann McKirdy, Ann Yew, and Katherine Short all sprinted up the fire road climb. Realizing that I couldn’t match their pace, I focussed on keeping them in sight but not blowing myself up. After an extended fire road section the course takes an ugly left hand turn into a jeep trail that is soft, steep, and painful. Through this section I kept the girls in sight, picked off Katherine, passed a handful of men that had started 3 minutes in front of us, and was feeling (definitely not peppy and race ready after 3 weeks of limited riding) fit enough and fresh.

The rest of the race I rode around by myself; Jean Ann and Ann were elusive and I never even caught sight of their jerseys through the trees. The course was beautiful though and the Master’s Men (who were in the start wave 3 minutes ahead of us) gave me carrots to chase and people to race against.

The course is arguably one of the best BC courses: hard climbs, fast, swoopy singletrack with technical roots and bridges, creek crossings, and probably 95% trail – a huge diversion from Sea Otter which was 95% road or jeep track!

By the end of the race I started getting time gaps of 30 seconds to Ann (after previous gaps of 2 minutes). I was reeling her in, but with only a descent and a fire-road hammer, I didn’t think I could catch her. I rolled in for 3^rd place less than a minute behind her and 7 behind Jean Ann (who is about to head east for the Canada Cups and is hoping to qualify for World Championships) but 12 minutes faster than my course time last year (on the exact same course, in the same type of conditions).

I’d like to claim all the credit for the speed improvement, but I think I have to divvy it up between myself, Drew for all his help with coaching, and Kurt Knock from Everti....the 29R performed flawlessly and didn’t make me miss (even for a second!) my full suspension Gary Fisher. I wasn’t sure before...but after this race, I think I may be a 29R race convert. Though I still love the full suspension 26” wheeled Fisher (especially with my new Magura Durin Fork!) the 29R just rides like a dream, climbs like a demon, and weighs like a feather (and is so much easier to clean than a full suspension!).

Tomorrow we are headed up to Duncan for the Duncan Island Cup XC…so nice to be on the Island this weekend!