TransRockies VII
Hike and Bike Across the Rockies
Andy Mitchell / 15.09.2008
The plan was nearly derailed when Dan fell off his bike with two weeks to go and was put in plaster. A second opinion decided his hand wasn’t broken, although his ribs and shoulder were heavily bruised.
We arrived in the ski resort of Panorama for registration. This was a relaxed affair, with none of the AR pre-race tests and kit checks to contend with, so we started to cycle the first part of the course. There was mutiny after 400m as it was straight up the side of mountain in full sun, we returned for a cold beer instead. Next morning, after the race welcome and bear talk, we were back on the hill going up for 9.5km with 1300m of ascent. Dan and I pushed hard to get through the traffic, which worked well but had alarming effects on our heart rates.
By the top we were both well outside our zones, but the ‘sweet single track’ should give us time to recover… This proved more challenging than we had anticipated, with the heavy rain of the previous days combining with snow showers to make the going slow. We found ourselves in some space, which was nice after being stuck in traffic for an hour but 20 minutes later we came into a clearing a realised we where in the wrong valley. We turned back (with the 15 pairs who’d followed us – sorry guys!) and regained the tapes, sadly now well and truly in the traffic.
As we came down the 20km descent, I scared myself, nearly losing it on a cross ditch (drainage ditches cut across old forest roads of varying depth and steepness to catch out unwary cyclists) and then realised Dan wasn’t behind. As I cycled back up the hill, increasingly concerned (cross ditches and weak shoulders are not a good combination), I was relieved to find him fixing a puncture. K2 ranch was a welcome sight after 52 km and 2478m of ascent.
SleepMonsters
