Riot On Racing: Mountain Biking: PreRode one EB; Missed one STC; Just for Fun with PPP

It has been quite the weekend, considering I chose not to race....exactly...

It all started back in grade one, when my mom used to walk me to school...(we were in the same grade)...

Kidding, of course, (sorry mom)....it started Thursday, with an invitation from DanOfSubstance to, once again, pre-ride the EagerBeaver 100 2.0 course. We pre-rode the course in the Fall (I still wake up in cold sweats from those memories), and Dan had made some changes to the course, and was close to determining a 'final' route so went off to check it out. Just for fun...100 miles (yes miles = 160 kms) of gravel, fireroad, farm lane...fun...

Dan insisted I wear his XCMarathon Leaders Jersey...

It kind of, almost, matches with the rest of my kit...or not. Actually, the only person to comment on it clashing was a Scotsman...you know....the guys who wear plaid... ... ... skirts... Ah well, you can't judge an entire culture by one individual...

Anyways, so, you know...simply 100 miles of gravel could be fun....but what kind of fun would that be??

Actually, the route starts out great...the first 5 km is a nice gradual, gravel road descent...but let this be fair warning, right off the bat; any descent in this race WILL be followed by a legitimate (feel free to read 'legitimate' as 'extreme') climb. Oh...and the first 5 km descent is the only gradual, relaxing decent...any climb, except the last, will be followed by a sketchy, steep descent.

Anyways...the first climb of the day Dan pulls no punches...it is very likely the toughest climb of the day. Dan has dubbed it 'The Murderhorn'!! (Named after the Simpsons episode 'King of the Hill'...look it up...). 9 kms, 500 metres elevation of loose, sketchy, rutted, rocky fireroad....when it flattens out and you think you are done...you are not...at least three times not. Then followed by a descent, very similar to the climb...

And this pattern repeats itself for the first 80 kms of the race. A very long, tough climb, that reapeatedly seams to end, but doesn't, followed by a fast, technical, descent. Again....be warned, there are no rollers in this route...if you find yourself going uphill, grab a cigar, a whiskey, and pit in...you are in for a steep, long, technical climb...there are no easy things here.

There may be some water...

There may be a small amount of hike-a-bike...one climb is a very, very, rocky, steep stream bed, that will test the most technical of riders ability to stay on the bike...(Hope I am not giving too much away here, Dan...).

On the second last, and what I consider the second toughest (but at this point they are all killer) climb of the day, at around the 65 - 70 km mark (depending on your device), you will (hopefully) top the climb do a double right hander on a short paved section...pass a church on gravel...then get ready. The longest, sketchiest descent of the day...2 kms of twisty, rocky, rutted farm lane, that opens up into pristine new pavement...but still descending for another kilometre...and twisty, and steep. In fact this section of pavement is the fastest I have ever clocked my CX bike. At 82.5 kmp around a blind left curve, I finally got nervous enough to feather the brakes.

Then almost immediately into the last real climb of the day...at 5 kms long it's not the longest of the day...but at this point they are all killer (did I say that already??)...actually after climbing the Murderhorn, they are all killer. Again, this hill has multiple points that you may think you are done...you are not. Not until you look down at your garmin and see 80km. Once you hit 80 km...you are golden...no more significant climbs.

Dan, caught this pic on one of the climbs...kind of blurry...but...hmmmm...

So, be warned, I am not overstating...the first 80 kms is devastating...it will break some riders completely in half. There will be many who will throw their bikes in the ditch, pack up and book a flight to Saskatchewan. So, once you hit 80km....its all flat-ish hammering. And that may be the other challenge. After 4 - 5 hours of repeated killer climbs you hit the flats, and want to hammer...on depleted legs...pain of climbing....followed by pain of wanting to finish as fast as possible. But if you have survived the first 80 km...you can survive anything.

If you are able to notice, the scenery is awesome...here are a couple of pics that do not do it justice...

Better than these show, there are many views of spread out vistas from up high. And the traffic on the route is incredibly infrequent. In fact, especially after the first 80 km...feel free to find a nice flat spot to sit and rest....

Or maybe more like this...

Anyways...Dan has fashioned this race after the Iron Cross...one of the toughest gravel grinders out there. So, once again, consider yourself warned...for the 3 of you who read this (not including my mother) you now know and are aware of what to expect....and so Dan has instituted a strict no whining policy.

Registration is open...in fact you have until midnight June 1st to catch super early bird pricing. Register here.

So...it has taken almost literally until today for me to recover from this ride. Which is one of the reasons that I missed this weekend's race, The Hardwood Single Track Classic (formerly the Single Track Challenge).

All reports say the race was great! For sure, the weather was intense at over 30 degrees! I did manage to scoop a couple of pics....

It looks like Fatboy Nation infiltrated the podium, and tried to convince JeffS to join the cause...

And it looks like Raf was trying to infiltrate the female category...

Karen and Jenn again dominating the podium. Is anyone going to step up and challenge these two??

If you want proper professional pics (and you should!), ApexTed was on site to capture the action in the heat...you may not have noticed him in his ninja thong, but he was there. Find your Apex pics here.

And for a more thorough write up of the race by someone who raced it check Colin's Blog...always a passionate, relateable read.

I did not do nothing on the weekend, however. Me, NewfieSteve and Lisa packed up our trailers and headed to Albion to test them out...to camp and ride...

NewfieSteve & Lisa's shiny new trailer....that he built from scratch...seriously...he is handy like that...

My old but new-to-me home of TeamRiotMobile....

The innards, where the magic happens (magic = Lois snores & I pass out). The back room is the bike shed...

By the way...if you have never camped with a Newfie...

If you don't believe me, ask Lisa...
And yeah...I'm trying to cut down on the cat pics...our cats here are starting to get vindictive...like this guy...

Anyways....after a light recovery ride Friday evening...we joined the Pinoy Pedal Pushers for a group ride early Saturday morning...

To keep it fun, we broke out the fatbikes!!

And to prove Pinoy Ryder allowed us to join in with his group...

I have to say...what a total pleasure to ride with this group...an awesome reminder that mountain biking isn't just about training, racing, podiums or medals. At it's core it's about fun, being a kid again...forgetting about life to enjoy life, with friends.

Anthony Bourdain recently did a piece about Filipino culture, and he nailed it...

One of them said it best when he quipped, "It makes me happy to be kind and generous to others. I feel like I won a spot on the podium 😍😊." I'm pretty sure that was you, Robert. Maybe you can judge a culture on one individual after all...

So thank you for letting us be part of your morning!!

Then, Jaimie and PowerPaul showed up to finish up the day with another ride...then some recovery around the firepit!