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BC Bike Race - The Pacific Traverse - NE
Canada, July 1-7, 2007
Main Page Results Previous Race Next Race
Race 6 - July 6: Squamish - Whistler, 75km
By Marc Campbell
In every stage race there is a defining day that stands above the rest. In the inaugural BC Bike Race: The Pacific Traverse that day came Friday during the arduous 58-kilometer journey from Squamish to Whistler.
The sheer amount of climbing — over 2500 meters — was daunting enough. But when you added in an extensive menu of technical trails and black diamond descending, it was enough to make some of the events 160 hardened riders cry — literally.
For others it was all smiles and laughter, relishing the chance to ride some of the amazing trails that have made Whistler a Mecca-like destination in the mountain biking world.
But no matter what emotions were elicited by stage six, racers could rest easy at Base Camp in Meadow Park, knowing they were just one day from making history. Each finisher of this daunting test of courage will forever be part of an exclusive class that finished the first BC Bike Race.
“It’s definitely something I’ll be proud of — if I get through tomorrow,” said Rod Dagneau, a 47-year-old environmental technician from North Vancouver, who along with his partner Mike Charuk took the stage win in veterans 80-plus category. “I suffered all week. But I’ve gotten a little stronger each day and persevered. I’ve always dreamt about doing something like this here in this place I love, and now it’s almost reality.”
The rest of the stage winners roll call from day six included Jeff Schalk and Chris Eatough (Trek-Volkswagen) in open men, Cynthia Young and Michelle Newton (Shore Girls Don’t Cry) in open women, Davis Harris and Lynda Wallenfels (Team Desert Cyclery/HealthFX) in open mixed, and Doug Nottebrock and Con Diamond (Kootenay-Okanagan Cooperative) in veterans 100-plus.
In the overall standings with one stage to go, Trek-VW leads the Rocky Mountain-Haywood Securities duo of Andreas Hestler and Kevin Calhoun by more than half an hour. The Shore Girls and Desert Cyclery also have commanding leads in their respective categories, while it’s Randy Richmond and Sandy Mitchell (Gerick-Nelson) on top of the veterans 80-plus category. Nottebrock and Diamond are the only 100-plus team remaining.
Seventy-five percent of the Grant Lamont-designed course was run on the Cheakamus Challenge route. The day kicked off under clear blue skies at the Brennan Park Recreation Centre in Squamish, as riders enjoyed an easy 12km neutral start through Brackendale, Cheekeye and Paradise Valley.
From there it was climb time, as the field made their way up the stunning Cheakamus Canyon trail, which snakes along the Sea-to-Sky Highway and the raging Cheakamus River. A quick 2.5km run on the highway was next, before the course headed back onto dirt at the Chance Creek Bridge.
A little more highway ensued, and then the meat of the day unfolded with Lava Flow trails and singletrack leading up to the Cal Cheak Suspension Bridge. Soon after came the famed Trash trail, a tricky rolling ride that rewarded skilled riders and punished the meek.
Cardiac Hill, Lower Sproat and a River Runs Through came next, then it was time for the British Columbia version of Alpe d’Huez, a climb Lamont joking called “Yelp d’Huez” during his pre-race course description the night before the event’s queen stage.
Depending on who you ask, the climb has somewhere between 27 and 32 switchbacks. No one — including the pros — cleared the whole climb, and many of the mid-pack riders spent sustained time pushing their bikes.
The reward at the top was the Billy Epic trail, which is rated double black diamond in the local trail guide, and had even the likes of Eatough impressed with its difficulty.
“That was tough. You might as well have had a full face helmet on for that,” said the six-time 24 hour solo world champion. “But that’s the beauty of this race. If it was less technical it would be just another TransRockies or TransAlps. Trails like that are what separates this event from all the others, and that’s what riding in British Columbia is all about.”
Things won’t get any easier on the final day of the race. After a heart-pumping 100kph cable line ride at Skyline at Cougar Mountain, the stage seven Whistler-to-Whistler time trial will send riders on a 25km trip over trails such as Kill Me Thrill Me, North Secret and Comfortably Numb. They call them cross-country trails around here, but as anyone who’s ever ridden in Whistler knows, when it comes to mountain biking, everything is just a little tougher in B.C.
Results
Open Men (2 man teams) 1 Trek Vw Mountain Bike Team (Chris Eatough, Jeff Schalk) 4.08.43 2 La Ruta/Sho-Air (Manuel Prado, Jason First ) 1.05 3 Rocky Mountain Bikes (Andreas Hestler, Kevin Calhoun) 8.45 4 Team Helly Hansen (Justin Mark, Andrew Clarke) 31.10 5 Bicycling Magazine (Michael Cushionbury, Damon Roberson) 45.38 6 Bearnakedcannondale/Teamdicky (Timmy Dougherty, Rich Dillen) 50.41 7 Capitol Subaru Cycling (Evan Plews, Bear Perrin) 53.36 8 Sun Summit South-Driver - Melton (Reed Melton, Marc Driver) 53.46 9 Chromag-Sram (Julian Hine, Kevin Phelps) 53.47 10 Bike Magazine (Kip Mikler, Mark Sevenoff) 1.02.26 11 Twin Sin (Gary Jackson, James Durand) 1.07.12 12 Itscanadianeh (Jeff Cote, Mark Coates) 1.07.35 13 Bow Cycle (Neall Banner, Paul Martin) 1.14.07 14 Sin Twin (Scott Hedlund, Brad Samis) 1.17.02 15 Tutti (Graham Tutti, Paul Player) 1.20.01 16 Fat Chance (Alexei Marko, Ross Mccredie) 1.23.09 17 Ridin' Dirty (Nigel Halsted, Brian Mccurdy) 1.28.03 18 Team Marty's (Nicholas White, Jesse Epstein) 1.31.46 19 Prairie Boys (Dan Peters, Brett Zagozewski) 1.32.43 20 Pedal - Specialized (Barry Lyster, Steven Devantier) 1.37.24 21 The Hustlers (Phil Johnston, Paul Sharman) 1.42.07 22 Cloud City Cyclists (Sterling Mudge, Mike Bordogna) 1.46.17 23 Fat And Slow (Charles Halliburton, Nicholas Vipond) 2.00.38 24 Cold One Please (Erik Keniston, Doug Gangi) 2.12.49 25 Los Hombres (Rick Bruce, Cam Robertson) 2.15.31 26 Rpm Spinning Plus Gravity (Daffyd Roderick, Mike Peshko) 2.15.49 27 Miti Batai (Rodrigo Elvira, Guillermo Cuello) 2.18.50 28 Sierra Spokesmen (Chris Mccann, Layne Nadeau) 2.40.04 29 Keep The Rubber Side Down (John Nakashima, Andrew Mckean) 2.57.06 30 Phat'n'dirty (Tim Logie, William John) 3.02.36 31 Sts (Dan Stern, Doug Clawson) 3.16.49 32 Williams (Terry Williams, Todd Williams) 3.22.49 33 Slowmosapiens (Nick Thelen, David Simpson) 3.34.46 Open Women (2 women teams) 1 Scott / Trenga / De (Karen Eller, Carolin Rahner) 5.45.56 2 Shore Girls Don't Cry (Cynthia Young, Michelle Newton) 11.40 3 The Jenerators (Jennifer Keefer, Jen Sawrenko) 23.35 4 Lucky Golden Star Bicycle (Stephanie Tuck, Megan Kogut) 35.33 5 Team Tunnelvision (Emma Smith, Sarah O'byrne) 49.23 6 Katfish (Danielle Fisher, Karen Todd) 1.22.14 7 Sombrio Dakine Bavarian (Andrea Kraft-Costigan, Carmen Turner) 1.32.46 8 Rider's Cycles (Jennifer Garrett, Janna Mackenzie) 1.35.12 9 Team 10-33 (Beth Crowther, Lanie Forman) 1.40.23 Open Mixed (2 person teams) 1 Team Desert Cyclery/Healthfx (David Harris, Lynda Wallenfels) 5.21.38 2 Crystal Mountain Hotels (Hillary Harrison, Ryan Watts) 7.52 3 San Diego Trek (Greg Norombaba, Lisa Riehl) 41.05 4 Team Ride424.Com/X-Fusion (Karl Etzel, Jennifer Ratay) 56.17 5 Vancouver Bike Gallery (Brady Fleguel, Astrid Bonter) 1.09.22 6 Team Bc (Lesley Clements, Matthew Bodkin) 1.26.02 7 Special K And Captain A (Robin Kay, Jameel Adam) 2.16.26 8 Gin (Ming Gin, Christina Cuthbertson) 2.21.42 9 Faber (Jochen Faber, Diane Faber) 2.51.37 Veterans 80 (2 man teams) 1 West Coast Racing To Team (Rod Dagneau, Mike Charuk) 4.38.58 2 Gerick- Nelson (Randy Richmond, Sandy Mitchell) 8.56 3 Different Bikes One (Andrew Handford, Pat Doyle) 9.21 4 Ryders Eyewear Corp (Brent Martin, Greg Hayes) 22.40 5 Spike Shooter (David Overstreet, Mark Thompson) 31.35 6 Up And Down (Michael Wardas, Ken Waring) 44.59 7 Skyline Flyers (Keith Mcivor, Kevin Smith) 52.39 8 Damn Dirty Apes (Mike Hardenbergh, Tim Crum) 1.04.02 9 Ride To Survive (Paul Nicholas, Henric Meldgard) 1.05.50 10 Ironhorse/Helly Hansen (Dave Howells, Denis Fontaine) 1.07.11 11 Sleepmonsters.Ca (Doug Doyle, Darin Nevin) 1.10.25 12 Stitch Me; I'm Bleeding (Michael Stiles, Rick Lewis) 1.28.19 13 Winded (Trevor Plestid, Stuart Jones) 1.29.25 14 Hachey (Dean Hachey, Mike Davidson) 1.38.23 15 The Aristocrats (Steven Wallouch, Bruce Kelsch) 1.41.44 16 Midlife Mojo (Dave Mountain, Jim Bennett) 1.44.18 17 Team Harbour Air (Greg Mcdougall, Graeme Fitch) 1.54.30 18 Wheely Forkin' Tired (Bruce Gordon, Ken Knight) 2.05.45 19 Burley M F (Derek Riley, Monti Burtini) 2.14.41 20 Ready & Wheeling (Greg Stevenson, Jim Clement) 2.20.01 21 Big Ride - Bigger Hair (Chris Mccue, John Ratzke) 2.20.02 22 Team Shuichi-Leon (Shuichi Kanamori, Leon Fetzer) 2.33.52 23 Team Action Cyclery (Ken Oertle, Jonathan Mcquenn) 3.00.34 Veteran 100 (2 man teams) 1 Kootenay-Okanagan Cooperative (Doug Nottebrock, Con Diamond) 6.06.15 2 Team Synergy (Gary Stetler, Guy Dutil) 26.49 3 Geopsyclos (Clive Rubens, Leo Groenewoud) 1.53.43 4 person teams 1 Out There Guys (Rob Blanchard, Rob Herbst, Bruce Barker, Darrell Jones) 7.05.58 2 Out There Girls (Tori Fahey, Alana Heise, Lisa Le Poole, Alison Jones) 25.23 Overall after race 6 Open Men (2 man teams) 1 Trek Vw Mountain Bike Team (Chris Eatough, Jeff Schalk) 23.33.00 2 Rocky Mountain Bikes (Andreas Hestler, Kevin Calhoun) 34.37 3 La Ruta/Sho-Air (Manuel Prado, Jason First ) 1.16.09 4 Team Helly Hansen (Justin Mark, Andrew Clarke) 3.05.43 5 Capitol Subaru Cycling (Evan Plews, Bear Perrin) 3.14.50 6 Chromag-Sram (Julian Hine, Kevin Phelps) 3.57.25 7 Bicycling Magazine (Michael Cushionbury, Damon Roberson) 4.18.05 8 Sun Summit South-Driver - Melton (Reed Melton, Marc Driver) 4.36.49 9 Bearnakedcannondale/Teamdicky (Timmy Dougherty, Rich Dillen) 5.30.13 10 Twin Sin (Gary Jackson, James Durand) 6.16.05 11 Bow Cycle (Neall Banner, Paul Martin) 6.23.17 12 Bike Magazine (Kip Mikler, Mark Sevenoff) 6.26.54 13 Sin Twin (Scott Hedlund, Brad Samis) 6.44.52 14 Tutti (Graham Tutti, Paul Player) 6.56.29 15 Team Marty's (Nicholas White, Jesse Epstein) 6.57.34 16 Cloud City Cyclists (Sterling Mudge, Mike Bordogna) 7.21.35 17 Prairie Boys (Dan Peters, Brett Zagozewski) 8.04.42 18 Ridin' Dirty (Nigel Halsted, Brian Mccurdy) 8.19.37 19 Pedal - Specialized (Barry Lyster, Steven Devantier) 8.31.09 20 Fat Chance (Alexei Marko, Ross Mccredie) 8.37.38 21 The Hustlers (Phil Johnston, Paul Sharman) 9.12.36 22 Miti Batai (Rodrigo Elvira, Guillermo Cuello) 9.30.42 23 Rpm Spinning Plus Gravity (Daffyd Roderick, Mike Peshko) 9.57.59 24 Itscanadianeh (Jeff Cote, Mark Coates) 10.32.07 25 Fat And Slow (Charles Halliburton, Nicholas Vipond) 10.56.57 26 Cold One Please (Erik Keniston, Doug Gangi) 11.11.35 27 Los Hombres (Rick Bruce, Cam Robertson) 11.21.14 28 Phat'n'dirty (Tim Logie, William John) 14.07.59 29 Williams (Terry Williams, Todd Williams) 15.13.21 30 Sierra Spokesmen (Chris Mccann, Layne Nadeau) 15.33.48 31 Keep The Rubber Side Down (John Nakashima, Andrew Mckean) 15.43.25 32 Sts (Dan Stern, Doug Clawson) 16.17.55 33 Slowmosapiens (Nick Thelen, David Simpson) 20.09.38 Open Women (2 women teams) 1 Scott / Trenga / De (Karen Eller, Carolin Rahner) 32.45.29 2 Shore Girls Don't Cry (Cynthia Young, Michelle Newton) 1.17 3 The Jenerators (Jennifer Keefer, Jen Sawrenko) 1.10.58 4 Team Tunnelvision (Emma Smith, Sarah O'byrne) 2.23.18 5 Lucky Golden Star Bicycle (Stephanie Tuck, Megan Kogut) 3.28.40 6 Katfish (Danielle Fisher, Karen Todd) 4.27.24 7 Rider's Cycles (Jennifer Garrett, Janna Mackenzie) 6.26.45 8 Sombrio Dakine Bavarian (Andrea Kraft-Costigan, Carmen Turner) 10.11.16 9 Team 10-33 (Beth Crowther, Lanie Forman) 10.40.17 Open Mixed (2 person teams) 1 Team Desert Cyclery/Healthfx (David Harris, Lynda Wallenfels) 28.24.50 2 Crystal Mountain Hotels (Hillary Harrison, Ryan Watts) 1.16.33 3 Team Bc (Lesley Clements, Matthew Bodkin) 3.14.01 4 Team Ride424.Com/X-Fusion (Karl Etzel, Jennifer Ratay) 4.22.15 5 San Diego Trek (Greg Norombaba, Lisa Riehl) 4.28.43 6 Vancouver Bike Gallery (Brady Fleguel, Astrid Bonter) 6.15.53 7 Special K And Captain A (Robin Kay, Jameel Adam) 13.58.15 8 Faber (Jochen Faber, Diane Faber) 17.44.54 Veterans 80 (2 man teams) 1 Gerick- Nelson (Randy Richmond, Sandy Mitchell) 26.44.51 2 West Coast Racing To Team (Rod Dagneau, Mike Charuk) 40.38 3 Spike Shooter (David Overstreet, Mark Thompson) 1.11.05 4 Different Bikes One (Andrew Handford, Pat Doyle) 2.00.38 5 Ryders Eyewear Corp (Brent Martin, Greg Hayes) 2.45.22 6 Ironhorse/Helly Hansen (Dave Howells, Denis Fontaine) 3.24.55 7 Damn Dirty Apes (Mike Hardenbergh, Tim Crum) 4.01.46 8 Up And Down (Michael Wardas, Ken Waring) 4.10.14 9 Skyline Flyers (Keith Mcivor, Kevin Smith) 4.36.53 10 Sleepmonsters.Ca (Doug Doyle, Darin Nevin) 4.36.59 11 Stitch Me; I'm Bleeding (Michael Stiles, Rick Lewis) 5.39.36 12 Ride To Survive (Paul Nicholas, Henric Meldgard) 6.07.14 13 Midlife Mojo (Dave Mountain, Jim Bennett) 6.38.52 14 Winded (Trevor Plestid, Stuart Jones) 7.10.34 15 The Aristocrats (Steven Wallouch, Bruce Kelsch) 7.40.40 16 Hachey (Dean Hachey, Mike Davidson) 7.51.17 17 Ready & Wheeling (Greg Stevenson, Jim Clement) 8.18.29 18 Team Harbour Air (Greg Mcdougall, Graeme Fitch) 8.22.38 19 Wheely Forkin' Tired (Bruce Gordon, Ken Knight) 8.49.17 20 Team Shuichi-Leon (Shuichi Kanamori, Leon Fetzer) 9.14.57 21 Big Ride - Bigger Hair (Chris Mccue, John Ratzke) 10.14.38 22 Burley M F (Derek Riley, Monti Burtini) 11.30.13 23 Team Action Cyclery (Ken Oertle, Jonathan Mcquenn) 13.48.59 Veteran 100 (2 man teams) 1 Kootenay-Okanagan Cooperative (Doug Nottebrock, Con Diamond) 32.18.45 2 Geopsyclos (Clive Rubens, Leo Groenewoud) 9.22.48 3 Team Synergy (Gary Stetler, Guy Dutil) 11.42.33 4 person teams 1 Out There Guys (Rob Blanchard, Rob Herbst, Bruce Barker, Darrell Jones) 35.40.42 2 Out There Girls (Tori Fahey, Alana Heise, Lisa Le Poole, Alison Jones) 4.38.56
