ride the west - I Love Bicycling

Wow what a day. Where to begin. The moving carnival that is Singletrack 6 started its wheels in motion today. The small mountain town of Fernie is full of shaved legs, and weird facial hair. There is an audible buzz to the town as hundreds of racers began their day today. Some trying to take on the world one hemp/mocha/glucosamine power shake at a time, and others just trying to earn the post race beer.

Google doesnt know what time zone Fernie is in...which leads to massive panic attacks when race start is 8am. — Google doesnt know what time zone Fernie is in…which leads to massive panic attacks when race start is 8am.

Fernie is fantastic. Ive been here many times and it holds a soft spot in my heart, but to be honest I never got my trail jazz from it until today. Today was epic.

The carnival started at 8am with the likes of many speakers pounding AC/DC waking you up more than an espresso enema. I snuck my way into the first third of the massive group at the start line, where I looked around and I couldn’t see a dropper post in sight. The legs were mostly shaven, and I wondered if this was the party I wanted to be in. Mostly all I could think about was that I forgot to brush my teeth.

Like lemmings off a cliff into the pain train.

A neutral start plowed through Fernie, being led by an old town firetruck where mass carnage and chaos took place as the experienced battled with the not so experienced. On mass, we climbed and climbed and climbed what seemed like forever. Pavement turned to dirt as the vista exploded below as we were in our own personal fight club, inches from the wheel ahead and behind.

Being a BC resident I am use to climbing a lot…..its just part of living here. Your pre-work 1 hour burn ride typically holds 500-700m of climbing. I was not too impressed when I burned a lot of matches just holding the wheel in front of me to start the timed decent after 45 minutes of pain to read the Garmin only had 500m gained…..of 1500m for the day!

Oh god.

No matter. The decent started.

In my previous post, I mentioned that this week was a search for trail enlightenment. Well, everything from here is a bonus. I found trail enlightenment on the first day! It was fantastic. The crew at S6 has put together a truly great day of racing. Almost all of the riding was singletrack and the decents were fantastic. Today’s stage was truly a no puff puff race. When you weren’t descending for km’s at a time, you were riding rollers that felt like a roller coaster. Many times throughout the day I simply screamed with joy to the fright of people ahead and behind me. It was fantastic.

Until I hit the second climb.

The second climb, was far more steep than the first, and after 1.5-2h in the saddle getting your legs, arms, core, and head rocked…it was not a welcome sight! What is life without bringing you to your limits though. Unfortunately I broke a chain at one point and had to run to an aid station(which are fantastically well stocked) to find a chain tool, and in minutes I was back on my way.

I finished the day with another great but shorter, decent to roll in on the brink of being a broken man. My arms burned from pulling on the bars so much while climbing, and also from then railing extended sweet descents. My legs were cooked and my mind fearing how I am going to handle the next few days.

Simply it was one of my best days on a bike. Kudos!

Meet Bruno – My Home Base for Singletrack 6

No one can find enlightenment staying in a 5 star hotel. For this adventure I wanted to get back to the grass roots of riding, and my trusty(or not so much) 98 Subaru Legacy is the perfect vehicle for that. Instead of camping, glamping, or staying in hotels(S6 offers great hotel packages) I wanted to travel and live in ‘Bruno’. Part of this reason is that I have to make my way to the start of the stage every morning(there are shuttles available from S6) and the other factor is that I didn’t want to move 6 days worth of gear every morning. Bruno would be perfect.

Base Camp for the week of S6

From home base in Penticton, BC to Fernie it is roughly a 7 hour drive. For you International folks reading this, that is roughly driving time from Paris, France to Munich, Germany. Canada is a big place!

Unfortunately, Bruno didn’t like driving through some of the hardest driving conditions North America has to offer, and he lost a small bolt in the caliper of the rear right brake preventing me from stopping and causing a lot of banging noises. After some frantic phone calls and experimenting with the powers of zip ties, I decided to drive the 90km to the nearest town through a Canadian mountain range with only the emergency brake.

After a rain storm and about an hour of finesse braking I arrived at the nearest Canadian Tire, which is basically a do-all hardware store here in Canada. Luckily, Josh helped me out and I was on the road again!