Gary Robbins - Endurance Athlete

Is it the announcement of the new race course design, the $14,000 in prizing, or the fact that people just want an excuse to party? Whatever it is, registration has been coming in fast and furious and we only have 20 spots left before we hit our 250 maximum capacity.

If you’re on the fence and still thinking about signing up, you better make up your mind soon!

If you are contemplating signing up for this one you'd better give your head a shake! Outside of the usual legendary after party, a brand new race course, the cool t-shirt designs, and the fact that this is the final race of the year, Bryan Tasaka is giving away a FREAKIN TRIP TO HAWAII with seven nights accom and an adventure tour as one of the draw prizes!! Get in while you still can!

On a personal note, been experiencing some knee issues as of late which is why not a lot to blog about. Done some short runs but I always end up limping home afterwards...yeah, I know, stop running right! Don't ya know, "The only thing harder than running...is not running."

My personal quotes of the week:
"I've never claimed to be fit or fast, but I do have a high pain tolerance and a low level of intelligence. These two things combined have allowed me to find my niche in endurance racing."

"It's all about being broke as a joke and loving life! I've never been so damn poor, and so completely happy all at once!"

Congrats to Lina Augaitis and her team Yoga Slackers for their recent win at Coast Raid in Quebec.

Finally, be sure to check in on the Trans Rockies running race currently going on in Colorado. Matt Hart and Sean Meissner are representing the U.S. Montrail team and currently battling for a top ten placing in a fully stacked field.
Also competing are Munny Munro from Whistler, and Leslie Gerein from Banff, amongst others of course!

This race is definitely on the radar for next year as myself and Aaron Heidt have been tossing around the idea for a few months now...I'll just make sure he brings his tow rope for me!

And finally, since I don't think many people made it to the bottom of my Stormy race report, here's my finisher photo from the race...plus I'm reliving it as I can't run right now and it feels good just to think about this race again!


GR

I don't know how or why, but it's been almost three full years since I've been to a 'big band' concert, that being 'Audioslave' in late 2005.
Out of the blue, Jack Johnson tics found their way to me on Tues night, and for face value of just $45 each, Jackie and I were off to enjoy a great show at Thunderbird Stadium last night.

Jack Johnson epitomizes my Central American cycling trip of 2003. I spent four months on the dive island of Roatan, Honduras attaining my Dive Master certification. After nearly blacking out on a wall dive with some friends, which very easily could have lead to the non existence of this blog all together, I was then told I could never dive again due to an ear issue (a diagnosis that was six months later proven incorrect). The irony of it all is that this incorrect diagnosis is what directly lead to this blog and my current lifestyle. Anyways, being unable to dive on a dive island I ended up as a bartender at a beach bar called 'The Sundowner'.


'The Sundowner' was a square shaped open sided bar with a central area just large enough to fit two employees. We used to joke that you could not even squeeze a Queen sized bed into the service area. Five nights a week I was locked in there with my good friend Lisa Akeson of Sweden, and we both loved every second of it. There was an incredible atmosphere at that place as the main locals would come by every night for their post dive drinks as the sun was setting out over the ocean. I recall numerous evenings where service would completely cease until the sunset light show faded into the evening dusk beside us. Some of the best memories of my life are tied up in that little island...and this is my very round about way of saying that I had no idea who Jack Johnson was before I bartended there.

We had a mini-disk player behind the bar...yeah, it was the only mini-disk stereo system I have ever seen! Every few months someone on the island would end up flying back to civilization for one reason or another and we'd all put in our music and misc food item order with them (such as peanut butter!).


One night Lisa popped in a mini disk and I remember looking very stupid in front of numerous friends as I queried as to who we were listening to,

"WEll JACK JOHNSON OF COURSE!!"

"Oh...it's good."

"WELL YEAH!!!"


Last night was great on so many levels, amazing concert, perfect summer evening, and beautiful company. The highlight of the evening though, was when Jack Johnson broke into 'Bubble Toes'. I was instantaneously transported back to Roatan. I was tending bar and trading stories with friends and soon to be friends alike. It was a perfect moment for me and something I won't soon forget.

About ten years ago a friend back in Banff, Alberta had a 'book of questions' and one question in particular was,
"If you HAD TO choose 'the experience', or 'the memory of the experience', which would it be?
I babbled on some round about answer that basically amounted to an 'I dunno' both.

Well Kealin (my Banff friend), I can finally answer this question with confidence.
Without the memories to carry with us after the fact, without the friends to cherish those moments with in time, then the experience itself is completely and utterly hollow.
Thankfully, I have been blessed with anything but hollow experiences throughout my life, and Jack Johnson was just one more of those perfect moments in time that I will never forget!



GR

Well, it's time, the countdown to the Cumberland MOMAR is at just over a month now, and yesterday I finally got back on my mountain bike again...for the first time since BC Bike Race!! Yeah, I know, that's almost seven weeks, but without going into detail, I very literally only got my mountain bike back from a post race mix up one week ago, so I wasn't completely slacking!

I had a friend from Australia in town visiting. Actually we met during the XPD expedition adventure race that we competed in last August...wow, has it really been one full year already! During that race as we were neck and neck with their team for quite some time. If you happen to remember that race report, they were the team that we were trekking with when we made our fatal mistake on our last night of the race that lead to our zombie walking episode. Anyways, he mentioned back then that he was planning to come to Canada for a visit in 08 and I insisted that he drop me a line and hang out for a few days of riding. I had pretty much forgotten this until hearing from Paul just over a month ago, and in the end he ended up being the kick in the ass that I needed.



After hooking Paul up with one of my own Helly Hansen Lifa's, we were ready to rip!
Tuesday we hit up a 2.5hr ride and followed that up with the Tuesday Night Deep Cove Paddle Race. A great day of A.R. specific training. Today we hit the bikes again for just over an hour and although Paul flew out early this evening he did manage almost two full weeks of riding throughout Whistler, Squamish, and North Van. Once I returned from dropping Paul at the airport I joined a few friends for a night run out to Norvan Falls (15km, 2hr). It did nothing but rain for the last two days, but thankfully it didn't slow us down one bit...every day above ground is a good day, I doubt anyone, given a second shot at life, would ever complain about a rainy day again!

GR

Couple of quick things to mention. First, my Stormy race report, which I realize was way too damn long! It was my first 100 miler though and I wanted something detailed to reference in the future. Congrats to the three people who actually made it through it.

As mentioned Jackie ran the 50 mile version, her first shot at that distance, and she placed 4th female in a time of 9hr26m! It was a great weekend for both of us.

Recovery has been much better than I anticipated, and outside of our 4km, 1.5hr walk of pain the day after our races, it's been going well. I got back on my feet again on Saturday with a slow 2hr run with some local 'Fat Asses', and yesterday Jackie and I headed to Maple Ridge to run the backcountry route up to the summit of Golden Ears (24km, 5.5hr). Another stellar weekend and although my knee was a bit swollen after the run it all felt great. Time to start logging some miles again!

GR

I got out of the aid station as quickly as possible for two reasons, 1) I was hurting and I knew if I decided to sit down or loose my focus it would only get worse, 2) I had no idea what my lead consisted of and I wanted to be gone before second place could catch a glimpse of me. As mentioned I changed my shirt and shorts, but I had also set aside a fresh pair of Helly Hansen Lifa boxers that I wanted to change into, yet they had gone missing somewhere in transit. I set out for the first aid station and realized that I needed to keep pushing at a decent pace before the sun fully set on us.

I managed to reach the first aid station, for the second time, in 53 minutes, just three minutes slower than my first lap. I had illusions of a possible sub 17hr race and after doing some math realized I could afford to put in a second lap time of about 10% slower than my first. With this in mind, I was right on schedule. Thankfully as I came in Jackie was standing there swinging my lifa compression boxers in the air and with a huge smile on her face! I ducked behind my car, switched it up, lathered myself in Bodyglide and was off and running feeling like a completely new man! I knew this would be the last time I'd see Jackie until the finish line and after thanking her I told her to get some sleep and not to worry about me out there.

It was now closing in on 9pm and the headlamp was a necessity. I knew that by using my Princeton Tec Apex, combined with a handheld Tec 40 that I would get the best of both world's and not have to worry about slowing down due to inadequate lighting. I was heading into my strongest discipline, nighttime running!

Years of adventure racing has prepared me well for running at night. I have quite literally logged hundreds of hours of night running and riding, and as the temperatures dropped I was feeling quite at home in the solitude of it all. Something I forgot to mention in my initial posting was the heat of the first lap. The temps had climbed up towards thirty degrees in the first fifty miles and I made sure to stay on top of my electrolytes from the get go.

The cooling effect of the evening made it feel like I was being given a second life. I perked up substantially as my body was no longer dealing with trying to cool itself so relentlessly, and approaching the second aid station I was again riding a wave of a high.

As I came through the start finish I consumed over a liter of flat coke, along with some real food, electrolytes and some fruit juice. I had stayed on top of my nutritional plan right from the first km of the race, having consumed Carbo Pro 1200, Carbo Pro, Clif Shots, Clif Shot Bloks, Sesame Snaps, Thermolytes, Sushi, and Coke. The formula was working, but as I arrived at the second aid station I found that I desired but one thing...more Coke! I chugged some back, downed some watermelon, and filled one bottle with water and one with Coke before heading off into the darkness again. I had no intention of following this 'fuel plan', but knew better than to argue with what my body was demanding!

I continued to listen to my body but fully expected it to eventually reject this combination. My stomach issues had not worsened, but still persisted with regular stops along the way. I came through the third aid station feeling great and looking forward to some well needed human interaction, but the aid had been downgraded to a self serve. I topped up a bottle of coke and again headed into the very technical 'Entrail' and 'Marc My Word'. This was where I switched on my hand held light for the first time, tucking my other empty hand held bottle into my empty Nathan vestpack that I was wearing for the front pocket access to food. I thoroughly liked this set up as the vest pack weighs literally a few ounces and allowed me to free up my hands more for the night running. Throughout the first lap I switched between a vest pack for the longer sections and hand held bottles for the shorter ones.

With both Princeton Tec lights shining like spotlights in the night I ran these technical routes almost as fast as I did on my first lap, 105km prior. By the time I reached aid station number four, which was once again back on Perth Road, my boxer drop area, I was dying to have an actual conversation with someone. I had literally taken to speaking out loud on numerous occasions just to fill the void of the night!

The aid station crew asked if I was alright.

"Feeling great, why?"

"Well, you seem to be vibrating!"

As I was chugging back more Coke,

"Ummm, I've consumed about 3.5 liters of Coke so far...must be the caffeine! Hey, any idea of what kind of time gap there might be till second place?"

"Well, when you came through here the first time, a few hours ago, you had a 1h05m lead."

"Sweet, thanks!"

After specifically thanking them for spending the night out on course I proceeded down the road and back towards the university. I was always conscious of my calorie and electrolyte intake and was forcing down 100 calories at regular intervals, and easily swallowing a salt tablet every thirty minutes. Although sore and tired, I was actually feeling quite strong!

I hit the Uni aid station and had a quick but fun conversation with the volunteers there. I had a backup headlamp in my drop bag, so instead of wasting time changing batteries I simply swapped them out, downed more Coke and watermelon and was off and running.

I ran the impending hill on the first lap but did not see the point here on the second lap. At this point it was great to have a time and distance device upon my body and I used the pacing feature to force myself into a faster than normal power hike. My watch initially read just under a ten minute /km pace, but with focusing just on the watch itself, and not on the non technical terrain under foot, I was able to consistently bring my hiking pace down to almost exactly eight minutes /km. I thought this to be a very impressive pace considering the grade I was tackling and I focused on nothing but this pace until I reached the top.

Again my light allowed me to bomb down through the Pseudo Tsuga's without slowing down at all, and I hit up the aid station after a loop time of 52min. I have not seen official on course splits yet, but I know this is only slightly slower than my first lap time of around 45min. I noticed early on that most aid stations were not expecting me when I arrived, so I got into the habit of hooting and hollering as I approached each area, and I would always look forward to the hollering responses.

We had a candid exchange on my second time through, which ended with me jokingly stating,
"The f#$king wine selection here sucks!"

I was a few hundred meters down the road before I realized that I had forgotten my hand held light. I did not have spare batteries on me and after a quick mental fight realized that I had no choice but to turn back for risk of blowing my entire race if my one light died on me for some reason.

"Hi me again, any chance you got that Merlot in stock again yet?"

By this point I was again struggling to keep my body running over the flattish terrain, and I was actually internally cursing at myself not to stop.

"Less than 7km till that damn nine mile hill again. Keep your head down and your feet moving...don't you dare quite on me now!"

I was happy to come across an unexpected friend now manning the following aid station at The Powerhouse, and after a quick chat, and some more Coke and watermelon, I was off to tackle the infamous 'Nine Mile Hill' for the second and final time.

I never listen to music when I run, yet I always have a song in my head while I'm out there. In a typical 50km race I go over the chorus of a single song again and again as a segway between other thoughts throughout the race. For my first 100 miler I managed to squeeze in a few songs. First and foremost was the new Gavin Rossdale song, 'Love Remains The Same', and that was followed up with a full version of 'The Fintstones'...and as if that wasn't random enough I somehow pulled out the full Monkees album from deep within my cerebrum. I remember stealing this tape from my Father in the eighties at some point and don't know that I've heard any of the songs since...definitely some deep memory release occurring as I went deeper into my run...maybe with a 200 mile run I could remember my own birth!!

I had been counting down for a few hours until reaching the top of Nine Mile...I was counting down to my hugs from Cheryl and Rhonda. Their congratulations, smiles, and hugs were as genuine and vigorous as they had been ten hours earlier. I glanced at my watch and realized that if I could somehow match my first lap time over the remaining distance that I would in fact eclipse the magical 17hr banner.

"Sorry ladies, I'd love to stay but I'm still harboring illusions of a sub 17hr run. Thanks so much for everything!"

After eclipsing the final pitch over 'The Lava Flow', I entered 'The Ring Creek Rip' again. I was all of three hundred meters into it before I realized that the sub 17hr time was indeed as I had suspected, an illusion. The rocks seemed bigger, the terrain tougher, and my feet were now fully swollen and smacking against the end of my shoes with each and every step. I suffered my way down the mountain and glided into 'The Powerhouse' for the fourth and final time.

I was greeted by a second familiar and friendly face, Glenn Pace had now joined Michael Wardas...the only problem here was that Glenn was himself running in the 100 miler.

"You shouldn't be here! Not that I don't like seeing ya, but what's up?"

He briefly explained that he had to drop, which surprised me more than most other dnf's as Glenn has a lengthy and accomplished resume, but again, 100 miles is a long ways to run and anything can happen over that distance.

"I'd love to hang with you guys but I have to put this thing to rest. I'll hopefully see ya at the finish area later today!"

The congratulated me and cheered me on as I forced my legs to run the few hundred meters into the hiking terrain through 'Crumpit Woods'. I ate up this area, and 'The Farther Side' as I could almost smell the finish line, but again upon hitting 'Seven Stitches' and 'Summerside' I was really gutting it out. The terrain would be tough to run at the best of times and I was struggling to hold a decent hiking pace this late in the race.

I was constantly checking my watch as I was fully aware of one thing. To finish sub 18hr meant a hero's welcome as the fifty milers would just be lining up to start their own race, to finish anything over 18hrs meant crossing the line amongst a group of three or four people associated with the race itself. It was like comparing a rock concert to a dusty ghost town with tumbleweed blowing down the main street.

I put in a solid effort over the last climb of the entire 100 miles...I was going to do it, only four km to go...I ran the whole thing not feeling an ounce of pain, as I could now envision the finish line and I knew that Jackie, Roxy, and about 65 runners would be there to cheer me in.

4km...3km...2km...1km...700m...600m...500m...400m...I could see the start - finish and I let out the biggest scream of my life,

"WHHOOOOOOOOOOHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

300m, 200m, 100m, 17hr39min, PURE ELATION!!!!!!! I know I would have cried had I been able to! Jackie snapped a pic and grabbed me as I crossed the line, Roxy wasn't far behind, the Wendy, Enzo, Jackson, and on and on. I had covered the final, technical and challenging, 10.5km just 11 minutes slower than my first lap! I FELT IN..CRED..I..BLE!



Over six liters of coke, thirteen bathroom breaks, fifty thermolytes, and one experience that will last forever...my first 100 Miler!

My Gear:
-Montrail Streaks
-Helly Hansen Lifa Boxers and Trail Wizard Shorts
-Carbo Pro, Carbo Pro 1200, and Thermolytes
-Princeton Tec Apex and Tec 40
-Kinesys Performance Sunscreen
-Rudy Project Ekynox glasses

First and foremost thanks so much for all of the incredible support! It's really cool to log on and see so many phenomenal comments from everyone!

"Embrace your biggest disappointments, build on your greatest accomplishments. Keep your head held high, and you can not help but move forward."

Just five short weeks ago I was questioning my entire season of racing. I have not before faced constant adversity like I have encountered this season and it's been a great character builder that I am thankful for in hindsight.

I missed all of Feb with a double calf injury, the first injury to sideline me for any amount of time. It was July, after a one month hiatus from running, before my calves were back to 100%. The back to back DNF's on the bike in June were what did me in mentally though. Two goal races and nothing but a battered body to show for it. I did not truly realize how much I had riding on this 100 miler, but I was certain of one thing...I was not going to DNF under ANY circumstances!!

Stormy 2004 was my first ever ultra race. Back then the distance was 67km as it followed the exact route of The Test Of Metal Mountain Bike Race. My goals that year were a sub 7hr run time and a top twenty placing. I finished in exactly 20th with a time of 6hr53min. Just five months prior to that race I had no idea what an 'ultra run' even was, and had never run more than 21km in my life. In fact I had only run more than 10k three times in my life and can confidently say that I had run less than fifty times in my then 27 years on the planet. It's been quite the journey up to this point and Stormy 08 feels more like the true beginning of something for me rather than an ending.

The race began at noon on Friday, which I was a fan of for the most part. It eliminated a lot of pre race stress as I could sleep in my own bed in North Van the night before, did not need to set an alarm, and could fuel properly before the race began. Jackie and I pulled into Squamish at 11am, picked up some sushi and headed to the starting area.

Thirty people lined up to try and tackle the distance and we were off and running before we knew it. A group of four runner's headed to the front.

-Mark Tanaka, La Sportiva American Team and ultra experienced ultra runner
-Darren Froese, Canadian 100k National team for four years
-Bill Dagg, fourth place in 07 at just under 23hr
-Ryan Conroy, local lower mainland runner

THE FIRST 50 MILE LOOP:

I had no intentions of running with the leaders off the start, no matter what their pace might be. I have learned time and time again that I need to ease my way into a long distance race by taking it easy for the first 30-45min at the very least, and I comfortably fell into 5th place.


The first aid station on the course was 8.7km in. I had spent hours going over my pre-race plan and setting up Jackie to be my aid for the first lap. I wanted to get her into bed as soon as possible...whoa dirty minds...she was running her first ever fifty mile race the following morning, starting at 6am.

In my pre-race plan I 'scheduled' myself into the first aid station in fifty minutes. I had managed to guess and pace perfectly and I switched out a bottle with Jackie in EXACTLY 50min!


At this first aid station the four runner's ahead of me had all made water stops and I now found myself in the lead. I had no intention of leading from this early on, but I had also promised myself something else the night before. I was going to run MY race, and I was going to leave it ALL out there.

Next up was the Alice Lake parking lot, which I hit about thirty minutes later, and proceeded to sprint straight for the bathroom. I had inclinations leading up to the start that my stomach was not going to cooperate with me fully for the 100 miler. If I did not know there was a bathroom facility awaiting me at the lake I would not have even made it an hour before stopping.

Darren and Mark both passed my while I was sorting myself out and I managed to catch back up to Mark within 1km. We ran together for a bit and chatted about running stuff. I met Mark at Miwok, well kinda at Miwok, and then through blogging. Our five minute conversation was the longest we had spoken face to face. As we approached our 2nd aid station we hit our first technical section of the course...my favorite kinda running, and as I started to distance myself from Mark I simply heard him say,

"Oh yeah, I forgot you're good at this stuff!"

after Aid Station Two the course goes into a very long, non technical, slightly inclined, running section as it leads out towards 'The Corners' area of the Test Of Metal course. I had only realized three weeks out that Stormy was such a runnable course, with just 13,000 feet of elevation gain over the entire 100 miles. With this in mind I switched up my last minute training to include much more cadence work on hard packed flattish terrain. I'm glad I did this for although it may not have given me a physical edge, it certainly helped my mental preparation.

As we hit the 'Bob Mac' trail, about five km further, there is another outhouse available. I had been closing in on Darren for a few kms but unfortunately he had the same idea as I did and he stole my seat! I decided to put in a push at this point to distance myself from him in an attempt to sneak back into the lead, and to gain a gap before ducking into the bushes for my second bathroom break.

As I upped the pace I could not believe how good I was feeling. I truly felt like I was effortlessly flying along and I made the decision to roll with it. Although I did not intend to run this section at this pace, I was certain of the fact that I would go through numerous highs and lows throughout the race. I made the decision to take advantage of this high and I went to work on knocking down some kms.

I blew through 'Mike's Loop' and by the time I was on the climb leading into 'The Corner's' I made sure to get on top of my food and electrolyte intake. The formula is pretty simple on paper, but always tough to accomplish in practice. Average about one Thermolyte tablet every thirty minutes to stay on top of electrolytes, and consume 250-350 calories per hour of running. I was only a few hours into the run and my stomach was still functioning fine, at least in terms of allowing me to eat, so I knocked back a sesame snap for a 200 calorie boost and was off and running again at the top of the climb.

This section is always fun to run as it is laced with bermed corners within a snake like single track that goes on for a few kms. I was able to peer over my shoulder a few times and see that I had a lengthy gap. I was finally able to make my second pit stop and was running again within ninety seconds. About ten minutes later I came into the Edith Lake aid station, 27.2km in around 2h15m. I was ahead of my planned time, but again felt great and decided to stick with what was working. After a ten second splash and go I was climbing towards one of my favorite parts of the course, 'Entrail and Marc My Word'. These trails are some of the most technical of the entire course and I was confident that I would be able to make time on the rest of the pack through this section. There is some tricky foot work over log bridges, fallen trees, steep rock faces and gnarly terrain...I loved every second of it!

From there you pop out onto Mashiter. Not sure if that rings a bell with anyone, but Mashiter is the trail that I was bombing down in T.O.M. when I got cut off and stacked it hard on the down slope. I slowed my pace for a few hundred meters and surveyed the 'crash site'. I am still blown away by the fact that I got off with but a broken finger and a contused quad, for there is quite literally a fifteen foot long section of which you could effectively crash without breaking any major bones or puncturing any major arteries...I had somehow managed to fall into that fifteen feet of bush. I was very thankful for the fact that I was even able to run this race at all, as I had visions of the season ending injuries I had managed to escape a few months prior.

After another fun section aptly named 'Roller Coaster' I was back at aid station number two again. I quickly said hi as I continued running past. 'Quest University', my drop bag with Jackie, and the half way point of the first lap, were but a few km off. As I approached The Uni I heard a familiar voice asking for my bib number. Mae Palm is in her 60's and still competing at Iron Man, in fact she holds numerous age group records! We'll see where I am in three decades...overweight, out of shape, watching sports all day, and telling stories about what I used to do for fun!!

I hit the aid station, grabbed my bottle from Jackie, said hi to Roxy, and was off and climbing. The second largest climb of the race lay ahead. It was nothing too insane, but did go on for about 2.5-3km. It was here that my earlier pacing started to catch up with me. My body was feeling the effects of a high running pace and I was suffering from leg pain like I had not experienced before. My left leg, right at the hip and encompassing my I.T. band, my hamstring, my groin, and my abdomen, were all starting to scream at me. I refused to listen and although I did slow my pace slightly, I continued running up the hill. Thoughts of dropping out drifted into my consciousness.

This section was a loop that was only listed as 3.5km, but I'm gonna say it has to be closer to at least 5k. After bombing down some of my favorite bike trails in Squamish, The Pseudo Tsuga'a, I was back at the same aid station in around 45min. I switched bottles with Jackie again and was off on a 5.3km section towards the main aid station on course at 'The Powerhouse'. Again my leg flared on me and again my mind would play tricks on me.

"You're done man, you blew it. Went out too hard, gonna pay the price now. You're not going to be able to run 100 miles...you can't run for 160km...and you know this already...it's inevitable so why even fight it..."

By the time I came through 'The Powerhouse' the first time (another looped section) I was just trying to convince my mind to let me complete one lap of the course. A few Vancouver locals were manning the aid station and commented on my pace and how good I looked. I've learned the most important words you can learn in endurance racing over the last few years,

"So far, so good!"

One step at a time, one km at a time, one aid station at a time. The second you get ahead of yourself is the second you start asking for things to go wrong. No one in their right mind can fully process what it takes to run for 160km, but everyone can run for 1km, and after that you can run the five or six or seven km until the next aid station, and before you know it you're fifty km and 1/3 of the way through the race. One foot in front of the other, continuously, Relentless Forward Motion, never let your mind tell your body what it thinks your body can not do, for it is dead wrong every single time. The body is a machine, it's the mind that is weak. Train your mind and you control what your body can accomplish.

The flats leading away from this aid station and into the biggest climb of the event were torturous for me. All I wanted to do was walk them, but I knew I'd be hiking a huge hill within ten minutes anyways and I managed to fight my way through until that point.

As I had just come through 'The Powerhouse' aid station I was expecting to and supposed to intersect with Jackie, but I knew it would be tight for her to drive the 15km around to the aid station that I had but 5km to run to. As I continued along the flats I expected to see her at any moment...but I hit my turn away from this road before she appeared. She had all of my food and fluids for the next 21km, and I had no choice but to wait! I went about utilizing my time by stretching out my legs and thankfully she appeared in under a minute. She had her typical smile and laugh going on as she could not believe that I had beaten her here. After a quick exchange I was off on a power hike up 'Nine Mile Hill'. It is not Nine full miles from this point, closer to nine km, and with a few downhill sections thrown in. It was a nice break and exactly what my body needed.

The one time I ran this race in 04 the 'Nine Mile Aid Station' was on the big bridge at the top. I had drained my fluids and was counting down the steps until my refill. I came around the last corner, and there was no one there! The distance back to 'The Powerhouse' aid station was around 10km...I started to freak out a bit, but kept my feet moving.

I told myself to calm down as it would almost make sense for them to have the aid station a few hundred meters further along anyways. Sure enough, thirty seconds later and there they were. Unexpectedly the station was being maned, or should I say womaned, but Cheryl Johnson and Rhonda Schuller, two amazing locals that I have had the pleasure of meeting through the running community over the years. They both had big smiles, congrats, and even hugs to help propel me along. I wanted to stay and chat, but alas I had a goal time in my head to work towards. I remember looking at my watch and I departed at exactly 5h45m into the race, having covered somewhere around 60km...only 100 left to go!

I thoroughly enjoyed the next hours downhill back to 'The Powerhouse' as I know those trails inside out. 'The Ring Creek Rip' and especially 'The Powerhouse Plunge' are some of Squamish's more famous trails. The only troublesome thing was that I could already feel that my feet were starting to swell. I had no intention of changing my socks or shoes during the race, but was almost wishing that I had packed...well owned and packed, a half size bigger shoe. I knew I'd be feeling the squeeze on the second lap.

As I came around the final corner into 'The Powerhouse' I was greeted by some of my fellow 100 mile competitors. I ran into the aid station for the second time, had trouble spotting Jackie as the area was now crowed with support crews, and heard but one comment,

"His SECOND time through!!"

I then spotted Jackie, who was hiding right in front of me, grabbed my bottle and was gone again.

"See ya at the finish babe!"

I departed the aid station at exactly 6h40m, only 10.5km to the end of my first lap. As I entered 'Crumpit Woods' and the 'The Farther Side' I was again feeling the effects of my pace and I welcomed the rolling terrain that demanded a power hike over numerous sections. My stomach would not settle and I ended up stopping for my sixth bathroom break! (I didn't think you needed a play by play of each one and you may think this is too much detail as it is, but it did end up being a factor of my race and something I had to continually deal with)

I knew the route would go through 'Three Virgins' and 'Seven Stitches', but was not fully aware of the fact that we then had to tackle 'Summer's Eve'. You would think the latter to be easier than the first two, but no the last trail was a little slice of unexpected hell! Lots of power hiking, some tip toe descents and the ever wandering mind wondering when we would finish our first lap!

I finally popped out into 'The Smoke Bluffs' and had but a few kms till the end of my first lap. I glanced at my watch and noticed that I was going to come in under 8hr. My initial plan was to do somewhere between an 8hr - 8hr15m lap. As I was going over this in my head, my left leg cramped and seized up instantly! I had never had a cramp come on so quickly before and was completely unprepared for it. I nearly fell over.

If not for the experiences gained over the last few years of running and adventure racing I surely would have freaked out and thought my race was over. Just one year prior while running The West Coast and Juan De Fuca Trails back to back I had a very similar occurrence just 45km into that 130km run. I DID start freaking out then, and was sure my attempt to run those trails had come crashing down around me, however I was able to recover from it and still finish that adventure run strong, attaining my goals for that run in the process. I simply did the same here, took it down a notch, walked it off, and was able to run the final seven hundred meters to complete my first fifty mile lap.

I crossed the line in exactly 7hr53min03sec. I could see the look on people's faces. Outside of their excitement and support, pretty much everyone was thinking I had gone out WAY too hard on my first lap. I concentrated on getting out of there as quickly as possible, and after changing my shirt and shorts, downing 1/2 of an avocado sushi roll, and chugging almost a liter of flat Coke, I was off and running again in under five minutes. I departed for my second lap in 7hr58m, and was determined to prove that I knew exactly what I was doing...even if I didn't really have a clue as to what I was doing at all!!


GR

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

17hr39min, 1st overall, new course record!!!

It hurt...a lot, but it was supposed to hurt, it was supposed to be hard, it was supposed to challenge me. I actually had thoughts of dropping out on the first lap but managed to fight through the mental weakness and keep my body moving forward the entire time. I suffered from some unexpected and unwanted stomach issues, but again, it's all a part of it. One hundred miles is a freakin long ways to run, stuff gonna happen in a hundred miles!!

Anyways, full blog report in the coming days, but for now, I get to enjoy my first solo victory of the year!

GR

I should probably be in bed right now but I'm still trying to piece together the perfect race plan for my first 100 miler. I've spent more than six hours over thinking this thing since yesterday, and I know full well that this plan will most likely go to hell before I even finish my first lap!!

I don't remember the last time I was so excited to race. I know I put my time in, my body feels great, nothing major bothering me, and very few minor 'niggles' to even mention. As long as my stomach co-operates I have set some pretty high goals for myself here...but first and foremost, just to finish...just to finish.

Wish me luck.
GR

Quoting the Race Director:

"Hey everyone,

I know a few people are wondering what happened out on the course last
week. I didn't want to say until I had permission from the family to
reveal the results from the tests that they performed.

Marty passed away from a heart attack. The results indicate that Marty had
a heart defect that had gone undetected by previous physical examinations.
When his heart had decided to stop working, there wasn't anything that
anyone could have done to save him. It was simply his time. And as many
have said about him, he wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

(By request of the family)

1. Urge everyone with a family history of heart troubles to demand every
possible test on their heart. She doesn't want any one else to go through
this.

2. Keep Race the Rockies going. Marty wouldn't have wanted it to stop
because of this."

This past weekend's surf trip to Tofino, BC was the absolute best possible taper I could have imagined. We had an incredible time and it was one of the most balanced getaways in recent memory.




Surfing, BBQing, camping, beach running, star gazing, late nights around the camp fire, no alarms, great conversation, meeting new friends, complete relaxation...who could ask for more than that!



I have a ton of stories and write ups that I would love to post to my blog, but alas, the pics will have to do for this one.



Stormy 100 miler, from this minute, is exactly 60.5 hrs away, and I CAN'T FREAKIN WAIT FOR IT!! It dawned on me that I have not finished an actual race since the May 10th Mind Over Mountain Adventure Race, also in Squamish coincidentaly enough. This has seemed to fuel my racing fire even more than usual and I am counting down the seconds until I get to try and tackle this completely foreign distance...



GR

Oh yeah, check out this crazy new riding device, and be sure to watch the vid as well.

This is gonna have to be a quick cap of the run, so here goes.

Ran around Volcano, had fun, 12hr, made it, beautiful trip. Phew, finally done!

Seriously though, I hate half assed reports but I'm running outta time before taking off for Tofino and a surfing trip this coming weekend, then my first 100 miler next weekend, which does not leave a lot of time outside of working and training to get to this stuff right now...plus girlfriends do NOTHING BUT get in the way!! HAHA, just kidding!! There are things more important than blogging, or so I'm told!

The week before we left, Geoff Palmer called down to get the current trail conditions for the south side of the mtn. The ranger, who we named 'Ranger Rick', was blunt:

"Don't even bother right now!"

Geoff was dumbfounded, "Huh?"

"There was fourteen feet of snow back there two weeks ago. There's no way you'll make it through the south side."

Keep in mind that Geoff had not even mentioned our grand scheme to run the entire trail in a day. Since most endurance athletes are stubborn to at least some degree, it was already settled. We'd head down and run it just to say that we did, and that Ranger Rick was indeed wrong about his own trail network!

We departed North Vancouver at 5pm on Friday and managed to luck out with a rapid border crossing. We then stopped at REI in Bellingham, Wash for some last minute items, including a proper trail map. That was followed up by enjoying a grocery store dinner in the parking lot, complete with Gluten Free beer, yuummmy!

We arrived at 1am, set up camp in the parking lot, and put our heads down around 1:30am. The 5:30am alarm sounded all too soon.



We packed up camp, had breaky and went about getting our gear ready to go when we noticed a large group of hikers displaying virtual 8x10 permits across their backs. We knew nothing about permits and after much debate and numerous questions we guessed that permits were only necessary for hiking to the Crater Rim, above 4800 feet. Otherwise the trail appeared to be free and we took our chances with a note to Ranger Rick saying we'd check in with him afterwards, promising to settle up whatever we might owe.



We were forced to start about 2.5km from the trail itself at 'The Climber's Bivy' parking area, as the road beyond was closed. The parking lot was covered in patches of snow and after our 7am departure we spent the first thirty minutes in snow wondering how bad it was going to get.



Thankfully we cleared the worst of the snow once we made our way onto the Loowit Trail itself, and then proceeded in a counter clockwise direction. Panoramic views followed shortly thereafter. Within the fist ninety minutes we could see why people said the trail would take over ten hours to complete...we could not go 100 meters without stopping for a photo op!



The terrain of the run was ever changing and it felt as though we ran through three or four completely different eco systems, from barren lunar like landscapes, to dense forests, and lush mountainside flowering plains. The run presented us with something special at each and every turn.



There were numerous washouts and creek crossings that demanded a level of confidence and experience to safely cross. After most of these obstacles we would end up spreading out and playing a game of who could find our running route again first. Our trail map was a mandatory piece of gear and I'm glad we took the time to purchase on the way down!



Even with our map we did end up lost at one point, for about an hour, as we ran up the wrong ridge line! We got caught following animal trails that seemed as worn and prominent as any trail we had traversed to that point in the run. After seeing a herd of Elk...are they called a herd? After seeing a posse of elk running away from us you would think could have figured it out, but no, we continued onwards and upwards until we gained a mini summit with some pretty amazing views. Which wasn't terrible! From here the proper route below was clearly laid out for us and we able to straightline it back to our intended running route.



I'm already way deeper into this run than I would like to be, as there was truly so much more to it than this quick cap can justify.



From here we hit a nice 5-6km running section before being confronted by the absolute crux of our day. A 'canyon' like glacial moraine was laying below us with walls of six or seven hundred feet! It was spectacular, but we all wondered exactly how the hell we were supposed to make it across this behemoth?



We followed the trail as it winded ever downward and eventually spit us out onto a rocky ledge, about seventy feet above the river that we still had to cross. We followed the route in the natural direction of travel, all doubting that there would be any easy way through. In fact Geoff later admitted that he fully thought our run was over and done with at that point in time. Sure enough though, a somewhat easy, and surprisingly safe, loose rock scramble down to the river opened itself up to us. We were across in no time and scrambling up the steep slopes on the North side of the river.



Again it was tricky to determine if we were in fact on the proper route and after referencing the map for a few minutes we were able to continue climbing with confidence. Shortly after cresting this climb of about 800 vertical feet we came across just the second group we would see all day. They had not yet seen the major obstacle we had just crossed, yet they could not stop talking about the terrain they had just covered and what still lay ahead for us!

By this time we were almost ten hours in and I could tell that the energy of the group was fading a little as we were all mentally ready to get off of the trail and enjoy a few beers!

There ended up being two additional washouts to cross with the largest adding about a full mile to the original route. It was amazing to look just a few hundred meters across at where the trail continued and realize that we were going to take 15-20 minutes to get there!

The last six kms or so were fairly uneventful, outside of the fact that it seemed to go on forever as we were all looking forward to completing this monster of a ~50k route.



We hit our intersection for 'The Climber's Bivy' and everyone's pace quickened instantly as we leaned into the switchback grade and let gravity do its work. At slightly over 12hr we cruised into the parking lot, mission accomplished! There were a few warm beers, dry clothes, and fresh fluids and food awaiting us in the car. We hung out for thirty minutes before heading into the nearest town of Cougar to camp for the night. At dinner we were to learn that the trail itself, below the crater rim, is indeed free. In fact between the four of us, with gas, food, camping and everything, the weekend cost just 60.00 per person! That's less that I would have spent had I stayed at home!!

The run is phenomenal and I don't feel like I have done it justice with this report. All I can say is that Tom says it's one of the most incredible places he's ever seen and I would tend to agree with him. In fact he asked me to tone down my run report so as not to attract too much attention to what a 'hidden gem' this run truly is...uh, there, that's as toned down as it gets!



As a group of four, Geoff, Duncan, Tom, and myself could not have had a better time, or been a better team. Everyone stayed solid throughout the run and no one was falling off the back, which was nice. It almost felt like an adventure race with there being four of us out there with ~10 pounds of gear on our backs, water included of course.

(It's official, three out of four dirty trail runners prefer Montrail Streaks to satisfy their running goals!)

One theme we kept referencing while running was a clip that I viewed through Matt Hart's blog. Check it out, Arnold is always good for a laugh!

And yes, it was that good!

GR

Oh yeah, and a huge congrats to Todd for indeed winning his first solo MOMAR this past weekend, nice work bud!

Also, Aaron Heidt placed 5th at White River, the American 50 mile ultra running championships, in his first official 50 mile race!
Not to be outdone, Nicola Gildersleeve, at just 24 years of age snagged the 4th overall woman. Two solid results from some serious up and coming ultra runner's from the BC scene. Congrats guys!

What a weekend! This supposed ~50k route runs much more like a 100k. Not because of the length but because of the sheer technicality of the route. Without our map we would likely have been out after dark and maybe even have spent the night on the trail. In the end it took us 11h59min to complete...ok, maybe it was a fraction over 12hr, but 11.59 sounds so much faster!

I headed down with a solid group of guys and we truly had a blast all weekend long. Here is a quick slideshow recap with a full written run report to follow shortly. It took me well over an hour to trim down our hundreds of photos to just sixty...so take the freakin 1.5 minutes to look at them dammit!!



GR

Seems blogging has its benefits. I got a call late last night from a few friends who read that I was not racing the MOMAR this weekend. They have planned a round Mount Saint Helens run for this coming weekend, leaving North Van after work tomorrow. Apparently the run is about 30 miles or 50k and there is still quite a bit of snow on sections of it...obviously I jumped at the chance to do this and am super excited about running some new terrain with some good friends! Should be an adventure either way!





GR

I took the Monday off to rest and recover, even though I was feeling quite good overall. It was late Monday when I set a goal for the week. 100 miles of running (161km). I have never been able to dedicate my training 100% to my running as it's always been a balance between riding, running, paddling, and gym work. I figured with less than a month until the Stormy 100 miler I might as well put on the horse blinders and see how my body responded.

Mon 14th: Day off of training

Tue 15th: 5h15m(40km)

Headed out to try and run the first 1/2 of the Knee Knacker course. 'Try' because it's quite a complex little route with many twists and turns, and I am notorious for finding scenic routes while out running new terrain. I hit the top of Black Mtn in 1h15m and Cypress in 1h45m, which was decent. I wasn't racing, and was making mental notes all along the route to ensure that I was 100% confident in it for future, faster attempts. From here however, it all went to shit. Hollyburn Chutes and it was game over...I reached Cleveland Damn in just under 4hr!
There were a few hikers that I passed less than 2km after departing the Cypress area...and they were walking Cleveland Damn up ahead of me as I came in! I turned to them and said,
"Next time I'll just follow the friggin hikers!!"
From here I continued up towards Grouse and eventually onto some trails and back to my place on Lonsdale. A technical and steep 40k route that took just over 5hr to complete. Roxy looked at me with 3km to go and simply stopped to curl up under a tree for a few minutes. It was a hot day and I was pretty shattered afterwards.
-Then out for a 1hr paddle in Deep Cove as part of the Tues night racing series
(day off of work)


Wed 16th: 2hr (20km)
Drive to The Callaghan Valley to lay out my running courses for The Callaghan Crusher on August 24th. This will be the first ever trail race to be held in The Callaghan, which is the site of the 2010 Olympic Nordic events. The course is gonna be beautiful! (day off of work)




Thu 17th: 1h15m (15km)
Out for an evening run with Ryne Melcher, also of Team Montrail - Mountain Hardware. Best running pace I've sustained since getting back on my feet and felt great!

Fri 18th: 1h45m (20km)
Pretty much straight up for 10k and then straight back down. Another solid run

Sat 19th: 3h45m (40km)
Head up to Squamish after work to join a Stormy training run group. Run the first portion of the course. Felt great physically, but had some stomach issues. Was awesome to be running at night with the headlamp on again! The Princeton Tec Apex is like my secret weapon for this race!!

Sun 20th: 4h45m (30km)


After work Jackie and I head out to run a backcountry route through Hanes Valley. Incredible evening, and once again loved the headlamp running after an incredible sunset from the top of Grouse mountain.



TOTALS: 18h45m - 165km

Roxy pretty much sums up how I feel about the week!


I was intending to try to hit the 200km mark for this current week, but after a very tough 45km run yesterday I realized that I might be a little tired from it all. Either way I feel great overall and the main thing is that the injuries are gone and no new ones have popped up to replace them yet!

Took today, Wed off and will get back to it again tomorrow morning. 16 days and counting...maybe the 200k wasn't the smartest idea anyways!

GR

It took all of five days to go completely insane after BCBR. Five days of absolutely no activity whatsoever left me on the verge of checking myself into an institution, so I got up and started running.

I wouldn't exactly call it 'running', but I did move my feet in a forward motion for 2hr. I only covered about about 13km, so you can see that I'm not exaggerating when I hesitate to call it running. It was more of a speed hike with a few running steps thrown in for good measure.

The hike/run hurt, no doubt about it. The last time I ran at all was in Wisconsin for Luke's 100 miler on June 7th, where I logged 53 miles through torrential rains. The funny thing was that pacing Luke ended up being the third longest run of my life! Immediately after that was Test Of Metal and we all know the story from there. It felt great to be back on my feet again...at least that's what I kept telling myself! My hip wasn't liking me, but my main concern was my lower abdominal muscle. The irony was that I did not feel my ab at all, it was my contused quad that spoke to me for the first time since pre BCBR! I just could not seem to win, but an 'on the run assessment' told me it wasn't getting any worse, so I kept on keeping on!

While facing my issues during BCBR I remember telling myself that it was time for a break from everything. I intended to take all of July off and to get going again in August before pursuing a few races in the fall. By Tues morning I could think of nothing but the Shawnigan Lake MOMAR on July 26th and the Stormy 100 Mile Ultra Run on August 8-9th. While out running I had a lengthy mental dialogue in regards to both events and reluctantly realized that I was going to end up skipping out on my first MOMAR in a few years. I wavered on this decision a few times, but in the end made the call and stand by it. I was and am simply not up for racing it right now.

I figured I had just under five weeks to try and condition my body for its first 100 miler. With this race being 'right up the street' it did not make sense to call it off five weeks out. I told myself that I'd get my feet moving and see how my injuries came around. The quad seemed to worsen for two days and I have not felt it since.

Here a recap of the week following BC Bike Race:

Mon 7th: Suffer through 2hr on my feet (13km)

Tues 8th:n 2hr (13k) Up Lynn Peak, not very smart, but I DID realize what I was doing to my body. I wanted to get the climbing legs back asap!

Wed 9th: 2hr (14k)A very painful and slow run to Norvan Falls and back

Thu 10th: 2hr (16k) My strongest run since back on my feet, but still very slow!

Fri 11th: 1hr (8k) Very slow recovery run, just wanting to keep moving. My back was as sore as my legs were!


Sat 12th: My day off of running, but Jackie's day to suffer through the 50km Knee Knacker! It was tough for me to watch the race start, but from that point onward I loved every second of it. Jackie faced some issues in the heat and nearly puked for almost 2hr! She toughed it out though and kept her feet moving, which allowed her to accomplish her goal time of a sub 7hr race in 6h56min!! I was ecstatic to see her coming in under 7hr, and loved cheering on so many other friends out there as well. It was a great reminder of what an incredible community I belong to through running!


Sun 13th: 2h30m (25k) Feeling highly inspired by the KK the previous day I get up at 5:30am to log a run and swim before work. I ran the second half of the KK. Started out nice and slow and finally, finally, FINALLY had my legs back! I was in absolute heaven on this early morning run...till I had my worst running fall in over three years!! What a month! I was more worried than anything, but after the swelling in my left leg subsided, later in the day, I knew I'd be fine. Enjoyed a 30m swim in the ocean with ma dog while Jackie slept in and eventually met us in Panorama Park, Deep Cove.

Very Happy with my week of getting back to running:
11.5hr, 90km and feeling better by weeks end, then when it all began!

GR

The x-rays at the hospital told me nothing crazy had happened to my abdomen or hip and that I would recover in due time. My blood work however opened my eyes to a few things that may have explained my perceived lack of recovery throughout the race.

Five days after my fall and my hemoglobin was down over 30 points from my normal baseline! They Dr. insisted that I return the following day to ensure that I was not still suffering from internal bleeding.

It was two days before I could get back in and have my blood work duplicated and in that time my numbers came up twenty points, which was a very good sign.

I headed up to Whistler to check out the closing ceremonies and catch up with everyone involved in the incredible organization that is BC Bike Race. Once again, special thanks to Bryan Tasaka, Marc Campbell, Dean Payne and all the volleys and people that made this event go off without a hitch. It was truly a traveling road show and quite the sight to behold.

To give you just one example of the logistics involved with such a race. Day four was our 4:30am wake up call to board two bus rides and two ferry crossings. BC Ferries employed a staff member, full time, for eight months to ensure that that specific day, with all it's logistical challenges went off without a hitch! Eight months!!

Anyways, as disappointed as I still find myself in the overall outcome of this event, I can't help but smile when I do recall each day of racing that I managed to complete. As mentioned BCBR was truly an education for me in terms of how different a staged, bike specific race is to a full length expedition adventure race. I was blown away by the level of competition, the professionalism of the event, and the grandeur of the race course itself. The countdown really is already in place for the 09 version of this race...and I might even learn how to ride...make that race an actual mtn bike before showing up next time!

This came to me while out walking my dog tonight:

"Embrace your biggest disappointments, build on your greatest accomplishments. Keep your head held high, and you can not help but move forward."

GR

I just got word of the fact that there has been a fatality at this weekends Race The Rockies adventure race in Golden B.C. Details are scare and no official news has been released. My thoughts go out to all involved. Update:Marty Lund from White City, Sask was in fact found unresposive by two additional racers on the first trekking leg. A helicopter was on the scene very quickly, but to no avail.
He was racing solo. I will not comment further because it is not my place and I know no further facts.
All I can say is that my heart goes out to his family during this tragic time.

GR

I went to bed at the end of day three feeling a thousand times better that I thought I would after all I'd been through in a few hundred km of riding. Todd had been sharing a tent with Kim and amazingly we never even spent a single night in the same tent together! As the sun was setting I was going over my body with 'The Stick' and waiting for the temperature to drop enough to be comfortable inside an actual tent.

I crawled in around 10pm knowing that the earliest day of the entire race awaited us in the morning. A 4:30am wake up call would have us on our first bus for 5:15am, our first ferry for 6am, then a second bus ride, a second ferry ride and eventually an 11am starting time!

I fell asleep easily and did not toss and turn at all. I guess I should also mention that since my stage two bike crash I was forced to sleep on my left side and in a bit of a fetal position to allow sleep to find me.



At 2am I was ripped from my slumber with the most intense pain I had felt in a very, very long time. While in la la land I had decided to straighten out my body and twist around in my sleeping bag, and as I was unconsciously trying to right myself I tweaked my lower right abdominal muscle. I lay paralyzed in my sleeping bag with tears streaming down my face. I was afraid to move at all for it felt like my abdominal muscle had completely ruptured. The pain was much like taking a lighter to one of the most sensitive areas of your entire body.

In the days following my crash I could not quite figure out why my hip hurt whenever I coughed or sneezed. Now I realized that it wasn't my hip that had been receiving the pain signals, it was my abdominal muscle just inside my hip bone. It was subtle enough that I could not distinguish it at all, and until that exact moment I was positive that I would get through BCBR.

After a few minutes I was able to align my body in the fetal position again and get back to sleep for about another hour before our wake up call. When I awoke I found that I could not engage my mid section whatsoever and I was forced to utilize my hands to move my core and effectively roll out of my tent. I limped past some people I had seen shortly before going to bed the previous night, when I felt fine, and they looked at me like I was striving to overplay an injury I had suffered and that I was dying for attention. I was dying to make it to the bathroom, and the hill that stood in my way very nearly cost me a pair of dry clothes!

I struggled to get onto the bus and Todd ended up grabbing my bag for me and asking me what had happened.

"Oh you know, the classic screw yourself up while sleeping injury! Happens all the time, nothing to worry about!"

By the time we boarded our first ferry my cough was becoming semi-regular. I could not hide the fact that I had to entirely compress the right side of my body while I coughed, for it felt as though I'd be leaving my intestines on the floor of the boat otherwise. A few times a cough caught me off guard and I'd end up grabbing my right leg into my chest as hard as I could while simultaneously falling against a wall.



After a second bus ride we arrived at our second ferry terminal. I could no longer walk without a complete limp and after struggling to depart the bus under my own power I simply looked at Todd and waved my hand across my neck. I was done. It was over.



I have suffered through a lot of pain and injuries to make finish lines over the last few years, but this pain was by far the worst I had ever experienced. It was not that it was more intense than anything I had felt before. It was that for the very first time, I had an injury with the very real potential to sideline me for a very long time if I chose to fight through it. At that moment, the risk and reward seemed severely imbalanced. I was not willing to throw away the rest of my season for this one finish line. I had never experienced those thoughts before in my life.

Todd and I made our way down to the main ferry loading area and I approached Justin's girlfriend Carey Sather to ask if I could accompany her in her 'support vehicle' for the day. I'll never forget what happened next. Justin, appearing to be half asleep in the driver seat, jumped into action. I mean he very literally jumped out of the car.

"WHAT! You can't quit, your rubber man, you bounce back from everything!!"

And with that he was off and running gathering medical staff to asses my injury more thoroughly. After three separate people checked me out I was told the following.

"It does not appear to be a life threatening injury, but we can not be 100% sure. I believe you can race if you choose to, however...who's your partner?"

I called Todd over.

"Ok, if he (me) experiences any of the following out there today..."

He turned back towards me and asked if I was going to race?

"I think so, if I'm clear I might as well give it a go."

"Ok, if he experiences any of the following, severe pain beyond what you feel now, a spike in temperature, lack of sweating, acting stupid and lethargic (beyond my normal state), etc, etc, then you both have a life and death situation on your hands. You (Todd) have to bike faster than you ever have in your life to the closest aid station and radio for a helicopter. You (me), try not to move and not to breath too heavy."

My response, "Alrighty then, shall we Todd?"

We confirmed numerous times that what had just been discussed was somewhere in the region of a 1%-5% possibility, boarded the ferry, and got ready to line up for our 11am start.

Todd was an amazing teammate during every single stage of this race, and once he realized that my mind was made up he continuously checked in on me while we were suffering away out there.

Amazingly once upon the bike the pain pretty much disappeared. My leg seemed to be compressed just enough in a biking position to mask the severity of the injury itself.

We had another decent day, pairing up with Aaron and his teammate again a few times, however once again when we hit the singletrack I was all over the trail and could find absolutely zero flow. We hit the line a shade under 4hr, which would leave us in 21st place. Justin and Jeff were finally recovering from their early race issues and had notched a top ten finish, over 25 minutes ahead of us.

Oh and I should also mention Kristenn Magnusson and Lisa Ludwig, also of team Helly Hansen, were riding incredibly strong throughout the entire race and after four days were solidly sitting in 3rd amongst team of two female!

Again I crossed the finish line disappointed in myself and how I was racing. In hindsight I don't remember really smiling at the line on any day, which is kinda sad! I wasn't upset with how I was fighting through things, but my singletrack riding was throwing time away on us and that was burning me up inside!

Jackie had joined a few friends and surprised us out on course, which was a nice boost, along with seeing my dog Roxy for the first time in four days!

Jackie was able to deliver the med sized bike to me and I dropped it off with James of Obsession Bikes, who were taking care of all the mechanical issues people faced over the 550km course! From there we were off for a mini get away. She was staying at a friends place which just happened to be located right on the beach. I wish I had taken more pics, but Jackie did snap one of me coming out of the ocean and into the wood fire heated hot tub on the beach!! It was a little slice of heaven and great mental break from everything I had been dealing with over the first four stages. I even forgot about my injuries for a few hours...until we went to sleep for the night.



Again, I was awaken numerous times by the pain in my abdomen and the alarm sounded all too early. I was saying bye to Jackie and Roxy, and back to racing before I knew what had happened!

Stage 5, 65km:

The stage started with about 7km of road and then we went into some seriously challenging undulating terrain. I happened to see Justin pulling off to the side of the pelaton and yelling at Jeff before we even hit the trails and was hoping it was nothing serious.

Here's what I remember about this stage, wishing I were anywhere else in the entire world. I would have chosen Antarctica naked and alone over another damn day of hammering it out on my bike! I was a completely shattered and drained individual and it was all I had left in my very existence to simply try to hold Todd's wheel.

Again on a singletrack section we faltered, even on my now size med bike frame. Someone called to pass and as we gave way J&J came flying by. We tried to follow but they seemed to vanish into thin air! They managed to power out a 6th place overall finish on the day and we would later learn that Justin had a bike issue that forced them to start the actual trail riding at the very back of the pack. I respected these guys before BCBR, but after their stage five performance they jumped up an entire chapter in my books. They're the real deal on their bikes and it was a pleasure to watch them rally from a tough first few days to some truly inspiring riding as the race progressed.

Todd and I had sustained ourselves right around our current overall standing in the pack. We were somewhere in the 20th spot amongst teams, when a blind dip threw Todd from his saddle. He yelled but I did not hear in time and before I knew it I was off my own bike and screaming in pain. I don't remember the fall itself being terribly bad, but what I vividly remember is that I fell toward the right, and my leg struggled to release from my pedal as I was going down. It did not make it out and the entire force of the crash was absorbed through my lower right abdominal muscle. There was a camera crew right in front of us and they captured every second of it, including the tears, again, streaming from my face and Todd carrying me to a downed tree to try and recuperate.

The camera crew notified us that the aid station was less than a few km away. I was sick of having my pain filmed for posterity and promptly grabbed my bike and started to ride. Todd kept asking me how I was feeling and I kept telling him that I'd let him know in 2km. We reached the aid station in a few minutes, the problem this time however was that there was still over 20km to the finish line. We took some time to eat and assess our, well my situation. After a few minutes I was growing very cold and when I asked Todd if he were chilled at all he made the call for me,

"Gary, I'm not going to tell you to stop racing because I know you can finish this thing...but at what cost? I just don't think it's worth it and I don't think you should continue."

I knew Todd was right, but I also knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I could fight it out to finish the damn race. His words echoed in my head though, "at what cost". Doug Doyle had said the same thing to me the day prior.

"Todd if you go right now I think you can catch up to Aaron and those guys."

"Are you sure?"

The medical staff had already overheard us and were standing right there.

"We'll ensure he gets back to the finish area."

And with that my BCBR experience came crashing down around me. I watched Todd bike away and then got rid of the rest of the tears I'd been storing inside.

Less than an hour later I was back at the finish area. I limped into the shower and headed straight for the ferry back to North VAn. I saw the lead two teams come in and then got the hell outta there. I didn't want to see anyone involved with the race at all. I put my head down, tried to sneak out of there and once back on North Van hopped onto a bus and went home for two days. It was one of the worst feelings of my entire racing 'career'. I had a ton of emotions to deal with, and a handful...body full of injuries to deal with.

I headed to the hospital to get properly checked out, and then promptly slept for ten hours. Todd managed to pair up with Jay Latiff our of Nanaimo and continued to race strong. I would head up to Whistler for the final stage and after party.

GR (one small section to go)

(This was taken about an hour after the end of stage two. I am trying to convince myself, and everyone around me that I'm not really hurt!)

(This was our camp site and finish area for day two)

I slept like crap that night, as did many others. There was a generator powering large spotlights over our campers village and even with my ear plugs in I could hear it humming away. I tossed and turned all night and got up in the morning feeling like a resurrected corpse. A corpse who was about to ride...mind you race, another 80km on my mountain bike...I couldn't wait!

After searching out the medics to get a donut wrap over the blister on my hand, I tried to stretch out the legs a bit, but the race start was upon us in no time.

We rolled out along the track we were camping inside of and then onto a road section which would eventually filter us into some singletrack. On day one we were told that it would be an all our sprint for the singletrack to gain a good position for the rest of the race. We all out sprinted and in the end it meant very little as there were plenty of open spots to pass. Well, this was indeed the stage where we should have been all out sprinting for the front, because as soon as we hit the singletrack we ended up walking numerous sections as the pack ahead continuously backed up into itself. Teams towards the front were off and running and putting time into everyone early.

Todd and I were unsure of how my body would hold up out there. I had already had two questionable days of riding and I certainly hadn't ended the previous day on a high note. As soon as we cleared the tight singletrack we were presented with the largest climbs the race had yet to throw at us. I eased into them and could tell early that my climbing legs were back, well for the most part at least. We went to work passing teams and trying to catch those fortunate soles who had positioned themselves well early in the race.

Once we hit an open section of logging road we paired off with another team and took turns 'pulling' at the front. BCBR was truly a daily education for me on how to properly approach a mtn bike race, how to race strong, how to stay strong, and primarily how to race smart. I had only done three mtn bike specific races in my life before BCBR. It was starting to feel like initiation by fire!

After working with this team for about 30m we decided it time to drop them and pursue the next pack of riders. I was having my strongest day so far and was finally able to pull at the front myself and give Todd a break from time to time. We eventually caught up to another pack and were moving along quite nicely, then I noticed that Todd's rear tire was looking pretty low. After arguing for a few minutes he finally realized that he had indeed lost air on his tubeless set up and we had to stop to re-inflate. This cost us precious time and before we knew it a pack of riders from behind had passed and gapped us. We were once again caught out in no mans land, and in a race such at BCBR, that was a very bad thing.

Todd was still the stronger rider and he set off to try and catch the teams in front of us, I was yet again relegated to a rear wheel staring purgatory of suffering. I have no idea what the terrain we were covering at that point looked like at all!

The stage was somewhat broken up by a large river crossing. We arrived just in time to be caught at the very back of a 'log jam' of riders. Those damn teams who placed themselves in the singletrack early were once again getting a free time credit on the rest of us. The upside was that the frigid river water felt like heave on my destroyed legs!




Once up the following embankment we found ourselves along side Aaron Vanderwhal (I know that's spelled wrong!) and his teammate, of team Mergeo Adventure Racing out of Seattle. We know Aaron quite well through racing circles and immediately paired off with these guys and went to work on a few hours of pure hammering on logging roads. Aaron and his teammate were pulling super strong at the front, as was Todd, and whenever my turn rolled around I just tried to make it look like I didn't want to stop everyone and ask them why it is we do what we do?

"C'mon guys, seriously, are you enjoying yourselves right now? Wouldn't you rather be laying in the sun worked on our tans? It's a beautiful day out here, chics dig tanned bodies!"

I was DYING holding onto the back, but I knew I could continue to do so if I simply concentrated on the damn wheel in front of me. Again, I did not dare look up for over an hour. We passed and dropped numerous teams and I know Todd was happy that we were finally 'racing' as we had anticipated being able to do from day one.

The next thing I remember is the heat, it had turned into yet another scorcher and eventually Aaron and his partner dropped off of our pace. I dared not loose Todd's wheel and let him go to work trying to track down another team. We eventually caught up to and paired up with a Team Kona out of Denmark. A couple of young road riders who were loving the forest service roads that so many others were growing tired of.

With about 15k to go we came into a fully exposed section of the road and up ahead we caught side of Justin and Jeff. The Kona team managed to drop us...well me on this climb, as all I could do was vocalize a painful "ahhhhhhh" as I fell off the back for the first time all day.

I still held it together though and we headed into the final 10km of single track that would take us into Cumberland, with J&J just up ahead of us. As soon as we hit the S.T. it was a different story though. Todd disappeared on me and I was left scrambling over terrain that I would normally eat up and love. I was growing ever frustrated as I could see that Todd was effortlessly loosing me and wondering why I was slowing us down so much.

I could go on forever about the situation with my current bike. In a few words, it's too damn big for me and I was sized improperly by someone I trusted. I am on a large frame Specialized Epic. Most people hear this and laugh, in fact I did not meet a single person in BCBR that could understand why in God's name I was riding a large frame bike. I've been on this bike since March, and complaining about it being too big since three days after I purchased it brand new. I tried selling it before BCBR but was unwilling to take a huge loss on something that was practically brand new. Just one day before the race began I managed to find a Crank Brother's Joplin, dropping seat post, as I knew I would need such an item to make it through BCBR. The Joplin saved me on numerous occasions, but during that singletrack leading into Cumberland, I was struggling to handle a mountain bike that was simply beyond my control. I hit trees, fell this way and that, got more and more frustrated and ended up finishing in a seriously bad mood. J&J had put over 5min into us on that singletrack section alone! I must go on record and say that these guys are so fluid on this stuff that they would have put a bit of time into us anyways, but 5min in 10k was just damn stupid!



I immediately went to work on trying to find a size Medium bike, of any make, that I could borrow for the rest of the race. Amazingly, a friend of a friend, whom I had never met, offered up a med sized Epic! Sweet, I was excited once again! Jackie was coming over from Vancouver the following day to meet up with us in the ocean front town of Sechelt and she was able to transport the bike for me. So I only had to make it through one more day and I thought I'd be home free!

GR

Ok, enough messing around, time to get down to business here! I haven't purposely been avoiding this race report, I've just been amazingly busy since the end of the race and I honestly can't believe it's been almost two weeks since the race ended already!

On another note, I have indeed decided to give the Shawnigan MOMAR a miss next weekend. I LOVE the MOMAR races, and more for the total experience then just the race itself. I'm sure that I could show up next weekend and be competitive, but in all honesty, I still have absolutely zero desire to race anything right now. I'm taking that as a cue from my body that it's not really ready to race again just yet and although I will be thinking about the MOMAR all weekend long, I will also be catching up on some well needed R&R, which will include logging as many running miles as possible and drinking some nice cold beers...which is kinda like racing the MOMAR but without the heart attack! This of course means that Todd will finally get his well deserved shot at his first overall SOLO victory...gonna be exciting to see how it all unfolds out there, but I know big T will rock it out and drop everyone on the nav sections! Apparently he's recovered quite nicely from BCBR as he is competing in The Gorge Games 24hr Adventure Race in Hood River this weekend! I'm uber jealous as we were looking at this race months ago but could not put it all together. Team Mergeo out of Seattle shot us an e-mail and asked if one of us would join them, so I let them BORROW Todd...just for the weekend though!!

Anyways, BCBR:



I was fortunate enough to have my good friend Melissa Pace spot me a whale watching tour to make my way to Vancouver Island. Before the race even began I was having an epic time! We did spot a Winky, or a Blinky or something...it rhymed with Stinky and only crested a small portion of it's fin over and over again, so was quite boring to watch. They had spotted Orca's 28 out of the last 30 days...make that 31! We did get a solid off the bow of the boat performance by some porpoise that the crew assured us was the best they'd ever seen!



Todd picked my up at the ferry and we were off to Shawnigan Lake (site of next weekends MOMAR race...Bryan, can I still have a shirt...I live for those shirts!) for the check in process. Todd and I were instantly blown away by three things. The race organization, in just it's second year, looked and performed like it had been around for a decade! The race swag was incredible. A set of handle bars, a Dakine roller bag, Ryders sun glasses, Crank Bros multi tool, subscription to Pedal magazine and on and on! The Shawnigan School grounds. A private school that was straight out of your typical Hollywood movie, which is to say it was the nicest school grounds I had ever seen!




Todd and I decided to return to Victoria (35 min) to avoid at least one night in the tent together and instead decided cuddle in his bed! Well, not really, Kim was in his bed and I got the hide a bed in the living room.

Day 1: Slept great, got there early, got all set up, managed to get ourselves a solid starting position and then tried to calm down as the energy around the start was truly electric! You could cut the nervous excitement with a knife and when the gun went off everyone went balls to the wall! We had to do two laps around the school grounds and part of this included cutting through a farm field. The farmer had decided to plow his field sometime after 12pm the previous day, because what the race organization thought we were biking through and what we ended up riding through were two different stories! The field grass was now two feet high and awaiting any derailler it could latch onto. At the end of the field everyone was forced to stop and remove the grass from their bikes to prevent the gunk from snapping anything. Unfortunately not everyone was so lucky and numerous people, including some of the top racer's in the competition ended up with snapped deraillers and a lengthy wait to change them out and get going again.

Todd and I hammered through this section and were quite far up in the pack. We were riding decently well, although it became clear early that I did not have my top end gear and Todd started setting the pace.

The day was getting hotter by the second and seeing as how it was the first serious heat we had seen all year people started to crack, including myself. At about 25-30k, just over a few hours into our 90k day, I cramped up in a big way! I tried to slow it down and recover, but we were just approaching our biggest climb of the day, which would go for 8-10km! SHIT!!

I managed to find a steady, yet rediculously slow pace that I could sustain without cramping on the climb. Teams caught and passed us but eventually Todd and I found ourselves alone for quite some time. Justin and Jeff of Team Helly Hansen Vancouver Island caught and dropped us near the top. I was relieved to make the top aid station and immediately downed over 2 liters of fluids...this was followed by an intensely unsettled stomach,

"Todd! We have to go now, before I puke!"

Back on the bike with a few hundred meters of climbing to go and my cramping actually got worse. It came to the point that I could not even bend my legs to get them onto the pedals of the bike! The grade was just slight enough that I could actually kick my bike along like one of those kids rides that have no pedals on them!! Todd asked if I wanted to stop and elevate my legs or something?

"F#$K no, I just have to make the top of the climb man!"

We both knew that a 10-15k descent awaited us from the top and as we started to crest the top I was able to straighten my legs out behind me on the bike while leaning forward and into the descent. I could hear Todd laughing a somewhat uncomfortable laugh while he watched this all unfold.

Within a few minutes of zero leg usage the cramps subsided and I was able to click in again and properly guide myself down the forest service road. I remember seeing my odo hit 66km and hour...it felt awesome!!

We managed to catch and pass Justin and Jeff on the road down and could see that Justin was suffering even more than I was. Apparently he even stopped sweating, which is a VERY, VERY bad sign!

At the bottom of the road we cut back into the forest and were supposed to ride over three or four rollers on singletrack trails. I very literally fell off of my bike as I tried to propel it up and over these very small lumps of dirt!

"Todd, SHIT, wait up!"

From here it was 20-25km of completely flat double track to the finish line. My inner quad was what had cramped on me and for some reason it did not allow me to climb whatsoever, but I could hold a decent pace on flat terrain and Todd and I were able to ride at about 75% of what we could normally hold. We were caught by one team...a team of two female...damn strong women! Turns out one of them was US National single speed champion! That brings me back to something here, the field was laced with top notch competitors and way more competitive that it's first year, which goes without saying. I'm telling you right now that in a few more years this race will sell out the day after it ends for the following year and the field of racers will only get stronger each and every time!!

We crossed the finish line in 5h15m for 25th on the day. Nowhere near what we were hoping for, but glad we had survived the day and minimized our losses. Todd had actually consumed ten, yes TEN bottles of fluid on the day, and I ran dry on three bottles early and then suffered to the aid station. It was so hot that the aid station actually ran out of water for back of the pack racers as they had not budgeted so much water consumption. They held the riders there until they could get water to them and immediately went to work on revising their entire water strategy for the rest of the race. The forecast was for much of the same, not a cloud in the sky and over 30 degrees each day!

Day 2: When you go into that deep cramping zone it really hinders your recovery, and I knew it would be all I had in me to hold on for day two and hope that my body would get stronger as the race progressed. Day two would end up being 125km, 122 of which were forest service road! Due to numerous factors they had to unveil their third course option for this stage. Todd and I managed to sustain ourselves in the main peloton and the ride was actually quite enjoyable...from time to time at least!



The leaders made a few moves from time to time but everyone always responded. At one point I got caught sleeping and by the time I responded Todd was ten riders ahead of me. I happened to look over my shoulder to see where I was in the peloton and was literally shocked into complete fear as I was staring back at a few kilometers of barren gravel road...I was the last rider in the pack!! If I fell off the back we were screwed! I hoped up and started jumping on my pedals to catch back up to Todd. He was clearly out pacing me on the day but we continued to work well as a team.

At about 50k on the day I started to feel a blister forming in the palm of my right hand. I was not about to stop and check it out, and I had tape over the glove to keep my broken finger from shifting around anyways, but I knew it was gonna get bad. As the km's ticked away I could very clearly visualize what my hand was starting to look like, then I promptly felt it pop as the pain became even more intense. I've dealt with enough blisters over the years and have fought through my fair share of pain while racing. I knew that I had to ignore this as best I could for about twenty minutes. That's what I have found to be my personal 'pain window' for most things. Within twenty minutes, if ignored, the pain will lessen and eventually become quite bearable. If you take the time to pay attention to these things, and baby them, they can very easily get the best of you. A visual confirmation of what is causing your pain usually does nothing but make it hurt even more. So with all this in mind I told myself I had to do it. I kept shifting around trying to alleviate the pure burning sensation in the palm of my hand, but I knew only one thing would help. I clamped down on the handle bars with an even greater force than I normally would and sucked it up. Sure enough, almost right on time, twenty minutes later the pain started to subside, and my body simply added one more item to the 'to be fixed at a later date' list!

At 80km there was one decent climb. It was where we expected the race to really start, yet I could do nothing but stare at the pack of riders disappearing in front of me. I know Todd was disappointed as he could have held on for sure, but we've raced together through some pretty tough courses and situations and he did nothing but try to help me as much as he could. I suffered to the top of the climb as my legs were still hurting on the climbs from the previous days issues. Once we topped out I was able to up the pace a bit and Todd went to work on setting the pace.

My entire world became Todd's rear wheel. My whole universe consisted of 15 inches of dirt between two rolling pieces of rubber. If I took my eyes off off Todd's wheel for even a fraction of a second I fell right off the back. It was like his tire had a gravitational pull all it's own, but it was slight and you had to be wihtin 15 inches for it to grab a hold of you!! I didn't look up for almost an hour. I thought I would puke a few times, but figured that I could do so while riding if it came to that.

Todd's girlfriend Kim was the ultimate support team as she was able to follow us along The Vancouver Island stages. She has a dirt bike and would ride ahead, stop, yell gap times at us, and repeat! She told us that there was a good size pack less than a minute ahead of us, but unfortunately there was simply no way that one rider pulling another could close such a gap. Todd worked his ass off and I was thankful to have such a strong and caring teammate out there with me.

As we rolled along we did manage to pick off a few other teams who had been dropped by the pack, including one guy who was quite literally kilometers from his teammate! We later came across his teammate waiting at a trail junction...it's a team race and you are not allowed to be more than 2min away at any time. It seemed there were plenty of teams that were made up of two individuals, rather than one cohesive unit. If Todd were riding like this I'd still be out there on that damn exposed logging road!

We finally hit the 3k singletrack to the finish and I could not have been happier as I was truly dying in the heat and was amazed I had not yet puked. Todd lead it out and I followed closely behind. As we dropping into the forest the lighting went from overwhelming to shaded and dark. I reached for my sunglasses but could not find a section of trail that would allow me to remove them. Shortly after this, the fate of our entire race was sealed. We were coming into a 'rock garden' with speed. I could clearly distinguish that the trail was rough, but could see nothing in terms of picking a safe line though it all.

I remember being in mid air and clearly thinking, 'Man, this is gonna f#$king suck so bad!'

Then BOOM, I landed hard on the right side of my body and somehow rolled onto my left side. Normally bounce up from crashes, even if they're bad. I try to use the adrenaline to get me movin