2010 BCBR Day 3

I awake thinking “holy crap, it’s already Day 3!” Not only that but I get to ride on a bus: then a boat. How sweet is that? It’s a bag style breakfast so we can grab the shuttle to the boat and I was thinking I may need more fuel then that. Surprisingly there was enough grub in the bag to get me through the day. This is one of those days were we need the little red race bag as we take a bus to the Courtney Ferry Terminal over to Powell River and trust me, you don’t need to wear a chamois that long unless your riding! We end up waiting at the ferry terminal out in the sun, catching up with Drew from Decline/Niner. He is from L.A and met him last year at BCBR and was stoked to see he made the long journey again. It goes to show you how awesome the trails are around here. Walk on the boat and its more relaxing for a bit. We need to get race ready on the ferry as we race shortly after getting off the boat. It’s just a matter of a short walk and trying to find your bike amongst 500 other ones!! This is the first year that BCBR is using Powell River as a venue and having never rode here I am pretty jazzed to see what they have to offer. Am planning to hang in and rest a little bit today. Don, t go backwards is my mantra for this day.

As most of the starts do we head out through down for a little warm up and around every little corner there is people cheering and applauding or arrival. We even pass an elementary school were all the children are out in the street cheering us as if we are all superstars!! And then off into the trails. Along logging road pace line is followed by some cutline and then dipping into single-track and then…..POP! The familiar sound of another chain breaking! It’s very hot and I am very frustrated. More time lost and I’m thinking I’m going backwards. No problem, fixed and rolling and within 5 mins it snaps again and all I can think is so much for resting. The rest of the day is as hard as I can go. The trails here are mostly brand new, very soft and herky jerky. It’s a lot of work keeping the front end of any bike, let alone a rigid, flowing. Most of the back half of single track feels like there is a guy holding on to your seat post. Just pick a gear and keep the pedals turning. It also turns out to be one of the more technically demanding days with some steep, Lots of 180 degree corners and big holes where you need to decide either to run them or try to ride it out. Apparently a lot of folks got eaten up by both. The day finishes up with a long route back in the same way we came in. We blaze past old monuments of the past days of logging and back down to one of the best tent city locales of the whole week. We are Right on the beach facing the ocean on a ledge. I know, it sounds really crummy. I must say that, and sorry to spoil it because the food all 7days was really awesome, but the guys at The Laughing Oyster in Powell River put out a spread!! I know I speak for a lot of folks when I say that was a great meal put on by a caring bunch of folks! So big hats off to all the people that feed us over the 7 days. Without you we are just a bunch of energy staved riders looking for a 7/11 to gets some Nachos! We arrive back on “the beach “ to soak up the great sunset and view, filling our heads with thoughts of what was a hard and rewarding day.