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BC Bike Race 2011

Posted: Aug 02 2011 in Events, We Ride

Stories From the Front Line

The BC Bike Race: 7 day mountain bike stage race

Chris McGregor shares his experience of his first ever BC Bike Race!

The BC Bike Race is unbelievable. I have to tell you this is the most fun race I’ve ever done. It really is more of a vacation than it is a bike race – except at times on this vacation you find yourself actually racing!  

As luck would have it the fantastic crew at Different Bikes helped me secure a solo competitor entry into this year’s shin-dig and I was thrilled. One of the conditions was that “I had to wear DB team gear”, oh – poor me!  The DB gear is SWEET, made by Sugoi and visually transformed me from a weekend warrior into looking like a pro in no time. 

A small taster of DB’s sweet Sugoi gear.

I always wanted to do the BCBR – I’d heard legendary stories about their fabled singletrack; and as a veteran TransRockies Challenge competitor (okay, I only did it twice), I was keen to see if the BCBR lived up to its name. As well I was super amped to race solo rather than on a team for a change. So off I go – sweet new DB gear in hand, a lot of ambition, and of course, Chamois Butter.

First thing I noticed at the BCBR on Day Zero (registration day) is the super wicked vibe going around. All the racers are stoked as they’ve recently been plied with unreal competitor gear: an amazing Dakine luggage bag and swank Dakine shower kit; custom BCBR socks, jersey, tshirt and Ryders sunglasses. Note – the Dakine luggage bag is nicer than any other piece of luggage I currently own…

The volunteers and organizers were incredibly special too. Not just at the registration because they weren’t exhausted yet, but all thru the 7 days I’ve never seen volunteers so happy to help you, or so excited to be there. 

The first night we spent in Cumberland and I made a point of meeting as many people as I could and finding out why they came to BC for the event. I met quite a few riders from the States, Costa Rica, England...you name it.

The Aussies really struck me as being the best. I met two of them in particular who suffered through horrific flight itineraries to get to BC, bikes ‘n all just to come to our beautiful province and race their guts out for 7 days. This alone was touching in a way that only a mountain biker in BC can appreciate. Just as awesome was talking Tour de France with these guys – and how they all were passionately CONVINCED, without a doubt that Cadel would win the Tour this year!

Day 1 racing was my first real taste of what the BCBR has to offer. It was something to behold – me and 400 of my new best friends blasting off from downtown Cumberland on a 6-8km stretch of pavement – all hoping to get the hole shot into the first stretch of singletrack. The weather was ridiculously good; the vibe again was a 15 out of 10. The gun goes off and somehow I managed to stay in the first 100 riders during the rollout – and what a feeling! Clipping along at 30-40km/hr with the pros in plain view was wicked. Until we hit the gravel road…haha! That was nerve racking. 

Since I’d been training for quite some time, raced a decent road & mtb schedule in the spring & early summer; I was determined to race hard, Day 1 included. I gave it my all and earned a semi-respectable time. 

But the trails, they were something else! The singletrack was amazing (they weren’t lying), the flow to the trails was just silly, like I was riding in a fairy tale; and the descents – wow the descents! The downhills were the kind that we dream of. Stunts too!

A wall-ride in an XC race? At the BC Bike Race – you betcha. No way I was giving that a miss.

The theme of “killer zen-like smoking singletrack” basically continued for rest of the 6 days. Each day was honestly something like 90pc singletrack and I couldn’t believe it – the claims made by the organizers that the BCBR is the Ultimate Singletrack experience were true. Each day I woke up in my tent and I thought to myself “there is no way that today will be as much singletrack as yesterday, no way!”  Each day – I was wrong. 

One of the best sections of the entire 7 days was an incredible section of descending on Day 5. We rode along the Sunshine Coast from Sechelt to the Langdale ferry terminal and somehow the course designers plotted out one of the longest descents I’ve ever seen in my entire life. 

Now I’m not the fastest rider in the world however I ain’t the slowest either. Usually in a mtb race if the last section or sectors are mainly downhill normally we can expect to be descending (at race pace) what – 15 to 30 mins? 

This descent into Langdale took AN HOUR. And that was at full tilt race pace. I’ve never seen anything like it! We’re all racing out butts off on ridiculous swoopy, fast flowy trail at speeds which make our mothers cringe – and the hooting and hollering was everywhere! That hour of descending was one of the greatest bike experiences I’ve ever had. 

Another cool element to the race was something put on by Rocky Mountain Bikes called “Race Within a Race”. They chose two stages to have two timed sections within them; riders’ times from start to finish during these sections were timed electronically and posted at the end of the day. It was all purely about bragging rights here; nothing more & nothing less. And this is where I get to brag a little for a change…

…Stage 2 around Campbell River had two timed sections. The last of the two sections was called Ridge Trail, a ridiculously fast smooth curvy and buff section of descending singletrack that you could totally let loose on. Just as I started the section I noticed that Katrina Strand was about 10 feet behind me. In case you don’t know Katrina Strand – she’s a pro downhill racer from Whistler and she can rip. Now I’m no downhiller but I didn’t want to hold her up at all so I went all out. Quickly I find myself descending at a pace that I think will put me in the hospital. Katrina of course easily makes up the 10 feet – however I don’t give up and we let ‘er rip. 

She was hootin’ + hollering at me, screaming & laughing the entire time as we narrowly escaped serious carnage at every corner. Rubber side remained down and we finished the section wide-eyed and laughing our butts off. 

Some sweet descending on Day 2.

At the awards that night I’m stoked to hear Katrina’s time on the descent was the fastest time for all female competitors and 57th overall. The fact I was in front of her and she was shouting at me the entire time was a big reason I placed 81st  for that timed section - and since I’m just a regular Joe, it is something I’m proud of. 

So for the entire 7 days I raced my butt off when my body allowed me to, and had a blast when the body said to put the racing on hold for a little while.  I finished the race and had the most fun I’ve ever had at a race. More importantly I discovered that the BCBR is this is the real deal – as a planned event it really takes mountain biking & mountain bike adventures to a whole new level. I’m glad the biking gods & the DB crew made it possible for me to do the race this year – a big thank you, especially to Bob, Andy & Kieran @ DB. 

Six days of racing under my belt and my you-know-what is starting to get sore…

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