BC Bike Race Blogspot: CTS Day 1

It started as a cool day, having had breakfast and prep at Ken's then making our way to the start line.

Final tuning at the truck then off to the prerace meeting. Today mud was expected along with quite a bit of dirt road.

A manual sign-in then stand at the starting gate awaiting the gun. The usual inconsiderations as people feel they need to be up towards the front, whether or not their abilities merit it.

To my right I see Tanya from BCBR, (she recently won Hot August Nights with 17 laps!). A friendly hello then we're off. A measured pace as the group was bundled together heading towards singletrack. Admittedly a little annoyed as some of the people who pushed to the front demonstrate their technical incompetence on easy obstacles, spreading the group out further from the front. One of these resulted in a chain jam which sidelined me as 6-10 people went by.
I quickly repassed most and had a great time swooping through winding singletrack. Didn't feel like a big effort but my heartrate was unusually high.

Fast and swirling singletrack, hardpacked, crossed with roots and burmed with natural rock out croppings - sweet. At this point I tried to flow as much as possible while maintained a steady pace.

Then out into the open road. The pace was in the mid thirties and people jotted in and out of formation like hornets at a picnic. Were they all triathletes or what. Suggestions of working together turned into breakaways, and with a pace that
Pushed high into the thirties - too fast. I resolved to let them go.

Unfortunately this left me to fend for myself, pushing wind most of the road sections - there were quite a few.

For much of the balance of the day we were on ATV trails - with continual muddy bogs that you usually had to hike-a-bike through.
At first it was fine but after hours - not so fun anymore.
Familiar faces in the field. Trish Spooner (I think) caught me as I trudged through one section. Don't remember seeing her since Mike Cadwell's offroad tri (which I mentioned) but like most people that I recognize, they have no idea of who I am. Not sure of where Stew or Dan or others were relative to me in the field. Kind of expected to come accross them, but it never happened. At this point I caught most of the peloton from the beginning (wonder how many more calories that cost me), then pasted Trish on a hill and went solid to the end. 2 riders saw me coming up on them and upp'ed the pace. I reached them and did a final sprint finish with one of them, nudging him out at the line.
Not sure where I finished as far as placement but a solid, yet reasonable effort. Didn't see Stew at the finish but grabbed some food and rode the 4km (was actually over 6...) to the camp. Oh yeah, forgot to mention that the mud threw off my shifting limiting my gear selection for most of the race. Tried to tune it to no avail and even had to unjam the chain from my spokes half a dozen times.

At the camp I pressure washed the bike and made it to the central area. Subway subs awited along with refreshments. I dreaded the walk to the cabin as I heard the guy in front of me get instructions, "...go down this path until you see the shed, turn right and continue to the fork, go over the hill and it's the third cabin on the left...".
"Where is Sunrise?", I asked. "Right there" as he pointed to a cabin 50 feet away - yes! A nice shower, organized gear in our lighted and heated cabin, then enjoyed another sub, free beer, and chatting with a similar level of rider as I typed my blog overlooking the lake. Had a swim too.

So off to dinner and to enjoy the rest of the evening. Will take tomorrow as it comes.