by admin | Mar 4, 2010 | Fernie TransRockies
The TransRockies Start is returning to Fernie, following three years of hosting the Finish! Fernie originally hosted the Start for five consecutive years. In addition Stage 1 will be a time-trial on local trails where the riders will start and finish in Downtown Fernie. Then the following morning, Stage 2 will start in downtown Fernie and head North to Elkford.
It all will begin on August 7 when hundreds of mountain bikers from around the World will show up to register for the ninth annual TransRockies Challenge. Over the next seven days, they will travel 400 km with nearly 12,000 metres of climbing though the Canadian Rocky Mountains by the time they finish in downtown Canmore, Alberta on August 14.
“We are thrilled that the TransRockies Start is returning to Fernie,” said Dan Savage, TransRockies Society. “They get to ride the best bike trails in Canada, for two stages. Having hundreds of riders in town for multiple days will be a great vibe and boost local businesses.”
Riders are expected to arrive in Fernie days before registration to prepare for the event. During the lead up and on the weekend–retail shops, accommodations, and restaurants will be busy.
On August 8 the Stage 1 time trial will take riders to the top of Castle Mountain and on a number of technical single track trails in Ridgemont. “This TransRockies will offer the best single track riding ever”, said BC Route Director Pat Gilmar. For Stage 2 the riders will be heading north and east to Elkford.
Stage 3 takes riders across the Alberta border and over the Continental Divide to finish at the Etherington Creek Wilderness Campground in Kananaskis Country. The next day, August 11, Stage 4 will continue through Kananaskis Country, to an authentic western ranch located on the edge of the Sheep River Wildlife Reserve, 45 minutes south of Calgary.
On Stage 5 and 6, riders will head high into K-Country again for two days of single and double track ridgeline riding on the spine of the Rockies. On the last night of the TransRockies, riders will be treated to more western hospitality at historic Rafter Six Ranch. On the final stage, August 14, riders will follow the TransCanada Trail to the Canmore Nordic Centre, site of the 1988 Olympic winter Games and several World Cup mountain bike races, before descending to the finish line on Main Street in Canmore.
Fernie is the only community to host all nine TransRockies events. The first five starts was followed by three finishes. This year the event will feature two starts and one finish. Without question this will be the largest bike festival ever to roll through Fernie’s Downtown.
For more information email: transrockies@fernie.com.
by admin | Aug 16, 2009 | Fernie TransRockies
Stage 7: Crownest Pass to Fernie
After four consecutive days of unseasonable cold and rain, riders left Blairmore, Alberta for the final stage of 2009 with the finish line in Fernie squarely in their sights. The euphoria of completion added an extra level of excitement to the morning, as did an extra hour’s sleep with a later start made possible by slightly shorter and flatter route than the previous three days which had seen most riders on course for at least 7 hours a day in tough conditions.
At 75 km long with 1300 metres of climbing, Stage 7 looked like a mere blip compared to the 300km and 6700 metres of climbing they’d overcome in the previous three stages. It would still mean nearly four hours on course for the winners and much longer for most of the field thanks to course conditions which remained slick after the wettest edition yet in eight years of TransRockies riding.
The leading group of riders stayed together through the first two feed stations before the leading Rocky Mountain Factory Team duo of Stefan Widmer and Marty Lazarski dropped the hammer, determined to celebrate their GC win with a solo ride down Victoria St. in Fernie. They had been the fastest team on the singletrack all week and again, they were able to open a sizeable lead on the technical sections and rolled into the finish alone for another impressive stage win.
Next across the line was PeteTurnbull of the UK, who has been riding solo since his partner was forced to pull out on day 1 with a serious virus. Though only teams are eligible for prizing, Pete has been in the action all week pushing the leaders and being one of the top finishers every day.
Even though the GC gaps were often very big, riders did not treat this as a ceremonial ride to the finish. Pushing for a podium finish on the last day, the Bow Cycles/Specialized duo of Ryan Correy and Brian Bain overcame a broken chain in singletrack. Correy used his elite running skills to get to the bottom then Bain took over towing his chainless teammate to the line to hold onto third place on the day as Team visitPA.com breathed down their necks.
In the Mixed 80+ category, Pat Doyle and Trish Grajczyk of Team Deadgoat took the suspense out of things early with a dominant ride and a sweep of all seven stages. Doyle was one of two competitors who was completing their fifth TransRockies and was honoured with a commemorative belt buckle that will go nicely with the pile of leaders’ jerseys he’s got. The other 5 TransRockies finisher was Dean Irvine of North Vancouver who finished third in the Open Mixed division.
Team Cox of Norway held on to their gap to win the 100+ division while the Czechmasters in 80+ and Team Terrascape/Trek Toronto Open Mixed, both of whom had diced with the leading teams all week, won their respective categories. Finally, event host Nipika Mountain Resort also put their name on top of the standings as their Open Women’s team of Magi and Kate Scallion held off a hard challenge from the Velobella/Vanderkitten team to win the gold.
In every category and from front to back, riders made heroic and repeated efforts to get to the end of each stage. The TransRockies is considered to be the most difficult and epic mountain bike stage race and this was the most difficult edition of the TransRockies yet. The machined aluminum finisher medals will be only the smallest part of the reward that the competitors take home after overcoming the worst that the Rockies could throw at them over seven days, 532km and 14300 metres of climbing.
by admin | Aug 15, 2009 | Fernie TransRockies
Stage 6 Race Report: Elkford – Crowsnest Pass, AB
101km/ 2467m climbing/ 2419m descending
There are days in endurance racing when many riders would turn back if it weren’t for the responsibility to their teammates and the support from other riders in the midst of the same test. Stage 6 of the 2009 TransRockies was one such day. An already long day turned crushingly hard with another day of rain and trails that had turned soft and rutted over the previous 48 hours. Despite the test, teams continued to press forward to the finish, most with smiles and good cheer in the face of the struggle.
Instead of the estimated finish time of 4 ½ hours, the winning Czechmasters duo of Martin Horak and Milan Spolc rolled into Crowsnest Pass, Alberta with a finishing time of 5:38:48. They were followed closely by Team Amarante BikeZone-Onbike (Joao Marinho and Jose Silva), who finally got the better of Stefan Widmer and Marty Lazarski from the Rocky Mountain Factory Team in the Open Men’s category. The first three teams who had agreed to ride most of the day together as a measure of safety in the cold conditions and the Czech duo were able to maintain enough energy to burst free for the win near the end. Behind, teams drifted in one at a time looking spent but glad to know that just one day remained in perhaps the hardest mountain bike stage race ever held.
It was a huge effort for all at the front of the field and Team Amarante in particular dug impossibly deep to snag their first category win. Joao Marinho was holding onto his partner Jose Silva down the last metres of the finish chute as Silva was too spent to even lift his head up. This was the rare day when many slower teams looked better at the finish than the winners-they were probably better prepared for the cold conditions at the top of the climbs with extra clothes and jackets than the winners went out with the bare minimum of cover.
The day had started in Elkford with hope of improving weather. There was low-lying fog but the patches of blue indicated that there might be a break in the rain that had soaked riders during the previous stages. The residents of Elkford had demonstrated the kind of hospitality and warmth that has made it a favourite stop at the TransRockies, spontaneously billeting riders in spare rooms and taking loads of dirty laundry home to be returned in the morning to riders emerging from another great breakfast-this morning breakfast burritos and pancakes were on the menu.
Hopes of a brighter day soon ended in chilling rain and thunder that hit the field before checkpoint 1 at the base of the climb up and over Deadman’s Pass and the Continental Divide. With 70km of riding still left, conservation of energy was the order of the day for most riders rather than straight competition. As riders rode down Main Street in Crowsnest Pass, the locals looked at the riders as though they were aliens, soaking wet and coated head to toe in mud.
Despite the day’s drama, there was little GC movement in the field as the Rocky Mountain Factory Team held their overall lead. The Scallion sisters, racing for stage host Nipika Mountain Resort, won their fourth stage and holding onto the overall lead in the Open Women’s category. National team rider Mical Dyck and her partner Craig Neilson continued their clean sweep of the Open Mixed division with a top-5 overall ride and another dominant performance.
Tomorrow is the home stretch to the finish line in Fernie and the party which the town has lined up for the riders. Fernie has been a part of the TransRockies since it began in 2002, and the town understands well the sacrifices that are made to get to finish the hardest mountain bike stage race in the World. The wild and unseasonable weather has made 2009 perhaps been the most challenging edition of the TransRockies in half a decade so the celebrations will be that much more intense for the teams who reach Fernie and earn the toughest t-shirt in mountain biking.
by admin | Aug 14, 2009 | Fernie TransRockies
Stage 5: Whiteswan Lake – Elkford
87.5km/ 2254m climbing/ 2115m descending
After four straight years with almost unbroken sunshine, it was inevitable that the Rocky Mountains would demand a little payback from the TransRockies. The riders of the 2009 have been hit with three straight days of unseasonably cold and wet weather that has added an extra level of epic effort to each long day in the mountains.
On Stage 5, the TransRockies field rolled out of Whiteswan Lake deep in the wilderness with the mountain town of Elkford in their sights. As they have since the first year of the TransRockies, one of the friendliest and most enthusiastic groups of locals anywhere would welcome them with hot showers, dry clothes and ample snacks to recharge. With the basics of life like high-speed internet and cell phone reception, riders were anxious to get back in touch with family and share stories of the 2009 race so far.
With tough conditions on the menu and two major passes to cross, the leading groups of riders stayed together early on in the 87.5km stage sharing the work before splits began to appear as tired legs needed to take a rest. As they have since the start, Marty Lazarski and Stefan Widmer from Rocky Mountain bikes were again the strongest as they rode away from the group and rolling into Elkford solo. Testament to the tough conditions was that fact that their finishing time of 4:36:07 was just 8 minutes faster than the day before despite a route 20km shorter.
In the Open Women’s division, the VeloBella/Vanderkitten duo of Erika Krumpelman and Shannon Holden took advantage of the burly conditions to grab their second stage win of 2009 with a 13 minute gap over Magi and Kate Scallion of Team Nipika who retain their overall first place position with two days to go.
A number of overseas teams are battling for podium spots despite the tough and complete foreign conditions. Team Cox (Hans-Tore Steen and his partner Gisele Langslet) from Norway have a 23-minute lead in the 100+ Category, while the Czech Republic Czechmasters, who again finshed second overall on the stage, have nearly an hour on their closest competitors, Team Breck Epic. The Flemish Belgian contingent from Team Detrog Granville occupies 2nd and a close 4th in Open Mixed and were also in 2nd in 80+ Mixed until hypothermia problems dropped them to 4th after Stage 5.
Every team, whether local or from across the World had to battle through some tough riding throughout Stage 5. The last descent became as much of a survival course as the climbs as the steep and sketchy Rock Garden descent from top of Crossing Creek pass was slick and scary-a huge opportunity to open up time gaps for the technically adept teams and an exercise in care for those not comfortable with 3 km of vertical rock field.
Despite the conditions, only a few teams failed to make the finish cut off time of 10 hours, which was extended by a few minutes in light of the conditions. With hot showers, dry clothes and a town-run barbeque at the finish, riders were restored to wellness quickly and were left to tell war stories as the mechanics braced themselves for another night of bike repair which would require headlamps and ample caffeine to make sure that hundreds of cables, chains, brakes and shocks would be buffed and ready for another 101km and 2600m of climbing across the Continental Divide and into the Crowsnest Pass region of Alberta
by admin | Aug 13, 2009 | Fernie TransRockies
Stage 4 Nipika to White Swan Lake 108km
With the competitors from the TR3 leaving camp for home this morning, it was down to business for the TransRockies teams who had a huge 107km day ahead of them on the middle day of this year’s seven-day epic. This stage, which started under low cloud at Nipika Mountain Resort, was going to be a long haul through some high and remote Rocky Mountain backcountry to the wilderness campground at Whiteswan Lake.
The new stage 5 routing omitted a major climb and instead took the field through roughly 30km of reclaimed singletrack to the base of the day’s major climb, Lodgepole Pass. By the time the riders reached the base of the climb, the morning cloud had turned into pounding rain and the visibility dropped down to mere metres as riders slogged through the ruts at the top of the climb. While they might not have enjoyed the pass, they probably came out of it in better shape than the TransRockies race partner whose brand new pickup truck lost both bumpers in the deep mud.
A change of tempo from the singletrack to more open riding meant that new teams surged to the front of the pack. First-placed Masters Men (80+) the Czechmasters Milan Spolic and Martin Horak made an early bid for glory with an attack after the first feed zone that dropped the second-placed overall Team Amarante but not the overall leaders, Rocky Mountain Factory Team who responded in kind and left the Czechmasters behind on the way to their fourth straight stage victory.
The Czechmasters finished a superb second overall on the day and first in their class to extend their already impressive lead over second-placed 80+ Men Thane Wright and Dax Massey who race for Breck Epic and who always seem to find the beer at the end of every stage. They are going to be a force at the closing party on Saturday night.
An equally impressive showing was put in by the Open Mixed leaders Team Terrascape/Trek Toronto (Mical Dyck and Jeff Neilson), who surged to a fourth-place overall finish and a 20-plus minute gap over the super-strong Belgian Duo of Team Detrog-Granville (Xavier Vermeeren & Mieke Deroo) and a nearly insurmountable gap in the overall classification.
The big movers on the day were Ryan Correy and Brian Bain of Team Bow Cycles, who surged onto the podium for the first time taking back nearly half an hour on the third-placed Team visitPA.com. The boys from PA still hold their overall third place standing, but with two long stages in the next two days, Bow Cycles will have a chance to over come the remaining gap before the finish in Fernie.
By the time most riders crossed the finish line, the sun had come out again over the finish line at Whiteswan Lake giving them a chance to warm up and dry their shoes and gear on the numerous improvised clothes drying lines that staff strung up between the trees dotting the wilderness meadow. With feta and spinach stuffed chicken breast on the dinner menu and hot showers flowing from the 40-foot trailer which accompanies the event, recovery from the two rainy days could begin in preparation for the next days 87.5 km ride over two major passes into Elkford and civilization once more.
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