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After
a crappy nights sleep in my tent (I miss my Volkswagen camper) I
arose with little enthusiasm to the  dreary,
grey morning. When is summer going to come to B.C.!? I arrived at
the race site and unloaded the bike in the rain, this is when I
realized that I’d forgotten my rain jacket at the campsite. My wife
drove back to get it for me (Thank You Joanna!!!!!!) as I went to
sign on and get my timing chip. I hope I didn’t forget anything
else! I meet up with my buds Bruce and Lance and we get ourselves
ready, we arrange with Joanna to hand us bottles near the golf course,
and we jump into the start corral, ready to go.
After
a version of Oh Canada plagued by technical difficulties , the race
 began.
Eight hundred racers head out onto the pavement, and as is expected,
there is a crash after the first corner, sending at least one racer
to the pavement. I spend the rest of the road portion making sure
I don’t get taken out by anybody. We finally hit dirt and on the
fast logging road descent, before you get into Jack’s Trail, two
guys in front of me bump going through a corner and take each other
out, cartwheeling spectacularly. I pick off a few riders going through
Jack’s and I’m feeling really good. We cruise through Alice Lake,
past our campground and the cheers of my camping group (thanks guys!!!)
as I peel off my jacket and toss it. We hit the climb after Alice
Lake and I’m cruising up in my big ring, I hope I’m not pushing
too hard, too soon. Some twisty singletrack and I’m faced with that
damn hike-a-bike climb. All the way up I’m thinking about the twisty,
rolling descent to come in Rob’s Corners. I hit the top of the climb,
jump on my bike and…chunk.
 I
break my chain. It’s at this moment that I realize that my chaintool
is sitting safely in my toolbox in the car. After a minute of swearing
steadily, I pick up the chain, stuff it in a jersey pocket, grab
my bike and start running. Around 16km into a 67km race and I’m
running through the twists and turns of Rob’s Corners, jumping out
of the way whenever riders come up behind me, getting whacked in
the shin by my pedal. My plan, in order of preference is a) run
until I find a spectator with a chain tool that I can borrow (yes
I know it’s "illegal" but I want to finish), b) run until either
Bruce, Darren, Paul or Lance catches up (how long will that be?)
and borrow his chain tool, or c) run/coast all the down to the golf
course where my chain tool sits mocking me in my tool box, in the
car.
I run
all the way through Rob’s Corners before I reach somebody with a
chain tool, a couple and their dog,.  They
are screaming encouragement at the passing racers while their dog
is barking madly at everybody passing by. I start fixing my bike
and see Darren in the steady stream of racers passing me. Finally
I’m back rolling and stuck in a traffic jam through Rock and Roll.
We hit pavement once again and I try to get aero, while pumping
away in the big ring. Fly down the road to the cheers of the Squamish
residents (Squamishians?), get a couple of bottles from Joanna (thanks
Jo!!!!!!!!!!!) and settle into a steady pace.
 I
catch up to Darren about 1 km into 9 mile hill, chat for a while,
as I recover a little and then grind my way up. The climb is a death
march, a steady stream of riders, some pushing their bikes, eyes
glazed over, silently forging ahead. There are riders sitting on
the side of the road stretching or clutching their cramping legs
with looks of agony on there faces.
The
Ring Creek Rip, an old railway bed that has reverted to not quite
singletrack. This descent is a big ring ripper! It is pretty uneventful.
Then we hit the Power House Plunge, the most technical portion of
the race.  Woohoo!!!!!
There are lots of people walking through here, I stayed on the bike
and rode everything but the biggest drop, this is no time to crash.
On the switchback portion of the plunge there is more traffic. Why
don’t people that are walking get out of the way of riders!!!! The
rider in front of me asks nicely a couple of times, then resorts
to yelling at the guy, finally the yahoo gets out of the way and
lets us past. Pop out of the Plunge unscathed and into Crumpit Woods.
This
is somebody’s idea of a cruel joke. A switchback singletrack climb
after what we’ve been through? I grunt up as much as I can before
finally getting off my bike and pushing. Head back downhill and
hit the  flats,
hammering again. As long as it isn’t uphill, I can still hammer.
Passing between two trees my front wheel slides out on a root, I
reach out with my left leg to steady myself and my calf locks up
on me in a very painful cramp. Ouch. I stand there holding my leg
as two racers I just passed, go by. The cramp subsides enough to
let me back on my bike and I quickly catch up again. We exit the
woods and hit some more pavement through a residential area. More
Squamishians are out yelling encouragement, providing a cooling
spray from their garden hoses. This is what makes this race so special,
the cheers and encouragement of the townsfolk. A quick descent next
to the bluffs, catch some air on the two water bars and hit the
pavement of Loggers Lane for the home stretch.
Again
I slide into the big ring, get as aero as I can and set my sights
down the road to the riders in front of  me
and to the finish line. Just as I make the left turn into the finish
chute I hear a voice (turns out it was my lovely wife, thanks yet
again Jo!!!) yelling "Watch out he’s right behind you". I look over
my shoulder and sure enough somebody had grabbed my wheel and was
right behind me looking to make a last second pass. I wasn’t going
to be beaten to the finish line with all those people watching,
so I stood up and sprinted with what ever life was left in my legs,
beating him by a bike length.
My time
was 4:10:22, 348th overall, 24th in my category. Not where I wanted
to finish but despite my mechanical and the time lost there, I felt
pretty good about my ride. There’s always next year…
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