Race Report #1: North Shore Credit Union Shore 2 tha Core Marathon, May 21, 2005

The second in the SISU BC Cup Marathon Series, the North Shore Credit Union "Shore 2 tha Core" XC mountain bike race kicked off its inaugural event on the campus of Capilano College in North Vancouver, BC. Covering trails in and around Mount Seymour, the course features a large percentage of single track, as well as some rocky double track and fire road ascents. The climbing was brutal, because some of it was quite steep . . . and none of it was smooth. Even on the fire road, rolling over embedded rocks interrupted any rhythmic groove this hardtail rider tried to get into. Because I had no opportunity to pre-ride (and I was new to riding the Shore) this course was one startling surprise after another.

A few steep, technical climbs forced me and most of the racers around me to jump off our bikes at one point or another, simply because it wasted less energy to cyclocross over some sections rather than to try to clean them. And when we hit the first rocky, switchback decent—well, I had this surreal sense of bodies scrambling around me, either running with their bikes, or falling down with them. I just managed to get around this one guy that fell trying to get out of my way after failing to make a switchback, and in my speed to pass him and get away from the mess of riders bottlenecking behind me, I bombed down a rocky chute. When I tried to slow before coming up to a turn, my new hydraulic disc brakes surprised my not-so-gentle hand, and I flew off my bike to crash for the first time in a long while. But in a flash I jumped up and took off, with only seconds lost and a newly gained bruise on my right quad. I trotted down a big drop with a herd of other scurrying riders all around me. No other mishaps afflicted me during the race, unless one counts the grueling climb that ended with me pushing the bike for a short span up the difficult Blair Range Trails. And the course held further surprises—like discovering bridges and 4-5 ft drop-offs in a marathon XC event! When I finally rolled across the finish line back at the college, pulling a respectable 8^th for my first race of the season, I was more exhausted than I remember being in a long, long time.

The BCCU "Shore 2 tha Core" Marathon was an amazing course—the most technical marathon course in Canada, as I learned later. It was definitely not a NORBA course, known mostly for being comprised of miles of non-technical fire road and the token single-track trail or two. This race was a taste of the Shore, marathon-style. And what a flavor it was--since I wasn't familiar with the course, it was always a thrill to roll onto a bridge and wonder whether it would end in a ramp or a drop-off. There were a few times during the race when I thought about the other racers on their plush suspension bikes—but my Voodoo Sobo, with its scandium frame and amazing Fox F80 Terra Logic fork, held up superbly on a course where other hardtails feared to tread. I didn't notice any other women racing hardtails at the event, and I only spotted a few men riding them. Most riders were sporting 3-4 inches of travel. Certainly this course was geared to the travel-minded, but the Voodoo proved it could hang with the heavies.

I learned at the awards ceremony that among the 150 or so competitors (mostly riders from Vancouver or BC), no one in the race, which included Olympians and World Cup competitors, managed to clean the whole course. This race was challenging, and quite a challenge for me for my first time back in the racing saddle. But mountain bike racecourses should be challenging—I wish there were more courses in the U.S. built like this one. The trails around Mount Seymour were well engineered, remarkable in their diversity, and in a few places, quite technical. Ned's Atomic Dustbin and Bottle Top were super fun—but by the time I hit some of the more technical descents, my body was so beat up from riding for hours and absorbing the chatter of the trail that I couldn't appreciate them as much as I would have during a more leisurely ride. At the time, I was far more concerned with just getting down the trail without having parts of my tired body drop off from the constant jolts. I'm happy to say, though, that I remain in one piece.

Thanks 2 tha Core to the North Shore Credit Union for sponsoring the event, which was part of the NSCU World Mountain Bike Festival & Conference. - Angela