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BC Bike Race: Back to British Columbia
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The BC Bike Race returns to British Columbia, Canada, for its second annual running from June 28 to July 4, 2008. The BC Bike race is one race in the still growing category of multi-day mountain bike stage races. It uses the popular two-person team format and boasts a large amount of singletrack through the rugged, Canadian backcountry.
Follow the adventures day by day from the vantage point of four racers on two teams including last year's winners Chris Eatough and Jeff Schalk (Trek / VW) and first-time competitors Jason Berry and Jon Posner (GFK Racing).
Schalk has been dominating the American 100 miler scene while Eatough is a proven champion at both 100 milers and 24 hours races. Film-maker Jason Berry and Jon Posner are long-time endurance enthusiasts and also two of the men behind the movie 24 Solo, which documented Eatough's bid for a seventh 24 hour World Championship Solo title.
The racers will take turns contributing diary entries during the event.
July 2 & 3, 2008
Stages five & six: Still having fun
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The last two days of the BC Bike Race have seen us tackle some amazing trails. Last year I loved the racecourse because of all the technical singletrack. This year they made some changes - even more amazing singletrack.
Of course, to rip downhill, you have to go uphill, and my climbing legs disappeared a few days ago. After feeling very strong for the first few days when my partner, Jeff Schalk and I worked hard to go from dead last early on in day one to first place in the yellow jersey, day four felt rough for me, and day five and six even worse.
I've survived via the yoyo technique: suffer on the climbs and fall behind a minute or so, then charge the downhills to catch up and hopefully pass a few. The Kona team has been riding well and taking advantage of home turf, and now has a solid lead over our Trek squad in second. Our gap over third is also large, so it looks like only a catastrophe will see any changes at the top on the last day.
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Despite feeling under the weather, I'm still enjoying the riding and the comradarie. Sharing war stories at dinner every night with close friends like Poz, Jason Berry, Nat Ross, Chris Beck, and Matt Ryan is something I treasure. New friends are made every day on the race course and in the campsite, and the common bond of pushing through the challenging but fun stages is something we will always share.
It's been a crazy race so far, but it's been so much more than just a race. The daily routine of eat, ride, eat, recovery, sleep is always similar, but always different since we are in a new part of British Columbia every day. The organization is excellent, and continues to get even better.
Add them all up, and you can see why the BC Bike Race is my favorite race of the year.
Chris Eatough
Trek / VW
Trek / VW Team:
Jeff Schalk (USA), 34, Harrisonburg, Virginia
Chris Eatough (USA), 33, Oella, Maryland
GFK Racing Team:
Jason Berry (USA), 33, Arlington, Virginia
Jon Posner aka "Poz" (USA), 33, Catonsville, Maryland
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Jason Berry
- Staging before the start of stage five.
- Everyone's looking a little rough at the 4:00 am wake up.
- Blasted on stage six.
- BC Buddies Chris Eatough and Jason Berry
