No Test for the Wicked

Thursday, June 17 – 9 kms in 0:35

My schedule is all over the map, and with the new semester my rest day will changed from Thursday to Monday. But as classes don't start until next week, so I managed to get a short ride on Bowen Island. Just 30 minutes. The terrain on Bowen is so hilly, that even short rides often include some impressive climbs. For instance, the start of every ride I do begins with a 60 metre elevation gain over the first 300 metres. So, even if I am trying to take it easy, the rides all start with an anaerobic shock to the system. To compensate I make good friends with my granny gear and take my time on the ascents.

 

Friday, June 18 – 25 kms in 1:34

As I've said before, no matter where you ride on Bowen Island you face hills. You either get better at riding hills, you move or you stop riding. There is one flatish section of road towards the west side of the island, but it is only a couple of kilometers long. This is a far cry from the 10 kms TT route that I use out near UBC. Over the entire distance I think that you gain and lose less than 25 metres in total elevation.

From my house on Bowen Island I can ride just over 12 kms and climb a total of over 500 metres. I also get one of the great views in Western Canada. From the helicopter pad at the Coast Guard radar station you have a view from Mount Baker to Vancouver Island. You can also see downtown Vancouver, UBC, the airport and all of the marine traffic to and from Vancouver Island. And all of this is available for the cost of a $10.00 ferry ticket from Horseshoe Bay. If you are in the area, I highly recommend Bowen Island. As a place to ride it offers everything from family friendly trails around Crippen Park, the challenging climbs and flowing single track of Mount Gardner, or the jumps and stunts of the bike park and awe inspiring creations of Dangerous Dan (http://www.flowriders.com/).

So, for today's 1 and a half hour ride I made the journey across to the south side of the island, tied together a bunch of single track and relaxed. Overall a very pleasant ride and a warm-up for my adventure tomorrow.

 

Saturday, June 19 – 49 kms in 3:46

Way back on January 1^st I struggled in vain to get onto the Test of Metal website and register for British Columbia's most popular cross country mountain bike race. Somehow 800 people did manage to register in 24 minutes. This set a new record, but I was not one of the lucky few. So for the first time since I started racing in 2003 I had to sit the race out. Oh well, there is always next year. So, instead I had a two hour technical ride planned. But as often happens, things did not unfold quite as planned.

Today I rode with Anthony, my 2008 TransRockies partner. He wanted a last tune-up ride before he tackled the BC Bike Race, and I knew that on technical terrain I'd benefit by trying to keep up with him. I plotted a route on Bowen Island that took in as much single and double-track as possible, and also threw in a few necessary climbs.

Whenever I'd ridden with Anthony in the past I'd been faster uphill, while he had been much faster down. I think to a certain extent this is a function of riding by myself so much. I'll try to climb anything, but turn into a complete wimp on descents.

There is a lovely piece of single track on the west side of Bowen Island. It goes from Laura Road down to Malkin Creek. While not overly technical by any stretch of the 8imagniation (No big drops etc.), it is rocky, rooty, steep in places and if you are not paying attention the potential for a crash does exist. The last time Anthony and I rode this he beat me down by 2 minutes. This time I was about 20 feet behind him. So either his new lightweight all mountain bike is slowing him down, highly unlikely, or I'm riding this technical terrain better that I have in the past. I think I'm getting better, and personally I blame Cory.

But I must admit to a sin. Cory's plan called for 2 hours and I was out for almost 4. I think that, despite my best intentions, sometimes riding is just too much fun to quit after only a couple of hours.

 

Sunday, June 20 – 49 kms in 2:01

What a difference a road bike makes. Almost the same distance as yesterday, but in about half the time. Of course no rocks and roots on the route also helps. The down side is that I seem to be coming down with a dreaded summer head cold. This starts in the nose, then annoys the throat, and finally settles in the chest. And I spend hours trying to "barf up a lung".

So, feeling misery coming on I took it easy on the ride.