We woke up on the beautiful beach at Powell River on day 4 before catching a short ferry to Earls Cove. Stage 4 was the first point-to-point course of the race. It was also the longest route at 60+ km and conjured up a lot of climbing as well. The race organizers told us this would be our longest day and it was..
The route started with some moderate climbing up a gravel road. It then continued up the "power line" climb. This climb had many short steep sections that had many riders walking. To be honest, they were steep but nothing worse than the trails we ride in Laguna on a regular basis. After the steep sections, climb continued for quite a few miles. I was making up some good time on the climbs, even passing many riders who finished before me the previous days. I remember passing duo teams pushing each other up the climbs. At some point during the climb I noticed my dropper seatpost lever was broken. The seat stayed in the up position, so it wasn't too big of a deal. It would be an easy fix that evening, but it meant riding without the ability to lower the seatpost for the rest of the stage.
The stage ended with 15 km of nearly all downhill with two Enduro stages thrown in. Just before I got to the summit, I was mashing and mashing up the last little steady grade when I heard a hissing from my rear tire. Much to my dismay, my Racing Ralph with snakeskin had been sliced open by one of the many rocks on the trail. Trying not to panic, I quickly put a tube in the tire and started to inflate it with my single large CO2 cartridge. I was promised this cartridge would be enough to get a 29er tire up to 30 PSI. I put all the air in the tire and by my guess it was still well below 20 PSI. I immediately started to panic. By this time all the riders I worked so hard to pass on the climb had strolled by me. I realized I definitely couldn't ride the remaining of the course with that low of pressure as I would be sure to get a pinch flat. I started asking fellow riders if they had a spare CO2 or a pump. The first rider to pass - Wade Simmons. He only had a pump and was unwilling to stop (BTW - he's the nicest guy ever and I don't blame him). A few more riders passed before rider #254 tossed me a CO2. I quickly filled up my tire and was rolling again.
The descents into Sechelt were incredible. I was tip-toeing a little bit knowing that if I flatted again I would be in serious trouble. Also, I was now behind many slower riders for the Enduro stages. Oh well.. I made it down the mountain without issue and pushed where I could to make up lost time. I finished the day in 34th, not too bad but still really frustrating.
Results:
Overall stage: 34th
Enduro #1: 51st
Enduro #2: 63rd
Dawn of a new day, the longest day yet.
Just five more minutes ...
So much for sleeping in. Time to pack up the Big Red (race bag) again.
The sea of Big Reds.
Scenic short ferry ride.
Exhausting finish.
I spent a lot of time riding with Sam Whittingham (pictured above). We finished one spot away from each other on the first 3 stages. Sam is the world record holder for being the fastest man on earth on a human-powered-vehicle! He set the world record 16 years ago by riding a bike 83 MPH. His record still stands today. He was racing on one of his custom built 29er single speed bikes. He's also the founder/owner of Naked bikes. They're beautiful handmade bikes. He has a wait list of over a year for one of his frames.
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