by admin | Aug 10, 2011 | Fernie TransRockies
There’s an old saying that goes “be careful what you ask for, you just might get it”. After three beautiful days in Fernie, riders finally got a break from the dry conditions, but it probably wasn’t the one they wanted. While the fastest riders got through the 47km stage in less than two and a half hours beating the onrushing black clouds, the rest of the field found themselves high and exposed in pounding hail, thunder and rain. Or, as they call it in the Rockies, “Summer”.
The day started off well enough with riders gathered under humid sunny skies at North Fork Recreation Area. The route ahead promised to be one of the shortest rides of the week, a fast 47km over Volcano Ridge and through Black Rock Canyon to the finish line at Little Elbow Campground situated in one of the most spectacular valleys of the Front Range. The views of rugged Powderface Ridge which welcomed the support crew and early finishers quickly covered as dark clouds rolled in and the skies opened dropping hail and pouring rain on the 200 plus riders who were still on course when the weather arrived.
This is biking not baseball, though, and the game goes on regardless of the weather. Stage 4 brought a new winner to the front of the Open Men’s Division as Team Honey Stinger finally reached the top step of the podium after two years of trying. The top four teams raced closely most of the day but Team Fernie continued their run of bad luck with a flat tire and hunger knock to drop out of the group and eventually finish 4th on the day. Overall leaders Team Zaboo of Switzerland held to their jerseys with a third place finish on the day. It was down to the teams from Bicycle Café/Gericks and Honey Stinger to fight for top honours and a very happy Nate Bird and Dax Massey took the win.
It’s become a familiar story but not even a change of Province could slow down the leading Fernie Fix Open Women’s team who grabbed their fourth straight stage win and solidified an overall lead which is starting to look insurmountable. One team which has been putting on a dominant performance is the Open 100+ Combined age team of Stan Magee from Canmore and Jon Gould from Tamarack, Idaho. This cross-border partnership has been stomping since Stage 1 riding with the fastest teams in the race and looks set to grow their lead all the way to the finish. In the Open Mixed Division, Ryan Schellenberg and Trish Gracyzk seem to have completely recovered from their near-disastrous Stage 2 crash and powered to another stage win. Two-time Olympic biathlon medallist Anna Carin Zidek seems to have adapted well to her first mountain bike race and holds down second place overall with her husband Tom Zidek who’s competing in his 5th TransRockies.
The TR4 is a newly created solo event which includes the last four stages of the full TR7 route and its creation for the 10th Anniversary Event allows solo riders to officially complete the full seven days for the first time. While a large number of riders arrived fresh at the start line at North Fork, they were joined by a large group of solo riders taking on all seven days. Despite the three extra days of riding in their legs, Team Kona’s Barry Wicks and Kris Sneddon took the top two places on Stage 1 of the TR4 and were followed by another TR3 racer David Gonda who rounded out the podium. The 40+ Men’s division saw new arrival Simon Pulfrey beat Jeff Neilson who grabbed his 4th straight solo race second place. Kira McLellan signed up for the full 7-day solo effort and she was rewarded with her first stage victory on the ride to Little Elbow Campground.
One of TR4 rider who put in a great showing on the first day was retired World Cup Slalom skier Thomas Grandi who placed 9th in the Open Men’s division showing that it takes a good set of lungs to compete at the international level in Alpine skiing.
No TransRockies would be complete without some challenge from the weather and 2011 has now joined the list of epic TransRockies. The storm dumped a deep coating of hail onto the route for Stage 5 but rain which fell all afternoon had washed most of it away by dinnertime. Stage 5 promises to be a slippery ride through some of epic riding in K-Country.
For a decade, the TransRockies has been an international destination for adventure-seeking athletes and the 2011 edition is no different. The multinational flavour of the 10th TransRockies can be seen on each day’s podiums where there are teams from the Netherlands, Switzerland, Australia, the Czech Republic and Austria grabbing daily prizes. The Austrian pair of René Reidinger and Axel Strauss (Team Integraglobal.com) made their first podium visit a good one, snatching 1st place in the Men 80+ division moving closer to the overall podium which is still led by the Czech Masters.
As the TR3 riders wrap up their ride in the Rockies, TR7 riders look forward to moving from the trails of Fernie to the rugged wilderness of Kananaskis Country where they spend four days moving North through some of the best mountain bike riding in the Rockies.
by admin | Aug 9, 2011 | Fernie TransRockies
One of the strange things about endurance racing is that many times the hardest days are also the most memorable days for athletes. The type of person who signs up for epic events is there to be tested and the greatest rewards are to be found on the days when the course and conditions are the most difficult. By that measure, Fernie’s Stage 3 of the 2011 TransRockies is going to be found on page of many scrapbooks as one of the best, toughest days ever.
The 42km-long stage 3 was always going to be one of the biggest challenges for the riders from 20 different counries who came to the Rockies in 2011 and baking hot weather and dry trail conditions only added an extra level of difficulty to a course profile which featured seven steeps climbs and lots of technical singletrack. The profile, technical riding and heat made the ride challenging enough that finish times were slower than they were for Stage 2 which was 13km longer! “Hardest day” and “best day” were the two common themes at the finish line as riders relaxed in the scenic surroundings of Island Lake Lodge, a world-class Cat-ski resort in the mountains above Fernie.
While the top placings in the Open Men’s division seemed settled, the Open Women’s race was wide up for grabs with three athletes separated by only 4 minutes in the overall at the start of the Day. Stage 1 winner Mical Dyck used her world-class technical riding skills to surge to the win in Stage 3 and jump from 3rd place to the overall win ahead of Catherine Vipond who grabbed third on the day behind Jean-Ann Berkenpass who grabbed her first podium of the race but could not dislodge Melanie McQuaid from the overall standings podium.
The winner of stages 1 and 2 in the Open Men’s Division, Victoria, BC-based Max Plaxton said he suffered from the elevation during stage 2 and even though the route was going to be an immense technical challenge, he was happy to be back closer to the valley floor for Stage 3. With sea level lungs back, National Champion Plaxton laid down another tough pace but his Day 2 protagonist Neal Kindree continued his amazing 2011 comeback by grabbing Plaxton’s wheel and refusing to let go. Near the end of the race, Kindree flatted and Plaxton was able to solo in to a convincing 4-minute victory to sew up his second straight TR3 title. The World Championships in Champery, Switzerland are the next race on his schedule and TR3 kicked off a block of hard training to take on the best in the World in, this, his best season yet.
As they had since the start of the event, three riders from Alberta dominated the Men’s 40+ category finishing Stage 3 in the same 1-2-3 placing they had since day 1. Masters National Champion Ian Auld showed that his jersey had been well-earned with another strong ride to secure the overall win ahead of Jeff Neilson and Calvin Zaryski.
Sometimes, the overall placings in a race like the TransRockies settle down pretty quickly and leaders jerseys are given to the same team over and over. The Open Men’s division in 2011 has been nothing like that as, for the third straight day, a different team will pull on the coveted leaders jerseys at the evening’s ceremonies. The Swiss Team Zaboo Duo of Mat Haussener and Damian Perrin have not won a stage yet but their consistent podium placings and ability to avoid mechanical problems has rewarded them with the overall lead after three days. They took the jerseys from Brian Cooke and Travis Hauck (Bicycle Café/Gericks), the leaders after day two, who finished six minutes behind in third place.
First place went to the hard-charging Fernie team of Martin Vale and Carter Hovey who managed to eat up most of the 45 minutes they lost due to a mechanical on Stage 2 despite having a flat in the opening minutes and having to pass over 200 riders. Sitting in third overall, just 4 ½ minutes behind Team Zaboo, they’re poised to make a run at the jerseys, if not on the shorter Stage 4 then definitely on the longer, tougher Stage 5.
Local knowledge is one of the key parts of endurance racing and the leading women’s team, Team Fernie Fix, said after Days 1 and 2 that they were holding some energy in reserve for Day 3 in anticipation of a gruelling day. Their strategy paid off with their third straight stage win and an increasing margin over the Australian pair of Simone McCallum and Claire Garcia-Webb who moved into second place overall with a strong finish on day 2. Team Make-a-Wish from Canmore slipped into third place after day 3 but with four days on their home turf in Kananaskis Country, they may yet move back up the podium.
For a decade, the TransRockies has been an international destination for adventure-seeking athletes and the 2011 edition is no different. The multinational flavour of the 10th TransRockies can be seen on each day’s podiums where there are teams from the Netherlands, Switzerland, Australia, the Czech Republic and Austria grabbing daily prizes. The Austrian pair of René Reidinger and Axel Strauss (Team Integraglobal.com) made their first podium visit a good one, snatching 1st place in the Men 80+ division moving closer to the overall podium which is still led by the Czech Masters.
As the TR3 riders wrap up their ride in the Rockies, TR7 riders look forward to moving from the trails of Fernie to the rugged wilderness of Kananaskis Country where they spend four days moving North through some of the best mountain bike riding in the Rockies.
by admin | Aug 9, 2011 | Fernie TransRockies
Fernie’s Stage 2 of the TransRockies switched up the challenge from the rolling technical trails of the opening day to a long leg-crushing climb and descent of over 1000 metres vertical on Porky Blue, one of the signature rides in the area. The day dawned clear and the thermometer rose even more quickly on the second day baking the remaining moisture out of the trails leaving clouds of dust and an extra level of difficulty on the descents for the riders. As is so often the case, a different type of route brought different riders to the front of the action and the GC leader jerseys changed teams in several categories.
The racing stared off literally with a bang as the starter’s pistol was fired for the traditional loop of downtown Fernie behind the vintage fire engine. Team Fernie, the leaders in the Men’s Open TR7 category experienced a more ominous bang shortly after as Martin Vale blew his rear shock a short way into the course.
Upon hearing of the incident from Carter Hovey, the other half of Team Fernie, former TR winner Marty Lazarski offered his bike as a loaner but they had to chase Vale who’d headed back to the start to seek repairs. They caught Vale, switched pedals and Team Fernie began their chase now over a half hour behind the rest of the field with the entire field to pass ahead of them. The reports came in from checkpoints that Team Fernie was on a rampage tearing through the field back toward the front and by the finish they’d recovered to 5th place and had reduced the gap to only 15 minutes. The bike change and charge probably saved their race as they now stand only 11 minutes back behind Stage 2 TR7 winners Travis Hauck and Brian Cooke (Bicycle Café/Gericks Cycle) who also took the leaders jerseys.
The other Fernie team leading their category, the Open Women duo of Krista Turcasso and Angie Krasnay won their second straight stage to make sure that they’ll be wearing the leaders’ jerseys again in front of their family and friends when the riders roll out of Fernie for the last time on Stage 3.
Crashes were also a story of the day with Ryan Schellenberg of Stage 1 Open Mixed winners being taken down in a multi-bike crash and being forced to limp home to the finish line where they held their overall lead by only 16 seconds over the Swiss Team Zaboo 29 of Simon Zahnd and Yvonne Burgi who won stage 2. The long climb also suited Swedish two-time Olympic Biathlon medallist Anna-Carin Zidek who’s at the TransRockies competing in her first mountain bike race with husband Tom Zidek. They moved up several places and grabbed 2nd place on the day. Likewise, the Czech Masters found the course to their liking and grabbed the stage and overall lead in the Mens Master 80+ division from two Canadian teams chasing them. The overall leaders in the 80+ Mixed and 100+ Open Gender divisions remained the same.
After finishing 3rd on Stage 1, newly-crowned 2011 Canada Cup Champion Catherine Vipond stomped her pedals hard on the gruelling 25km ascent to the top of Porky Blue and held on for the stage win ahead of 3-time Xterra World Champion Melanie McQuaid with Dyck coming in 3rd. The changing places mean that the overall win is wide open between these three riders with only 4 minutes separating Vipond in 1st overall and McQuaid in third. Stage 3 is expected to be another 3+ hour test with 2400 metres of climbing, much of it on singletrack.
Canadian National Champion Max Plaxton seemed to establish his dominance on a Stage 1 which he won by 6 ½ minutes over Neal Kindree but the former 2-time National Espoir Champion continued his remarkable comeback from long-term injury with a storming ride which pushed Plaxton to his limit. Kindree went over the top of the day’s main climb with a minute’s lead on Plaxton who fought hard to reel him back in. They entered town together and Plaxton took the stage win by only a second from Kindree. They remain 1st and 2nd in the overall standings with one day to go.
Kindree has one more chance to try and take a stage from Plaxton on the tough Stage 3 which serves up a relentless route of singletrack up and down across the North flank of the Elk Valley. Seven major climbs await and over 30km of tight, rooty singletrack must be mastered before riders arrive at the plush world-class facilities of Island Lake Lodge.
by admin | Aug 9, 2011 | Fernie TransRockies
The 5th Annual Blackstone TransRockies Kids’ Bike Rally basked in perfect weather and was enjoyed by almost 100 participants. The Kids’ Bike Rally is for kids, five to nine, and is a fun and educational stage rally, themed and staged alongside the TransRockies. The TransRockies is celebrating it’s 10th year!
Straightline Bikes started the kids off on their big adventure with the help of local bike celebrity Paul Attalla. Attalla has competed the TransRockies twice and came 3rd in this years Tour Divide race. The kids bikes were spruced up with event plates and accessories.
Next stop was the Fernie Heritage Library where the kids’ decorated their bikes. Then Colin at the Fire Station enticed everyone with an rally course. From there Overwaitea hydrated and fed the kids for the last leg to Freshies where faces were painted and the streets came alive with chalk and water sprinklers.
The event is free and the highlight of the Fernie TransRockies. If you missed it, be sure to bring your kids out next year. These pictures tell the story (click for a larger rendering):
by admin | Aug 7, 2011 | Fernie TransRockies
The TransRockies is the first North American epic to reach its 10th Anniversary and Fernie is the only town to host all ten events. The riders who turned up in Fernie for Sunday’s start were treated to perfect clear, dry high mountain weather for the 32km Stage 1 Time Trial. Two racers were to be held on the trails at the same time: TR3, a UCI-sanctioned three-day solo event and TR7, the classic 7-day team event.
Run on much the same course as 2010, Stage 1 is the shortest ride of the week and gives the riders and chance to stretch their legs and get used to the endless singletrack before the first mass start on Day 2. Given the vastly different conditions from 2010 to 2011, finish times were faster even though the route contained even more trail and less doubletrack. On the start line, riders were more concerned about sunscreen and hydration than mud and traction.
Defending champion Max Plaxton of Team Specialized honestly assessed that he thought he’d be his own toughest competition before starting Stage 1 and, given his run of results which included his first-ever senior National Championship and his 2011 US Pro XC Series title, the confidence was well earned. In order to give the elite riders the clearest run at the trails, they started in the first wave and Plaxton left the line first at the stroke of 9am.
He shredded the course 6 minutes faster than the year before setting a new course record of 1:48:41 and laying a marker down that would be difficult for the rest of the field to follow. Sure enough, the next closest finisher was American Barry Wicks of Team Kona who was half of last year’s TR7 winning team. He finished in 1:54:32 edging third-placed Neal Kindree (Republic Cycles/SRAM) of Squamish, BC and fourth-placed Matt Hadley of Cycles Xprezo who finished within a minute of Wicks meaning a wide-open race for the podium placings.
In the Open Women’s division, multi-time TR7 winner Mical Dyck followed up on another strong showing at the Canadian National Championships with a first place finish on Stage 1. She was followed across the line by former World Cup mountain bike racer-turned Xterra World Champion Melanie McQuaid who showed she’s still a force on the bike beating current National Team members Catherin Vipond (3rd) and Jean Ann Berkenpas (4th).
Three riders from Alberta showed early dominance in the Master 40+ Men category led by current Canadian National Champion (40-49) Ian Auld who scorched the course in a time of 2:03:17 which would have placed him well into the Top 10 in Open. Second placed went to former TR7 Champion Jeff Neilson and he was followed closely by former Xterra Masters World Champion Cal Zaryski only a minute behind.
When it began in 2002, the TransRockies was the first marathon stage race in North America and the 10th Edition of the TransRockies (TRX) is not only another chance for riders to test themselves against the epic riding of the Rockies but a moment of celebration. A number of riders from the wild and woolly early days have returned to be part of TRX. During the week, we’ll catch up with some of them to hear about their most memorable TransRockies experience.
The migration of some elite teams to TR3 to grab the important UCI International Ranking Points offered has thrown the competition wide open in the TR7 team event wide open. Stage 1 gave a good indication of who’s going to be fighting for leaders’ jerseys and stage wins during the week.
Fittingly enough given that it’s the only stage host to have been part of all 10 TransRockies, Fernie was given strong representation by their local riders and as their local riders grabbed the leaders jerseys in the Open Men’s and Open Women’s Divisions. The Team Fernie Men’s duo of Martin Vale and Carter Hovey both have long and impressive resumes which include National Championship medals and World Cup appearances. While they’ve switched gears to the recreational side of riding, they powered through Stage 1 in 2:04:46, over three minutes ahead of the Swiss duo of Mat Haussener and Damian Perrin (Zaboo Pro Team) to grab the first leaders’ jerseys of the week.
The Open Women’s team representing local lifestyle magazine the Fernie Fix, Krista Turcasso and Angie Krasnay likewise put in an impressive ride to finish in 2:46:10 and wear the the first leaders’ jerseys as they set off in front of home town fans tomorrow for Day 2.
The Master Men 80+ Years combined ages always offers some close racing and it lived up to expectations with the top two teams coming in on 26 seconds apart. Multi-time TransRockies champions Milan Spolc and Martin Horak were forced into second place by a great ride from the Team Deadgoat pair of Geoff Clark and Devin Erfle while another pair of Deadgoat riders Pat Doyle and Craig Bartlett finished third. Other category winners on the day who’ll claim their leaders jerseys at the nightly awards ceremonies included Ryan Schellenberg/Trish Gracyzk (Open Mixed), Clint Ball and Karen Tremaine (80+ Mixed) and Stan Magee/Jon Gould (100+ Open).
Tomorrow riders will leave in a mass start allowing teams in the same category to race head to head for the stage win and overall leadership.
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