'Cross is finally back.
I didn't get there until most of Race #1 was finished and I was feeling too rushed getting numbers and sorting my own shit out out during Race #2, so apologies for not being able to capture the novice men/women and the U13/15s. Things should go smoother next time now that I have my bib and have somewhat acquainted myself with the race day routine.
Skinny tired bicycles making left turns at high speeds surrounded by a bunch of really expensive cars. What could go wrong?
Fortunately, the answer in this case, was nothing.
Escape Velocity / DEVO, in partnership with Brian Jessel BMW, closed out the local road/criterium season with a charity race with proceeds going towards Vancouver's oldest and most successful youth cycling program. With a 350m course, the riders were turning in 30 second lap times, ensuring that the crowd never had to wait too long to see the action come roaring by.
This was the first running of this event, but it reiterates what's already been a proven recipe for success: BBQ + DJ + bicycles + twilight = PARTY.
More of this, please.
My friend Étienne has been trying to convince me to do a BC Randonneurs event for a while now and I'd always been able to find one excuse or another to get out of it, but it finally happened. All in all, it was a pretty gentle introduction to brevets with a (mostly) flat course starting in Coquitlam and ending at Red Truck Brewing in Vancouver. The route was exceptionally well supported by volunteers with food and liquid (chocolate milk!), although we did have to make an "emergency" 7-11 stop for water, Coke, and Sour Patch Kids to get us through to the next control.
The ride was challenging, but not in the ways that I was expecting. At 200km (plus some bonus distance because all of us sucked at cue-sheet based navigation), it would end up being the longest single ride I've ever done. Our group of eight stuck together for most of the day and were content to roll at a relaxed, but steady pace. Part of the challenge was the record-setting heat wave over the weekend, but the bigger challenge re-configuring myself mentally. Throughout the day, various members of our group reminded the rest of us to keep things at a "sustainable pace." With my longest previous ride topping out at around 160km and my regular weekend rides usually hovering around 100km, it was difficult to judge exactly what sustainable meant. The route was mercifully flat with the exception of a few overpasses and short-but-steep hill, but it was still a difficult mental adjustment to resign myself to what seemed like an eternity in the saddle.
Final stats:
210.3km
24.8km/h avg. speed.
8h28m moving time.
11h15m elapsed time.
111W normalized power.
All in all, not an unpleasant day on the bike. Awesome company, well-supported route, interesting scenery, and a sense of accomplishment for challenging myself to something new. Étienne is already bugging me to do a 300 or to push a faster pace on another 200, but that's going to have to wait until next year. While cleaning the bike, I discovered a crack at one of the spoke holes of my rear Pacenti SL23 rim, a well-known issue. I thought that I was going to be able to escape this fate, but this combined with the impending 'cross season means that I'm calling it the end of my road season and relegating the Naked to indoor trainer duty until I can be bothered to source a replacement rim over the winter.
Every once in a while, I get to haul my butt out of bed while it's still dark, load up the car, and head off into the unknown on an adventure that will, more likely than not, involve questionable decision making. Sadly, the relative lack of entries on this blog this summer can attest to, the lower frequency of these adventures compared to seasons past. In my desperation to enjoy what's left of summer, I was eager to latch onto any adventure, no matter how ill-conceived.
Enter Grungefundo. The full route runs 140km from Squamish to Whistler on the Sea to Sky Trail with somewhere between somewhere around 1900m of vertical. With the ongoing forest fires ravaging BC and the resultant smoke being blown down into the Lower Mainland, a bunch of us opted for the "mudio" route, or about half the distance of the full starting from Chance Creek.
With full bottles AND hydration packs, six of us set off through a mix of double-track forest service road, gravel and loam singletrack, and some disgustingly steep and twisty switchback climbing with the plan to meet the full grunge riders in Whistler for lunch before turning around and doubling back. The combination of the heat and the smog made things more challenging than they normally would be, but not as much as we had all feared. I think most of us would agree that we arrived in Whistler feeling the effort, but were not completely cracked. Yet.
After being saved by Coca-Cola and pickles (among other foods) and refilling all of our assorted liquid-carrying vessels, we turned around as one large group. The grunge riders led the way back down the Sea to Sky highway before departing at the head of the trail section to hammer their way back. We decided to keep things decidedly less spicy. Quite by accident, we discovered a section of trail that we had missed in the morning when we opted to take the paved option (aka, missing a trail sign). Even though we were bummed that didn't get to shred it twice, our little discovery and the resultant adrenaline from the mostly downhill section was a nice little pick-me-up for everyone and made the return trip feel a lot less grind-y.
Overall, I think the greatest challenge was having to run a high enough pressure to avoid pinch flatting on all of the rocky sections. Personally, I was aired up to 40psi front and 50psi in the rear. The good news is that nobody from either group flatted (apparently a first in fundo history), but the downside was some less-than-ideal handling on what was mostly loose-over-hard terrain, but it made for some exhilarating moments.
In summary, this was ride where everything goes to 11: the company, the scenery, the trails, and the air quality advisory.
As we head into what many consider to be the late road season, many folks (myself included) are battling fatigue, over-training, and various forms of lack of motivation. It's an important time to remind myself that it's not all about TSS or NP or any number of stupid acronyms that sometimes dictate where and how I ride on a given day.
I was asked to do some promo shooting for Jakroo Canada with the crews from Toronto Hustle Cycling Syndicate and Rise Racing during BC Superweek's rest day. Look: see the smiles, and the camaraderie, and the horseplay, and the laughing? Fun.
Not pictured: me dangling halfway out the back of an Prius, which was also fun, though of a different, more dangerous sort. Totally worth it.
