TransRockies 2010
Yeah, Jonny and I finished stage 1…Fernie to Fernie time trial. We had to seed ourselves based on where we thought we would finish so we started at 10:10 and 10:23 respectively. Jonny is in the big Open Men’s category and I’m in the Master Men’s 40 plus (distinct disadvantage being 54). It basically rained all night and at the start which meant we were in for a mudbath and we weren’t disappointed! Fernie has fairly organic soil so the mud was epic. First part of the stage was all climbing, roots rocks…you get the picture and all on singletrack. Some amazing views when the clouds cleared and the mist subsided. After the first 1/3 we got some fun descending and then more climbing and rolling terrain. I managed to reel in about a dozen guys and got passed by about 4. The field is huge this year with I think over 400 riders. The 30 second staging meant they were going from about 9 am till 2 pm. I was riding alone a lot of the time without the hassle of other riders constantly passing or waiting to pass someone else so I guess I seeded well. I crashed once hard on the first descent…too much fun so going too fast “for conditions”. Long and short, I’m fine but I’m down to granny gear alone up front which means making time on the downhills a little challenging. At the 2nd checkpoint I poured some water and gatoraide over my drivetrain to clean it enough to see what was going on. My cable had slipped up, thus the single gear. On the last third of the ride I had 2nd chainring only. Fun and games. Finally rolled in something like 3 hours 20 minutes. I have yet to check the postings which we’ll do when we go to dinner at 6:30 for the awards ceremony. Jonny did great but again too early to tell where he placed. We’ll keep you posted. Feels good to have the hot shower which was done with all biking clothes on to rinse of the 1/2 inch thick layer of mud first before we got the full benefit of the shower. The mechanics were back from last year and it was good to see them again. See ya later with some pics hopefully…
Got back from the big feed and awards ceremony that went of forever, like they always do. In terms of placing on the first Stage, Jonny is 13th in the Open Men’s (behind the National Champion) in a field of 87. I’m sitting 27th in the Master’s Mens in a field of 80. We”re happy enough.
So off to bed and 71 kms of riding awaits us tomorrow…something like 2100 meters of climbing….blah blah blah.
August 9th, 2010 at 8:25 am
Hope you and Jonny have a blast both riding and wrench’n.
August 9th, 2010 at 9:07 am
Oh man, sounds like you’re in deep! Have an awesome time. I’ll think of you when the lake trail kicks my butt this evening…