The past few weeks have been busy for the Black’s Cycle mountain bike race team. June 18th marked the 12 Hours of Cumberland. As the name implies, racers rode laps of a 7km course as many times as possible in 12 hours. The race could be done solo, in teams of 2, or in teams of 4 (teams would treat the race as a relay event, with 1 rider riding at all times). Since we weren’t feeling mental but still wanted a challenge, we opted for the 2 person team.
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| Heather and Chris posing before 12 hours of fun! |
The weather forecast was dreary in the days leading up to the race, and when we woke up Saturday morning at 6AM the sky wasn’t looking too promising. The prospect of riding for 6 hours each (or even worse, sitting around waiting for 6 hours) wasn’t looking too appealing, but we had faith that the day would turn out ok and packed our stuff up and headed to the #6 Mine Park in Cumberland. We set up the Norco tent and hung the big Blacks Cycle banner and headed over to register. Once we paid our fees there was no turning back.
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| Heather still smiling after 5 hours in the saddle |
The race started just before 8:30, and I took the first pull. Our plan was to ride in 3 lap intervals, which worked out to around an hour and half on, followed by an hour and a half off.
My first 3 laps were quick and dirty, and I was good and tired when I passed the torch off to Heather. As the day progressed, we got into a nice rhythm. While I was a bit more vocal about my fading legs, Heather was her usual self, and banged off her laps nice and consistently without any complaints. Her 4th lap was probably the fastest of the day after she ran into a couple bear cubs and their mom just before Black Hole.
For the most part the rain held off and the course became dryer and faster with each run. Good thing too, because by late afternoon we were getting good and tired. Our laps times stayed consistent though, and at the end of the day we finished 23 laps in 11:40. That’s more than 160km of west coast trails, and good enough to get us a 3rd place finish.
Next on our hit list was the long awaited return of the Hornby Island Bike Fest. Anyone who raced in BC during the 90s will no doubt remember this iconic event. The fast, flowy trails of Hornby are about as fun as it gets, and when you throw in a laid back but very well organized couple of races you’re sure to have a good time.
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| Heather leading the charge in the Hornby XC |
Heather bucked up and raced back to back days, tackling the 14km/1000 vertical ft XC course on Saturday, followed by the Super D on Sunday.
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| Gotta love that Hornby singletrack! |
Heather DP’d (Double Podium), with a 3rd place photo finish on the XC (1 second behind 2nd place) and a solid 2nd in the Super D. Not only was she super stoked on her results, but she rolled off the island with the phone numbers of 2 new riding friends.
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| Heather obviously stoked on her 3rd place XC finish |
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| My Norco Range - All ready for some Super D action! |
I put all my eggs in the Super D basket, and it paid off beating my goal of a sub 6 minute run with a time of 5:56, good enough for a 3rd place finish in Expert. My legs and lungs have never hurt so bad, and I can honestly say I gave’r 100%.
The coolest part of the weekend was having our good friend and longtime Black’s Cycle customer Kevin Reid show up and race (not only is Kevin a great guy to ride with, he’s also a kick ass realtor – If you’re in the market check him out at www.kevinreid.remax.ca). This was K-Ninja’s first time racing, but he manned up to the plate and raced Intermediate. After watching his pre-run helmet cam footage 25 times on Saturday night, he managed to shave 20 seconds off his already fast prerun time (one more reason to buy a helmet cam, and a shameless reminder that Black’s Cycle is an official GoPro dealer) and finished with a time of 7:21.
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| Turns out lycra really does make you go faster! |
We all left Hornby pretty worked over (especially DP Heather), but pretty stoked on the weekend. The race was amazingly well run. From the staging to the timing and instant results, we were blown away that a race with such a laid back feel could be run so professionally. Huge shout out to all the organizers and volunteers. You guys (and gals) put on such a great event, and we’re already looking forward to next year.
So, that’s pretty much a wrap for June. The next big adventures are the Black’s Cycle Double Down (stay tuned for more info on this!), and the Yana Century Ride. See everyone out there!
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