This morning I woke up and couldn’t find my legs or my mojo. I had a look at the bottom of a couple of cups of coffee but they were not there. Despite my problems we woke to a cloudless sunny day. Perfect!
Given team Think Global’s rather fortuitous elevation to 6th place yesterday we were in starting Block A for the first time in the race. This is both a blessing and a curse for clunkers like us as you both get dragged along by the better riders but you are also on the rivet from the start hanging onto the fast groups.
We rode the same gravel road as yesterday but then hit the single track for a big climb of around 400m vertical. The faster of the 2 Tinhorn teams were hunting us down today as we were only 2.30 minutes behind and have been faster than us all week. They passed us at the top of the climb and disappeared.
While there was no snow today the first descent was a treacherous mixture of mud and roots. I has my first fall at the top and had another couple on the way down. Nothing serious but I was in lala land for a while. All thoughts of racing were gone, I was just thinking of surviving.
I did not get back onto Richard until just before the first aid station. Four gels later and we were on our way up Cox Hill for the highest point of the day. The climb was brutal, small pinch climbs and technical sections that were fun 3 days ago had become insurmountable objects. Near the top there was a 500m rock garden which no one could ride. For me this was the hardest point of the Transrockies.
Suddenly we broke from the trees, we were on a ridge with the full view of the Rockies on our left and the Prairie stretching out forever on our right. The trail opened up into an absolute scream. My mood changed instantly.
After 5km of ridge running the trail dived into a rocky steep descent. The trail would suck you into letting it rip and then kick you with a rock garden or switchback. Back down through the tree line we flew. To me this was the best descent of the week. Scary technical but with a wild feel about it.
From there the stage was at full blast on road or wide open single track. With the big hills behind us, Rich and I gave it our all for the last fast 20km to come in happily in 8th place.
When I read the stage preview promising that today would be one of the “funnest days you will have on a mountain bike”, I rolled my eyes. After 20km I was having one of my worst days on a mountain bike. However once we hit the ridge top this day was unbeatable. What a day’s riding!