TransRockies
Stage 2 Takes Riders to Heaven and Hell, TransRockies-Style
Paul Done / 11.08.2009
When riders woke up this morning at K2 Ranch, the mood was a little more serious and a lot less giddy than the day before in Panorama. The pre-race briefing the night before had laid out the scope of the challenge ahead of them: over 2800 metres of climbing including several hike-a-bike sections and some steep, technical descending on trails which had been slickened by summer showers over the previous week. Most riders were planning on spending over 7 hours in the saddle with many aware that they would be pushed hard to beat the time cut-off of 10 hours for the day. Those numbers held true as less than 10 per cent of riders finished under 6 hours with the majority of the field crossing the line in 8 hours or more.
The course served up both Heaven and Hell to riders in large doses. Hell came in the form of the raw, remote and steep second pass which had been cut specifically for the event to allow riders to cross from the Columbia River Valley in to the heart of the Kootenay Rockies. The Heaven came in the form of two epic and long singletrack descents mixing dry and choppy Rocky Mountain-style challenge with steep and slick switchbacks and rooty drops which wouldn't be out of place on Vancouver Island.
The start of the Stage was more relaxed than the previous day as riders were able to warm up with a gently rolling 15km ride along the West Side road from K2 Ranch to Fairmont Springs where the first of the day's three major climbs would begin. Once again Cory Wallace opened up the action with an attack on the first climb and Roddi Lega went with him as the other solo riders and teams chose not to respond immediately.
While Wallace and Lega got a gap, the first-place Open Men's team from Rocky Mountain Bikes showed their multi-time TransRockies experience, biding their time working with the Portugese newcomers, Team Amarante BikeZone-Onbike to hold the difference down. The early effort took its toll on both Lega who suffered cramps which only a large serving of Aid Station jujubes could fix, while Wallace was eventually overhauled on the third climb by the Rocky Mountain Factory Team pair of Marty Lazarski and Stefan Widmer, who had dropped the Portugese duo earlier.
SleepMonsters
