We spend these 7 days to relax and enjoy beautiful Canada! We traveled on Icefield Parkway, Alberta, the most beautiful road in Canada. This is the route to over one hundred visible glaciers, turquoise lakes, rushing waterfalls and numberous hiking trails. We saw black bears, big horn sheeps, moose, marmots and many mosquito's. We were lucky with the weather, the glaciers were shining in the sun and the rocks were glistening in a rainbow of colours. We went for a few short rides on the bike and it felt good....!!
After a week of road tripping the Mountain Madness team came back together in North Van to prepare for the race. We enjoyed the beautiful nature and landscapes (see pics below) but are now focusing on our main objective : completing BC Bike race. Just got back from a delicious seafood dinner with some local Shimano family members (Darren, Kelly, their new baby and Ben). Tomorrow we pick up our race number and other stuff..........
Today we picked up our race number, some swag and our race bag, which we will need to use to transport everything we need for the week from stage to stage (sleepingbag, clothes, tools,....) We can say already that the race is excellent organized! Glenn really came into the mood when he saw some of the MTB babes!! We are all getting excited to start the race!!! Tomorrow we will attend the press conference where they will present some of the pro's.
Today is also Canada day, a big parade and fire work are on the program. Tonight, we'll grab some last cold beers before the race week begins. WOW, it's gonna be FUN!!!
Today we had to attend a racers briefing about important race rules and safety information. A tip about wildlife was: -when you meet a black bear: fight to win -when you meet a grizzly: don't fight, sit still -when you meet a cougar: fight to win, but you're loose anyway! Great to hear that... There has been a cougar accident beginning of june....in Squamish (stage 6).
After that, a bus took us to Horseshoe bay, where we took the ferry to Nanaimo. The weather was great and the views awesome! From Nanaimo, we went by bus to Cumberland and checked into our race tent at base camp. We met already nice people, the Jippsy family (pictures and story will follow...) and we had a 'lucky beer' with some of the guys! We are so excited to start the race!!!
What a great day!!!! The sun was shining and there was an awesome energy at the start! So here we go..... The start was in the center of Cumberland village with an escort through town. Once the cars pulled over, the race was on! The first 20K were fast riding, then a steep uphill of 450meter climbing on dirt road. On the top, we had a great view on the lake! But then... a steep and very technical downhill (when they say technical,..... it is technical!!), all single track with lots of steep drops, roots, rocks and hairpins, brrrr....... Everything you can dream about on a mountainbike in one single stage. We are all a bit wiped out, but for the rest everyhing is fine! The Belgians did great: Lieven ended 19th, Glenn 24th and David 39th!! We are all very pleased with the results!! Ready for stage 2!!!
