Words: Harlan Price
Photos: Margus Riga, Dave Silver, Erik Peterson, Todd Weselake
“It is a real mountain bikers course. A technical, bumpy, chunky course and not manicured at all. It required a ton of focus for the last day. By the end of the week you’re a better rider and this is a good test for those skills you’ve built all week.” Kevin Calhoun half of the winning Duo Men’s Team.
People like to joke that the BC Bike Race is a week long bike camp for adults. You might qualify it as a camp for high functioning kids looking for a something to do with their minds and body to become better, more well-rounded human beings. Sounds like ivy league preparation but it’s more like a wilderness adventure experience carefully orchestrated by the councilors of the BC Bike Race crew, the volunteers, and the communities from each day. Perseverance is a key element of the BCBR and everyone will get run through an emotional or physical wringer at some point during the week no matter if the majority of their time is an all-time high. It’s pretty much the experience every parent hopes their kid has to go through under someone else’s watch each summer.
“Toughest week of my life but the best. We tented but we’re not tenters. We hate camping, it was a gong show in the tent, but we did it. We did it because it was part of the experience. We roughed it. We had friends along the way but we said no, we’re going to rough it.” Leah and Brandi residents of Squamish and Whistler who raced as a team for the first time.
It’s all fun all the time!
On it’s trip to the Olympic Village at Whistler Mountain, the BC Bike Race tour introduced riders to trails that are known worldwide and to trails in small communities with less of an international representation. Each trail network is equally qualified to fill the days in-between the known destination spots because the communities along the route are filled with passionate riders who build trails according to their needs and the landscapes they live in. Each location had a memory to leave with the racers for the rest of their lives, and the joke amongst the crew is that the tenth anniversary will have a station set up at each day to give a tattoo commemorating each stage.
“One year ago the person who has done this event says this was a life changing experience, I had never had a life changing experience in my life, so I say maybe I should do it.” Yutaka Taniyama, Vice President of Shimano North America.
This was the hottest year for the BC Bike Race in its’ nine year history. Racers had to work around dehydration and limited lines of site from the rising dust, but the trails delivered what they always do which is a singletrack experience unique to the Province of British Columbia. Racers were not treated to the normal conditions one expects from the temperate rainforest of the Pacific Northwest. The roots may have been dry and tacky, but where traction was found in one place it was lost in others. (Some trails turned to powder and occasionally corners became loose ball-bearing playgrounds from the lack of moisture)-not neccessary.
Solo Open Men
“You might play a bad hand or even be dealt a bad hand but in my opinion, folding is not an option, you got to go for it. Tristan rode an amazing race, total overall performance really awesome.” The always thoughtful Spencer Paxson, this year’s second place finisher.
As is usual for the sport of competitive mountain biking, a racer needs to have a plan A, but they also need a plan B, C, and possibly D. Strategy plays a big part in any stage race because of the increased need for energy management, for both self and your competitors. An elbow to elbow competition requires constant experimentation, adjustments for unforeseen variables, and a bit of luck. This years men’s race was the perfect showcase of all these elements.
Deep loam in the deep forests provide an exceptional experience for all the riders!
“It was a great week. It’s not to often that everything works in your favor but that seemed to be the case this week. No mechanicals or flats and very few mistakes on the bike. I’m excited to get the win, this is my favorite race all year and I’ve been dreaming of winning it since the end of last year.” Tristan Uhl, the 2015 winner of the BC BIke Race
Tristan Uhl (Competitive Cyclist) exemplified a patient strategy on his journey to the win today in Whistler and the overall victory. Early on he was giving credit to the fitness of Spencer Paxson (Kona Bikes) as was everyone, but a simple mistake on day two for Paxson quickly shifted the formula for the week. Though Paxson went on to win day three and bring back in heroic form the time he lost the day before, new calculations were already being made by a hungry pack of outsiders ready to take down the Kona Collective that had used team tactics for victory the past few years.
Uhl’s previous year’s experience and the motivation of Quinn Moberg (Rocky Mountain Bicycles), a young local from Squamish, created the perfect synergy to disrupt the game plan of the veteran Kona team which included last year’s champion Kris Sneddon and the perennial lieutenant Barry Wicks.
It was fitting that the final stage of the seven day journey came down to a sprint finish amongst the three men who played the most cards of the week and refused to fold no matter the odds.
Solo Open Women
“Awesome. I’ve done this race before, and I knew I wanted to come back. It’s everything and more than I remembered. I really liked the stages, the way they were laid out and everyday there was something more fun and challenging to experience.” Katerina Nash the 2015 Overall Champion
Katarina Nash celebrates a well earned victory.
The women had a great week of racing despite the runaway victory of Olympian Katerina Nash (Luna Chix). Her dominant performance showed no weakness whether she was on a long exposed climb or nailing the lines in the technical singletrack. In a race of over 622 participants she placed 27th overall and enjoyed mixing it up every day with the racers around her, finding her race within a race.
The other top women in the race to ride high into the overall field were Rebecca Hodgetts and Vicki Barclay (Stans Notubes Elite Women/ Bike Flights) who battled it out every day for second and third overall Women’s Solo, and fourth place finisher, the young Andreane Lanthier Nadeau (Rocky Mountain BIcycles). Those three women finished 40th, 44th, and 71st respectively. Finishing an impressive fifth was Kristine Gross.
“It’s been an amazing week of riding. Makes me want to enhance my strengths and weaknesses. I love this race!” Barclay’s thoughts at the end of a long week.
Because a stage race mixes all categories it’s a perfect opportunity to ride with people you might not normally have a chance to. Doing it day after day forces a certain acceptance of the fact that skill and fitness are not limited to one gender. When you’re forced to see the person the next day after a comment or action didn’t land well, then a shift of understanding through the powerful emotion of humility can be an effective social lever.