General Classification
I finished 47th place out of 49 in Solo Open Men
Results, (One racer did not finish one stage so he does not get a General Classification) Overall It took me 26 hours and was a total of 240 Kms with a total elevation gain of 26,553 Feet of climbing. In the timed descent general classification I finished 171 out of 172 in Open Men
Results, and it took me 1 hour and 53 minutes for all the timed descents combined. Stage #5 did not count in the general classification due to some racers going the wrong way so the race organizers called it a neutral stage (Stage #5 results are un official), I know I went the correct way so I added that stage total to get all my final totals. You still had to complete all six stages in order to get your finisher medal and T-Shirt.
Recap Of The Six Days Of Racing
This was my first ever stage race and was by far my hardest race that I have ever done. August 1st, the day after stage #6 I went to the Penticton Hospital to get an X-Ray on my bruised right knee. Turns out It was infused and all kinds of fluid was all around it. The doctor there said that I have to stay off it for a couple weeks so that I don't damage the ligaments. It happened on a crash when I flipped over the handle bars hitting my right knee and head only 8km's into Stage #1. I road the remaining 232km's no where near 100% because my knee was so sore. By the time I got to stage #4 I had no power in my knee at all, It hurt like heck to pedal and I could barley jump off my bike to run up or down sections that were too technical, and I could not stand up on my bike when I was doing down hill descents. I had to change my pedal stroke with me using my good knee more than the bad one for generating power. Coach Heather K had me do dominate leg spin exercises over the winter and that came in very handy. I have trained really hard to get myself to peak for this event and I sure did. I was not going to stop and not finish, even though there were times where my body was saying NO, It was my mind and my perseverance and will to finish every day. I was powered by IB Profen and the help I got from the therapists by wrapping up my bruised right knee with red tape.
Stage 1 @ Salmon Arm, BC, Stage 2 @ Silver Star, Vernon BC, Stage 3 @ Kalamalka Lake, Vernon BC, Stage 4 @ Myra Bellevue, Kelowna BC, Stage 5 @ Campbell Mtn, Penticton BC, Stage 6 @ Three Blind Mice, Penticton BC. I really enjoyed the race because every stage had different style of trails. All six days were long days for me and I like that. My favourite part was all the long climbs. All the races were fairly close in distance to drive to. There were Racers from all over Canada (BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec, Yellowknife) USA (Illinois, North Carolina, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Washington, Texas, Nevada, New Mexico) and other Countries including Mexico, Brazil, Great Britain, Australia, Belgium, Switzerland, New Zealand, Germany, Norway,
Austria. I really have to work on my technical riding, I knew I was weak in that area but I have never done a race with timed descents to see just how much time I lose so it put things into prospective for me. The final banquet was held at the Penticton Lakeside Resort and had amazing food, great stories to share with the racers and volunteers, and the slide show was fun to watch with this song playing through out the week by
Lilly Wood & The Prick and Robin Schulz - Prayer In C (Robin Schulz Remix). This event was worth every penny. Two racers that I have met prior to this race and look up to were here racing including
Cory Wallace who won ST6 in open Men (Yes that was my category) and
Catharine Pendrel who won ST3 in Open Women.
Thank You
A huge thanks to
Transrockies for putting on the race and to all the technical, mechanics, medics, masseurs, ambassadors and finish & checkpoint marshals as there was so much effort put into organising a huge first class event like this. One volunteer made me PB&J sandwiches at the finish line each day, very thoughtful.
