Events: BC Bike Race Hits the Trail

No sweat: riders filled up on water with temperatures rising

Stage 1

Under brilliant blue skies and a hot summer sun, the BC Bike Race start gun fired to launch more than 400 riders from around the world into the first stage of the second annual multi-stage mountain bike event. Over the next 7 days, racers will cover stages totaling more than 550 kilometers as they race a combination of singletrack and logging roads from Victoria to Whistler.

Today’s first stage presented an 87km journey from Shawnigan Lake School to the picturesque Lake Cowichan finish. Riders would experience swooping singletrack through cool BC rainforest, sprawling double-track culminating in a grueling climb with a wickedly fast logging road descent onto reclaimed rail bed.

Team Mona Vie Cannondale – Jason Sager and Bart Gillespie - was the first to cross the line in the 2008 event, with a time of 4:14:26. The Team Cannondale camp was thrilled with clinching the first yellow jersey of the race, as Sager and Gillespie are both family guys who work full-time and race as a passion. When asked about their first day’s experience at the BC Bike Race, they immediately commented on the strengths each brought to the table to pull through the race.

When asked about their race experience, Sager and Gillespie dubbed themselves “Team Daddy”, stating that each found motivation in their young families back at home. “Not knowing the course, you’re riding by feel. The trails were a lot of fun, but we couldn’t really look around. It’s too bad because the view off the top was amazing.”

Team Mona Vie Cannondale was riding tight with Team Kona right up through the big climb of the day. “We looked back and didn’t see them, so we’re not sure what happened.” 

The race leaders rolled across the finish line 12 minutes ahead of second place team Kona – Kris Sneddon and Barry Wicks. Team Mona Vie Cannondale’s Tinker Juarez and Mitchell Peterson had a disappointing day, crossing the finish line in 5:22:37, but look forward to closing the gap throughout the rest of the week. 



Last year’s overall race winners, Chris Eatough and Jeff Schalk of Team Trek suffered a potentially disastrous mechanical issue during the initial circuit. Mechanics worked hard to make the fastest possible repairs and get the Trek team back on course. With a 30-minute delay behind the very last rider on course, Eatough and Schalk had their work cut out to climb their way back to the lead. 

Despite the relentless heat, Team Trek pushed to the limit and devoured the race course until they caught sight of third place Team La Ruta’s Manuel Prado and Marvin Campos. The two teams remained together for the remaining low-grade 20-plus kilometers of reclaimed rail bed trail into Lake Cowichan, where they broke out into a full-sprint finish.

Team La Ruta just edged past Team Trek to claim third spot overall in a time of 4:26:33. 

“We pinned it the whole time as soon as the course opened up,” said Eatough. “You have to keep fighting, no matter what happens.” 

Hailing from the US, the Open Women’s team Sara Bersnick-Zocchi and Kelli Emmett (Taint Slo) captured the yellow jersey, blasting through the finish line in 5:15:04. 

Canadian cyclocross diva Wendy Simms and partner Normon Thibault (Team Kona – Riding in Memory of Denis Fontaine) claimed top honours in the Open Mixed category finishing in 4:51:37.


Overall it was a challenging first day for both competitors and event organizers. Within 5km the first rider suffered injury during an early stage crash; however the heat would prove the most significant threat to racers on the course. Though race organizers anticipated the water needs to support racers through the unrelenting heat, the supply ran short at aid stations, and many racers had to wait to replenish their supply. The majority of racers crossing the finish line were feeling the effects of the heat though a few competitors hailing from hot southern countries were in their element. 



BCBR Last 2 Spots contest winners Fernanda Mejia and Alonso Sanchez (CJ Bros) seemed happy despite the heat. They crossed the finish line in 7:23:26 along with a fellow countryman whose partner unfortunately suffered a serious shoulder injury during a pre-race ride in Shawnigan Lake on Day Zero. The team of three said yesterday that they hoped the weather would get even hotter to range closer to the temperatures they’re used to at home in Mexico. “It was hard,” said Mejia, “There were so many roots. This must be what they were talking about when they say the riding is so different in Canada. It was really fun, though!” 

Next up for the sun-soaked racers – Stage Two from Lake Cowichan to Port Alberni. With more hot, sunny weather expected, riders are hydrating in preparation for the 125km ride.

Stage 2

Stage 2, the longest of the week, threw racers onto 124km of active logging road cutting through the Cowichan and Alberni valleys enroute to Port Alberni. Though the race profile appeared to highlight massive, gruelling climbs and descents, the actual elevation gain only capped out at 193m, making for a fast, undulating course.

Seasoned race MC, Drew Bragg, teased racers about the lengthy stage before the start, “How many of you are here for the ultimate singletrack experience? …well this isn’t it!” Racers caught on early that this would be a road-style race, and planned their strategies accordingly.

For the second day in a row, the sun beat down on the 400+ BC Bike Race competitors, making hydration a key factor again. The continued hot, dry conditions turned the unpaved logging road into a dust bowl that stirred up quickly and settled on racers from head to toe, but that didn’t slow them down. Riders formed into huge peletons early on and powered through the first 114km until pack-thinning climb ultimately separated the strongest from the bunch.

The final 2km of fun, swooping, zippy singletrack faded the logging road to distant memories – just long enough to bring racers across the finish line thoroughly exhausted, dusty and happy.

Guy Dutil, a soon-to-turn sixty racer from Quebec is back for his second BCBR experience with new partner, 47yr old Mark Cox. Dutil, who finds this year’s event more challenging than the last, decided he’d go easy on the trickier trails after hammering out close to 120km of logging road. “We played it smart. We can smell the finish line and adrenaline is flowing, but we don’t want to make a stupid mistake being tired. The singletrack trails were amazing, but I’m going to save the steeper descents for rides back home when I don’t have 5 more days of racing ahead of me.”

Dutil and Cox (Veteran 100+ Team Camacc) met in the BCBR Team Finder forum, each looking for a race partner. A series of emails and a few phone calls later, Dutil decided that Cox was a good match, “He’s much faster than I am, but he’s such a nice guy about it. He’ll drop back if he’s pulling too fast because he doesn’t want to pressure me. We’re both in agreement that we want to finish together each day and have fun doing it.

Though Team Camacc were constantly caught between peletons that formed throughout the day, the top racers pulled together quickly and tightly and stayed that way for close to 90% of the race.

Once again the Trek Volkswagon pairing of Chris Eatough and Jeff Schalk found themselves in the heat of a sprint finish – this time a three-team battle for top honours in this stage. When the dust had settled, Australians Tim Bennett and Adrian Jackson (Team Flight Centre) were first to blast both riders across the finish line in a very fast 4:21:48. Eatough and Schalk were a tight second also stopping the clock at 4:21:48. Kris Sneddon and Barry Wicks of Team Kona were only 11 seconds behind, snagging third place.

With a frustrating start yesterday that left them 25 minutes behind the race pack, the Trek-Volkswagon team are fast becoming the story of the race. They now sit merely 2 minutes back from the overall race leaders, Team Mona Vie Cannondale’s Jason Sager and Bart Gillespie who suffered a flat near the end of today’s stage that left them 10 minutes behind Team Kona for the day.

“It felt like a recovery race for the first half; but the last half turned more stressful. We were in a race with Kona and Flight Centre from the singletrack onward,” said Trek-VW’s Eatough. “The race is starting again and it’s good to be back in it.”

Eatough’s partner, Jeff Schalk commented on their hard-fought battle to the top, “It just takes consistency. Yesterday we were 30 minutes back. A lot can happen in a 7-day race.”

On the women’s side, Sarah Bresnick-Zocchi and Kelli Emmett (Taint Slo), repeated their yellow jersey win with a time of 4:51:50, which places them more than an hour ahead of their competition in the overall standings. “We heard it was a road day today, so we got in a group and played it like a road day,” said Emmett.

It was repeat top honours in all remaining categories - Wendy Simms and Normon Thibault (Kona – Riding in Memory of Denis Fontaine) in the Open Mixed category; Veterans 80+ jersey to Different Bikes / Deadgoat Racing partners Andrew Handford and Pat Doyle; and brothers Brian and Bruce Johnson (Double Shot).

Next up: Stage 3 from Port Alberni to Cumberland. Competitors can put their pack riding skills to good use during the day’s 60km of logging road, after which they’ll sample some of the flowing singletrack trails that are quickly putting the small town of Cumberland on the mountain biking map.