Okay I know I missed a day..... But I was so gooned yesterday I could barely walk straight!!! I'm uber pooped after todays stage so this is just a quicky.
Yesterday, Day 2 of the Transrockies was one of the harder days of racing. Almost 2 hours of steady climbing is definitely not my forte, I think they need a Clydesdale category !! I was able to keep Mel McQuaid and Catherine Vipond within sight up till the first feed zone, but I cracked pretty hard here and found myself barely moving over the rolling doubletrack and mossy slow singletrack to the summit of Porky Blue.
Porky Blue is this gnarly fast steep switchbacked descent where you loose over a 1000m elevation in something ridiculous like 5km....talk about boiling brakes!! From the top of Porky to the finish I was in no mans land....it kinda funny how you start to loose focus when you're 2+ hours in and buy yourself....and it's kinda lonely. Missed my mule (Jeff Neilson) from the past two years.
Finishing 3rd behind Catherine who stomped the day, and Mel who also had an awesome ride, I lost my pink jersey to Catherine.
So enter day 3 of the TR3 and I have just over 2 mins ahead of me to Catherine and 2 mins behind me to Mel.... Day 3 was a battle from the get go. Course profile for this stage is pretty nasty with 5 major very steep climbs, a couple of which have 2 summits, and 4 long fast and technical descents.....oh ya, and 90% singletrack, this was one of the best stages ever....and killer hard.
It was a slow climbing day, spending most of my time in my easiest gear, sometimes barely even turning the pedals over. But each and every downhill was more then worth it!!! So fast, so long and so technical (thank you Troy soooo much for letting me use your dually, I would have been suffering a lot more on my hardtail....man I'm soft!!!) each trip back down the mountain left me giggling like a school girl.
The last climb up to Island Lake Lodge wasn't the most enjoyable way to finish the stage, haha. Leaving the gravel road at the bottom we entered an old rail grade trail that was just littered with huge roots, making the riding very rough and slow. Thump thump thump Ouch!! Popping back out to the gravel road for a little reprieve, we finish the final stretch up a steep, seemingly never-ending grass climb. I was moving so slow at this point under the baking sun that the black flies had a royal feast of me. My biggest thanks ever to Crazy Larry for his motivating yelling that helped me get up the final stretch!
I had a great ride and was able to grab back the pink jersey!!! Jean Ann had a great day and I could feel her breathing down my neck all day. Mel unfortunately missed a corner and went off course, it would have been incredibly hard riding with her up those climbs!!!!
My fourth TR was a success and yes, I will likely be back next year! Thanks momma and poppa for the great support as usual. Thanks to the girls for pushing me hard for three great days. And a huge thanks to entire Transrockies crew for hosting a great event yet again (and for the great weather this year....finally!)
One month to get myself in shape for the Xterra in Whistler...yikes.
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