Stage 1

Stage 1 is done. At 10am to pumping music and the cheers of the spectators, the BC Bike Race rocketed out of the start chute around a nearly immediate 180 degree turn (doh!) to head up Mt Seyemour. There was a much publicized choke point where the road ended and the trail began, so the teams with high expectations for the week drilled the pace and the field split immediately. I made the split and sat on the back of the lead group of about 25 riders up through the neighborhood towards the trails. RD missed it and had to chase across before the start of the "ultimate singletrack experience."

We regrouped on the trail and proceeded to pick our way through fumbling riders on some trail that wasn't even that technical. We hit some pithces that stung a bit on the way up to the top of the Severed Dick descent. Severed Dick is a famous North Shore trail that features some ridiculously technical drops, skinny ladders, rocks, roots, and high possibility of carnage. I let zen master descender RD take the lead and we proceeded to bomb down the mountain. My strategy for the day: if RD rides it and survives, then I should be able to ride it too. It worked to perfection and we soon found ourselves in the company of Alison Sydor, a former World champion, a handful of other pros, and several of BC's super fast locals. With the Severed descent cleaned (except for one huge rock/root drop section that I could not ride and had to run because there were too many bodies and bike strewn on the ground), it was on to Mt. Fromme for our next challenge of the day.

We pace lined some multiuse trail over to Fromme and the big climb of the day began. 5% grade or so for about 30ish minutes of middle ring climbing. RD and I did our best to maintain position on the climb up to the top of the Pipeline descent, but a couple teams came by that were kicking out some big watts on Day 1 of a seven day stage race. Once on Pipeline, like Severed Dick, it was full-on North Shore riding with rock drops, ladders, root/rock features, etc. that all had to be deftly navigated. Once again, I let RD take honors and followed his lines. We bombed down the mountain on some stuff that surely had the teams from places other than the NW walking and cursing.

We popped out at the bottom of the trails in a residential North Van neighborhood. Made some lefts and rights, dodged a few cars, then crossed the finish line together in 2 hours on the button. Not many teams were there yet, so it was a good day. Not sure how we finished exactly, because we didn't wait around for results, immediately packed up the RV and caught the next ferry over to Vancouver Island. Home cooking and a real bed at RD's house in Nanaimo are on the schedule for tonight.

Here's some pics and a start vid from Day 0 and Day 1...



A rainbow over Vancouver from our hotel room just after packet pickup and the racer meeting.


Getting the rigs ready by the RV at the ice rink in North Van. The RV will be our home for the week.

Arrowsmith/Mafia Racing lined up towards the front to avoid any back of the back mishaps at the start.

Blue skies means its a good day to shred the gnar on the North Shore.

Coach Thomas cleaning the rigs post stage to get us ready for Day 2.


Ferry #1 for the week.


The start of Day 1.

Check back tomorrow for an update on Stage 2 that takes us from the ferry landing in Nanaimo north on Vancouver Island to Parkesville. Lots of 1track are on the menu and RD will definitely be leading the charge on his home trails.

Thanks for reading,

Blue Star