The venue for the
XC8 bike race was Buffalo Pound Park, which is just north of Moose Jaw. The race format was an 8 hour
enduro, which means that riders see how many laps they can do of a prescribed circuit (which, in this case was 8.75 km) within that time frame. Fortunately, the circuit format offers more palatable bite sizes (45-60 minutes per lap) to focus on. As well, the practically non-stop
singletrack prevents your thoughts from diverting away from the immediate challenges for very long.
There was 270m (885ft) of vertical per lap, which meant we were constantly climbing or descending. This is not the Saskatchewan that most people get to see. Less than one kilometre of the circuit was straight, flat double track. The rest was twisty, hilly single track, with a new challenge around every turn. From the hill tops, there were spectacular views of the valley. Autumn has arrived here already and the trees are changing colour.
The course is challenging enough on a geared bike, so to do it on a rigid singlespeed is not recommended. Anyway, there was 4 of us (out of 87 riders) who chose to ride the course on a rigid singlespeed. Two on 26er's and myself and another fella on 29er's.
To give you an idea of how clueless I was, I just changed my rear cog the day before and got to ride it to the end of the block and back. So, I had no clue how it would feel on the climbs. I originally bought the bike stock with a 18 in the back and changed the rear to a 21. That's the first thing I noticed. The next was that I have never raced with v brakes and a rigid fork, I have always raced with disc brakes and a front fork. My legs, back were fine. It was my wrists and forearms that were taking the beating. I think that I might have cracked or something because it's annoying me today and a little swollen. Every time I rotate it, there are some spots where its really touchy. If it does not feel good by Thurs. I am going to the doctor's.
Climbing the bike was awesome. It takes awhile to get used to standing for a whole climb and lowering your cadence, but I never got passed as I was always catching up to someone and passing them. I rode with a female partner and we finished 12th overall out of 20 something, but first as a mixed group. Many of the top teams were high lever racers, this was my partners first year really racing. Joanne did an awesome job, a real go getter! My goal is to eventually do something huge like the trans Rockies or trans alp.
I think I know the improvements that I will make for the next marathon race:
- Disc brakes-don't have to pull so hard on them.
- Front fork w/blow valve lockout-on the climbs your producing so much torque that the fork has to be locked out. But on the descents, especially in a longer race having front sus. will not cause so much fatigue.
- Lightweight carbon stuff-I weigh 135 so this benefits me a lot. I had a carbon bar and it helped out quite a bit, not just with weight but also with dampening.
- Have my custom Vassago all ready.
Kudos to the out of province racers for supporting the race, it was awesome!
Cheers!
