Race Report 9: Roots, Rocks, Reggae! Epic 8 Hr. Hardwood Hills...


I am soooo glad I have today off, cuz I am moving a lil slowly after yesterday's fun on the trails of Hardwood Hills. The second stop of the Epic 8 series absolutely did not disappoint! 

After having a great week off from work, and my first 'adult' vacation ever...you know, the kind where you don't lose money as a self employed person, but someone actually keeps your paycheck rolling while you play all week :) Nice change finally, at 43 years of age - sometimes I guess working for a big company has it's perks :) It's gonna be hard to go back after this luxury, but it was well worth it - I rode my bike all over the place, and tackled a few projects I had been putting aside. Then capped it all off with the 8Hr. race -good times all around!

I have been perched at the island since Thursday, so yesterday morning I got up at the crack of dawn, loaded my gear into the boat,then into the car, left the dog free to roam on the island, and drove to Hardwood. It's just over an hour, so lots of time to drink coffee and think about the day ahead. There were huge dark clouds as I came to Horseshoe Valley, but luckily they quickly blew by, and the day held on to near perfect weather - maybe a little cool, but once we got rolling, it was perfection.

I decided to race this one Singlespeed and see what I could do for 8 hrs. with only one gear. The only other time so far that I have gone this long with one gear was at Paul's Dirty 100 last year, and I knew I could get through, but I didn't really know how fluidly...I was happy with my decision - the cool, and not cool thing about singlespeed that I am learning, is that you can be just as quick as geared, but you can never let up - there is very little wiggleroom for ease. As a result, my lap times were pretty similar all around - huzzah for consistancy! I was stripped no doubt, but the course itself was very friendly for SS - just a couple grunty climbs, some good flowy trails, and not a tonne of flat, energy sucking double track. I found, as I am slow on the double track generally, and sadly, that this was a good place to grab some fuel, and recover a bit before any climbing began. I had one great crash on the early race wet roots that pulled out my right shoulder - silly rider error of course, but I am paying for it today! Well, that's why they call me Crash...seems to be a common theme this year...harrumph...

I was happy to settle into a good push - as long as I kept the pressure on the pedals, I knew I was OK - well fueled, happy in general, and so great to have so many Bikezone teammates out on the trails to chat with, and ride with throughout the day. Everyone had really good laps, and at the end, we managed several podium spots!! I ended up in second place quite happily, and glad to have kept pushing for the full day!! I also managed my second 100+ pin from the Epic 8's, putting in close to 130KM for the day. Woot!

 Congrats to everyone on a great day, and a big thanks to Pulse Racing for a really fun race :)
(and thanks to Hardy Wind for the pictures!)
Is that focus or stunned disbelief that I am still climbing??

With Rhonda Stickle and Tracey Shinkle 

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