Today’s race report comes following day six’s 67km stage through the trails in Squamish. The course was designed by Sandra and Dave from Corsa Cycles (A MOMAR Community Sponsor) and was a mix of the Test of Metal, Gearjammer and the MOMAR course routes.

This is where Todd broke his bike during the Test of Metal so he had some unfinished business to take care of today. Armed with a loaner Niner bike that has held up solidly during the first five stages, Todd said he had full confidence in his bike going into today’s stage.

Riding with his new partner Jay Latiff from Arrowsmith Cycles, it sounded like they were both fairly well matched partners. Their goal for today’s stage was to have sub four hour finish. The course played to their strengths featuring tons of single track on trails like the Pseudo Psuga, Powerhouse Plunge, and Fartherside. It was a relatively uneventful day compared to the previous four, but Todd sounded very happy to clean the Plunge and finish in 3:59! Way to go boys!

Todd said that his achillies are a bit of an issue now but aside from that he’s been feeling good and hasn’t had a major crash at all. He’s been really good with his post ride recovery by getting some protein in right after he finishes, elevating his legs, doing cold water soak of the legs, and finishing off with daily massages. Todd also complained of having scratched on his arms from all the overgrown brush on the trails (what a wimp! ;0) ).

In other course news, Adam and Graham are riding strong and Justin and Jeff have REALLY cranked things up and finished 8th today! Norm and Wendy continue to win… The big news from the day though came from Rocky Mountain Bikes (Andreas Hestler and Max Plaxton) who put the hammer down in a BIG way and won today’s stage in a time of 3:15!

Tomorrow, racers head to Whistler for the FINAL stage of the BC Bike Race. The Grant Lamont designed course is 60km long and is nothing but awesome single-track. I’m sure everyone is looking forward to completing the arduous journey and putting the finishing medal around their next.

Oh crap, I forgot to ask Todd if he missed sharing a tent with Gary…

Poor Gary. He’s managed to make it through over 123km in the blazing heat of today’s 125km stage, nearly puked three times at the 90km aid station, but in the final (and only) section of single-track, he crashed hard into a rock garden and now the whole right side of his body is in pain.

Todd continues to be the workhorse for Team Helly Hansen / MOMAR and pulled Gary along in warrior like fashion. “My universe only existed within 10″ off of Todd’s back tire,” said Gary. “I didn’t want to look up to see the terrain ahead of me otherwise I would fall off the back.” During the first 80km, Gary and Todd hung with all the top teams in one big peleton.

Gary is one dirty boy… literally… Dave Silver must have taken this photo not long after Gary’s crash. I’m also surprised to see Gary ahead of Todd… Gary must have sensed there was a camera guy nearby… ;0)

Reflecting back on Stage 1, Gary said that yesterday’s 89km stage was “the most painful biking experience of my life.” Today’s relatively benign stage proved to be a welcome relief and a bit of a recovery stage for Gary.

Active heli logging put a kibosh to the original route that would have taken riders up and over the Duck Lake pass. Post race comments from the teams sounded disappointed in the course route but there was no other option from Lake Cowichan to Port Alberni. Maybe for a future year, they will be able to build a trail up and over the Nitinat headwaters?

Gary and Todd finished with a time of 4:50:50 and moves them into 19th spot in the all male category and 24th overall. Team Comar / John Henry (Graham Tutti & Adam Smith) had a strong day and finished ahead of Gary and Todd by just under 5 minutes. Team Helly Hansen Vancouver Island’s Justin Mark and Jeff Reimer were 5 minutes back of Gary and Todd.

Congratulations to the other Team Helly Hansen Vancouver Island all female team of Kristenn Magnesson and Lisa Ludwig who had another third place finish. And Team Kona’s Wendy Simms and Normon Thibault continue to lead the Mixed category with another fast finish.  Norm sent me a text tonight saying his “[groin] is a bit raw…”  Photo to come… ;0)

I also want to send a shout out to Da Apples, Billy Adams and Heather Macintosh, for finishing another stage of the BCBR. Funny… I just figured out the significance of their team name. Nice. Heather and Billy completed today’s stage in 6:47:34.

END NOTE: As I was riding today on SFU, I tried to imagine riding for that long in one day and then having to do it for six more in a row… Thankfully, I was back in my van in 90 minutes (exhausted) and that was enough for me! The rest of my day consisted of lunch with my family and then to the office to work on the MOMAR. SIDE NOTE ON THE END NOTE: Today I took my new full suspension Berg Bike on Nicole’s Trail for the first time. I turned my rear Fox shock onto the ‘bouncy’ mode and flew down the trail with a massive smile on my face. It was a rush! I LOVE my bike!!!

MOMAR veteren and my replacement as the Day 2 Course Designer, Brent Chan, has just sent me an update following Day 2′s 125km stage:

Helly Hansen [Kristenn Magnesson & Lisa Ludwig] girls were third today. Norm and Wendy won again but the win today was closer. Gary had a good crash but they pulled it together to finish 19th overall. Todd is riding strong and Gary has been having some moments but expects to pick things up soon. Food has been great and the volunteers are having a good time. The heat makes it a totally different race than last year. Jeremy [Grasby of the Riding Fool Hostel] is just about to go up and present his Day 3 course.

Gary will be calling as soon as the awards are done with a more detailed report. Check back soon!

I just got off the phone with Gary Robbins from Team Helly Hansen / MOMAR who just wrapped up Day 1 at the BC Bike Race. Today’s 89km stage went from Shawnigan Lake and finished in Lake Cowichan. The race started with two laps around the Shawnigan Lake School campus in an effort to spread teams out before the single track. As could be expected, teams hammered off the start line to get a good position in the narrow trail. However, in this early loop teams had to cross a farmer’s field which had just been plowed the day before. This made things a bit muddy and one of the Trek teams blew BOTH of their derailers in the first few km into the race. They ended up getting the bike fixed but left 20min+ behind the last team–still they ended up finishing 4th overall for the day!

Gary and Todd were hanging with some top teams for the first few hours of singletrack, but 3/4 of the way up an 8km climb, Gary started suffering from severe leg cramps. These cramps would plague him any time they came to an incline and he had engage his inner quads. Todd was a workhouse for they day and by the sounds of it, very patient with his suffering teammate. Fortunately the final 20km were on the Cowichan Valley Trail (old rail bed) and they were able hammer it out at a ~24km/hr pace.

MOMAR Squamish winners Team Helly Hansen / Vancouver Island (Justin Mark & Jeff Reimer) had a troubled day one as well. Justin was suffering from the heat which reached highs of 32 celsius. Todd went through 10 bottles on the day and Gary chugged 2L of water at one aid station (almost made him puke).

Unofficial results had Gary and Todd finish in 25th place with a time of 5h15min and Justin and Jeff in 5h28min. Other notables include Team Kona (Normon Thibault and Wendy Simms) who finished 10th overall with a time of 4h45min. Today’s winning team finished in 4h14min (I think it was one of the Cannondale teams). The Trek team finished second. The results will be up on the BCBR website soon: www.bcbikerace.com.

Tomorrow’s stage is 125km long with 123km on mainline forest service roads. It’s going to be a day where teams will ride in packs just like a day on the Tour de France. It’s going to be fast and furious!

Today marks the start of the BC Bike Race — a seven day mountain biking journey that starts in Shawnigan Lake and ends in Whistler. Over 225 teams of two will travel over 580km filled with copious amounts of epic BC single-track.

Day 1 (Shawnigan Lake), Day 3 (Cumberland) , Day 5 (Sechelt), and Day 6 (Squamish) all feature sections of trail that have been used in past and current MOMAR’s.

Last year, I was the Course Designer for Day 1 & 2 but due to my new job with the City of Surrey, I had to resign my position. The BCBR was an amazing event to be a part of and I’ll miss being there this year. Good luck to all the teams participating and to the crew managing the show.

Team Helly Hansen / MOMAR are there on the start line despite having bike and injury issues in the days since the Test of Metal. I’m sure they will race strong and make us proud.

Keep checking back on this blog as I’ll be trying my best to post daily reports from Gary and Todd’s journey.