Thoughts on TransRockies...

Wow...

How fortunate we were to have fantastic weather. No rain and warm and sunny for most of the days.

That big, expensive rental RV was worth every penny.

Steady riding prevails over all-out hammering.

Never underestimate the power of a good mechanic (thanks Chris).

Soaking your legs in 40 degree creek water works wonders.

NOT having to stand in the bike wash line also works wonders. (thanks Chris and Rudy)

I attribute much of my success to my massage stick and anti-inflammatory lotion.

Us girls never had to wait in line for the showers.

Not once did we have to use the duct tape for anything.

Thank you Stans - not a single flat between us.

Thank you Advair - I enjoyed being able to breathe, even at 8000 ft.

Running like a gazelle with your bike is sometimes more effective than riding.

I would walk 500 miles, and I would walk 500 more..all carrying my bike if I had to.

You gotta go downhill sometime..

I came into this race with more cuts and bruises than I left with.

TransRockies Day 7

Last day..and it started with a steep climb and eventual hike-a-bike...times 3 again. With it being the last day, we didn't want to risk crashing out or breaking our bikes, so we rode pretty conservatively. Once we got through the three smaller hills, we had a fast, mostly downhill section until we hit the biggest climb of the day, which was actually a nice climb – all middle ring – something you don't find too much of here. The descent was a combination of roads and singletrack for a long way until we hit the final grunt of the day. It was a 30 minute grinder up to the top a ski hill, then a sweet singletrack descent. Oh how we LOVE dry singletrack! It was pretty swoopy and twisty with a few steep pitches that kept us on our toes. I was having trouble with my front brake, so I had to stop after the worst section to compose myself and shake out my hands! We were so close we could smell the food at the finish! Just a bit more moderate singletrack and then we popped out at the 1K to go sign. Let me tell you..it was the LONGEST 1K EVER!! We were still feeling good, but it sure felt farther than 1K.

We rolled into the finish in 5:20, won the stage, and won the whole damn thing! What a journey this has been. It was harder than I envisioned, especially with all the bike carrying and pushing, but our bodies held up really well. I would have never thought we'd be able to climb like we did after a week of hard riding, but it is amazing what the body can do. This has been such a great experience, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone who has the skills, drive, and stamina to handle such an endeavor. Truly amazing and one of the greatest accomplishments of my life.

TransRockies Day 6

Oh my, today was HARD! Lots of climbing, lots of hike-a-bike and lots of somewhat technical descending. Today was the first day we actually saw the second place team out on the course. They rolled into the 25km aid station right as we were leaving. It had been mostly downhill up to that point, so everyone was still pretty tightly packed. Conveniently, there was a railroad crossing a couple km from the aid station and not more than a minute after we crossed the tracks, a train came by, splitting the pack and cutting off our chasers. Priceless!

Once we crossed the train tracks, we had a big climb where we got in a good rhythm and motored along at a good pace. A bit of hike a bike to get to the top, then a rocky, fun descent that we were riding really well. It eventually became strewn with freshly cut pine tree branches, which made it a mine field of derailleur ripping and spoke breaking sticks.

Then came two more brutal climbs that had several bike carries up boulders and rock slabs. My chainrings got tangled up in my pack on a couple of the carries, so I was stuck at the top kneeling with my bike hanging off of me in a precarious manner. Thankfully there were other racers to untangle me!

This section was pretty hard and the fireroad descent that finally came after was not showing me any love. Loose, deep gravel – pretty much my least favorite riding surface, so I tried to stay somewhat close to Carey and not get swallowed up by any of the deep ruts that popped up here and there. We are so close to the end that I'm starting to get really paranoid about crashing!

The final 20 km of the course was just BRUTAL. Three 200 m climbs and descents all in a row. It doesn't sound like much, but that is like 3x up Kennesaw Mtn – and not on the nice paved road...think climbing up boulders, straight up, and in the sun. Our granny gears certainly got a good workout today, as did our upper bodies from pushing and carrying so much! The descents weren't all that fun either as there were some big, stinky manure mud bogs that we had to make our way through. Yes, now our bikes and shoes smell like cow poop!

Needless to say, we were REALLY glad to be done with today's stage. Not sure how much time we put on second place, but judging by how hard WE were hurting, I could only imagine that they were suffering like dogs. Only 50 more miles and we're done!

There is a neat photo from stage 5 here Just look for the rider wearing the magenta jersey.

TransRockies Day 5

With the exception of some confusion on the first big climb, today was a pretty good day for us. I was hurting a bit at the start – I'm not a big fan of the roadie stuff at this point, as I'd rather be grinding up a climb. Carey and I lost each other on the first big climb, as she stopped to take her arm warmers off and didn't see me go by. So she thought I was behind her, so she eased up her pace, meanwhile, I picked up the pace and took off around some guys who were riding a bit too comfortable for me. I heard from some fast guys behind me that were passing that she was looking for me. Poop! I thought..I hope she doesn't stop...should I just keep going?? After all, she is a faster climber than me...will she catch me??? Our chasers are behind us, and we don't want them to catch a glipse of our pink jerseys....Argghhh! I finally reached the top and some guy came by and said, “Oh no, I'm so sorry, I told your teammate I thought you were behind her.” Argh..NOOOOOOO! The good was that I got a couple minutes of rest, but we definitely lost some time to our chasers by the time she got to the top. So from then on, we made sure to stay right next to each other and just rode a steady pace on the rollers until we hit the next big push.

And push we did...push, carry, drag...lots of steep pitches that weren't rideable, and several that were rideable that just made the legs burn. The final descent into Elkford had some sections that were just huge rockslides, the longer of which we ended up running so we didn't crash or rip off any derailleurs. The majority of the descent was just rocky, fun and fast, although for Carey it was pretty brutal as her rear shock crapped out on the first day and she hasn't been able to get a replacement. Thanks a lot, Specialized Canada, for not coming through with a replacement shock in time! She says it was like riding a pogo stick, as the shock has no dampening. She's a trooper though and is just toughing it out.

We gained another 30 minutes today, so now our margin is up to about 1:50..enough to fix a few flats and a broken chain.

If Kim M. is reading this, she should know that she's going to receive plenty of goodies, as we get more swag everytime we win a stage.

The weather has been great, no rain (other than a drizzle on the first day) and it is getting warmer. The predicted high tomorrow is about 93 degrees, so all these poor Canadians are going to fry and we'll feel like we're right at home! Just need to drink, drink, drink!

TransRockies Day 4

Another day at the office...Today's stage was easy by TR standards. Although it was long, there were minimal hike-a-bikes and the singletrack sections were pretty fast. There was a lot of fireroad riding that was on good, fast roads. Two big climbs, but nearly all rideable. We did have to ford a few creeks and rivers, one which was deep and swift enough that if Carey wasn't standing upstream of me, I think I may have been knocked over and my bike washed away over some waterfall downstream. I lost a full gel flask but found another one later on down the trail, which I picked up and ate the last shot of gel out of – yes, I was desperate! The last 30K was generally downhill with some rollers – mostly big ring stuff, but there was a brutal headwind. Carey was riding strong and was able to pull that whole last section, which was a good thing for me, since I managed to completely bonk about 2K from the finish. It came so suddenly too...my arms turned to jello and I've never had to work so hard to go downhill! Once we crossed the finish line, I proceeded to eat 3 peaches, a pack of clif bloks, and a clif bar – I was in a serious calorie deficit. Once our RV showed up, I tried to eat everything in it... Carey is the most efficient machine I've ever seen, as she can keep motoring along on the crumbs that I drop from all the food I have to eat. I wish we had drop bags so I could put a burrito and double cheese burger in there..maybe a pizza or two.







We gained another 28 minutes today on second place, so our lead is up to around 1:20. Three more days to go, so now we just need to ride smart and not have any crashes or mechanicals. We're hoping for a tougher, nastier stage tomorrow, as we tend to put more time on our challengers when there is more singletrack, climbing, and hike-a-bike. I'm sure we can probably find some of that..

I have a feeling we're going to be really strong (after we're done being tired) when this whole thing is over!

TransRockies Day 3

Today's stage was a time trial, meaning that we were released at 1 minute intervals, in three separate starting groups, so if there was any chance of having a clear trail, this was it. The course was a combination of fast roadbeds, tight singletrack, and short, steep hike-a-bikes and climbs. The singletrack ended up being the best so far, nearly all rideable, with the exception of the hike-a-bike sections. I managed to bite it a couple of times on the descents but Carey was riding well and we kept our pace pretty steady on the climbs. Amazingly, after three days and 22,000 feet of climbing, our legs still felt pretty good on the steep grunter climbs. There were several sections of dramatic singletrack along the rim of a huge 300' deep canyon, which was beautiful and scary at the same time. I wish we could have stopped to admire the landscape, but we had a job to do, and neither one of us really wanted to take our eyes off the trail. We'll have to buy the race DVD when it comes out. We finished the day in 3:38 for 27 miles, so still a hard day in the saddle, but we won the stage and put another 24 minutes on second place.

Tomorrow's stage is about 68 miles, but we're hoping it will go a bit faster than previous days. I'm still expecting another 8 hour day in the saddle.

More pictures posted on Picasa.

TransRockies Day 2

Day 2 started out fantastic – we were able to ride for over two hours without having to get off our bikes and the climbing was somewhat gradual. Like all good things, it came to an end and we hit a 3K hike-a-bike along a steep, grassy road. The road dead ended at a scree chute and we were told the day before we'd have to climb up the chute and then pick up a singletrack trail. The scree slope was nearly vertical, so the only option was to carry your bike on your back. So we all slowly plodded along, taking one step at a time, slowly making progress. As I rounded a bend, I thought “You've got to be kidding me!” as I saw the long string of racers all up the mountain.



The terrain was tenuous, and every so often someone from above would yell “ROCK!!” and we hoped that nothing boulder sized would come down on us. We kept going, and I pulled slightly ahead and stopped at about 7000' feet in elevation – still 500' from the summit – then the unthinkable happened...people started coming BACK DOWN! NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! Then we start to hear, in a message passed down from above, “Anybody seen any orange tape lately??” For a brief moment, curse words were uttered in every language represented in the race. We had gone too high...750 vertical feet to be exact, with our bikes on our backs, and at a snails pace. So we all headed back down, those already at the top chose to just bushwhack to catch the trail. As we descended down the scree slope, we saw the faint trail where we were supposed to turn, which was the largest cluster I'd ever seen. There were three “lanes” of racers all funneling into a 8” wide trail that was pretty much all hike-a-bike due to the log jam of racers. We actually had to stand there for 5-10 minutes and wait for our turn to go in. I cannot imagine how much time we lost, as the faster racers got screwed the most, and the slower ones got to benefit from our mistake. The next hour was a hurry-up-and-wait situation, as we slowly funneled through the tight singletrack.



When we finally popped out on the road and reached a control station, we were told another women's team had come through. They had gotten ahead of us while we were going up the mountain, so now we had to work a bit on the next big climb in hopes of catching them. Thankfully, we caught them halfway up the climb and were able to pass them and keep our momentum. We had some sloppy downhill hike-a-bike and then a nice gravel road cruise into the finish. We ended up putting 18 minutes on second place in about 20K, but in the end they decided not to count the stage in the GC, since things had gone so horribly wrong.

Today is a short stage, so hopefully we can get a few more minutes on them.

TransRockies Day 1

Wow...what a tough start to a seven day race! The course started out with a 5000' climb that we figured would have some hike a bike. Because of that, Carey and I got a good starting position near the front of the pack, to hopefully avoid any potential bottlenecks. The climb ended up being mostly rideable, but it was damn steep and looonnnggg..when we finally reached the summit I had 1:40 ride time on my computer – so much for an EASY first day!



The next 14K was like a section out of a bad adventure race. Relentless singletrack hike-a-bikes and sketchy scree field downhills. I think it took us over two hours to ride...er push, that 14K and we never stopped! And it was all at 8,000 ft to boot. Oh, and did I mention it was SNOWING! Bloody hell as Neal would say!



The end of the stage featured a fast decent on a fast fireroad, so we had a bit of reprieve before our final climb and descent to the K2 Ranch. We crossed the line in first in the open women's division, so we were stoked. We were able to ride somewhat conservatively, keeping our HR's below 165 most of the time, so that we can actually still climb tomorrow. Today's course made Mt. Mitchell look like a charity bike tour, so I can only imagine what tomorrow will bring! Now we're off to some chow!

Photos: Pre-Race

Here's just a few...see my Picasa page for the rest of the photos.


Bow River in Banff...very cold


View from the Gondola in Banff National Park..7,500 ft


Carey and I at the summit..don't worry, we saved our legs and took the gondola up!


Singletrack in Calgary overlooking the river..basically right out the front door.


More singletrack in Calgary


This is how we roll..


Short hike to stretch our legs on the way to Panorama, BC.


Glacial melt river on the way to Panorama.


Another view of the same river.

We're just about to head to dinner and are ready to get this party started!

Banff and Canmore

Today we took a brief tour of Banff and Canmore.  We checked out a waterfall on the Bow River, as well as rode the gondola up to the mountain summit.  It was very cool, and I hope to post some pics soon.  

Weather here is incredible, 75 to 80 degrees, but all these Canadians are complaining that its too hot!  I hope we have more of the same for our race.  

Tomorrow we hitch up the wagon, er, the RV, and head to Panorama for check-in.  Carey and I are getting excited. 

Screw you United!

So we just spent the afternoon trying to chase down my bike, as it never showed up at the house, and they (United) couldn't even tell me when (or if) it would be delivered.  It DID make it to the Calgary airport though, so we decided to tell United to bugger off and just went to pick it up ourselves (at 28 cents per km + fuel, since we had to use the truck that came with the 5th wheel we rented).  When we got to the airport, we continued to get the run around as the baggage department didn't have my bike and tried to tell me it wasn't there.  We argued back and forth for a bit, so they checked the tracking number, and sure enough, it was there.  So now I was going to stay and make these people's lives a living hell until they produced my bicycle.  In the end, they found it just sitting up in the Custom's baggage area - apparently no one had brought it downstairs to the baggage office so it could be delivered and they felt no urgency to do so!!  (Insert lots of swearing here)

I am completely amazed at the lack of common courtesy and regard for their customers that these airlines seem to have.  Having to pay $100 extra to put the bike on the plane, then have them forget it, and having to make a special trip back to the airport just stressed me out way more  than I really wanted coming into such a big event.  Hopefully things will go smoother from this point on.  

Missing one vital piece...

So we have all arrived safe and sound with the exception of my Turner Nitrous...as of last night it was still in Denver.  All of the rest of our luggage made it on our connecting flight to Calgary, but somehow they managed to forget the BIGGEST MOST OBVIOUS PIECE.  I knew it wasn't a good sign when I went to the oversized baggage claim and my spare wheels were there, but my bike box wasn't.  After filling out a missing baggage report last night and spending 45 minutes this morning on the phone, they have assured us that my bike is ON a plane from Denver that arrives here at 2:20 p.m.  Hmph..we'll see.  

This morning I borrowed one of Trish's bikes and we went for a nice ride along the river to loosen our legs up.  Everything felt pretty good, so now I'm just waiting for my bike to show so I can stop worrying.  Hopefully it will arrive with all its parts..

Now we're off to go pick up our behemoth RV in downtown Calgary.

UNpacking Gear..

No!!! I just realized that I accidentally tossed a CO2 in my wheel box that is all taped up. Grrr!!! Oh well, its probably better that I unpack it rather than have the monkeys at the airport go digging through there to find the cartridge. Dammit!

Airline Weight and Size Restrictions

Packing has never been so difficult. I can remember the good 'ol days where you just threw everything into 2 humongous suitcases and 1 carry-on and did not think twice about how large or how much everything weighed.

Well, now, I have had to download American Airlines' baggage policies, go over it with a fine-toothed comb, and take a measuring tape and make sure my bags and bike box fit within their guidelines. And then lug everything over to The Animal Clinic and weigh each item. I even made a copy of the policies, just in case the people at the ticketing counter try to overcharge me.

Luckily, I got my ticket the day before the airlines decided to charge an extra fee for any checked bag. Geez!

I vote for an overall weight limit, which would include your body weight plus that of your luggage. So if you are FAT!!!! then you pay!!!

First, an increase in health insurance. Then, I cannot find clothing that fits. And now, I am getting screwed by the airlines. All this because now the healthy and fit are now the minority!

(Can you tell I am just a little frustrated?)

Packing

Hmm..how many shorts..how many jerseys...long sleeve? short sleeve? no sleeve? Rain gear? Will TSA confiscate all my gels, claiming that they are some sort of explosive that will be used to blow up the plane? Last time they thought I might bludgeon someone to death with my allen wrenches and that my vitamins were part of a small drug trafficing operation. I've never been a light packer for races, but with all the luggage restrictions and fees these days, it looks like I'll have to go a bit lighter than usual. Weather in Calgary is highs in the 70's and lows in the 40-50's. I'm bringing my down jacket, just in case.