The Updated Firsttimer's Guide - Part 2: Finding a Partner

 Part 2 - Finding a Partner

The 7-day version of the TransRockies is a 2-person race. And every team will only be as fast as its slowest member. If you want to ride as fast as possible and hate waiting for anyone, then perhaps the TR3 and/or the TR4 is the right choice for you. But if you are prepared to work together and encourage your partner when they are down then, with the right choice of team member, you should have a great time on the full 7-day TR.

Finding the right partner is one of the most critical elements in having a good TR.  The forum is a great place to start your search, but even if your e-mails indicate that you’ll be a great match you’ll need to get some details ironed out.

These are a few of the things that you should agree on before you team up. (And while most of this you’ve probably already thought of, there are some things to consider.)

1)     What are you looking for? A podium finish? A great ride with a friend? A 7-day anaerobic lactic acid fest?

2)     What sort of bikes will you ride? It will be challenging for a singlespeed rider and a 3x9 (or 3x10 or 2x10) rider to maintain the same speed, especially on the road sections. (Although the lighter bike weight will give the singlespeed rider will have a big advantage on the hike-a-bikes.) The 26” vs. 29” divide is less critical, but does have an effect to your decision about carrying spare tubes and possibly a spare tire.

3)     Do you have similar or at least compatible personalities? If you’re old enough, think of The Odd Couple. Are you an Oscar and is your prospective partner a Felix? If your partner is happy to have the tent look like a Lycra® bomb went off and you are a bit of a neat freak there may be trouble in paradise.

4)     Can you play nicely together? What are your problem solving styles? Do you just yell louder and louder until the other side gives in? I’ve seem too many people who were abandoned by their partners after a big blow up. Apart from being unfriendly, it is against the TR rules and potentially very unsafe.

5)     Can you put up with each other’s speed? Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses when riding. In eight years of riding the TR I never had a partner who matched my speed up, down and on the flat. Some years I was the faster climber, other years I was slower. Some years I took long pulls on the road sections, others it was all I could do to hang on as my partner barrelled down the pavement like a freight train. In 2009, riding as an Ambassador, I had the opportunity to see how lots of teams worked together. There were quite a few teams who discovered that by the end of the week their speeds were not as closely matched as they were at the start of the week. (And as I learned in 2007, an injury for one team member can completely change your relative speeds.)

6)     Can you both live with the “ground rules”? Will the race be 7 days of musical heaven or an iPod-free zone? How “close to the bone” are you prepared to go? Just two water bottles, or will you carry a hydration pack? Will one spare inner tube each be enough?

Some may disagree, but on the TR I think the most important factors in picking a partner are personality and climbing speed. In the seven years that I’ve raced (Plus one year riding as an Ambassador) in the TR, I’ve had four partners and we were never the same speed. Even if you spend a lot of time riding with your TR partner beforehand you need to recognize that over the course of 7 days your relative speeds will change. You need to think about who is faster on what type of terrain. Ideally you should both climb at about the same speed. That is where teams can make or lose hours. If your climbing speeds are very different you will have a harder time sticking together. On the road sections the slower rider can draft and on the downhill/technical sections the difference between the slow and fast riders is usually never more that a couple of minutes.

For 7 days you will both be pushing yourselves well beyond your comfort zones. You’ll be tired, sore, hungry and thirsty. You’ll snap at each other, or be tempted to. You have to remember that when you are doing the TR “it is what it is”. Anything that can break will break; anything that can go wrong will go wrong. The strongest rider can have a horrible day and the winners are the people who can maintain their pace all day long for 7 days. Burning out your partner on the day 1 time trial does not make for a happy experience.

So, if you go in to the TR with a pretty clear idea about what the two of you want to achieve and an understanding about how you’ll try to achieve your goals, then you should have a great time.  

The Updated First Timer's Guide - Part 1

The TransRockies has evolved over the past 10 years, and so I've made a few changes to the First Timer's Guide. If you have any comments or questions, please let me know.

Part 1 - Training

Congratulations! You’ve signed up for your first TransRockies and now you need to whip the body and mind into shape.

Before we get started here is my disclaimer. I’m not a trainer; I’m just a regular guy who has finished a few long races. I did my first cross country race in 2003. It was the Test of Metal in Squamish, BC and I was 45. Have I learned a few things? Yes. Am I an expert? No, and I don’t pretend to be. Up until 2010 I’d never been on the TR podium or even been close. (And getting 3^rd in 100+ in 2010 was a bit of a fluke. My results in 2011 confirmed that.)

There are a couple of things that you should bear in mind when preparing for the TransRockies.
1)     It will likely be the hardest thing that you’ve ever done on a bike.
2)     Two thirds of finishing the TransRockies is thinking that you can and keeping going for seven days.

I’m assuming that by the time May rolls around you’ve built up a base; you’ve done a bunch of climbing, and put in enough intervals to hate them. You need to have a few thousand kilometres under your tires before you arrive in Fernie.  You’ve also figured out a few ways to squeeze enough riding into a life that already includes a job (or jobs) and a family. You’ve explored the obvious choices.

1)     Riding on the rollers in the early morning or late at night. Boring, but it gets the job done.
2)     Commuting or part commuting by bike. On wet winter days I go to work by public transit and come home by bike.  This takes good lights and even more important, good footwear. But arriving home to a nice hot shower is rather pleasant.
3)     Crosstraining with the family. If it is cold and snowy get some XC skis or snowshoes.

But many people live in places where that don’t have the choice of riding outside 300+ days a year with a 1,000 metre climb a 30 minute bike ride from home. Here are some of the more creative training regimes I’ve heard of.

1)     Doing laps up and down a multi-story parkade in the middle of winter in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Freezing cold, but a little bit sheltered from the wind and decent traction.
2)     Riding into every possible headwind in Windsor, Ontario.
3)     Doing 30+ hill repeats day after day on a 40 metre ski hill in Edmonton, Alberta.

You should have experience riding in cold, wet, hot, dry, dusty and muddy conditions. It is important for you to know how you, your clothing, and your bike will perform in the variety of conditions that you could encounter. (And if 2008 is any guide, all of the above on day 1.)

For most people the hardest thing about the TransRockies is riding long stages day after day. The average rider will spend about 30-35 hours riding over 7 days. (And some will spend closer to 50 hours on their bikes.) If you are not used to riding back-to-back 4 to 6 hour days you will definitely have a problem. You need to get your clothing and nutrition sorted out long before you get to the start line. Get shorts that are comfy and make sure that you have them broken in, but not broken down. Find out if your shoes are comfortable riding for hours on end and then hiking up steep slopes. Figure out if your outerwear will keep you warm and dry.

By the time June rolls around you should be doing long, 3+ hour, rides a couple of times a week. Don’t make the mistake that a lot of people make and just look at the length of your ride. Four hours off-road on your mountain bike is a lot harder than four hours on your road bike. Even though the amount of hike-a-bike has declined a lot in recent years, you must still be ready to shoulder the burden. Different frame designs present very different challenges when walking. You need to build up some experience carrying your bike up the steepest trails you can find. It won’t be fun, but it will be great preparation.

By the time July arrives you should be ready for a couple of back-to-back 4 to 6 hour rides. This will give you a good idea if your training has prepared you and if you’ve got the food and nutrition side sorted out. Also, if you are anything like me, all of this riding should give you some experience with doing repairs on the trail. Flat tires, broken chains, and shifting problems are the most common problems on the TransRockies, and a bit of practice resolving them quickly will help you between Fernie and Canmore.  

The TransRockies has developed into one of the world’s great epic mountain bike races. With fabulous terrain, great support and a challenging route it is the experience of a lifetime. It will be unlike anything you’ve ever done before, but going in with a bit of advanced knowledge will make it a more enjoyable experience.