BC Bike Race Recap…Mountain Bike Stage Racing At It’s Best

I don’t know what the total mileage was nor how many vertical feet we managed to pedal, but I do know that over 29 hours of riding in a single week is a lot. My legs are exhausted and I really don’t miss my mountain bike at this very moment. But I know that in a couple days I’ll be aching not for the beginning of yet another stage, but instead the anticipation of 4+ hours of epic mountain biking with hundreds of passionate riders.

BC Bike Race was my first mountain bike stage race. Although I’ve done numerous multi-day bike tours I really didn’t know what to expect, especially given the number of world-class endurance and cross country racers who had signed up (and who of course we would try and stay up with). Due to an ongoing illness for the two months leading up to the race though, my expectations for doing really well in this group had fallen rather substantially from back in February, when a bunch of us on Benaroya thought this would be a lot of fun (and most of it was!). In the weeks leading up to the race I would email my partner, Logan, (who at this point in the season was just flying on his mountain bike), warning him that he was going to have to be really patient with me, especially during those first few days until I hoped to “just” race into shape (um…yeah).

Logan was indeed patient, very patient, as day after day I would claw my way through the first hour or so of racing until my legs recovered and we battled our way through packs of riders from as far away as Australia, Costa Rica (the winners of La Ruta finished 5th), Austria, Switzerland, Brazil…(over 27 countries represented) . Day 1 was hard. Day 2 was simply brutal – 125 km of dusty logging road in 90+ temps. I cracked hard at about 80 km when I flatted, afterward finding just enough energy to ride through the finish. All the while Logan would encourage me to just keep pedaling, hang in there, we’re almost done. I would hear that a lot over the next week…

Lesson one in mountain bike stage racing: a good partner is a must. You don’t necessarily have to be on the same level but you should have the same expectations. Encourage each other. Everyone is going to have a bad day.

After the first couple stages things began to work themselves out. We would pass (or be passed) by the same group of riders over and over. Although the starts were just a notch or two below any pro Norba race, being able to ride at a (hard) steady pace and not worry about the team sprinting pass you at hour three was crucial to finishing well. We were fortunate to find ourselves riding alongside Wendy Simms and her husband Norm during stage 3. While teams would muscle by only to crack minutes later, these two would just pedal along, picking off teams one by one. Logan and I would see a lot of Wendy and Norm for the remainder of the race and I was honored to be able to ride with someone with as much talent as Wendy. She simply rocked.

Lesson two: although these are endurance events, if you want to “race”, practice your starts, or at least get a handful of races in prior to the big one. I know it sounds silly, but it’s very easy to go hard from the gun and crack. With 4+ hours of racing, that’s a long way to go when you’re toast.

Lesson three: eat, drink and be merry. I didn’t have a single Cliff bar during the entire race, nor any solid food except part of a Balance Bar when I was lagging in stage 1. Otherwise it was all about Cliff shots (every 20-30 minutes), Sharkies (basically gummy bears) and liquids, starting with some concoction of HEED and Perpetuem, followed by untold bottles of Ultima (which was provided at the feed stations.) The key here being easily digestible foods that provided enough energy (read sugar) to get you to the buffet line later that evening. Overall this worked great, until the 5th day when my stomach began to throw fits (too much sugar?) By the time our last dinner rolled around after stage 6, I found it hard to eat…despite the obvious need (and desire) for copious amounts of food.

In only two years time, BC Bike Race already has the reputation as THE mountain bike stage race with the best (and most) singletrack. Although the first couple of stages (minus day 2) tease you with some great riding, it wasn’t until Day 5, leaving the coastal town of Sechelt, that riders were rewarded with some epic riding. Chris Beck from Subaru/Gary Fischer and Nat Ross’s teammate, summed up the day well. “It¢s tough trying to describe today¢s stage. Imagine your favorite downhill, now do it for 45 minutes straight. Almost no pedaling, a sporadic touch of the brakes here and there. It was pure bliss. Mountain bike heaven.”

Day 6 was a variation of the Test of Metal course, day 7 a web of Whistler singletrack. Those last three days made up for that horrendous day 2, hands down.

Overall the race organizers did a pretty amazing job of making sure everything went smoothly. Between keeping 400+ ravenous riders fed, managing untold numbers of volunteers, transportation & ferries, setting up and breaking down tent city…all in all a very professional job.

Logan and I finished 9th overall (other BRI teammates Russ and Toby 6th), a position we surely could have improved on had I not been such a slacker. Would I do it again? I have not a single regret, although if someone approached me about a week-long bike tour in Patagonia at the same time, I’d have to think about it