Day 6

Today is the day that defined our race. It could have been the end for Mafia Racing in the BC Bike race. 20km into a 65km stage in Squamish, BC, AV crashed on a serious steep and loose descent. He went over the bars and managed to wrap his cables around his head tube thrice over. In the process, he severed his front brake hydraulic hose from the caliper. No front brake for 45km on some of the world's most challenging trails could have meant a DNF and no finisher's medals for us. AV gathered himself and kept on riding. He even managed to bang out some solid tempo on 9-mile climb (yep it's long) and the Lava Flow climb (think nasty loose rock) despite having dead leg syndrome. We were bombing the Rip downhill at 25 to 30mph (keep in mind AV has no front brake) over rock and root drops when calamity number two and three struck. Something kicked up into AV's derailleur and wheel because he suddenly came to a stop. He broke a spoke in half in his Mavic wheels and twisted his chain in a spiral and it wrapped around his derailleur. The repair took some time, but we got him rolling with about 3 gears and he was limited to the small ring up front because the chain was so short. Next up, the famous Powerhouse Plunge trail. A super-duper technical trail that drops over some of the most rocky, rooty, logged covered, switch backy, north shore bridged trail you could imagine. AV managed to ride it, run it, and otherwise demolish it, as we even managed to pass 5 teams in the process. We limped through Crumpett woods with only having to dismount and run a few times. When we dropped onto the Squamish residential neighborhood pavement outside Crumpett Woods and I knew we were going to finish this stage. A huge smile crossed my face as I churned my big ring at 17mph while riding one handed and pushing AV along with the other (he couldn't get over 12mph on his own power because of his limited gearing). We crossed the finish in just over 5 hours and I was so happy I rolled over the line with a crossed up wheelie manual. Yep, it was a near disaster, but we persevered and finished. No doubt, it was our BC Bike Race defining day.



Tomorrow's stage is 45km on some sick 1track up in Whistler. We are close, I can smell the finish, but we still have work to do. And after today, I won't be counting any chickens until I'm sitting on a gondola heading up Whistler mountain for the finisher's dinner.

Thanks for reading,
Blue Star