This month is flying by as I have so many fun things planned and so little time to do them all! By the end of July I will have been out of town 4 weekends in a row from Victoria to Squamish to Kamloops and beyond...
This past weekend I was back in my second home, Squamish, for a guest ride in the BCBike Race. My buddy Michelle won a guest pass with her racing partner Shawn at the Burnaby MOMAR- but unfortunately for him, he was not able to attend...so I got to go along in his place!
It was a great chance to check out this popular 7-day, staged mountain bike race and I had a super fun weekend visiting with friends and playing with Michelle in the trails. Here is my weekend in pics...
Guest Riders with race numbers ready to rock! BIG THANK YOU to the organizers for allowing 50 odd 'guest riders' on the course in Squamish...and a huge thank you to all the friendly volunteers!
The travelling BCBR caravan was insane- huge blow up arches, multiple trailers, bike mechanics, first aiders, chiropractors, campground, staff, and between 400-500 racers...travelling from Cumberland, through 7 communities and finishing in Whistler.
Pre -ride bike tune ups...
BCBR camp...
Hmmmm...I can't say I have ever seen coffee made this way...
At the start line on Day 6 Squamish! Rain let up after a monsoon night and the sun came out for the day. We were on the 'Challenge' course which is where are the guest riders were placed for the day. This meant we were completing about 30k rather than the regular course of 50ishk.It was a beautiful course that hit up all my favorite trails in Squamish!! Half Nelson, Farside, Tsuga Tsuga (sp?) and of course my all time favourite The Powerhouse Plunge (LOL!).
The day went off without a hitch and the team was well oiled by Day 6- as were the racers! I saw some seriously bruised legs and scabbing over wounds on those dirty birds!
The only thing I didn't love was the way they merged the 2 courses together multiple times- so the Epic riders had to pass us Challenge riders during (what should have been) fun technical sections. No Bueno. We ended up spending half of our race looking over our shoulders and the other half jumping off the trail to yield to epic riders. That would have beyond frustrating for me after 7 days...cause you couldn't have a good ride with all the stopping and starting. Some of the Challenge riders were frustrated but others didn't seem to mind- they were there for the journey, not to try and race/ride the course their own pace- they were happy to pull over and cheer on the fasties.
After the ride, I went up the Chief (can't get enough of that view!)...then ran back down and met Michelle for a second trip up to the top. After that it was off to the BCBR beer gardens for a great finish to the day!
The next morning I woke up and headed back to the Chief for one more round... This time it was much quieter on the way up (recommend a morning trip if you ever go- and avoid the weekends!)...so I got to enjoy the trek much more. I went back up to the first peak for that great view...then continued hiking up to the second peak which called to me in the distance... another great hike!
Peak 1...again!
View from Peak 2 down to Peak 1! Even better view!
After the final Chief trip I met up with my buddies down at the Squamish Saturday market- YUM! Loads of great local products, foods, and crafts. I grabbed a coffee and my lunch then hit the road to take the boat home! Great weekend, great friends, good times!
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