Embed Doc
Copy Link
Readcast
Collections

CommentGo Back

Download

This all started again in July. At the BCBR 2008 banquet. While Andy and I were eating our bodyweightin food, my husband Marc asked for the 6th time (or maybe the 8th?) “What would you do differently nextyear?” I thought carefully through bites of food. “That’s easy, I wouldn’t do the BCBR.”Those of you that had the hour it took to read my last year’s novel might have gathered that I was notreally a mountain bike racer, and actually I’m not a racer of any kind. All of this proved to be a bit of a concernduring a 7 day epic race. My race partner, ‘grand fig’ Andy was absolutely fabulous and without Andy and MarcI would never have lived through the race.“I dunno” I said to Marc, eating dinner and watching two dustbunnies humping on the other side of the livingroom. “I haven’t really slipped back into domestic side of life as well as I thought I would. If we keep racing, Imight totally forget how to do all those chores.” And so, in the grey and rainy month of January Marc and Isigned up for the BCBR 2009.....So.. no more housecleaning, no gardening, lots of skiing and biking. Groceries are still very important, as ismaking giant amounts of food. Cleaning bikes and doing laundry (lycra, jerseys, towels etc) takes up someextra time, as does learning about actual fitness training. What I did plan to do differently was spend less timeIn 2006 my New Year’s resolution was toto more fully experience the world. As Istand in my warm coat and mitts andwatch my dog bury her nose in the snow,roll around and toboggan on her backdown a little hill I feel like I’m missing outon something. Luckily, mountain bikinghelps change this as you eat and inhaledirt and mud and water, fall on sharprocks, grind dirt into wounds and scrapes,get much too hot, then much too cold andgenerally experience more emotions andtactile sensations than you thoughtpossible.

2008, Andy and myself on day 3

The four Horsewomen of the Apocalypse.... first women’s team at the 12hours of Cumberland. The men kicked butt racing as Fig Rolls Racing

on the hills. The only way to ride down the hill with faster people is toget uphill with them, and getting up the hills faster should mean it willhurt just as much but not as long. We bought some heart ratemonitors and played with the buttons and tried to correlate myprevious training perceptions with HR zones. The sudden pain of falling almost became a welcome intrusion into the mind numbingmonotony of training. Tried to suffer intentionally by sprinting uphill,although I didn’t actually manage to do enough of this. We got wetand muddy and cold, and then did that again in the afternoon. Brokemy bike. Brought it to Simon’s Cycle, where they fixed it again. Brokeit again. Discovered more speed than I’ve ever felt, then got used tothe feeling and felt slow again. Raced some ski races, then some bikeraces.

My race HR zonesHR 187

:“I want to die” Tinglingback of neck, coordinationcrap, not sustainable,needs recovery - but goodfor climbing short hills

HR 175 for any length of time

:“ I want to puke” Notingling, but no leg power either. Hope there’snothing sketchy I can’twobble over

HR 165:

We stayed with Andrew and Lina in Vancouver before the race. Lina was off to Sweden for a multi-daySufferfest/Adventure Race and overall the nervous apprehension was pretty high. We pre-rode the Day Onecourse - new this year to increase the ‘singletrack experience’. Unfortunately, the North Shore doesn’tactually have any cross country.... not in the normal sense of the term. Fortunately, we like sketchy! Theracer from Holland was apparently a bit freaked out according to a fellow racer. We rode to the end of thefirst major downhill as a pre-ride, mentally trying to remember the lines. The trail repeatedly rides up to anedge you can’t look over, then either you have picked the correct side and are riding cheerfully down asupersteep ramp, or you picked the wrong side and go over the handlebars. Or worse - have to stop andwalk.... The pre-ride is a blast. So steep and fun....! I can’t BELIEVE we’re riding this in a xc race!!!!!

AND NOW, FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT....... FINALLY A BIKE RACE!

DAY ZERO Line-ups and Skill Testing QuestionairesThis is the traditional day of navigation testing as racerscrowd into a small room in multiple lines heading indifferent directions ending at various tables requiringdifferent paperwork. Next year (“read haha” ) I’mbringing a folding chair. With wheels. The medicalquestionnaire continues to be one of my favouriteevents.

The Medical QuestionnaireAre there any lawyers present in themaking of this event?- what medications are you currentlytaking?- hmmm - ibuprofen, someasthma meds, and crackcocaine- do you have allergies?- yup - cats. That seemsrelevant- are you susceptible to anydiseases?- Yes, particularly sensitive toebola virus.- have you experienced any of thefollowing:- shortness of breath- seriously?- racing heart rate- again - seriously?- chest pain- yes again! I’m sooogoing to ace thistest....- muscle spasms- score again! I’m doingso well!!!!I’M READY COACH! PUT ME IN!!!

DAY ONE: DEATH AND MAYHEM ON THE NORTH SHOREWe warm up feeling really short and pudgy amidst the athletic looking folks all around us. I feel slightly ill.... FINALLYwe get to ride our bikes. Now I feel really ill! A massive uphill sprint - whoever gets there first will get to ride the trail -which will probably set the tone for the whole day. Can we make it with the “riders” or will we get there with a giantclog of people and end up walking for the day? Riders stream by us, I feel like I’m going to fall off my bike and die so Ipush harder - to get to the gate just, really barely just in time to ride the trail. YAY!Marc thinks all 400 racers are in front of us and is feeling a bit desperate. I know we’re with a different class of ridersthan I would have been riding with last year, so I know there’s a lot of folks walking behind us. This makes me prettyhappy, although my eyeballs are wanting to pop out with the sustained effort. Across the bottom, up the hill, Iscramble and flail on the upper singletrack because I have nothing left, then into the down. Marc rides up to eachdrop, track stands, yells “rider up” and waits while the walkers ahead move off the trail, then drops in. I roll slowlybehind until the drop is clear, then we repeat the performance. Traction is great and I remember all the lines down thedrops and stay upright. Scores of fitness junkies move over to let us through. Sweet, sweet revenge.... We hit the bigring trail at the bottom and eat and drink on our way to the next big up. Up we are again being passed by fast people,but into the down we go. Pipeline unfortunately is greasy and I have no traction. I keep expecting it to end, so I don’t

Last minute secret race strategy...