Howdy from the Kootenay Rockies and the second annual Furious3 mtb stage race. For those of you who haven’t checked this one out, it is a 3 day tour of some of the raddest trails imaginable!
If you’ve been following me over the years it may be a surprise to see this report after a long hiatus. You can check out the details elsewhere but needless to say the last three years have been a bit of a roller coaster ride for me. It started with building to my best season opening form ever in 2009 with a win In the Old Pueblo to an introduction to reoccurring Epstein Barr and a long steady deterioration into a case of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome last year. Finally I got a tangible diagnosis of Sleep Apn,ea and began treatment for that in June of last year. My health pendulum swung positive and I am so fortunate to report that everyday since has been a slow but steady climb out of the deep hole I found myself in.
After coasting through last season and managing second place at Marathon Nationals followed by a victory at 24 Hour Nationals for singlespeed I was stoked to try to recover to those days in 08-09 that I took for granted as just steps on the way up. First, I had to find the bottom which I did by having nasal surgery followed by some serious R & R last winter. Sometime during those dark cold wet winter months I found a new purpose: if I got the chance to make a physical recovery, I would value it and enjoy it for every minute of what it was and hopefully inspire someone else with my story.
Over the course of the last few months I have been able to build back to the huge base of fitness I had a few years ago. This meant patience and discipline to endure one of our worst winter/spring weather situations on record and stay away from racing until I was ready.
Even though I had an underachieving finish at Sea Otter, Syllamo’s Revenge, and a couple regional events early on, my fitness has come good and I have managed to cruise to a hat trick of wins in a row over the last three weeks.
Today I began the next stage–shorter, faster races and shorter recovery cycles. As much as love the format and adventure, I have stayed away from multi day events for nearly two years but the Furious3 format was too hard to pass up. After visiting Fernie for taste during several additions of TransRockies I am stoked to be back for three days of this goodness!
While the rest of north America seems to be stuck in a furnace, the great NW has continued to have near record setting rain and cool temps which has affected this area with flooding.
Of course puddles and mud are a downer for a fair weather flyer like me but after the last few weeks they weren’t going to slow me down. However the drop down 48 Hours got my pucker on after just a half hour of racing today. Apparently, I had forgotten what big mountain “fall-line” riding was about but regained my composure quickly. I was already off to my usual slow start which may have been accentuated by the long car trip and early start time.
The weather smiled on us and the dappled morning sunshine coming through the trees had me positive as I began to catch a few riders on the second climb up the steeps of Hyperventilation and passed five by the top. Then managed to continue to move up as the course cycled up/down the trails of the Ridgemont area before dumping us into the neighborhoods on the east side of town. Then it was just a quick spin to the start/finish which was situated one block off downtown.
In the men’s race, Canadian Xterra Champion Mike Vine took the win followed by fellow Oregonian Sloane Anderson (ProAir HFA) and Calgary’s own Shawn Bunnin (Deadgoat) in third. I managed a comfortable fifth place result for my pals at Ibis Cycles/REALL Racing.
Stage Two
Canada Day here at Furious3 Fernie, but summer seems delayed now even further into July. Apparently the local barista missed my explicit request for decaf breve yesterday afternoon so I spent most of the night counting sheep. When I did awaken, I opened the curtain and knew that it wasn’t going to be the best day on the bike. After competing in two of the most disastrous mud races I’ve seen in twenty years in June I wasn’t super stoked to see it wet and raining again.
I saddled up my Ibis Mojo and rode south a few miles to the ski resort for the early 8:30AM start. Lets just say I am NOT a morning person and early starts in the rain are not on my “like” list. Luckily it stopped raining long enough to get the race off and we started a slow ascent up the ski hill on service roads and XC ski trails. With undulating grades not so friendly yesterday I tried my best to tack on without using any extra gas.
Unfortunately I was exactly two riders too far back when we dropped down a short double track descent prior to the first section of trail. Some dude panicked and got sideways and took out the guy directly ahead of me. I rode the nose across a couple ruts but tamed the beast prior to leaving the road stage right. Unfortunately there as was more panic and confusion that prevented immediate progress and the gap had formed.
This gap was all it took to prevent me from seeing the front of the race again. As is the MO here at Furious three we took turns climbing relatively easy double tracks/fire roads in the ski area followed by descending unruly but awesome single track. The wash-repeat cycle continued punctuated by a few muddy g-outs and awfully slick looking bridges. A couple of the first trails were so slow, twisty, and flowless for me that I managed to lose even more time.
Eventually we traversed the hideously slow and boggy climbs to Mt. Fernie Park trails and began the much talked about Project Nine climb/descent. This was just a series of steep grunts but it was almost unrideable even by the time we passed through. I managed to ride the whole thing other that a quick dab as I passed another rider. The descent was friendlier to be and I finally felt like I may be on the move now over two hours in.
Then more ridiculousness struck as I was just closing in on the chase group when they flipped it and told me we were on the wrong track. After a couple minutes of circling we ended up returning back the way they had already started through eliminating all other options and quickly found a series of trail marking. Funny how the oxygen and sugar deprived brain can become so easily panic stricken!
No there was a group of six of us chasing together as we began the climb up Hedonism. This trail was Mojo-ville and after being fouled up by the two guys ahead of me immediately I got by and asserted my tech-climbing fortitude to open the can. Before long I was on my own and the next descent was still slick but just felt faster with some good success to set it up.
Before long I was on the road back towards town before turning down want looked to be a tractor track through a pasture. Needless to say it was grassy, boggy, and slicker than the snot-rockets I had been blowing all day. Of course I made a mental note to chill it out and was doing a fair job until an off-camber right snuck up on me at the bottom of the hill. In about three milliseconds I was stacking hard and managed to mud up my hands for the rest of the day.
Next the course crossed under the highway and climbed back into the area we finished on yesterday. We went up some of what we came down and it was needless to same a little wrecked but again suited my bike and style well. After a few climbs on trail and road we took a little different route back down to the same finish downtown. I had only seen a few fresh tracks so I knew I was one place better. Shawn Bunnin (Deadgoat) scored one for the home team on Canada Day while the resurgent Sloane Anderson (ProAir HFA) and Mike Vine finished on the podium again in third. I could only move up to the “best of the rest” position for my folks at Ibis Cycles/REALL Racing in just over three hours of racing.
Stage Three
Furious3 Fernie is in the books. The sun came out and while it couldn’t dry the trails, it made for a much more pleasant race than yesterday. Today, we returned to the Ridgemont area straight away and were tested with muddy roots just minutes after leaving the start line. Today I wanted to hit the trail at the front to avoid any time losses like yesterday. I was sitting in fourth place on GC will little chance of making any moves but I wasn’t interested in losing positions either.
I just finished some more great bodywork from Apex Massage and Spa 901 here in Fernie. Check them out on your next visit for treatment or just some great R & R.
It didn’t take long for Shawn Bunnin (Deadgoat) to assert himself and he looked great as he moved ahead on the first climb. Sloane Anderson (ProAir HFA) also looked smooth as they piloted their 29er carbon hard tails through the slippery switchbacks. Jonathan Nutbrown (Ridley’s) immediately gave chase with Gabor Csonka (CMC/Bowcycle) not far behind. I met Jon back in 2007 racing TransRockies and he has always been a super cool guy with impressive skills on the bike. Gabor is a local single speed honcho and has been riding his geared bike all weekend like it–literally smashing the big ring all day long!
We traveled generally north traversing the hill side and occasionally dropping down only to climb right back up. The first half of the stage was virtually all single track and made a slight gain in elevation. This section was super punishing for me as I could feel the back-to-back race days immediately. The constant undulations and roots and boggy areas conspired to keep me off balance the whole way. This type of trail has always been my achilles heal this was accentuated today by my growing fatigue. Every steep grunt seemed to be a maximal effort and the good line seemed a challenge to find.
Finally we flipped a U and began the return trip to Fernie on a long rolling fire road section. This was a welcome rest and gave me a chance to get a bit sorted. I say a bit because we entered the next section of trail and I completed lost focus. We had been riding together in a small chase group for some time but this proved to be the deciding section. Jeff Neilson (Terrascape) and Phil Grove (Hammer Nutrition) surged head while Matt Krahn who had been solidly positioned in fifth overall fell back. I did my best to slow Ian Auld (Topgear), Thomas Skinner (Norco) down with my childish riding but eventually we returned to the road before climbing Roots and Hyperventilation once more.
Those of you who read my Day 1 report will remember these trails and they were just as steep and tough as two days ago. Luckily this is the third time I have been up them (once in 2010 TransRockies) so I played it safe while Ian rode ahead and Thomas fell away. Soon I passed Neilson and Grove as we continued to climb the Castle Rocks trail. This added a bit of climbing but allowed us to sample some Southern Comfort and South Castle where I overtook Auld before returning to fire road for a brief climb back to Roots and the descent down Powerline into town. I pulled close to Nutbrown at the top of Roots but he was more motivated and demonstrated his bomber DH skills to maintain a slight edge to the finish.
Bunnin opened a significant gap to win the day with Anderson coming second just close enough to preserve his overall GC win. Csonka stayed on the hammer to make the final stage podium spot with Jon and I rounding out the top five. Mike Vine was never near the front today but he was close enough to keep me off the GC podium.
