BCBR DAY 3

Day 3 starts out with The Boys having to pack up from a nice spot just to go out and sweat and get filthy like boys playing in the sandbox. Leaving Parksville for Cumberland nice and early on 3hrs of sleep....well me anyway, The Boys slept great!! All loaded and ready for a stop to see Ole Nat Bailey at white spot for more fuel. On a side note I've never had this much fuel in years so The Boys are great for this young pup!! A small accident with one of the teams made Jamie nervous about the start but no worries, t'was all good. Cumberland is such a great place for an event like this. They handed over the whole park and surrounding parking areas and nobody really cared. Great set up by the volunteers again. I really can't say enough about how hard a job they have and they are doing great.

Today takes the guys up to Forbidden Plateau and all over hells half acre!! 60 km of mm mm good singletrack. And the weather was oh so perfect. Clean start right up Dunsmuir and off into the woods to play. I sat around taking a few more shots and as they are looping today I get to go for a freaking ride!!! Rip back to " Red Hot" to unload my gear....yes, my gear. Get changed, grab camera, some gear and mangey water from the cooler and im gonzo! Following the race course backwards with a smile so big its hitting my earlobes and im so jealous that im not racing ....mind you I would probably die so not all that jealous. Climbed up some rooty, gnarly track for about an hour and ran into Katie who was one of the marshalls who was just being deposited at her spot. We discussed Cumberland vs Victoria pros and cons and how good Matt Phillips beer is and that she really wants some more of the pumpkin ale. That was enough chitchat as I hadn't donned my helmet for 3 days!! UGH. So i peel off and get the rpms up, riding bridges and hopping roots....so good out here. Looking at my watch reveals a stopwatch time of 2:30 so I know Seamus and Chris must be ripping past me soon. I high tail it outta there and start a foul fire road up. Hearing one of the motos I know they are close....and none other then Steve Mitchell tears past me letting me know they are on there way. I pulled off to the ditch and got some shots of the open men class, which is not many as they are f'n fast. Now that the racers are starting to filter in around me I make my way down, stopping to shoot, making sure i am not on the way. After Tea Cup I meet up with the last med check and chat with them for a while as well. I said i don't wanna get in the way so they tell me to follow the logging road down and it will take you back to dunsmuir. What they didnt tell me is that it takes you to the highway about 15k from "the turn off" to dunsmuir. Time was getting tight as The Boys would be landing soon and they still needed their cho-mo. Big and small the whole way as hard as could to ensure that I got there...even though I had no real idea were there was!! EEK, panic. But, it all ended well. Got the goods, made it to the van, peeled off my gear got as pretty as i can get and moved the van by the shower for a rapid evac to the boat apres stage!

They finished with Logan and James, who I think should get a time bonus for the use of a Lucky Jersey!! As of 10:15 theres no results. we are hoping to crawl back some time from the "Easters"! No shower, need the boat or we wait an extra 4 hrs.......*screech*. halfway down the road teh strap on the rac k readjust to compensate for the weight of Mary as she needed some air. Strap fixed and motoring. Huge traffic but not to fret.
The seas parted and all was good. We get to the booth at the terminal and ask " are we solid for the 3:15? " and her respnose was " I hope so?" LOL. Gotta love Bc Ferries!! ( insert bad word here ) We did and landed in Powell river safely.

Cool ass old school hotel with the external doors up the gnarliest driveway ever. I was stoked because their was a hose so i could give the steeds a proper bath. After all its what they deserve. The boys rest up as I do some cleaning and fixing. Jamie busted his rear shock remote off so open rear the rest of the way...lol! This place was so awesome, hose, view and the manager even offered to wash the riding gear. Don't think she knew what she was getting into!! Kudos Madamme, Kudos! Then jsut some food and r+r and here I sit. My boys in bed and just relfecting on the day.

I rode so it was a great day.

R

BCBR Day 2

Well day 3 saw another early day to catch another early boat to come back home......kinda!! This stage takes The Schmengy's from Departure Bay to Parksville in a 70 km SICK set of single track. The boys had to get ready on the boat and walk off with their bikes to the start chute, which was such a great sight to see 400 cyclist in full riding gear disembark form the ferrie. Odd especially when your used to seeing super commuters on haggard bikes filling off instead.

As the boys raced their asses off I went down to Acme burger and enjoyed an Odouls and a bad ass Acme burger and try to sort through all these pics!! UGH!! Taking off with lil sucess heading up very familiar roads into Parksville to The Pacific Shores Resort to check us in and get sonme stuff done so We can just leave the finish and get back to the hotel...which i must say is magnificent.Over looking Craig Bay. I'm a lucky boy right now!


Rode up the road to where the race finishes just past AMC with the cam to see if I could get something. Layed in a ditch shooting people as they went by. Great couple shots of Lisa and Dawn from Oak Bay. Then my boys came tearing up the road, so I snapped some shots and hopped on Mary and tried to keep up with them. At this point I remembered i was in flip flops and Dickies with a camera around my neck and no helmet.....so I got DROPPED!! which in of itself is good cause they were cooking!!

I met them back at the finish line and you could tell it was a harsh stage. they finished in roughly 4.5 hrs. Bikes look liked they had been through a sand storm and the boys looked like they had a tag team death match vs Ali and Tyson in the same sand storm!! Jamie relaxed at the truck as I hunted down Robin and for the second straight day he was wolfing down a burger at the finish!! lol. Load up the gear and the boys changed and got as comfy as they could. HOME TIME!!

As the boys cleaned up and fueled up i gave the bikes a good hour and a half of love, mostly cleaning and minor tweaks!! Then off to dinner and to veg out. Brought the gang at Obsession Cycles some beer as when we got there they had about 100 bikes to fix up...good luck folks, hope you got in some ball hockey!!

Not Much after that, some groceries, the boys got to enjoy some DQ and I got to enjoy a few Mickey's ( thanks Robin ). And now here I am, watching the news and stil struggling to find a connection!!! GRRR. I hope this goes through.....its a lot of typing. lol. Ill just leave you with the view from here.

BCBR Day 1

After the repetitive madness that was Day 0 it was nice to be in The Shore and getting geared for race day!! Early morning coffee hunt seemed a lil futile so after a few shakes prepared by Mr. Willard we were loading the gear and going bean hunting.......no coffee shop in the hotel? BULLSHOT!?!?! I'm over it. The clouds had me a Lil worried as rain was invented in the Shore and the trails are infamously greasy and hellish when wet. We drove to Bean Around the World and quickly got fueled up and relaxed a lil before heading down to the Canlan Arena, start point for Day 1. Nice and early so easy parking and set up as teh sun reared its sexy face and told the clouds to piss off!!! The mayhem that is the volunteers unloading almost 400 bikes is a sight to see in itself. The logistics of this race are still very hard for me to get my head around. And in the 2 days we've been here the volunteers are super wicked. Always smiling and always helpful. Hats off to them.







Jamie and Robin got all prepped and "buttered" in prep or the stage as I unload the bikes and give them a quicky. After they were all set I drank yet more free coffee and took the camera around absorb this amazing event as they went for a 30min warm up loop.

Walking around all these people that are so in love with cycling is very refreshing and affirming for me. I don't think i saw a single frown, even when requesting scowls, there were none. Shit even the mechanics were happy....!

Jaimie and Robin returned all stoked cause they practiced a lil flyer line that the xc guys probably wouldnt hit with any pace and they might be able to hop past some guys. Jaimie got his bike and jersey a lil dirty so of course we give him a hard time, then its on to the start chute. I've been in a chute with 150 people and that made me feel anxious. Now if you can picture a chute with 370ish people you will probably visualize the smell of clif shots, sunscreen, coffee breath and an assload of lycra....and you would be correct. Out of teh gate there is an instant 180 degree corner which i had thought would claim 20 riders minimm, so i grabbed a great vantage point for carnage..........and nothing?!? Everyoone made it through safe and sound up berkly towards the trails. So I load up and hit the road to get up to Base Camp hwhich is in Lynn Valley.

Park the car, grab my camera and my bike and I'm gone to see if i can shhoot the boys. Climb all teh way up Mountain Highway, loving blood in my legs again...funny looks form the freeriders as i zip up the hill on my rigid niner....HAHAHAH!! find a couple spots and shoot a lotta riders and look who shows up in my lens! Do I have em dialed or what? The blast up themountain past a free Kuwahara..which im surprised none of teh racers switch off too! Few more shots tehn down to the corner to see them rip to the finish!

Waiting....waiting....waiting....not here yet. Camera dies i run to store and I missed them as they tore in. Good showing by the boys finishingh 2nd and a good turnout form OBB folks as well. Good job kids. There were a few medicals on trail but noone hurt and all safe and sound. There was a team of brothers, one form BC, the other from south africa that were there and as the start shot off one of their derailuers blew up, so 15 mins later they were still with the guys form Obsession. Cool thing is i saw them cross the line at the end of the day.....last place but still grinning ear to ear. Good on ya boys

Awards and dinner followed that, after a nap for the boys and a stronbow for moi. Then later that night as they snore i organize photos and create this so all of you who arent in contact can stay in contact. Early boat to nanimo then racing to parksville so we will see you tomorow.

Cheers,
Regan

BCBR Day 0

Being my first time at anything like this i wasn't sure what to expect. Day 0 is registration, rider meeting, pass pickups....on and on and on!! Basically a hurry up and wait day!! As the guys grabbed their gear and crossed the T's and dotted the I's I rambled around with my camera, chatted with some folks, basically drank coffee and hung out at the beach as support can''t get their stuff till 2.....and its 10!! Watching a homeless guy at the seawall strung out and preaching the gospel of "whatever" while throwing down more "TABERNAC COCKSUCKERS" then is humanly possible passed the time for a while. Loving Vancouverites non reaction to him was almost more enjoyable then him!

Fueled by coffee and not quite ripe pears I made my way back to the hotel, stopping for "art attack moments" to grab my creds and teh boys to make sure all was taken care of, and if you know Jaimie it was!! ;) As we were leaving we a girl noticed my Big John Bates and The Voodoo Gurlz T and informed me that she went to school with him, which is surprising cause if you meet him you wonder " school?? really??" (iokes, love his shows) After that it wasn't much more then some lunch, a short drive, hotel check in and gear unload.

Once unloaded we were able to go shake the Ferry off our legs with a lil burn around looking to poach chunks of the course, which we did till we found the Marshall flagging it!! Not sure how he felt about us following him so we bailed and headed back to the hotel. Ran into J.S. and Simon on our way down and as we chatted a deer and her fawns were almost lit up on the highway...close call, but all is well..i think.

A quick lil pedal back to The Inn to grab some grub and do a lil bike prep for the boys and that was the day...in a nut shell. Hope everyone had fun in Vic at The Big Leboutski and Start with the Cobra.

See ya after Day 1

Regan