BC Bike Race Experience: Stage 6

Stage 6 - Squamish

Squamish was my favorite stage. All stages were good, but this one stood out for its awesome descents. This stage was 48km with over 1,700m of climbing - the most climbing of all the stages. After two not so great days with a flat tire and mechanicals, I was itching to put in a good ride. After installing a new fixed seat post, it was time to roll!

The ride started with a short pavement section before hitting some fast rolling BC singletrack. The singletrack quickly started climbing and climbing and climbing. Some sections on the singletrack were pretty steep. Despite some strong efforts in these sections, I really didn't gain any time on the riders ahead of me in the GC standings. The good news was I knew I was ahead of many of the riders who I was riding (or battling) with in the prior stages.

After the singletrack sections, we hit a rather short section of gravel road. For some reason, I always seemed to ride really strong on the gravel roads. This is where I made up some positions and time. Maybe it was all the training on the steep fire roads in the Santa Ana mountains...who knows. Anyway, I passed a few riders right before we hit the descent.

The first descent was the famous Half Nelson trail. This trail was super fun and fast, but it wasn't very technical at all. It was similar to a "flow" trail at a bike park (think "Crank it up" at Whistler). Needless to say, I wasn't "airing it out" over the jumps, but I'd venture to say that I hit more features than most other riders.

After another short climb on a gravel road, it was time for the first Enduro - Pseudo Tsuga. This trail was my least favorite for the day. It was like descending Trabuco or Holy Jim. From what I recall, I paced a rider in-front of me while recovering for the much more technical second Enduro for the day - Powerhouse Plunge.

The Powerhouse Plunge is apparently well known for being very technical and there are a few local races that just race this section of trail ("Test of Metal"???). Yes, it was more technical but nothing too crazy. I don't recall any sections really causing too much trouble.

Next up for the descending was MY FAVORITE TRAIL ALL WEEK - Hoods in the Woods. This trail was incredible. When I dream about riding in BC again, I think of this trail. This trail was the most technical of all the descents of the day. It didn't get as much attention because it wasn't an Enduro stage (I got the feeling the race organizers intentionally didn't put the rowdiest terrain in the Enduro sections for safety reasons). This trail was magical. There were drops, roots, rocks, ladders, skinnies, and it was steep in sections. At this point in the race Sam Whittingham who I'd been racing with all week was behind me. First instinct - more gas, less brakes. I was working really hard on this trail knowing we were getting close to the finish and that we only had one more day left to go. In the end, all my hard work and decent riding put a very small gap on Sam....like maybe 1-2 seconds at the most!

The rest of the course had some short steep singletrack climbs before dropping us back into Squamish. As for racing with Sam, he passed me a few other riders after one rider decided to walk a section. I was spent and never gave chase. I think Sam ended up finishing a minute or so ahead of me.

Results:
Overall Stage - 25th (best finish all week)
Enduro #1 - 37th
Enduro #2 - 49th (ouch!)