BLOG POSTS ARCHIVE - August 2007
TRANS ROCKIES BLOG - Stage 7
THE FINISH LINE APPROACHES
Isporty founder Chris Ward and team-mate Bill Gilbert's have made it through to the final stage of this years 7-day Trans Rockies mountain-bike race.
Bill's Blog ..
Final day, and by sunrise our tent was a methane bubble, jeez! Chris's tummy bug had worked overtime through the night and by race time he still wasn't feeling well.
Everyone on the start line was in good spirits - we were lined up with Dick and Dan, and notwithstanding Chris's illness we had planned to race with them .. they are fit boys and experienced mountain bikers, so it would be a challenge.
We went out as hard as we could, but Chris was suffering so he and I took the effort down for a little while. For as bad as he felt he really did push it. The whole race ended with about 7k of single track - which I actually enjoyed, despite going over the handle bars at one point! Who would have thought that a week ago?!
The finish was in Fernie, which is a great little town. There was a street party and everyone was very happy just to hang out in the sunshine and have a few beers whilst sharing stories of the last week.
It was a great race. We finished 47th out of 83 in our category, but without mechanical failures it would have been a lot better.
I'm on the way back to Calgary now and then home and family. I must admit I'll be doing more mountain biking - its a great sport with a lot of skills I still need to learn!
Thanks Trans Rockies for a great week.
Chris's Blog ..
I'm wearing my finishers t-shirt amongst a tent full of around 500 other riders in our exclusive lime green marks of achievement.
We did it - around 75-100 didn't so we have to be happy (at the moment though I'm too tired and full of drink to feel anything other than wrecked - both physically and emotionally).
It was a short day today but my stomach hadn't settled so with absolutely no energy in the legs I tried my hardest to turn it into a longer one.
Bill did aid me a couple of times by taking me out on a gravel bend and then taking himself out as we descended fast through singletrack to the great main street of Fernie where we finished, and spent the afternoon with Brits and beer - only mad dogs and Englishmen ..
Our hotel was too far away for my liking and in my tired stupor I managed to fall off in some gravel - two passing cars immediately stopped - packed my bike into the back and lifted me to the door.
Bill was determined to cycle it and prove he could keep going longer then me!
All finishers have got to get on stage for a mass celebratory photo so off I go - that, a few more beers, bed, flight home and my four kids - one more round-up blog from me in a few days - it has been fun!
Posted Aug 19th 2007, 9:18pm by james evans
TRANS ROCKIES BLOG - Stage 6
Follow Isporty founder Chris Ward and team-mate Bill Gilbert's daily blog as they participate in this years 7-day Trans Rockies mountain-bike race.
Bill's Blog ..
This was meant to be the toughest stage, three climbs (two of them over 2000m passes), and some very steep rocky descents.
After five stages the thing that still persists is that its a race and you push yourself, both physically and mentally to go as fast as you can, which for me still leaves plenty of improvement.
It's incredible watching experienced mountain bike riders - they are so good, and unless you have tried it you really don't appreciate the skill.
We did the stage in 8 hours dead, while the winners finished in 5 hours 4 minutes!
It was a hot day, and the temperature reached 34 degrees C. The trails were very dusty - by the end of the race we looked like coal miners, and we had to clean and re-lube our chain twice.
Chris announced on the start line that he wasn't feeling well, but since the first 5km was on paved road we had the roadie obligation to give it our all at max heart rate, so by the time we turned off to the single track we were quite high up the field.
(Which caused a problem as we are both pretty bad on single track, and so a huge tailback of riders trailed behind us put pressure on us to go faster and take risks - ah the sheer pleasure, all at max HR and all before 8.30 am.)
By the time we hit the second climb Chris's dodgy tummy kicked in and he was making pit stops into the forest. He really wasn't doing well, and he was starting to moan about the slightest things, like pot holes??!! Its a dirt track and we've been going through them all week! But he was suffering and so we slowed it down a bit and I made sure I cycled in front - upwind so to speak - let's hope it clears by the time we get to the tent tonight.
We slogged on throughout the day, pushing as much as possible - 8 hours is a long time - and by the end we were both pretty darn wiped, dragging our damaged bodies to the tent city.
Final stage tomorrow, there's meant to be some killer single track in the last 10k - I hope they don't mean that literally .. what a way to go.
Chris's Blog ..
The longest and hardest day but I'm going to have to leave the storytelling to Bill as I have had a dodgy tummy and stomach ache all day and still have - means today has been tough for me and now I just want to go to sleep and hope it is better in the morning, so I can finish the final day with a smile on my face (under the face pack of mud and dust that we coat ourselves in every day from the super hot and dry surfaces).
Our final night in our tent city (pictured) and a late start in the morning (10 instead of 8)...
Hopefully sweet dreams for me...
Comments
Posted Aug 17th 2007, 1:59pm by james evans
TRANS ROCKIES BLOG - Stage 5 update
UPDATE
(Also titled 'Who have West Ham signed?')
Chris's Blog ..
So I get to post my story of Stage 5 before the earlier ones as Bill's blackberry (a font of information about City finances but not the important stuff like the football scores or whether West Ham have signed any more players) is the single source of contact we still have with the outside world.
Bill is disappointed in my mechanical failure that lost us a lot of time but as you will see from my blog from yesterdays stage (when it finally leaves my blackberry) I will be happy if we manage to cross the Rockies at all - we still have 2 days, about 180km and about 4000metres of climbing and descending to get through.
I want us to have a couple of strong days to finish with, but a decent position is now beyond us.
Dick and Dan
We haven't told you about Dick and Dan. English lads we had never met prior to the coach ride here when they were among the other riders laughing at our inexperience - I think we would now trust our lives to them - which with 4000 metres down rocky single-track and our ameteur status, I hope we don't have to put to the test!
They are mountain bikers - eager to help and advise and when I broke down they didn't think twice about stopping for half-an-hour to help. We have a bond between the four of us and today we spent much of the Stage sweating through it together.
They are like a married couple - moaning to and about each other. We foolishly tried to compete with them over the first few days but we are learning far more by as they say 'if you can't beat them, join them'.
Comments
Posted Aug 17th 2007, 9:26am by james evans
TRANS ROCKIES BLOG - Round-Up, Stages 2 to 5
Having been out-of-range for the past three days, Isporty is relieved to have made contact with founder Chris Ward and team-mate Bill Gilbert as they continue their energy-sapping trek around and across the Canadian rockies in the Trans Rockies mountain-bike race.
Here's what has been happening over the past few days:
Stage 2 ..
Bill's Blog ..
Mountain biking is nothing like road biking - the only thing in common is that they use something that has two wheels!
I've now experienced single-track two times in my life. I'm sure there is a point to it but I don't see it at the moment.
Everyone around me seems to love it. It makes me scared.
We started the day well on the first climb (it was tarmac and gravel forest roads) and were in the top 25%, but then the single-track started, and I found it very difficult. Chris was better (he has 7 days more experience than me) but I felt I was taking my life into my hands everytime I descended.
I had one nasty fall which did my nerves no good. At one point there was a 1000ft drop two feet from the track. (Honey, send more shorts because these are useless now.)
Chris was very understanding which helped a lot. I might clean his bike tonight to thank him.
Although my experience is 100% more than this time yesterday and some things are definitely better, it's all about nerve - fitness is not the issue.
Question is can I, should I, throw caution to the wind?
We were really slow today on the single-track, and we must have let 120 teams pass us .. (you have to let stand aside to let some pass- get it? Single track!
So basically if you finished after us today, you shouldn't be mountain bike racing .. I know we shouldn't!
Chris's Blog ..
Another day, another dice with danger and some hard work. Generally a decent day for me though, although I know Bill feels differently (I'll let him tell you) but generally he has a gluten allergy and unfortunately had some last night so was not on top of his game today - which meant I could ride well within myself and avoid all accidents.
We cycled 60k over one major climb - a lot of single track and then a short tough small climb. The interesting bit was hike a biking downhill through mud and a forest and through a river.
Organisation of this event isn't great so water for showers and food have both run out at different points.
We are staying in the middle of nowhere for next two nights - the weather is great, the scenery of the mountains amazing and the community of cyclists is very sociable - I'd rather be here in this mountain bike race than at home in the ratrace.
Tomorrow is a 90k stage with much on gravel paths - should be made for mine and Bill's skills and training.
I mentioned the relationship between riders is often the most cause of stress - we are continuing to get on as well as ever.
I was better tactically and strength-wise than Bill today and I/we will have to deal with this if the inbalance continues. Last year in the Alps I was completely knackered at the end of every day which hasn't happened here yet - although I was expecting it.
Your overriding memory is of completing an amazing route, not what position you finished, but I hope I get to feel mentally and physically tired by the end.
We can work together as a team to balance ourselves out and achieve what we both want to do - who knows by tomorrow it could be Bill who is helping me up the climbs? Anyway, you have no idea what strength you have in your legs until you take your first peddle strokes at 8am in the morning on the start-line.
Stage 3 ..
Bill's Blog ..
Well it was a cold night. We didn't put the bikes in the overnight lock-up, mainly because we are in the middle of nowhere and also just kinda hoping that someone would steal them, but realistically who in their right mind would steal my bike unless they were a stand-up comic looking for prop.
The race started as usual at 8.00am and it was 9 degrees C then. By the time we finished it was 30 degrees.
Today was better, 93km-long it took us 5h 56m. Overall we came 132 out of 290 and the reason was simple: only 7 km of single track! Most was on forest service roads.
The downhills are going better - Chris shouted at me for touching the breaks on the first one, so I figure I would be less cautious, and it wasn't that bad, although I was airborne at one point, but overall didn't fall at all on the day - a major accomplishment.
But coming down the last descent I was taking it fast, and then on the side of the track was a guy with a blood stain bandage round his head - it didn't look good, although I figured that seeing as Chris was ahead of me so I could gently tap the breaks without retribution!
There were two main climbs (1850 metres ascent in total) and we passed 30-35 teams on the last climb, only for them to pass us on the single-track, but it felt good being so strong on the climbs.
Its a good atmosphere on the race, a lot of people know we are roadies with almost no experience, and they really try help with advice on technique and bike handling, which has been useful.
Also the scenery is spectacular. On each stage there are normally two or three river crossings (where you pick up your bike and wade across a thigh deep river). The water is freezing and crystal clear with the mountains all around - its about the only time we get to enjoy it, as the rest of the time you are just too scared to look anywhere other than the next 10 metres of the road!
At one point today on a very dusty trail, a big logging truck came by. It was unbelievable how much dust the thing threw up and we couldn't see a thing, having to stop to let it settle before starting again.
Once back into camp, we went through the usual routine - quickly eating as much food as you can, then shower (5 mins max per shower, but they're nice and hot!)
Then clean the bike and after that relax swapping stories, til dinner.
Around 9.00pm collapse into your sleeping bag and fall asleep in about 5 seconds.
Chris's Blog ..
Still no internet or phone connection - today was a 93k loop so we are now back in the campsite which is as near to the middle of nowhere as we get on this bike race over the rockies - 45min drive to the nearest village.
Being in a race with 290 teams of two (down already by 25 teams (50 riders out already!), means being in a campsite has its traditional downsides but after today's long stage the community atmosphere is excellent - simply everyone is up for a chat and a supporting word - particularly to us two 40+ roadies from that mountain bike capital of the world: London.
Our joint seven days mountain bike experience prior to this is a source of merryment but today was built for us - two long climbs in 30 degree blue skies. We came 132nd out of the 290. Yesterday we were 195th on a single track short day.
I find it very emotional finally crossing the line completely worn out and with a decent sense of achievement. Don't know where that feeling comes from but my wife knows I'm always struggling not to cry when I talk to her after running a marathon or completing these long bike races.
I enjoy sport to this (still fun) level as I am totally answerable to myself as to whether I achieve what I'm capable of. The amount of training I do, late nights I choose to enjoy or cookies I eat has a direct result on my result! And only I am involved in the decision. I don't enjoy business so much as there are so many variables and peoples' decisions outside my own that often have more impact on my achievements (or lack of them) than my own.
Anyway off to eat loads of food, maybe have a beer, and prepare for tomorrow in the setting sun, rather than in the freezing early morning dew.
PS. Hope I have to wake up for another midnight wee - the view of the stars I discovered last night was simply breaktaking - almost worth the trip in its own right (at least to the portaloo anyway!)
Stage 4 ..
Bill's Blog ..
Went to bed early last night very tired, and woke up at 6.00am (breakfast is served then) feeling like an 80-year-old man, with the prospect of 115 km to ride today. It wasn't looking good!
Chris and I were both a bit flat as we hit the first ascent - I couldn't get my heart rate above 150 (day 1 it hit 178), but we just pushed on. Chris has been stronger over the first three stages, but now we were more even. Its amazing what I don't think twice about now on the ride.
The start today was just frenetic a crowded double track, so dusty you could only see the outline of the rider in front - everyone going as fast as they could. You don't have time to think, you just go! Mad.
After the first climb we got better and by the time we got to the 3rd check point we were about 115th. Then I took a wrong turn, which wasted 10 mins.
Chris wasn't happy, but we both figured let's just power home over the last 50km and see where it puts us. We overtook about 30-35 teams and came in 136th in 6h 29m.
It was a tough day and the temperature was 37 degrees by the time we finished.
We climb generally to about 2000 metres altitude most days, so that has an impact as well.
Walking through the tent city everyone stops and chats about the stage, and how they did. Apart from the top 10 in each category, everyone seems to approach it as something personal, working with your team mate, helping him when he needs it and vice versa, and just trying to do the best and fastest you can.
I must admit it has worked well so far. We're lucky in some sense to be here and doing the race (thank-you A) although I'm glad its seven stages and not more!
I'm not sure this 46-year-old body can take too much more, let alone what its doing to my mind .. (scaring myself half to death on a daily basis).
Chris's Blog ..
Another camp - still no mobile communications at all - amazing views though!
It's been great to have three days without any external communication or media contact whatsoever. In a way I'm not looking forward to the camp tomorrow night as we are back in civilisation and I can see that the fantastic community that has grown together, through shared long slogfest days on the bike in the face of some danger, that seems to result in at least three riders being airlifted to hospital everyday
This will be severely dented by everyone resorting back to chatting on their mobiles, mailing on their Blackberries and sending photos from their laptops (cyclists on expensive bikes seem to love their tech gear).
I might be wrong but judging by the fact that in the last three minutes I've spent writing this, four people have asked me "have you got a service out here?", I don't think I will be.
Of course it will be great to talk to loved ones and find out if anything of significance has happened in the world - but I hope it isn't to the detriment of the shared community thats been built here between the 281 teams (down by another 18 riders this morning!), and riders from 25 different countries.
Riding today was a 113k slog either going uphill, through rivers or along hot dry gravel roads. We did better than yesterday but unfortunately Bill missed a turning and despite me shouting loud enough to start an avalanche he went 10 minutes the wrong way!
In a way we are still racing/competing but having talked to so many people that have either broken bikes or bones your attitude changes as soon as either happens - you realise that what we are doing is quite tough and actually to simply traverse the rockies - with only a mountain bike as a help (or a hinderance) is a decent achieverment in its own right... I hope we make it!
Stage 5 ..
Bill's Blog ..
The highlight of the day was pulling an all-nighter, which to someone my age means you don't have to get up to pee during the night. And when you're in a tent and it 5 degrees C outside that's a result.
The day was spoilt by mechanical problems. Chris's rear derailer snapped and we spent 1h 45m basically trying to sort out a way to get home. Finally got the thing sorted by shortening the chain and the bike-rolling with just one gear. Then on the descent Chris stopped to put the chain back onto the right gear, I went right past him without seeing him (fear forcing me to watch the terrain - it was a very steep rocky double track through the forest). I thought he was still ahead and Chris waited thinking I was still behind.
(I'd like to point out that Chris didn't see me either - this is an important fact)
Needless to say when we finally managed to meet up, there was a lot of name calling - Chris quoting the mountain bike official rule book (like that really exists) "when you overtake your team-mate it is your responsibility to let him know" .. who ever heard of such a thing?
Anyway, we finally made it to the finsh, hugged and made-up, agreeing to adopt the "official" overtake rule.
It was a disappointing day in some sense - we were really doing well and have nothing to show for it in terms of time or position.
This mountain bike thing is really taking its toll - my whole body aches.
Who said pain is weakness leaving the body? Well I seem to have an unlimited amount of weakness.
Comments
Posted Aug 13th 2007, 2:32pm by james evans
TRANS ROCKIES BLOG - Day Three / Stage ONE
Follow Isporty founder Chris Ward and team-mate Bill Gilbert's daily blog as they participate in this years 7-day Trans Rockies mountain-bike race. It's Day Three, and more importantly, Stage One ...
Bill's Blog ..
To say that I was anxious about the Stage would have been an understatement. We had whipped ourselves into a frenzy of panic by the time the start had come along.
The first stage was 33km; thats it, 33km. I mean how bad could it be? There was one major climb of about 7km and then 'bike hike' for 2.2km, then a switch back descent and the single-track for 13km.
Well it took us 3h 40m - unbelievable! It took us one hour to do the 2.2 bike hike alone - the fact that it was up a 45 degree slope complicated things.
The switch back descent was just a nightmare - it was all on single-track (I now fully understand the term single-track) covered with roots and rocks. One side was the mountain, the other a big drop which, if you went over, your descent time improved dramatically .. until you crashed into a tree.
Overall I guess we wanted to make sure we didn't make fools of ourselves. On the first ascent, we passed a lot of people. The descent we were useless, and I was saved by a tree on more than one occasion, but it seemed everyone had a problem with the descent.
I saw one guy go over the edge saved only by the fact a tree hit him in the face.
Overall feel pretty good. Chris was faster on the descent, but crashed almost as much. Oh yeah, and we beat the guys who were laughing at my bike the other night!
But we feel good, ready for the next day, ascents and dirt roads - the roadie training kicks in, the descents still need a lot of work - still way too scary and we are only going half the speed of the old hands.
Chris's Blog ..
First day was tough and parts of it very scary. Didn't seem to be just us having problems though - mentally and physically. Even old hands seemed to think it was a 'technical' stage and that things should get less scary from now .. here's hoping!
The day didn't exhust me though and I think the longer days coming should be better for me and Bill as we have plenty of indurance training.
Last night we started the institutalised process of queuing for the toilet, showers, water, bike wash and finally the longest queue - for food.
Managed to get a few hours off in a nice cafe to bring some normality to life.
There'll be less and less of that each day as the Stages get longer ..
Comments
Posted Aug 12th 2007, 3:12pm by james evans
TRANS ROCKIES BLOG - Day Two
Follow Isporty founder Chris Ward and team-mate Bill Gilbert's daily blog as they participate in this years 7-day Trans Rockies mountain-bike race. It's Day Two ...
Bill's Blog ..
The 4-hour coach ride through the rockies to the start village featured some quite spectacular scenery. The rockies in British Columbia are quite different to the Alps; the are less jagged and the peaks more rounded. The weather remains bad, I'm sure there was snow at one point.
We put the bikes together and took a short spin. Meeting some of the other riders is a bit of an eye opener. Firstly I should explain that we are a couple of roadies deciding to do some mountain biking, so our experience level is low. Apparently Chris and I are in trouble because we have hard-tail mountain bikes, whereas everyone else has front and rear suspension. Not only that but the fact that we've only done one real mountain bike training ride (but thousands of miles on the road bike) is met with thigh slapping guffaws. What were we thinking? Jeez.
The pinnacle of humour came when I mentioned that I didn't have disc breaks but the old fashioned V-breaks. How could I be so stupid?!
But to some extent the pressure is off as now they expect us to come last or something .. game on!
Today is sign-on and then the race starts.
Chris's Blog ..
We have just signed-on this morning.
Bill thinks others believe we are going to come last - he is being wildly optomistic - they actually don't think we've got a cat in hells chance of actually finishing at all!
This may be because on the coach here Bill asked what the difference between single track and gravel road is - which is a bit like asking a roadie what the difference between assent and desent. Or asking a football fan what the difference between their team and the opposition is!
Bill works in the Cty and at the moment we are expected to crash faster than the market currently is.
At the end of this 7-day race it will be interesting to see what is performing better for Bill - his finances or his body!
This morning we went for a ride up the mountain that is out the back door of the resort that we are staying in, prior to getting in our tent for a week. It was a wake-up call - tough singletrack uphill and dangerous desents. I did the trans-alp race last year and that tended to be mile after mile on tough gravel track assents that just happened to be on mountain bikes - whereas this appears that it is real mountain biking, including parts where both wheels will leave the ground!, where desents will be at 27 percent but with tree roots everywhere. Steep drops each side of a 12-inch wide cut-up path and sudden drops in the track. No wonder mountain biking is classed as an extreme sport for young kids in full face helemts and body armour.
What will us two 40-something roadies clad only in lycra make of it?
As you can probably tell my humour is disappearing fast - which is mad.
We come down from a short training ride with frowns on our faces whereas the kids all around us were having the time of their lives!
We've got to go into this with the right attitude - which means changing the one we're both developing - nervousness mixed with fear (neither of us want to hurt ourselves!) So we need to be safe, work hard and have fun - which is exactly what we do when we successfully compete in the day-long road sportives in Italy and France.
Tomorrow we start - bring on the fun! (Please...)
Comments
e.g., Bad weather is not bad it is good. Wet ground is always softer to fall onto when you take you and your bike for a 360 ;)
e.g., A lack of training just means that you will have tons of beginners luck!
Enjoy.
Posted Aug 11th 2007, 9:24am by james evans
TRANS ROCKIES blog ...
Follow Isporty founder Chris Ward and team-mate Bill Gilbert's daily blog as they participate in this years 7-day Trans Rockies mountain-bike race ...
Bill's Blog
Left London Thursday afternoon on 9th Aug. In the morning packed up the bike, and checked the weather for Calgary and Fernie to decide how many layers to bring. The forecast was good 23-27 degrees C. Additionally the organisers had sent out an email stating that due to forest fires and warm dry conditions they may have to change the route slightly.
Based on that I packed for summer but put in a couple of alternative provisions just in case.
Following the 9-hour flight to Calgary, arrived at 6.00 pm where it is 52 degrees, raining and a strong wind, with thunderstorms threatening!
It was like a London November day.
After checking-in met Chris in downtown Calgary - he arrived on the morning flight from london - had a bite to eat and then went to bed.
In the cab back to the hotel the cabbie told us to stop complaining about the weather, saying that in the winter its minus 35 degrees! He has lived in Calgary for 10 years having arrived from India - hardcore! If the weather stays this cold and wet its going to be problematic for the race, additionally getting clothes dry for the next day will be impossible as each stage stopover is a tent city. But I guess there's no such thing as bad weather - just bad clothes.
Chris's Blog
What's he moaning about?! Bill's got twice as many warm clothes than me - I've got the same waterproof gear that got me from Lands End to John O'Groats in a warm September week - and even then I nearly got hypothermia when we reached Scotland. Think I might be doing some warm clothing shopping to cope with a week over the mountains. Through the low cloud and rain we can only just see out of the coach window on our 4-hour journey to the middle of nowhere (or 'the start' as we've come to know it.)
Also I notice Bill is missing out the important info from his blog. Things like the fact that the place we had our bite to eat in last night just happened to be the one place where the 38 beautiful twenty-something women that live in this weird run down oil industry run middle of nowhere hicksville city - actually go for a drink - which therefore enabled us to stay awake while we attempted to eat our 'tea' at (the UK equivalent time of) 3 o'clock in the morning!
The main challenge of these 7-day, miles from anywhere, forever-changing weather, too tough assents, too dangerous desents, 2-man tented mountain bike races - is actually whether you can remain mates with your one team mate (who's actually mainly there to call your next of kin to tell them you're coming home early - with your arm in a sling - or coming home late, with your body in a box (with grizzly bear teeth marks on it!) - so watch out for the changing tone of this blog from mutual support to mutual loathing.
I'll start it now by mentioning that Bill is doing this race with a rib he cracked on our only day of proper training for this event!
At the moment he reckons the three painkillers he is planning on taking every morning to encourage him to get out of the tent should be enough to stop him using it as the excuse as to why he'll be following 'my' arse all day - but I'll let you know...
Just looked up - can you believe the weather can get much worse in the time it takes to write a blog entry? Probably.
Comments
Anyway, I hope the bugs don't take a liking to you, (but if they do you'll stop worrying about the climate altogether).
Enjoy the rest of your holiday.
My family and I from this "wierd run down oil industry run city" journeyed out to Panorama on the weekend to cheer you and your fellow competitors on. A lot of the money generated in this city contributes to the places you are enjoying during your race and time here. Please be more respectful of the places you visit while enjoying your time here. Good luck in the race.
Comments