If you are a mountain biker in BC or Alberta, you probably
heard of the TransRockies. It’s a classic 7 days MTB stage race between Fernie
and Canmore. In the last few years, the
organizers decided to also have a 3 days version and a 4 days version of the
race.
Having never done a stage race on my bike before, I was
quite excited to sign-in and was really looking forward to the event. Being a
bit budget cautious, I decided that the TR3 would be in my price range. I was not disappointed to say the least!
Getting into Fernie on the Thursday before the event allowed
for a nice mellow recon ride on the Friday. Already the town started to vibrate
with tons of athletic dynamic people on the main strip enjoying the warm
sunshine.
Stage 1
Day one was a time trial stage from downtown and onto the
trails on the East side of town. Racers were starting at 1 minute
intervals. The stage was starting with a
nice long undulating climb in order to spread-out the riders even more before
entering the single-tracks. Then it was the real start of it all… the typical
Fernie “work for your descent” type riding. Nothing against it really besides
from the fact that it makes for hard racing! The first long climb was on a
trail called “Hyperventilation” so no need to explain that it was switchbacks
after switchbacks all the way to the top of a mountain! But then the reward was
a fast super flowy descent! Following was a bunch of super fun twisty trails on
a really fun network.
Stage 2
Day two was a mass start. We gathered on the main strip and
at 9am sharp, the peloton followed an old fire truck on the highway all the way
to a subdivision where we started to climb under another steep powerline. It
was wheel to wheel for a little while trying to get into position and keep the
head somewhat down to get into the rhythm. Some gnarly culvert crossing on the
first descent took people by surprise… it was certainly an interesting start to
the race. Then a singletrack, which was very long climb, had us zigzag forever
in the forest and finally out of the shade on an avalanche path. The trail at
the top was really loose and quite side-hill. Again, when came time to start
descending, racers had to be on their game and not look on the downhill
side. From there, we were in for a super
long descent on some amazing flowy singletracks! What a blast!... the descent
was so long, my hands were almost cramping!
Onto the second half of the race, we had to go up again on the other
side of the valley on an undulating trail to a very steep hike-a-bike. Then, another
super fun flowy descent later, we were up climbing but this time on the Fernie
Resort trails. We were on a Green Run so it was sustain climbing but it sure
was not a rest. Finally at the top of the climb, we went down one of the blue
runs of the Bike Park! At that point in the race, I was following a European
rider (who was biking with me all day…) and he was showing me the line all the
way to the finish! What a day!
Stage 3
We knew that day 3 was gonna be a hell of a ride with 1800m
of positive gain in 30 kms…but what a day it was. Day 3 was a mass start again at Fernie
Resort. We climbed forever on the ski hill, which allowed for the pack to be
well spread before the first descent. We then zigzagged down a green run in the
bike pack before more climbing some more then onto a more technical trail
down. On that trail, you certainly had
to keep the head up and pick the line. A
creek crossing later, we were onto an old train track trail then a trail full
of roots, which made riders work very hard! Shortly after the 1st feed stating,
there it was, the 10 km climb! It started all right with nice kicks on a
logging road but it turned into some really steep sections under the blistering
sun. A bit of relief brought us a few meters from the finish line but it was
not the end… from there, the volunteers were screaming:” one hour… keep it
up…!” What?! And yeah, it was about 1
hour of climbing! On a logging road to start with, we ended up on an overgrown
section of trail, which opened up to amazing views of the backcountry. A long side hill section brought us to the
ridge we had to climb and the steepness what not about to let go! A small
descent later and we were back on steep singletrack climbing. Looking up, we
could see rider a few switchbacks ahead in the alpine which was at time
motivating or torturing. Then finally at the top of the mountain, it was time
to bring it home. We descended on a hiking trail with super sharp switchbacks
and rolling drops. All smiles at that point, it was just a matter of staying on
the bike and keeping good speed! It was
quite the drop to Island Lake Lodge where the finish line was. Another gorgeous
day, which rounded up the TR3.
It was a super fun event! I think the recipe for a good time
is the following:
1-
Be ready to climb a lot cuz it’s steep out
there!
2-
Go with amazing fellow racers, rent a nice condo
and have a good time!
3-
Have a recovery plan (food, ice cold water deeps
& Olympics watching with legs up)
4-
Enjoy the moment cuz it’s temporary…even if it’s
pain!
5-
Eat, Race, Eat, Sleep and do it all over again.
Thx for Skookum Cycle and Ski for fixing my bike and
providing me with a toolbox of spare pieces! Congrats to all the racers and specially Michael Robinson 8th place in open men and Tony Routley for his 6th place 40+ category.
Full results and details can be found at:
