SINGLETRACK 6 - 2014...with COGMA BIKEWEAR
We hit the road on Tuesday, July 22nd - making our way to Park City, to stay at the DuRoss's - unfortunately they are not there :(, but it was a brief layover - the pre-game to a long day en route north with some fun adventures along the way.
Dillon Patagonia Outlet is a necessary spot for this Missoula alum who used to frequent the Patagonia outlet on my graduate school paycheck. Punkin and I of course found some gems while Butta was patient and found this awesome 1937 snowcat....with shag carpet inside!
And of course he had his bucket list stop of Evel (had no idea it was not spelled Evil) Canieval's grave site in Butte, MT if you are ever in that neck of the woods.
We experienced some challenges on our way up to Canada; to start off I ran into the bathroom on the U.S. side and while waiting for them to unlock the bathroom Clint and Karen proceeded over the border due to a quicker than anticipated border check in line...with my passport. I came out on the U.S. side, sans passport and decided I would just walk across the border. I waited for the car in front of me at the window, walked up to the Canadian check in guard and simply told him I had to pee really bad and that my passport was in my friend's van which was already across the border. He asked if I had and weapons, drugs, etc and in my swimsuit cover up I told him you get what you see. And he said go ahead! I couldn't believe it, I literally walked across the border without a passport....crazy Canada. Fortunately we did not find the need to use Moby's A.C. too often, the weather cooperated!
Clint, (Karen't husband), left steamboat on crutches with low expectations of being able to race. As we crossed the border his level of frustration with his pain levels was elevated and the wind was blowing at moby levitating levels. We were all ready to be there and if you have ever been to Cochrane it is not the most stunning place to pull in to. But as we settled in to the hotel and finally made some decisions, Karen and I decided we needed to spin some of the negativity out so we cruised the town bike paths and finally found a bike shop in downtown Cochrane. The friendly dude at the bike shop promptly gave us directions to the spectacular 3 km of singletrack that exists in town.
On the course of this single track there is a statue of a man riding a horse...and it is huge. So we took a couple photos of the highlight of the ride and of course I thought it would be a good idea to mount the horse. Mind you I have already been fighting an IT band issue in my left knee. As I twerked my leg into the foot placement of the saddle on the horse and pushed myself up I knew that wasn't a good motion. Coming down from the horse and on to my bike I could instantly feel pain in my left knee. I was bummed. What a dumb idea. I got it to pop into place later that evening but awoke to a painful left knee the day before the stage race is about to begin. After taking some Aleve and going for a ride today it is feeling ok. I was in much better spirits after pre riding the course and having some affirmation that despite my knee having some swelling and irritation that I would be able to race.
We also decided today that since Clint can't race that Karen and I are going to do a womens duo team instead of each racing solo. We are representing the cogma mamas. It has been a tough go for Clint as he fought his injury and finally made the must make decision to not race. Once we got our incredible view in the hotel his spirits seemed to improve...as well as a slight alleviation of the pain.
As I prepare for the first stage of the first six day stage race I have ever done I am feeling excited, nervous, and hopeful. We have spent the last two nights in Cochrane, Alberta at a Super 8 with many stops at Tim Horton's for pre race fuel.
STAGE ONE: Bragg Creek; Kanaskis - 40km; Elevation Gain - 1800 meters.
What an awesome kick off to the singletrack 6! the energy was pumping this morning as around 400 riders rallied to the 9a.m. start line at West Bragg creek. I feel like I am walking around with famous people with Karen and Clint. They got married on the transrockies 3 years ago and therefore random strangers come up to them and say "hey! I was at your wedding a few years back!" And they always podium even though they are the only ones who ride a single speed bike - crazies marry crazies.
One of my favorite sights of the morning was the two Brazilian pink girls. There bikes are decked out to hilt, streamers, stickers, flowers, the full kit. And they are dressed in all pink down to the sport bra. Punkin and I had an incredible race today, this race suited our style of riding.
Three sustained climbs with three fun, fast downhills. We rode within sight or caught each other at the perfect moments all day. She obviously had to work much harder than I because I have gears on my bike and we had one grueling climb today that really tested her persistence. My favorite team interaction was when we were ascending and Punkin was struggling I attempted to be supportive and asked if she needed anything...her response "What the fuck do you think I need,... gears!"....the most aggressive comment I have ever heard out of her mouth (in a funny way), I was dying with laughter, well played Punkin. I felt amazing on the bike today, no knee pain, and great energy. The positive environment is inspiring and it is pretty awesome to have Butterball taking photos, cleaning our bikes, and taking care of us. Oh and we won by 36 minutes!
Following the race in West Bragg Creek we headed towards Canmor, Alberta where the banquet was happening - we stayed with Ali (who actually lives in Banff national park) a friend of Punkin's from massage and her stint in Canada. Ali and Jim were the hostesses with the mostesses. Ali is such a ball of energy and joy and made us a homemade dinner, we did some laundry and she even came to support us at the awards banquet!!
Our fist place prize the first stage - arm warmers.
STAGE TWO: Nipika Resort - 40 km; Elevation gain - 1300 meters.
I got Nipika'd......What a challenging day for Punkin and I....same distance, less climbing, lots of roots. Apparently the Colorado girls are not as strong when it comes to Canada style riding. All I could think to myself today is I have chosen the wrong tool, why didn't I use my 6" full suspension machine.
I would have loved this trail with a crew of friends on an enduro style bike, with some stops to take in the beautiful view and session some of the fun sections. But for a race, it was tough, mentally demanding. It miraculously took us exactly the same time as stage one: 3 hours 18 minutes, but both Punkin and I discussed that we were sure during the race that it was taking us at least an hour longer than the day before.
The positive of the day - the views were incredible, dramatic cliff edges funneling down into the most pure green glacial water flowing below us for many sections of the ride. I truly felt incredibly challenged today and at moments was ready to pull off the side to stop. I was running out of water and the heat was dramatically increasing. I couldn't be happier to find out I was at the finish when I thought we had about 10km more to go. And I found out we got free beer at dinner.....Red Racer....not my favorite, but free's not bad.
We promptly proceeded to the lake, which instantly turned my attitude around. By 4:30 I was eating a burger, cooled off, well hydrated and life couldn't have been better. We ended up in first again today but only be a lead of 11 minutes compared to yesterday's lead of 36 minutes.
My other highlight of the day is when we pulled into Radium for 2 night stay at the Crystal Springs Motel and they had a bike wash station set up, a tent with popcorn, lemonade, etc, and a place to hang our smelly bike shorts to dry after a good rinse out. An excellent finish to the night with some great cooking and awards (bear scat neoprene belt- ha!). Looking forward to tomorrow and considering getting Punkin on some gears for a couple stages to amp up the fun factor.
STAGE THREE: Invemere, Radium Hot Springs, B.C. 47 km; Elevation gain - 1200m.
Ahhhh a rest day...ish. Punkin and I have sunk into sink on this day. We had a blast riding the very Coloradesk trail system that was highlighted on this stage. There were some brief climbs, buff roller coaster single track and a little dust, pretty much what a Colorado bike rider is comfortable with.
The day literally flew by and we couldn't believe it when the two woman on the sideline shouted "2km, you are almost to the finish!" It truly was just what we needed after yesterday, which truly tested our mental strength.
We again proceeded directly to the post race lake spot which was happenin' and refreshing! After some quality lake time we met up with Clint who has officially moved into the ambassador position and rode longer than we did today, which is awesome bc he is in much better spirits being part of the whole experience and being back on the bike after 2 weeks off! We hopped in Moby with appetites that lead us to the pub and eatery for a couple celebratory beers and delicious food....getting over Stinger product at this point. I love you Stinger, but three days in a row is about enough :).
We came in first today again and are feeling rested after a race that favored our animal Punkin and her singlespeed and our Colorado style riding. This experience has been one of a kind and I couldn't imagine a better experience. Cogma has peaked quite a bit of interest and I hope all their positive charma comes back bc it has been a treat to be part of this inaugural business venture on the singletrack 6.
The podium prize for the evening was coincidentally some shea Butter and some Punkin soap!! We got a chapstick and wishing it would have been cupcake chapstick...
And our recovery routine on my favorite piece of playground equipment I have ever run into!
STAGE 4: Golden, B.C. 30km, Elevation gain - 1400m
Stage 4 rates the highest on the fun factor scale for me. Today Punkin turned to the darkside and used my geared hardtail bike while I went to the even darker side and used my full suspension 6" Giant Reign. I was pretty excited to play on a full suspension bike for the first time in 4 stages.
We kicked off the stage with a steady climb to a timed descent below Mount 7. This descent was so fun and I got into downhill mode...which led to a pretty fast, rocky crash for me in the midst of trying to pass a couple people in a pretty technical spot. I got up quickly and was so happy to promptly recognize nothing serious happened to me or my bike except for a broken spoke and a couple bruises/scrapes to add to my wealthy collection.
The second portion of the race was classic kick ass Canada riding through the thick forest with just enough technical rock sections to keep your mind intrigued, but flowy fun roller coaster components to give you some giggles in between.
To top it off we were greeted at the second aid station with a BACON station...anyone who has ever supported a race knows there is noting that makes a racer happier than bacon mid course - brilliant and satiating. The final section of trail to the finish line was another incredibly fun, flowy descent and we ended up finishing in 2 hours 21 minutes - a nice short race for the 4th stage.
We won today but only by 7 minutes, very happy about our geared and full suspension bike decision...it would have been a tight race if Punkin had been on her single speed due to a lot of road sections.
We spent the afternoon in the ice cold glacial river with some Budwiesers and the ambassadors.
STAGE 5: Golden, part 2 - Moonrakers, 56km - Elevation gain - 1400km.
As Punkin got back on her spinglespeed and I got back on my hardtail we were looking forward to the 5th stage just based off the trail description:
Fast and flowy, you will be grinning ear to ear while gliding through lush forests.
And that is exactly what we did, smile all day as we flawlessy made our way through the day. We both felt strong, had the perfect machine for the terrain, and just had a really fun day of mountain biking. The biggest concern of the day was if Punkin was going to lose her nose ring.
We both felt like that might have been the most enjoyable 60km of linked singletrack we have ever done. It is pretty impressive to link up that many miles of incredibly enjoyable world class singletrack with such little road. And we again embraced the ice bath of the glacier river and beers post race.
And to top it off, Cogma sponsored the first place prizes for the 5th stage! It was really great to see all the winners so psyched to receive their Cogma shirts and dresses!!
STAGE 6: Revelstoke, 47km - Elevation gain 1200km
"Variety is the spice of life". That was the heading of this course description. Stage 6 had been the talk of the race as the stage that will test your legs and your skill.
Little did we know that this stage was going to give us a run for our money. Once again we decided it was a good idea for Punkin to ride gears and for me to ride the full suspension Giant Reign. We made this decision because there were 10 km of flat road in which Punkin would have been spinning out on and we thought it would put us too far behind. The race started off great, with a solid road climb in which we jockeyed a great position into the single track. I was giddy with delight on the first go through the doomed "Tantrum" which I thought was a super fun rooty and rocky technical trail.
I came off the downhill with a shit eating grin until I finally realized after a few minutes of waiting that Punkin had gotten a flat. Everyone was very thoughtful and let me know that my partner had a flat and she was working on fixing it. I didn't think it was a big deal until 15, then 20 minutes passed as well as the 2nd and 3rd place womens duo teams. At this point I am beginning to think maybe something has really gone wrong. I couldn't go back up the downhill because people continually streamed out of the trail. Finally I saw Punkin's smiling face pop out of the trail and I got the scoop. First a flat, than the realization that she had forgotten to grab the pump from her bike and put it on my bike this morning so she had no air supply. Fortunately Butter came by in the knick of time and got her back up and running...kind of, they had overfilled the tire bc it had not seeded properly and they were hoping it would reseed after a few pedal strokes. Instead it blew up for what technically was the 2nd flat. They fixed that flat and she was on her way. Game faces on we knew we had some ground to make up. We barely stopped at the 2nd aid station for filling a bit more air in the tire and grabbing some water. Finally we caught the 2nd and 3rd place teams for about 5 minutes of being in the lead again we stumbled upon....another flat. Thankfully another ambassador Kevin was there to be our glue as our frustration was peaking. We watched both the competing podium teams pass us once more. We got the flat fixed fairly quickly, Punkin declared she would not be riding smurfette ever again and we were on our way! Fortunately for us there was a climb ahead and we were able to catch and pass the front runners. As we approached the final descent (Flowdown) I thought we were looking good until I heard Punkin weakly calling my name. She was dehydrated due to the mistake of her water bottle not being closed when we flipped her bike upside down to fix the flat. She had lost half her water from her water bottle. I gave her the little water I had and luckily a sweet spectator at the finish of the timed descent gave her a full bottle of water which Punkin chugged and stated "that will get me home". As we crested the final climb out of the single track and onto the road a feeling of relief came over both of us.
We had a few miles of road and at that point felt pretty safe that we were going to make it and win it. As we caught sight of the finish line we were so excited, it was such a great feeling to finish as a team and have to work so hard for it our last day.
Post race celebration with PBRs and the sprinkler system. What an incredible experience to share with my beloved Punkin!
Icing on the cake, selling Cogma gear at the banquet to people who were super psyched about the product. We even got tracked down at the hotel in the morning and were selling product out of the van!! Total hippy grass roots small start up style - love it!! And our 1st place prize - 50% off for next year...already ready to sign up again!
When interviewing with the paper in Steamboat they asked us how it felt to win. All I could think is how awesome it was to win with the purpose of the trip having been to sprinkle Cogma into the bike world. By winning each stage, Cogma got extra attention and it helped emphasize the point that it is performance bike wear in addition to being stylish. We got many comments as the week went on about how cute we looked and we were kicking ass....action speaks louder than words at times and this was an excellent push for Cogma which made the win even more satisfying. It was such an incredibly unique experience to travel with the Cogma crew and be a part of Karen and Clint's dream coming to fruition - an unforgettable trip.
