Warm temps and beautiful rising sun this morning at Station Flats. From a racer standpoint parking, sign in and bag drop was perfect - thanks Bow team. We were off at 7:30 sharp with Cory Wallace reportedly only in sight for the first 60 seconds. I rode off calmly, and got passed by some guys who were doing their cyclocross level of intensity starts. Felt decent, but got passed by Geoff Clark and Peter Lawrence on Sulfur Springs early on. I passed them back 10 minutes later and felt good. Enjoyed the course over to Prairie Creek. Rode much of the day with Charlie Cooper - very good "team" to make on trail. I did better with him stretching me and he appreciated the on the fly course guidance. Rode approaching aid 1 with Alastair Hill, which matches a client's name, but instead he's a fellow who helped me when I dislocated my shoulder. I thanked him and said I didn't remember faces from then - he said I looked white as a ghost and didn't think I was in condition to remember anything.
Got on Charlie's wheel again for the road and we went pretty hard, then he dropped me on the Prairie View climb. I cleaned it all which felt good. Caught up to him on the descent, then as we traversed back over to Pneuma we started picking up the shards of shattered riders. I liked it, not that I like seeing people suffer, but because my whole day plan was to not be cooked at the end and hit the last climb respectably. I made the entire climb out of the creek valley to basically the top of Pneuma. Caught and rode with Mike Blennerhasset and Brian Robinson a bit, and some Quebec kid. Went as hard as I could, but near top of Pneuma started cramping. Fell over on a rock and cut my shin, got on, then 3m later rode into a tree. That was a good sign it was time to walk for a minute. Threw caution to the wind on Special K, then set cruise control for Tom Snow. As it turns out I finished right behind Jon who had mechanical issues.
Had a great time chilling with everyone after.
Lots and lots of deadgoats out, and a heck of a lot of podiums. I couldn't hit one of those for the life of me, so congrats to everyone who did. Great job by Bow for putting it on. It's an awesome race now - more of a race than a slog. I had a good ride at 4:20 like 8 min behind Shawn and was 8th 30+ guy. 3 of the 30+ beat me (Cory won at 3:40ish time) and the 40+ podium was way ahead too. It's fast out there!
Celebratory dinner with Double Bunnin after to commemorate the mountain bike season. I've done 4 stage races, and a handful of XC and Enduro types. It feels like it's been a great (and full) season overall.
Nice work Bakke - you had a very impressive season, both in quantity and quality of racing. Now on to Cross!
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