The track itself measured about 24km and had a mix between twisty single track and road / wide track sections. Riding in Fernie we’re all used to one sustained climb followed by a long and rewarding downhill. This race was reasonably flat but you were always on your pedals keeping your speed up, so it wasn’t easy.

When compared to the bikes that most other riders were on, we were at a bit of a disadvantage. All of us, with the exception of Kevan, were riding bikes that have 5” of travel and 26” tires. Compare that to the vast majority of other bikes on the trail that were either short-travel bikes or hard tails that were running 29” tires. This course was particularly suited to the latter style bike as they roll a lot better when up to speed and are more efficient over rocks (of which this course had it’s fair share!).

For the most part we all had a great time riding. For me personally I had some high moments and some low moments. I felt really strong on my first lap, and despite being trapped behind some slower riders I managed to complete it in 1:12:02 including the 600m run at the start. My second lap was my best lap at 1:06:57 and I felt strong on my pedals the entire time.

I tried to sleep after my second lap in anticipation of my night lap. Unfortunately I was too wired and only ended up resting for a few hours in the tent. When I left for my ride I felt pretty good for the first bit until the first real climb of the ride. When I got to the top my lungs felt good but my legs were like lead. I rode the next section about 7 minutes slower than my first lap and was having trouble keeping my cadence up even in my easier gears - I was starting to bonk.

Tiredness aside, night riding this time proved to be a bit of a challenge because of the dust. The trail was extremely dry and there wasn’t any breeze so the dust just hung in the air. It was certainly worse when other riders were around, but there were many times during my ride where I was alone and it was like riding through fog.

I decided to hit a gel at about 50 minutes into my night ride with about 15km of the 24km completed. It took about 10 minutes to kick in but it made quite a difference. While I couldn’t hold harder gears going up hill, I was able to keep power on the cranks and get up to / maintain rolling speed. I ended up finishing my night ride in 1:17:04 and I had a quick snack and then went straight to bed.

I asked Brian to wake me up for my next lap before he took Aaron to the start. He woke me up from a dead sleep and let me know Aaron had already been on course for 20 minutes, so I was a little worried for my fourth lap and not being properly fuelled before riding. I felt good starting the ride and decided for this lap I was going to conserve my energy on the climbs and make it up on the flat sections. I also wanted to be proactive, so I hit a gel at what I anticipated would be the half-way point of my ride to ensure I had enough fuel to finish without bonking again. I ended up finishing this lap in 1:13:34 and was happy to shave 3.5 minutes off my last ride.

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