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The BC Bike Race heats up
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Editor's Note: Subaru/Gary Fisher pro endurance racer Nat Ross will be sharing daily diaries from the BC Bike Race with VeloNews.com readers. This is the third installment.
Day 3’s course in the BC Bike Race offered some sweet singletrack, deep creek crossings, and majestic views. Today’s high temperatures made for a tough day. It was the third day in a row of unusually hot weather. The course had several long exposed climbs that got to be quite brutal. Needless to say, the two aid stations in the 87Km race were extremely popular.
The race started in the morning with a lap around a running track and headed out of Alberni with a police escort. Right away, we funneled to a rolling singletrack climb and the men’s field had already been whittled down to about 12 select teams.
We covered a lot of ground quickly and soon found ourselves crossing a raging, deep, cold, and refreshing creek. Volunteers and staff lined both ends, assisting racers as we tried to keep our bikes out of the water with one hand while holding a rope and crossing the super swift creek with the other. There was a wicked steep embankment on the other side where they helped you lift up your bike and directed you up to the first aid station for refueling.
I personally suffered an immense amount for a while there, and the next good memory I had is of Aid Station No. 2, where large gaps started to form. Various teams were flatting today and chasing back to the chaotic front group at different times.
Team Trek, consisting of Chris Eatough and Jeff Schalk, had just chased back up to the lead group after Chris suffered a front flat after the last aid station and decided not to stop. This threw the yellow jersey team Mona Vie Cannondale.com for a loop, as it caught them off guard. Jeff Schalk set an incredible tempo that only his teammate Chris and the Australian team Flight Centere with Tim Bennett and Adrian Jackson could match, and the two teams got away from all the other teams for good.
For Team Trek, this meant that they would start stage 4 in the yellow jersey. By the end of today’s stage, the two had put over ten minutes into Bart Gillespie and Jason Sager. Last year, Chris and Jeff won every single stage, but this year things have been way different. The men’s field is stacked with amazing talent from all over the world. So far every stage, teams from Canada, the USA, and Australia have been on the podium
It’s not just the men’s race that is stacked; all the categories are well represented with amazing cyclists. For example, the women’s team of Kelli Emmet and Sara Bresnick-Zocchi beat out all the women’s teams again today including Katie Linquist and Amy Harris. Kelli and Sara have been winning stages and having a great race so far. There are such a variety of teams competing here, but the challenge is the same for everybody. We are all here pushing ourselves day after day for the same reason. It’s all about the journey and the quest.
Please check back tomorrow for a report on a shorter and stage with a lot of climbing.
Thanks for reading,
Nat Ross
Complete Stage 3results
