BC Bike Race 5: Sechelt to Squamish

Kona takes another stage but yellow jersey continues to elude them

Thursday's BC Bike Race route, the second one on the Sunshine Coast, was much anticipated by both BCBR staff and return riders simply because its notorious Hwy 102 trail brings riders to a slick and swoopy mountain bike nirvana. Not a bad way to wrap up a solid day of mountain biking

Beneath endless bluebird skies, the almost 370 BCBR participants queued up for the start of their Sunshine Coast – Part II adventure; their fifth consecutive day of mountain biking in south-western BC. During Stage 4 on Wednesday, many riders were cursing Course Designer, Rod Camposano, because of the relentless climbing he threw at them. However, by dinner time, the conversation had turned to how much riders loved the trails.

Pumpkin Patch. Black Tower. White Knuckle Tight. Often, mountain bike trail names can be really good clues as to what's in store before you commit to dropping in. After 5 days on the trail BCBR riders were catching on.

The passion and the commitment to mountain biking and trail building can't help but permeate Camposano's flow of conversation as we drive up to check on the first aid station. His genuine passion for creating one helluva race course comes out when he realizes that the flagging for one corner on this course has been removed.

Home field advantage proved valuable for the Kona team on Thursday's singletrack intensive course. While DCM Chrome's Brandon Stewart and Max Knox had an early lead on the field, the technical singletrack skills that are second nature to the Sneddon and Wicks team outshone the South Africans' pure hill strength.

Team DCM/Chrome puts on more bridge behind them

As we've seen throughout the week, Kris Sneddon & Barry Wicks (Kona) and Seamus McGrath & Chris Sheppard (Jamis / Santa Cruz) rode a hair's breadth apart for the better part of the course. The finish times – 2:37:47 (Kona) and 2:37:49 (Jamis/Santa Cruz) – reflect exactly how hard-fought this battle is for top spot in the Team of 2 Open Men category. With two more days to go, the competition is unbelieveably tight – merely 53 seconds separate the yellow jersey-wearing Kona from Jamis / Santa Cruz.

Monavie-Cannondale.com rider Alex Grant decided to take a turn at the front today. Riding with the leaders all day he finished just 30 seconds behind the Kona team. Unfortunately, his teammate Bart Gillespie, who has been suffering from a tooth abcess all week, stopped the clock some 15 minutes back.

In the Solo Open Men category, the experience of seasoned racer Ruedi Schnyder (Schnyder) earned him his second consecutive stage win with a time of 2:41:57. Schnyder crossed the line 15 seconds ahead of Colin Kerr, current yellow jersey wearer. RMB – Different Bikes Kevin Calhoun came in third at 2:50:51.

Colin Kerr was a big fan of Day 5, “Yesterday was hard, I think it was mentally taxing just being up under the powerlines all day (with no shade) and then you have today (almost all climbs were shaded). The singletrack is great and then the 10km flight in to the finish. It feels easy you know that it's an effortless roll the finish.”

The Luna team is unstoppable in the Duo Women's class

Team of 2 Open Women has been a constant 1-2-3 shake out, with Catharine Pendrel & Katerina Nash (Luna) holding a commanding lead over Rocky Mountain's Alison Sydor & Lea Davison and Lisa Ludwig & Dawn Anderson (Oak Bay Bikes).

Solo Open Women changed leaders once again with Megan Rose, continuous yellow jersey wearer, staking claim on the stage win in 3:50.

Sue Butler has a big smile as a strong finish moved her team into 3rd

There was little change in the remaining categories and overall standings for the rest of the groups.

Two more days of solid BCBR action lie ahead. Next stop: Squamish.



Results

Duo Men

1, Barry Wicks/Kris Sneddon (Kona) 2.37.47
2, Chris Sheppard/Seamus McGrath (Team Jamis/Santa Cruz) 2.37.49
3, Brandon Stewart/ Max Knox (DCM/Chrome) 2.44.09
4, Johnny Krtizinger/Rourke Croeser (DCM/Chrome) 2.44.38
5, Jeff Schalk/Chris Eatough (Trek Racing Co-Op) 2.51.38

Duo Women

1, Katerina Nash/Catharine Pendrel (Luna) 3.05.22
2, Alison Sydor/Lea Davison (Rocky Mountain/Maxxis) 3.12.52
3, Lisa Ludwig/Dawn Anderson (Oak Bay Bikes) 3.32.43

Mixed Open

1, Ryan Trebon/Georgia Gould (Kona/Luna) 3.05.23
2, Sue Butler/ Bryan Alders (Monavie-Cannondale.com) 3.15.30
3, Mical Dyck/Jeff Nielsen(Terrascape/Trek Toronto) 3.17.40

GC

Open Men

1, Chris Sheppard/Seamus McGrath (Team Jamis/Santa Cruz) 13.56.42
2, Barry Wicks/Kris Sneddon (Kona) 13.57.35
3, Brandon Stewart/Max Knox (DCM/Chrome) 14.32.46
4, Jeff Schalk/Chris Eatough (Trek Racing Co-Op) 14.49.32
5, Ben Sonntag/Matt Shriver (Monavie-Cannondale.com) 15.06.18

Open Women

1, Katerina Nash/Catharine Pendrel (Luna) 13.19.56
2, Alison Sydor/Lea Davison (Rocky Mountain/Maxxis) 13.52.13
3, Lisa Ludwig/Dawn Anderson (Oak Bay Bikes) 15.26.14

Mixed Open

1,Ryan Trebon/Georgia Gould (Kona/Luna) 16.14.28
2, Mical Dyck/Jeff Nielson (Terrascape/Trek Toronto) 17.13.55
3, Sue Butler/ Bryan Alders (Monavie-Cannondale.com) 17.46.07
4, Sandra Walter/Steve Devantiers (Local Ride/Pedal Mag) 17.50.41

For full results click here

BC Bike Race Stage 4: Cumberland to Sechelt

Homegrown Canadian boy Sneddon wins stage at home on Canada Day Ehh!

Ah, Canada Day – the holiday where “you can do anything” for one day. Maybe that's not the holiday's real motto, but it is certainly the experience that BC Bike Race organizers would like to create on this day for their participants.

How's this for the start of the fourth day of epic mountain biking and a celebration of west coast Canada? A 4:30am wake-up call as pre-cursor to watching the remnants of a beautiful sunrise over the Georiga Straight while waiting to board the first BC Ferries crossing of the day. Then chowing on breakfast while admiring the view of the coastal areas off the bow.

A quick road transport to the next ferry terminal, Saltery Bay, leaves racers mingling with other racers as they grow comfortable with the riders in their own “pack” each day. One more scenic sailing down the coastal area ultimately leads to the final transfer destination for the day – Earls Cove ferry terminal – which is a popular and inspirational BC Bike Race start line...

For six BCBR participants whose shuttle driver accidentally missed the early morning ferry by 15 minutes, it might seem that BCBR really can do anything. In missing the ferry, those teams would not make the start line in time; however, their shuttle driver did treat them all to a very Canadian Tim Horton's breakfast to take the edge off. Meanwhile, Harbour Air, presenting sponsor of BC Bike Race, freed one charter floatplane and flew it to the Comox harbour to pick up the anxious racers and carry them directly to the Earls Cove start line ahead of the rest of the racers.

Once the ferry docked, riders arrived at the quaint landing in Earls Cove where the familiar Bear on Bike start/finish arch stood waiting, along with 360 bikes ready to ride. With racers seeded in the starting chute, the course director, Rod Camposano, shared trail insights and highlights. Those who know Rod knew it would be a relentlessly hilly day.



All eyes would be on Open Men local favourite Kris Sneddon and his partner Barry Wicks as well as the remaining top 3 teams, Jamis/Santa Cruz, DCM and Trek. With the history that these teams have built in just 3 days, they are creating a considerable buzz. However, the real focal point of today's battle is the fact that Sneddon grew up in this area and even helped to build some of the trail network that riders would experience. It was time to find out how much advantage knowing the trails like the back of your hand actually can bring.

For the majority of the race, Team Kona lead the group through all of the singletrack but always had Seamus McGrath and Chris Sheppard stuck on their rear wheels, even as they ripped through some incredible sections at 'mach chicken.' In the end, Team Kona would take the stage in 3:27:46 but Team Jamis / Santa Cruz would retain their GC lead, finishing right behind in 3:28:04.

South Africa's Team DCM, in the process of securing their third place position over Trek, is proving to be incredibly strong on the climbs, but less technically. Although they do claim to have observed an increase in technical accuracy as each day advances.

The big question at the finish line was what happened for Kona to gap out Seamus and Chris in the very last ten minutes of the race.

Sneddon recappped the competition, “Well it was mostly just givin'er as fast as we could in the singletrack. There are also a couple of corners where if you don't really know the course, then you are afraid to go too fast around. It's just too scary. We just got a little bit of a gap, and I think they probably hit their brakes a little bit on stuff like that and we slowly spread it out a little bit. But trust me, we were going scary fast. It was sort of a chance we took and it would be pretty easy to go off the bike. We were full out, full throttle and you don't want to be breaking the bike. We don't really want to do it.”

The Solo Men's cat is heating up right now, too, as current GC leader, Colin Kerr, blasted across the Sechelt finish line in 3:43:13; unbeknownst to Colin, until too late, Ruedi Schnyer snuck up in stealth mode to close the gap and cross the finish line in 3:43:11. Next across was Kevin Calhoun, in 3:49:20, with early stage winner, Tony Hogg, crossing approximately seven minutes later. This will be a close contest throughout the remaining three stages this week.



With a few little change ups here and there, the finish board is starting to come to life!

Next up for these intrepid adventurers: Sechelt unto itself! Enjoy!

Results

1, Barry Wicks/Kris Sneddon (Kona) 3.27.46
2, Chris Sheppard/Seamus McGrath (Team Jamis/Santa Cruz) 3.28.04
3, Brandon Stewart/ Max Knox (DCM/Chrome) 3.33.42
4, Jeff Schalk/Chris Eatough (Trek Racing Co-Op) 3.40.02
5, Ben Sonntag/Matt Shriver (Monavie-Cannondale.com) 3.43.35

Duo Women

1, Katerina Nash/Catharine Pendrel (Luna) 4.08.28
2, Alison Sydor/Lea Davison (Rocky Mountain/Maxxis) 4.23.22
3, Lisa Ludwig/Dawn Anderson (Oak Bay Bikes) 4.42.15

Mixed Open

1, Ryan Trebon/Georgia Gould (Kona/Luna) 4.07.11
2, Sue Butler/ Bryan Alders (Monavie-Cannondale.com) 4.16.32
3, Sandra Walter/Steve Devantiers (Local Ride/Pedal Mag) 4.25.36
4, Mical Dyck/Jeff Nielson (Terrascape/Trek Toronto) 4.27.46
5, Steve Martins/ Kate Aardal (Hardcore CC) 4.36.15

GC

Open Men

1, Chris Sheppard/Seamus McGrath (Team Jamis/Santa Cruz) 11.18.53
2, Barry Wicks/Kris Sneddon (Kona) 11.19.48
3, Brandon Stewart/Max Knox (DCM/Chrome) 11.48.37
4, Jeff Schalk/Chris Eatough (Trek Racing Co-Op) 12.07.39
5, Ben Sonntag/Matt Shriver (Monavie-Cannondale.com) 12.12.29

Open Women

1, Katerina Nash/Catharine Pendrel (Luna) 13.19.56
2, Alison Sydor/Lea Davison (Rocky Mountain/Maxxis) 13.52.13
3, Lisa Ludwig/Dawn Anderson (Oak Bay Bikes) 15.26.14

Mixed Open

1,Ryan Trebon/Georgia Gould (Kona/Luna) 13.09.05
2, Mical Dyck/Jeff Nielson (Terrascape/Trek Toronto) 13.56.15
3, Sandra Walter/Steve Devantiers (Local Ride/Pedal Mag) 14.28.46
4, Sue Butler/ Bryan Alders (Monavie-Cannondale.com) 14.30.37

For full results click here

BC Bike Race Stage 3: Cumberland

Before the third stage of BC Bike Race was even underway today, event organizers were dealt a potentially show-stopping challenge this morning on course: sabotage. The course had been completely flagged for the third day and racers were lined up in the start chute ready to ride when the word came in over event radios.

Without hesitation, course director Jeremy Grasby jumped on one of the safety team dirt bikes and blasted onto the course to replace the critical missing flags while riders fidgeted on their bikes in the start chute. Sabotage is not uncommon during races like this; community members opposed to using the land for mountain biking make their point by removing flagging, placing obstacles on the trail and more. Beyond being a huge inconvenience for race organizers, such interference can be downright dangerous for riders. Incredibly, less than 8 minutes later, the flagging was fixed, the start gun fired and racers were off, spinning through the Village of Cumberland streets enroute to the trailhead.

The slight morning delay did not slow down the action on course. This was another lengthy day of almost all singletrack and riders appeared to really enjoy flowing with the trails, many of which were purpose built by local mountain bike enthusiasts or this segment of the BC Bike Race. Local course designers also conduct trail maintenance and preservation in an attempt to keep the trails active and open for riders.



Canadian mountain biking phenom Geoff Kabush joined the starting ranks as a guest rider for the past two days of Vancouver Island riding. For those not in the know, Kabush is tearing up the world cup circuit and was ranked 4th overall in 2008. He's currently tied with legend Ned Overend with 4 US national XC series wins and with John Tomac for most XC wins ever – 14.

Kabush, who cut his teeth on the local Cumberland area trails, was on a mid-season break in his regular racing schedule when the opportunity to join in the BC Bike Race came along. “It's pretty fun to come back and just do a fun ride with a bunch of the guys I know,” said Kabush referencing the Day Two ride. “They've done a lot of work there – it's super fun, flowy, buff. There's also been a ton of development in the trails up higher...it's pretty easy to see how I got into mountain biking from growing up here.”

Kabush's approach to Day Three was much different, “Today I decided to ride with the front guys and just kinda stay out of their way. And it was amazing how hard they were battling it out day after day.” Kabush was riding with the top Open Men teams which are caught up in a fierce battle for the leader jersey.

A fierce battle, indeed. Today, Team Jamis/Santa Cruz, Seamus McGrath and Chris Sheppard, blasted through the trails in a blistering 2:51:53, with rivals Team Kona, Kris Sneddon and Barry Wicks literally on their heels at one second later. McGrath and Sheppard retain the coveted leader's jersey for the GC but will have to work hard to keep it, with Team Kona only 73 seconds behind overall.

Third place today went to Monavie-Cannondale.com 5's Ben Sonntag and Matt Shriver, who crossed the line ahead of the BC Bike Race 2007 Champions, Trek/VW's Chris Eatough and Jeff Schalk.



The other category that's getting interesting is the Open Solo Men. Colin Kerr, (Team Kerr) relinquished the stage win to Tony Hogg (Tony Hogg RnR Sport New Zealand). Hogg is racing in a Canmore, AB area 24hr World Cup race at the end of August, and is using the BC Bike Race as a serious training opportunity. Depending on how things shake out in this category over the remaining four days, Hogg might find himself with an overall BCBR title in hand as he makes his way to Alberta.

Despite the hot action in the Open Mens' Solo and Open Mens' team of two, there were no real changes of note in the remaining categories for today.

For Day 4, racers face an early wake-up call in order to make 3 scenic ferry rides from Vancouver Island to the Earls Cove ferry terminal, where the familiar Bear-on-Bike starting arch will beckon the start of Day 4.





Results

1, Chris Sheppard/Seamus McGrath (Team Jamis/Santa Cruz) 2.51.53
2, Barry Wicks/Kris Sneddon (Kona) 2.51.54
3, Ben Sonntag/Matt Shriver (Monavie-Cannondale.com) 2.52.42
4, Brandon Stewart/ Max Knox (DCM/Chrome) 3.31.21
5, Jeff Schalk/Chris Eatough (Trek Racing Co-Op) 3.07.39

Duo Women

1, Katerina Nash/Catharine Pendrel (Luna) 3.24.13
2, Alison Sydor/Lea Davison (Rocky Mountain/Maxxis) 3.25.38
3, Lisa Ludwig/Dawn Anderson (Oak Bay Bikes) 3.55.19

Mixed Open

1, Ryan Trebon/Georgia Gould (Kona/Luna) 3.19.36
2, Mical Dyck/Jeff Nielson (Terrascape/Trek Toronto) 3.31.28
3, Sue Butler/ Bryan Alders (Monavie-Cannondale.com) 3.34.20
4, Sandra Walter/Steve Devantiers (Local Ride/Pedal Mag) 3.39.19
5, Steve Martins/ Kate Aardal (Hardcore CC) 3.44.46

GC

Open Men

1, Chris Sheppard/Seamus McGrath (Team Jamis/Santa Cruz) 7.50.49
2, Barry Wicks/Kris Sneddon (Kona) 7.52.02
3, Brandon Stewart/Max Knox (DCM/Chrome) 8.14.55
4, Jeff Schalk/Chris Eatough (Trek Racing Co-Op) 8.17.56
5, Ben Sonntag/Matt Shriver (Monavie-Cannondale.com) 8.28.54

Open Women

1, Katerina Nash/Catharine Pendrel (Luna) 9.11.28
2, Alison Sydor/Lea Davison (Rocky Mountain/Maxxis) 9.28.51
3, Lisa Ludwig/Dawn Anderson (Oak Bay Bikes) 10.43.59

Mixed Open

1,Ryan Trebon/Georgia Gould (Kona/Luna) 9.01.54
2, Mical Dyck/Jeff Nielson (Terrascape/Trek Toronto) 9.28.29
3, Sandra Walter/Steve Devantiers (Local Ride/Pedal Mag) 10.03.10
4, Sue Butler/ Bryan Alders (Monavie-Cannondale.com) 10.14.05

For full results click here