June 28/10 10:48 am - BC Bike Race: Day 1

Posted by Editoress on 06/28/10
 

Day 1 (June 27th):  Nanaimo circuit, 70 km

Photos by Patrick Graham


Racers awoke to a cool, damp North Vancouver morning as they prepared for their journey to the BC Bike Race Stage 1 Start Line in the port city of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. The grey weather didn’t manage to dampen racers’ spirits, as this day earmarks the first full-length stage in the 2010 event.

Before further adieu, here are the race results from Sunday’s stage and added together:

Stage
Epic Team of 2 Men – Kris Sneddon and Barry Wicks (Team Kona) 3:14:16
Epic Team of 2 Women – Brandi Helstermen & Cathy Zeglinski 4:19:26
Epic Team of 2 Mixed – Geoff Kabush & Catharine Pendrel 3:35:04
Epic Solo Men – Chris Sheppard 3:11:10
Epic Solo Women – Melanie McQuaid 3:58:35

Challenge Team of 2 Men – Team Degster 20:03:40
Challenge Solo Men – Darren Butler 01:19:36
Challenge Solo Women – Kelli Sherbinin 01:25:37


Cumulative
Epic Team of 2 Men – Kris Sneddon and (Team Kona) 3:18:32
Epic Team of 2 Women – Brandi Helstermen & Cathy Zeglinski 4:30:22
Epic Team of 2 Mixed – Geoff Kabush & Catharine Pendrel 3:43:59
Epic Solo Men – Chris Sheppard 3:18:32
Epic Solo Women – Melanie McQuaid 04:08:10

Challenge Team of 2 Men – Team Degster 20:03:40
Challenge Solo Men – Darren Butler 01:19:36
Challenge Solo Women – Lisa LaPoole 5:53:49


An interesting element of the BC Bike Race is its four ferry crossings to get from stage to stage, and Monday morning’s voyage with BC Ferries across the Georgia Strait marked their first of the week. Racers walked off the ferry in Nanaimo and right into the start line area, where their bikes were organized and waiting to roll beneath the giant inflatable start/finish line arch with the official crack of the starter pistol.

Nanaimo RCMP members led the 8km neutral start out of the Langdale ferry terminal. A few quick open road climbing kilometres beyond and riders entered the Abyss trails area. The Abyss has been described by riders as a mini Canadian version of Moab. Once through the Abyss, riders went up for a few kilometres, hit some amazing singletrack at the top and did a big loop in that area. After transitioning, racers enjoyed a trail called T-Bar – an old school trail.

The put together a course that flowed really well. For the final 25km riders did a big circumnavigation around the base of Mt Dumont and had a lengthy climb followed by some beautiful skies when I am at home.

Welcome back to Norm Thibault and Wendy Simms who took some time off after becoming proud parents. Wendy was born and raised in Nanaimo, as was Melanie McQuaig, so these trails could provide those two some serious home field advantage! Though McQuaid doesn’t normally ride these trails as part of her X-terra training regimen, she is still owning the solo women category, though quietly, “There was a team of two women that came in before me, so I’m not really first woman overall…” McQaid, who loved the trails on offer for today, sums up the general chatter around Base Camp regarding the very new, very revamped Day 1, “It was an amazing course! So much fun!!”

Next up: An early trip down the road to Cumberland where 70km of singletrack await Epic riders and 37km of singletrack await our Challenge Crew. Cumberland is an historical mining town and if you look closely you can see the remnants of years gone by. Let’s find out if our repeat top crew can hang onto their top spots for another day…

BC Bike Race report