Rock Steady: A summary of my 2009 BC BIKE RACE experience

Chase hanging out with the Boys at the start of Day 2

Riemer Ripping it! Day 6



The Steed Cycle Boys - Finish of Day 6


Day 2 - Suffering. I wish I hadn't played hockey last night.


Day 4 - Ferry Ride


Day 5: Wendy's Fisheye shot


Day 6: Squamish, Pushing hard

I just got home last night from my 3rd edition of the BC BIKE RACE. My race partner Jeff Riemer and I raced again as TEAM HELLY HANSEN VANCOUVER ISLAND, but we also rocked our bike sponsors colours from STEED CYCLES and ARROWSMITH BIKES. The course was amazing this year, and while it was shorter the added singletrack really took a toll on the riders. In the end we finished 8th overall, and while I felt we didn't have any spectacularly fast days, we didn't have any slow ones either, we were rock steady. As I did last year, I thought I would do a day by day summary of the event in point form.


Day 0 - Registration
- 8:30 AM - Ferry, travelling in the Frontrunners van with Norm, Pete, Wendy and Marty
- Fighting Vancouver traffic always reminds me why I left the mainland.
- Spent the day looking for parking and waiting in lines 1 though 16B to complete the sign in.
- Pre-ride of the Pipeline - Jeff takes an epic bail - Norm shatters his headset - I've forgotten how burly the shore is, but I still love it.
- Dinner with Dave Norona, Kim and Jason Sandquist at the Cactus Club
- Thanks for the hospitality Dave, your couch rocks and "OLD SCHOOL" is the best pre-race movie ever.


Stage 1 - The North Shore
- Can't believe how many big name pros are out.
- Competition is pretty intimidating
- Kim Steed looks stoked, but nervous
- Learning from last year's mistake we sign in early and we seed in the front row for the start.
- Race starts hard - I always hate the 1st half hour of these races
- The trail "Severed Dick" is super fun - I take the hard line down the chute and almost crash - lovin it.
- Hook up with Kim Steed, for the middle part of the race. The dude is a rock star on the shore, tons of people cheering.
- Have an awesome ride down "Pipeline" with Kim, he rips it.
- Solid finish - nothing special - finish @ 1hr 52 minutes - around 10th spot
- Catch the 3pm boat back to Nanaimo
- Play ice hockey - get to meet Kyla's brother Scott Hartnell - he watches our game and babysits Chase with Carey
- Have an awesome game and score a great goal, diving through the crease.
- Not sure playing hockey was a good idea.

Stage 2: Nanaimo to Parksville
- Wake up in my own bed - relaxed morning
- Ride down to the ferry from my house
- Roll out from the ferry, very sketchy riding on the road, worried about crashing
- Hit the trails of the Abyss, it's a beautiful sunny day, and the trails are in amazing shape, really enjoy this part of the ride. Jeff gets ahead and rides behind Geoff Kabush for a while, pretty cool.
- Start to fall apart a little bit after the NAD trail, get caught by the Luna girls and I'm holding Jeff back.
- My energy returns by aid 2, our good buddy Big Jay follows us to Parksville and we start to rip again, awesome to have his company and moral support.
- Finish strong in Parksville. 3hrs 54 minutes
- Back home, to get ready for stage 3.
- Big Jay cleans and works on my bike, freehub is toast - Wendy and Norm graciously bail me out again.
- Thanks guys - I have the best friends.

Stage 3: Cumberland
- All packed up and ready to join the race, felt a little weird staying at home, almost more stressful
- Feeling pretty tired - average start - work my way back up to Norm and Pete. Ride in a group with Robbin Dutton and his partner Andy.
- Steady work on the climb - but good rip on the descent , and we pick up a bunch of teams.
- Solid transition back to the Cumberland trails, starting to feel pretty shattered but happy to be ripping down Cumberland's amazing trail network.
- Horrible crash at the end of "Short and Curly" - Catch my pedal, over the bars on a downhill corner and headfirst into a fresh cut log.
- Smash my helmet and face. Super hard impact, felt like I lost my teeth. Riemer yells at me "Can you still see?" I reply "yeah, but it hurts" He responds "Then get on your bike and quit being a f@#$ing pussy" I comply.
- Good finish - 3hrs 24 minutes
- Good dinner at "Carmies" - Home cooked buffet
- Thanks Carey for bringing me a new helmet from home and happy birthday.
- My head and neck hurt, I go to sleep feeling dizzy.
- Thanks Lisa and Curtis for letting me sleep on your couch

Stage 4: Earl's Cove - Sechelt
- Hump day
- 4:30 AM - Start - 2 busses and 2 ferries later - we arrive at the start line - good breakfast - thanks BC FERRIES
- 11 AM - Start - Thanks again Wendy for the bottle of purple gatorade - I'm determined not to cramp or dehydrate today.
- Good start - hard as always - ride with Geogia Gould and Ryan Trebon -
- Trebon - makes fun of me for not riding the steep climbs
- Feeling really good and start to pick off teams. Lots of teams seem to be suffering mechanicals.
- Dre Hestler graciously stops to help his Rocky Mountain teammates who broke a pedal.
- Stage seems to drag on forever.
- Ride last half with Jeremy Grasby, who is killing us riding a singlespeed.
- Jeremy asks if Jeff is riding the downhill with his brakes on, Jeff responds by crashing into a tree. Thanks Jeremy!
- Good solid finish - 4hrs 4minutes
- First night camping in tent city - don't sleep very well, miss Carey and Chase

Stage 5: Sechelt-Langdale
- Muffin and Burrito for breakfast - burrito sits heavy in my stomach, but tastes good
- Solid start - wind up through a gravel pit, pretty cool to see the co-operation between industry and sport/recreation.
- Hang in there, not feeling great.
- Forest singletrack climb, forever, thankful for the forest cover, nice and cool. I melt in the sun.
- Start to feel stronger, picking up teams.
- Downhill comes faster than I remembered, this might have something to do with the shortened course.
- Amazing descent to the ferry, a little thinly flagged so we take a few wrong turns which adds to the stress level.
- Good finish - probably our strongest day - 2hrs 59 minutes
- Catch the 1:30 boat to Horseshoe Bay- Catch the bus to Squamish
- Hook up with Chris Birch and go do laundry and get a sandwich at Tim Horton's
- Pasta dinner - hang out in the rec center -
- Another terrible sleep in tent city - keep having to get up to piss.

Stage 6: Squamish
- Big breakfast - hanging out with good friends, Lisa and Dawn, Birchy, Bart and Simon.
- Carey and Chase arrive just before the start, so good to see them, can't wait to be done.
- Hard start up to Perth -
- Trebon mocks me again, this time for using my small ring on the Rock and Roll hill bypass
- Climbs feel super hard today - rip the downhill
- Solid ride of the "Plunge" ,but put my foot down for a second, very unlike me.
- The climb up to "Hoods in the Woods" hurts me, and I turn it down a notch.
- Catch up to Jeff at the end of the rocking descent.
- Familiar singletrack to the finish - loving it and I keep thinking that I'm so happy I finally finished the TEST OF METAL under 3hrs this year.
- Another good strong finish, but nothing spectacular today. 3hrs 11 minutes.
- Another great day of spectacular singletrack, but my legs are feeling tired.
- Pack up into Jeff's Subaru, and Kristenn, Jeff, Carey, Chase and I head to our hotel room in Whistler
- Avalanche Pizza for dinner.
- Awesome evening, relaxing by the pool with Pete, Norm and Wendy

Stage 7: Whistler
- Final day, looking forward to being done.
- Hard start - straight up - downhill not very inspiring
- Beautiful fast open singletrack along the river. Great cheering by Kristenn, Carey, Chase and Wendy.
- Trying hard to hold on to Jeff's wheel and being pushed by the talented Jeremy Grasby, who seems way to relaxed and happy, for someone who has raced his bike hard for 4 days and is riding a singlespeed.
- Amazing singletrack downhill to finish back at Creekside.
- Cool belt buckle, presented by race organizer Dean Payne
- Lots of smiles, great to congratulate and catch up with everyone.
- Feels good to be done, but it always seems a little anti-climatic.
- Chase gets lots of attention from Grasby's adorable daughters Ella and Chloe.
- Tasty burger at Dusty's pub on the patio with Bart, plans are made for a winter back country ski trip in Revelstoke
- Back to the hotel for beers and a swim.
- Miss having the banquet, but awesome dinner with Pete, Norm and Wendy in the Village at "21"
- Go to the movies - "Transformers 2" - felt like watching somebody play a video game for 2 and half hours.
- Midnight 7-11 icecream run and then introduced Norm and Wendy to "Kenny Powers"


Thanks again to all the people who made 2010 version of BC BIKE RACE possible:

- The amazing volunteers who worked tirelessly day after day.
- The race directors and their crews, who prepared day after day of amazing singletrack courses
- Marc Campbell and Helly Hansen - for their amazing support
- Kim Steed and Steed Cycles - for keeping me in bikes and gear
- Norm and Wendy - for all their support - rides, feeds, xtr wheels
- My race partner Jeff Riemer "The T800" - for his steady no bullshit approach to racing and life
- Carey and Chase - for always being there when I needed them the most.

Cheers Justin