The Finale

Despite a shorter total distance, today was set to be the toughest day yet. The forecast called for certain heavy rain, the route had proportionally less logging road, and I had a brand new riding partner. None of these factors proved to be an issue, but the day was not without challenges. There was the surprise secret decision to move the first food station from kilometre 28 to kilometre 48 (there were some LONG faces), the 5 kilometre climb that included 800 metres of elevation gain (I am getting REALLY good at hiking my bike), and the final extended section of singletrack (featuring 'bucket of blood', 'forest dump' and 'soggy biscuit' - sound like fun?).

We rode 85km from Port Alberni to Cumberland in a little under seven hours and were treated to some spectacular views of the Comox Valley. There were two notable memories from the day, both of which made me proud to be a girl. The first was a pace line that Lisa and I had going with six other girls through some rolling swoopy double track. We were very organized and considerate, taking turns pulling and calling out puddles, trees, dips and other obstacles as we hammered along. There were a couple of guys hanging off the back, barely staying on...that is, until we were approaching another team...and magically they had the energy to take a pull - ah, the male ego. Later on, as we were stuck behind some guys pushing their bikes through an 'unridable' section of single track, two girls caught up and politely asked us to get out of the way and then proceeded to bomb on down the trail like it was sidewalk. Go girls!

While I'm happy that I can sleep in tomorrow and that I don't have to put on bike shorts or sit on my bike seat or eat another cliff bar, part of me wishes I could stay and ride the rest of the course. This is so much fun (in a really twisted kind of way). I can't wait until Transrockies.