Day 7 - Final

After a Tim Horton's breakfast the 2 families loaded into the rental car and headedd to Whistler. The Sea to Sky highway was under construction preparing for the Olympics but delays weren't an issue.

A very unrestful night with congestion and sore throat left me feeling exhausted going into the final stage stage. After a week of being a bystander to injuries and illness, it appears that it was my turn. As we prepared our gear in the parking lot, there was Wally with Mathieu on his back. Final prep and wiring of my helmet cam and we were off to the start.
It started in the Village and quickly turned up the hill. Though it was to be a short day (49 km and 5 hours or so) I immediately realized that I was going to have to dig deep. We climbed, and climbed, and climbed...
Stew was up ahead and creating a large gap as I tried to keep churning my granny gear up the long access road towards the top of the mountain. Hoping to rejoin on the dh, being this far back would mean having to navigate through LOTS of riders with more lungs than skills. When we finally got into the woods, that was just how it was.
There was some nice singletrack, but lack of flow (due to traffic) and fatigue limited my enjoyment.

The trails were sweet. Segments of singletrack connected by some service roads, doubletrack and streets. The trails included smooth packed limestone zig zagging into the hillside, choppy and cross rooted trails tangled through the forest and rolling fast paths. There were also steep windy descents and the occassional ladder bridge to ride.

Wearing the helmet cam, I had to quickly reach for the switch when things seemed interesting. Unfortunately I couldn't always let go of the bars during some of the best stuff to start filming.

Finally while churning up a steep fireroad, I saw Stew awaiting above a switchback. My legs had nothing in them, so I spent the ride in auxilary power, just trying to finish it.

As we rode together down the mountain face to the first feed station, our families awaited shouting encouragement. Half way finished! More of the same (fortunately minmal sustained climbs). Saw several familiar riders which reassured me that we weren't in too bad of a position. Fatigue was demonstrated in other riders when they just toppled over for seemingly no reason. Similiarly I was impressed with how people were able to continue to stay on the bike as they struggled up steep and long hills, many of which I had to walk. At one point we saw a black bear in the bushes.

Volunteers were amazing during this race; providing info, encouragement and direction. In some cases, the remaining distance info was often inaccurate. In this case, we were told there were 12km left, 3 km later - 15 km left, then finally (w km later) another feed station. Feeling better, but still tired our families (and Wally's) were there too. A volunteer swore that there were only 5km left so we continue on. Knowing that little remained - found some more energy and after 5 actually kilometers - the finish!! We crossed the line with our hands held high to the applause of our families! Finisher medals were presented, t-shirts handed out, and some other swag.

Recovery on the lawn, some food, then off to the hotel to get cleaned up for the final banquet.

It was quite the race: lots of complications and setbacks, but lots of great riding too. Seven days of doing the sport I love, surrounded by other enthusiasts, a great vibe, and a shared with a great race partner. Now for the more relaxed portion of my vacation.

First to get over this damn cold!!

Bye for now!

Mike
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sent by Blackberry