The Oregon State Games mountain bike races have been a mainstay for great competition here in the Northwest for many years. In 1995, I first raced this event held at Mt Hood Skibowl and have had the pleasure of doing so many times since. Last year, I won the cross country race and this year I returned hoping for another good result.

SkiBowl is one of the best venues for MTB racing anywhere. While the rough, technical tracks may keep some riders away, there is always a good battle on the lower slopes of Mt Hood. This year was no different with Erik Tonkin (Kona), Spencer Paxson (Disco); Luke Pennington (S&M); and a resurgent Steve Carwile (Capitol Subaru) in attendance.

Promoter Petr Kakes didn’t disappoint with two trips up to the top of the ski hill and a variety of challenging trails to ride during the 2+ hour event. After the start lap, Erik and Spencer had opened a decent gap on Steve and I who were chasing some seconds behind. By the halfway point of the first full lap, Steve had slowed a bit and Luke had joined me in chasing the leaders. By the beginning of the second lap, we had caught Spencer, but at nearly the same time Luke flatted leaving me to chase solo. I passed Spencer, but lingered about a minute off the pace of Erik the remainder of the race.

After some tough love at the Cascade Classic stage race earlier in the week, I was satisfied to come second. Erik and I have raced so many years together, and I have so much respect for him on and off the bike. Seeing him win another well fought duel still makes for a happy day. The included photo says it all!

Steve held on to finish 5th in just his second race back after a year off from knee surgery. Capitol Subaru Cycling’s Mike Romasco finished third in the masters and Mark Rasmussen had to end his race early with a broken chain. It was a sunny day on the mountain and good fun was had by all!

Thanks for tuning in, and sorry this report is so tardy. We suffered no connectivity in Whistler at our hotel and then high-tailed it home after the race. Stages 6 and 7 were not so good for us at the BC Bike Race anyway…

Stage 6 Squamish to Whistler

Another picture perfect day (too bad the camera batteries died before we finally finished). Bear and I woke up high on our result from yesterday and ready to race well again. Unfortunately with 4 minutes to start we discovered a seeping cut in his front tire. No worries–a frantic trip back to the car and quick wheel change we made the start! Glad to have Caroll here in support again. I attached a photo at the start.

The race got of with many miles of deteriorating road conditions that gave way to rocky hike-a-biking. This is my my weakness for sure, and soon I was dangling about 30 seconds back. Then while riding the edge of a scenic cliff over the Cheakamus river gorge, disaster struck. A piece of wire attaching some screen to the cliff face caught my chainring and sent me over the bars and into the ground. With no warning and traveling about 15mph I landed hard on my chest with my right hand tucked underneath. Definitely stunning!

Anyway, after straightening my controls (my thighs had slammed the bars knocking them out of whack), and determining that my heart was indeed still beating I was back on the bike. Luckily Bear had noticed my absence and was waiting. At that point my hand was in bad shape and noticeably swelling in the glove. However, I have broken that hand before, and it only seemed badly bruised. My chest was sore and I was a little worried about some internal injury. We pressed on and continued to ride in 4th position until disaster #2 struck on a trail rightfully named Trash. I was ahead and Bear was not coming. Turns out he had suffered his second broken freehub of the week. Only this time we had many miles of singletrack both up and down to go. Not good.

Needless to say we were in trouble. Bear took off his chain and coasted the descents while I tried my best to push or pull him through the flats. On the climbs we would reinstall the chain and he would ride fixie until the trail determined otherwise. This led to many near misses and very dangerous situations given the ridiculousness of the trails we were riding. Technical was an understatement, and our skills would have been stretched to the limit without the crash and mechanical. Team after team passed us and we finally finished lucky to be without time penalties and alive.

Stage 7 Whistler to Whistler TTT

The first team time trial on and MTB! Wow these trails are ill… After getting a great pep talk from the race medical coordinator (something about broken ribs, colapsed lungs and possible death), we started off. The course designer was sure it would take the fastest teams more than two hours to complete this 25k stage. Of course this inspired the leaders (Trek VW) to ride like maniacs and crush this prediction by over a half hour! Congrats to them, Chris Eatough and Jeff Schalk are really classy guys and deserved to kill the rest of us at every stage of this race…

For me it was simply survival. The course would have been hard enough without a bruised hand and broken rib. There must have been hundreds of roots, rocks and other trail junk to ride over and the at times the course doubled back on itself in ways that I can only describe as brutally annoying. Some of the locals told us then didn’t even ride most of these trails because they were just to slow and punishing. We were impressed by the ambition of the trail designers, though, and certain sections were definitely out of sight! However, the course was very dangerous in places and being hurt and trail/blind made it not so fun.

Bear and I perservered and finished about 20 minutes down on the day. Good to maintain 5th overall on GC, but we were left wondering what might have been minus all the tough love this week. In the end it was a great sampler of undoubtably one of the best riding destinations in the world. Hopefully you all enjoyed following our journey and can make it up to ride these trails someday.

Thanks to all of our sponsors for making this possible and thanks to BCBR to throwing a decent party. While the event was not without its flaws, some of this could be attributed to first year issues. The race didn’t compete with TransAlp for climbing or distance, but definitely dished out a different kind of punishment. It was an honor to ride together and grab a decent result.

Until next time, thanks again!

Over,
Evan and Bear

Oakridge is one of the more attractive riding destinations in Oregon. With miles of singletrack and home to the Cascade Cream Puff 100, it is always a fun place to compete. This year it was also the finals of the Oregon Classics XC Series. Going into this race, I was in a virtual three-way tie for first place with Erik Tonkin (Kona) and Ben Thompson (Bend Elite). Erik did not attend leaving Ben and I to battle for the series. The race stayed together for most of the start lap and we hit the “wall” as a group of five from each of our two teams. Ben had James Williams and Brig Brandt, and I had Bear Perrin from Capitol Subaru Cycling. The Bend boys knew they had to attack and they did so relentlessly for most of the climb. However, even in my tired state, I found enough strength to counter and open a gap going into the long downhill singletrack. Inspired by my new FRM fork, I made time on the descent and held my lead for the final lap. To the victor go the spoils and I won the day and the series in Oakridge. More importantly, our first year grassroots team, Capitol Subaru Cycling, won the overall team competition as well!

Sorry I haven’t been able to get online and give you all the full run down each evening. Our days have been long with racing, bike repair, ferry transfers and not enough rest.

Stage 2
This stage began with another flatish road section for many miles. It was the longest day and at the first feed zone the group split and a lead bunch with Trek, Rocky and us formed. Hestler slipped on a steep loose climb and we were gapped off. He was able to regain but I was not. Bear waited and collectively we were unable to get back to the front. On the descent to the finish Bear cut a tire and we ended up fixing it twice due to a faulty valve in the replacement tube. We were still able to finish 3rd on the day. I have attached a photo from the awards ceremony!

Stage 3
We began in the rain and immediately soaked our bikes and bodys with mud during a frenetic ride up another rail-trail. Lots of puddles made it easy for gaps to form and made racing difficult. We stayed together but I cut my tire on the descent before the long climb. Then during the climb Bear’s cassette froze. We dissassembled with leatherman, cleaned, and made it through about half the downhill before it siezed again. Bear got his game on and attempted riding fixie through some of the most technical trail system I have ever seen. Of course this was ridiculous and we were lucky to finish in one piece (more or less). Lost a lot of GC time today.

Stage 4
Again in the lead at the start but Bear broke his chain twenty minutes into the race. Likely some residual from yesterday that we didn’t catch. Anyway, we got it together and passed most of the field before taking several wrong turns. This didn’t help us but the sunshine and awesome trails put smiles on our faces for most of the day.

Stage 5
Stayed with the group and dropped the La Ruta team after 15 miles. Trek and Rocky were again driving but Bear and I mixed it up and did our fair share until the second long climb. The trails here on the sunshine coast are simply amazing and worth a trip to ride. Trek dropped us and Rocky stayed between 30 seconds and a minute ahead until about 3 miles to go. Hestler broke his frame and we passed them to finish second on the stage. Another photo attached.

Want to mention that we have great sponsors and without the support of Hammer Nutrition to fuel and recovery with I don’t know how we would do it. Dumonde Tech lubes have literally kept us going as well through mud dust and sweat. Our Rudy Project helmets and glasses have protected us everyday and our clothing from Scott USA and Verge is so comfortable and helps us look great. Capitol Subaru is the hottest thing going in grass roots cycing and we are proud to show your colors.

Check out the Motion Based website for uploads from my Garmin 305. Just search: evanp and you will find them labeled 2007 BC Bike Race Stage

Thanks again and stayed tuned for the wrap up in two days!

Cheers,

Evan Plews
Capitol Subaru Cycling

With several disappointing results in a row, I was ready for this race! Last year Erik Tonkin (Kona), Omer Kem (Priority Health) and I battled for most of this 50 mile marathon before Erik won by a couple minutes. Unfortunately, the rains came again the night before the race and made it much harder this year. Rob English (Bike Friday) set the early pace and my teammate Zach Winter kept him in check. By the midpoint of the first 25 mile lap it was again just three of us at the front and we were on pace for a new course record. The second lap proved more difficult, though. With all the traffic behind us, the trails became nearly unrideable. Luckily, I was again riding my Scale which handles these conditions superbly. Zach went to the front many times during the first part of the second lap but Rob answered every time. Too bad, because eventually the repeated accelerations tired Winter out and he blew with about 15 miles to go. This left English and I to battle for the victory. I led into the most technical singletrack of the course and noticed that Rob couldn’t hold my wheel. I attacked and ended up winning by 8 minutes or so. A brutal day, but another well deserved win for me and another season goal accomplished.

My token road stage race for the year. Still racing CAT 3 and looking for an upgrade, so I was super motivated to do well. Day one was a circuit race up/down the northeast side of Mt Hood. A fair amount of climbing, but not very steep so it stayed together until 1k to go. I countered and finished 2nd. The next stage was a ITT along the Columbia river from The Dalles to Hood River. Super tough with a lot of wind, climbing and technical corners. I didn’t feel great, but managed to place 3rd. The queen stage was on Saturday with many miles and a long finishing grind to Mt Hood Meadows ski resort. My legs felt great all day, but I was having trouble digesting anything I ate. So with about 4k to go, the pace went up and I finally blew. Blood sugar so low I could barely stay upright, I lost several minutes in the last couple miles. Too bad for the GC, but it was my first long race in hot weather so the body just didn’t seem ready. The event concluded with a downtown crit in Hood River. It was a fun course and I took a flier several laps in. Unfortunately, my breakaway companion only seemed to care about primes and attacked me after sucking my wheel for several laps. Uninspired, I drifted back to finish in the field and 14th on GC. I did get my CAT 2 upgrade, though!