Day Zero: A Rocky Ride
We arrived in Panorama, Canada, on Thursday after a long flight and what seemed like an even longer transfer from Calgary to the race village where the Trans-Rockies starts on Sunday. Jon was on the afternoon airport transfer, which took over 7 hours because of an overheating bus. I was on the night-time transfer that took over 5 hours. Fortunately, this is an extremely "chilled" event and all the riders simply shrugged their shoulders, made new friends, and caught up on some sleep.
After an early morning spin yesterday with a group of riders from Wales, England and Ireland (we've not met any Scots yet), today we decided to try our hand at white water rafting on the Toby Creek River. Just as the trails at mountain bike centres are graded according to technical difficulty, rivers are graded on a scale of 1 to 5. We all felt pretty confident on a river graded only 2/ 3, especially as Jim and Badger of One Planet Adventure who run the trail centre at Llandegla (www.coedllandegla.com) informed us that "this isn't even equivalent to a red run". However, with an Australian skipper, it wasn't long before we hit the rocks and Ian Kaye of www.bike-bulgaria.com lost his balance and went for a swim in the freezing cold water. While most of the crew laughed, Kevin and James of BHB Fire and Rescue pulled Ian back into the raft.
It's hard to imagine a better setting for the start of a mountain bike race. The scenery is simply stunning, Panorama Mountain Village has excellent facilities, and the race organisation is first class. While I type this race report, Jon is riding the downhill course from the top of the one-mile cable car ride to the summit of the mountain that dominates the local sky-line. Hopefully he won't hit any rocks and I'll still have a race partner for the start of the Trans-Rockies tomorrow.
Pete & Jon's sponsors:
www.skins.net | www.cube-bikes.co.uk | www.bentleybirmingham.co.uk | www.mulebar.com | www.highfive.co.uk | www.camelbak.com | www.udderlysmooth.co.uk | www.thecyclestudio.co.uk |Gateway Cycles
