TransRockies Bike Race
Cow Pies and Hailstones
Cory Wallace / 12.08.2010
With full bottles and pockets full of bananas and gels the riders started the first climb of the day over Grassy pass. Too no one’s surprise it was a grassy pass with a pretty solid view throughout the foothills from the top. I would suspect only 5% of the riders actually witnessed the view as the ride up was steep and put everyone over the red line and into oxygen deprivation.
I felt like I was on top of a 20,000 ft Himalayan mountain top as I tried to suck back air, not on top of a 4000 ft foothill. After a rocky descent the trail headed back up another grassy mountain with the alpine wildflowers out in full bloom. With the steep Rockies to the left and the Alberta flatlands to the right the riders were treated to some more amazing views as they cruised along a rocky ridge through thin pine forests. Coming off the ridge we hit a sweet descent with some big rollers as we cruised down to the valley bottom and to feedzone 2 at 40km.
With only 21 km to go after the second checkpoint I looked at my new riding partner, John Firth, and convinced him the day was almost over and we’d be over the finish line in under an hour. John had lost his partner the day before to sickness so I teamed up with him so we could both finish the full 7 days of the Trans Rockies.
He took my word that we’d be done in an hour and laid down a solid pace through the newly cut trail before we hit a pile of cow pies. That is when the day turned epic as these cow pies signaled the beginning of a 14 km ride through a type of mud which oddly smelt like pooh and had cattle tracked all over it. Close to 2 hrs later we reached the other side of the mess, looked at each other, shook our heads, and then rolled the last 4 km on pavement into the finish line. All 4 of our water bottles were still full as they were caked in cow pies and something about that just wasn’t too appealing.
SleepMonsters
