BEAUTY—we woke up this morning to sunshine and a partly cloudy sky! With comfortable temperatures and the “new” TransRockies start time of nine o’clock things were downright pleasant after the last 24 hours of miserable weather. We rolled out of downtown Fernie on time and began a mellow climb that would last for 30km and ultimately gain 1000 vertical meters. While there were some steep sections, there was plenty of opportunity to get things sorted out.

Hello again from the stunning town of Fernie, British Columbia. We arrived yesterday afternoon under sunny skies to this little town tucked into the heart of the Kootenay Rockies. This is hump week for me on my 2010 tour of North American mountain bike stage races—two down and three to go! As usual, Transrockies registration was dialed and we were all checked in to both the race and motel within a couple hours so we headed out to stretch the legs and check out the stage one course.

Finally!

Day Zero—Prologue. North Vancouver

I put an old race acquaintance, Bruce Dickman on a plane from Birmingham earlier this week to help me with driving for the 2010 BC Bike Race. Bruce is pretty well known on the east coast and down south for his exploits MC’ing all types of cycling events. He is also an avid mountain biker, well versed in the general racing schlep-fest and keeps flexible schedule.

Last weekend should have been a big deal with the Test of Endurance a Kenda Cup and all. Instead I started looking at the weather and got some course recon only to find out that the race was likely going to be doomed to category debacle.

After enduring this several times in the past, I decided to hedge my bets on some sunshine and drove south for the Humbug Hurry-Up. I had done this race once before with Doug O. ten years ago. While the old, epic course is gone, and guys like Don Myrah and Johnny T. don't come anymore, the race is still a fixture in Yreka, CA.

As seen on: www.mtbracenews.com

As I alluded to in yesterdays post, often the most challenging part of being a "pro" mountain bike racer is getting to the event ready to compete. Today was no exception with a slow Sunday drive and several lengthy detours. We managed to make it to the venue with less than two hours to spare before my start which was only enough time to register, download the equipment and throw the bike together.

Yeah baby! Cross season has already started here in Oregon--actually a week ago over Labor day weekend. I waited exactly a week to get in on the action at "Pain on the Peak" just outside Hillsboro.

The real fireworks allegedly went off at the Thrilla' Thursday series with Page, Trebon, etc showing off over in Bend. Maybe they are "training" for Nationals--hee hee!

A little vacation and a little racin'. This is a great event and I hope the Northwest Challenge grows into a series of top notch MTB races along with all the other competitions. Check it out!

I got off to a slow start with some drivetrain issues (derailleurs don't like sticks), but things settled down and I moved to the front of the race began to open a nice gap the first time up Mt. Bailey. The trail down is super fun so I am sure my lead increased.

Sweet, mountain bike racing inside my own city limits! Totally rad idea to have summer evening races at the Oregon State Fairgrounds. Thanks to the Buy Local Team and our folks from Capitol Velo, we got this awesome opportunity!

Even though I despise short tracks and generally have to race a least two hours before I ever have a chance of winning, I decided to stamp some Plews authority on the local scene.

Today is my birthday and negativity of this rant is making me feel old!

Uh-oh--more to come. Maybe it is the life of a so-called "pro" mountain bike racer. Kind of a dismally futile experience! Sorry, now I digress...

I am not really sure why I started this race. Maybe it was redemption for the Cream Puff or most likely the fact that I got a free entry. In any case, it wasn't such a brilliant endevour--but is riding 100 miles on a mountain bike going to ever be smart?