The Updated First-Timer's Guide - Part 6 (Race Preparations)

You have your bike, all of your clothes are sorted out and ready for the TR duffel bag. Now you are wondering what, apart from endless hours of training, you need to do to get ready for the race.

Before Fernie

If you’ve been diligent with your training you’ve had lots of long (4+ hour) rides and you’ve got your eating, drinking and equipment sorted. You know what drink mixture suits your system at the end of a hard day, and what flavours of bars and gels you can tolerate. So what else do you need to do to prepare for the race?

• Bike Overhaul (Before you get to Fernie your entire bike needs to be overhauled. New cables, wheels trued and bearings checked, freehub body overhauled, BB serviced/replaced as necessary, fork and shock serviced, brakes bled and pads replaced. With all of this work, you likely won’t get much change from $200 or so, but it is essential that you bike is in top notch condition before the race.)
• New Drive Train (You are going to start with a bike in great condition and beat the living hell out of it. Riding through mud, dust, water, logs, rock and trees can do that. Your bike will take a terrible beating. Start with new rings, chain and cassette. At the very least by the end of the race you’ll probably have to replace your chain.)
• DIY Maintenance (The one skill that most mountain bikers seem to have down pat is repairing flat tires. But there are a few other tricks that you need to have in you metaphorical toolkit. You need to be able to “break” you chain and repair it. I use SRAM chains and their PowerLink makes this a breeze. If you use Shimano chains you’ll need to practice fiddling with a master pin, or use the SRAM PowerLinks. (Yes, they will work.) You also need to be able to adjust your shifting. Learn how to play with your barrel adjusters and the limiting screws on your derailleurs.)
• Shifter Cables (This is one service that your bike WILL need over the 7 days. While the mechanics are good and fast, if you can do it yourself you’ll not have to worry about getting in the back of the queue. When you have your bike serviced before the race get the mechanics to provide you with a replacement set of housing, caps and cables pre-cut to fit your bike. This will make replacement a 15 minute job. If you’ve done this at home before the race so much the better.)
• Practice with everything (I know this sounds silly, but you need to make sure that everything works together. I learned lesson the hard way in 2007. I was using Torelli tubes, and they don’t have a threaded stem. My CO2 inflator had to screw onto the tube stem in order to make a good seal. So, I got a flat and the CO2 inflator didn’t work properly. My partner had the pump, but he was just ahead waiting for me to catch up. Luckily a passing team loaned me their pump and I was back in business quickly.)
• Disassemble, pack and assemble your bike (This is something that you’ll have to do on your own. Ideally your bike will arrive in the same condition that it left in, but be prepared to do some repairs and maintenance. In 2006 I saw a team in the parking lot replacing a brake rotor that had been bent in transit by the airline. Luckily they had both the necessary tools and a spare rotor.)

In Fernie

I was so glad when we returned to the start in Fernie. In Fernie there are grocery stores and restaurants galore. There are also a number of bike shops and they will be busy.

• Arrive a couple of days early (This is critical if you’ve had a long flight to get to Calgary. When you fly you get dehydrated, that combined with the dry climate in the Rockies, and the drying effect of higher altitudes means that you will need a few days to get hydrated again. Also, if you’ve come from a much lower altitude the extra time to acclimatize will do you no harm. This also gives you time to deal with anything that been lost, damaged, or forgotten. )
• Take it easy (This year the first stage is a time trial and stage two starts with a killer climb. The time trial is only 30 kms, but if you do pre-ride it, take it easy.)
• Watch out for bears (The entire TR route is bear country. Bears, especially ones that are used to living around people, can be problematic. Make noise, never ride alone, and know what to do if you encounter a bear. Check out the Parks Canada website for bear tips. This year bear spray is mandatory, and they will be checking.)
• Talk to your new friends (The 2011 had almost 500 riders from over 20 countries. Every year I’ve met some really interesting people and learned more about the world. One of the oddities of the TR is that every meal you see people that you don’t recognize. Often these are people that you’ve been riding with each day, but without their helmets and glasses you have no ideas who they are.)
• Pre-ride the start of the stage (I know, I said not to burn yourself out with huge climbs, but it is important to get some idea of what you are up against. The first stage starts with a fast trip down the main street in Fernie and then heads up into the singletrack. Preriding the first couple of kms will give you an idea of how to pace yourself.)
• Ride with your partner (This falls into the category of the blindingly obvious, but it is essential. Ideally your partner is someone that you’ve trained with over the months before the TR. But that is not always possible. On my first TR my partner and I had our first ride together on the Friday evening. A real eye-opener for both of us. My younger brother keeps threatening to come and do the TR. We’ve had fewer that a dozen rides together, and that was 7 years ago. So, if he does the TR we’ll have to figure out how our speeds match.)
• Be nice to your support crew (If you are travelling with support crew treat them well before and after the race. Over the next 7 days they can make all the difference in the world. Some day you’ll probably come in to the stage finish is a foul mood. But your smiling support crew has been waiting there for hours with food and drink for you and they are so happy to see you cross the line.)