Riding Lynda's scorchmark

Oh my. So much has already occured since the last post. The race is epic - a tremendous experienc on so many levels. For one, the Transrockies course designers won't settle with a dirt road sort of course, something I've come to expect in a lot of enduranc events. The first day was the most phenomal day of ups and downs, super pretty techy, and just for fun a few unrideable sections, although they appear rideable at the top. There is a whole other set of standards for course difficulty in Canada/BC/Alberta. Just check out the Fernie links from the transrockies homepage to see what I'm talking about.

Then there is the event organization. I'm continually impressed by the level of detail shown. The second days start procedure, for instance, was fair and based on times where they put riders in a start block appropriate of the first days ride time. We have the deluxe package, which means, for instance, that we have an RV, someone to drive it to the next stop (and they also dump/fill it), massage daily, a personal concierge to see we have what we need, free mechanic service. There's more too...but the point is they set this up so teams could focus on their race, which, BTW, is what Lynda and I have been doing...

Yesterday the start was a free-for-all. The course started 15 km of roads, paved with deep potholes and dirt, rolling a bit. Everyone was so fresh and eager to get going, so the pace was extremely high. Our start position was about 200 back in the 450 person field, so it was pretty dicey weaving through the sketchy crowd to get a good starting position in the first singletrack. But, we did it just fine. We were pretty amped up too and had some energy fluctions during the ride, but in the end came across the line together, the biggest smiles beaming, victorious after a hard ride. After dinner comes the awards ceremony in which Lynda and I donned the GC leader jersey for open mixed teams. It was a pretty cool moment in and of itself, but made even cooler since they bring up all GC leaders from the 6 different categories. The open mens team was the Andreas Hestler/Seamus McGrath duo. Pretty cool to share a podium with those cats.

Today was a terrific ride. At the start we weren't where we were supposed to be, so they called us to the front of the field. Lynda lines up right next to McGrath and gets on his wheel for the leadout from town. Bitchin! We rode steady, not too hard off the start, had our team tactics dialed in, and had a super consistent ride. Big climbs - one of well over 3,000 up a rocky 12% grade under a big canopy of underbrush, the larger branches would occasionally grab our helmets and jerk our heads back. Again we came across first.

It's not a cakewalk though. Lou Kobin and Eric W are riding super strong, and not far behind is the team of Trish Stevenson and Sam Koerber. After today, the GC gaps are about 15 and 20 minutes, respectively. So we must keep our consistency up to achieve the big prize.

Lynda is riding absolutely outside of her body - especially on descents. She's risen to new levels, which was the purpose of her TR peak. Well, she's nailed it. One guy comes up to me after the race today, and with pie plate sized eyes exclaims "your gal is a wicked fast descender!" She sure is - we finished 10th overall today of 230 teams, and to do so we were riding in some elite company - and she would attack the top of climbs and drill descents. I rode her scorchmark twice, watching her do this to these fast cats. Crack is everywhere and we are loving it.

On tap for tomorrow is one doosy of a stage. 8,000+ feet of climbing, super steep stuff, and about 70 miles. Based on the past two days, we expect it be over 7 hours for us. And since were at the pointy end of the field, I really feel for the mid-pack teams faced with a 10 hour time limit cutoff tomorrow.

Not too sure what the story is...but the open mens GC changed hands today. McGrath/Hestler were 2nd to Troy Missighers and his partner today. Troy and I bumped elbows (literally, at the start sending me to the dirt) at the start of the mesa marathon. Super nice guy though - I look forward to chatting with him on the podium in 2 hours.

So there's a big ol update for y'all - thanks for checking in!

Fernie, Canada

What a trip so far...and the race has yet to begin! The start of TransRockies is in Fernie. The mountains are enormous and angular making for a sriking skyline. Super friendly town too. So far our journey has included half a day in Calgary at an RV place, another 4 hours on the road, and a good 16 hours in a grocery store parking lot. Sounds exciting, eh?

The pre-ride today was an eye opener. Very tech in deep forests where sunglasses mean you can't see - going with a clear lens tomorrow. Very steep climbs, but none over 400 feet tomorrow - the big ones come later.

The orientation tonight included a modeling session of the various leader's jerseys. The open men have a yellow jersey, as one might expect...the open mixed (our category) gets a purple design.

Both Lynda & I decided we love purple tonight :) We are more than a little excited to get going tomorrow and realize our biggest challenge may come from within. Its bound to be fun.

Word on the street is that Andreas Hestler and Seamus McGrath have teamed up for the open men. That will be fun to see!

Until next time...

TransRockies updates

Updates from the Canadian bush? Well, we're gonna at least try. Computer access is prolly going to be nil, but I expect cell reception at 4 or 5 of the camps. Check here for podcasts as the race progresses, we'll post them when we get reception.

It looks like days 4-6 could be remote camps where no updates will occur, at least here. Results should be posted daily to www.transrockies.com and possibly to www.cyclingnews.com as well.

Also, go to Mario's Enjoying the Ride blog for interviews of both Lynda and Dave, and quite possibly some commentary as the race progresses.