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EWS Columbia-Race Report

May 14, 2018

Sunday started out early. At around 11:00 the previous night, everybody got an email saying that stage 6 would be canceled because of all the rain. This was a huge relief for me because of the long climb to get to it, and it was so difficult riding in practice before the crazy rain came later on after practice. We packed mostly everything up in the car the previous night, we just had to put the bikes in. You can race without certain gear, water, and food, but not without a bike. We got to the park, but realized that they wouldn’t let us park inside without a pass that was only given to the factory teams and important people. Luckily we left pretty early and had time to find parking. We barely got unpacked before people started asking for pictures with us. After finishing up with that, we went to the start line. I usually ride and race  enduro with a Garmin device that tracks and displace distance, time, speed, elevation gain, and a bunch of other things. Unlike everything else on my bike, it needs to be charged, and I forgot it back at the apartment. I was a little concerned about this because I used it to know how much further and how much elevation gain was left during the climbs. I accepted it and decided I didn’t need it and my watch was all I needed.

I started off the climb a lot easier than practice day and it wasn’t too bad to get to the top of stage 2. Near the top of the climb, we rode right next to stage 2 and we saw the carnage. Bikes everywhere, people with mechanical issues, and a lot of walking. The start order was by membership. If you had a EWS Membership you could gather points for the following year and usually meant you were racing more than 1 race. The numbers went highest to lowest, so theoretically, the slower riders went first and the fastest went last. I had this in mind while watching and thought it probably wouldn’t be all too bad. I had been riding on the North Shore, I should be used to riding in those conditions! I couldn’t be more wrong… The final stretch of the climb was out in the open and was a complete mud pit. You couldn’t even ride; everybody got off and walked to get through to the start line. I had quite a bit of time before my start time so I started watching and walked a bit down the trail to see how it was lower down. It didn’t look good. People were struggling as soon as they got to a slight incline into the trees. I picked a line and started visualizing it for my race run.

The time came and I dropped in. I had the same problem that other people did with the climb, but made the tricky root section that I had planned just fine. Further down, it got wetter and more slippy, and when I got to the switch backs, Anthony had caught up to me and while passing, ended up crashing and going straight down the hill. I yelled to see if he was ok, and went past him, but as soon as the trail got flat, I lost all speed and my tires got clogged up There was nothing left to do, I jumped off and started running, dragging my bike behind me because my wheels wouldn’t budge. The race kind of turned into a fight for “survival” with everybody doing the same thing as me. We weren’t really worried about who was going first, it was more of making it to the next downhill section so we could all get back on our bikes and start racing. To sum it up, most of stage 2 went like this. Down towards the bottom where it got steeper and faster, I scared myself and went a lot faster than I wanted to because I actually couldn’t slow down. It ended up working out though and I didn’t crash too many times or too badly because of it. By the bottom I was exhausted and aching. Dragging a bike behind you while running up a slippery hills isn’t something that I really train for, and my shoulders were really hurting.

Anthony ended up breaking his brake lever in half and had borrowed some tape and a pen to tape try to tape everything together. I felt really bad and thought he’d have to pull out of another EWS. I continued on, knowing that because I had crashed and gotten down stage 2 so slowly, I wouldn’t have a whole lot of time to get to stage 3. I made it with only 5 minutes to spare and didn’t have time to refill my water at the food station which was at the top. I was surprised that Anthony was there and ready to drop in. Surely he couldn’t race with a broken brake lever, but it turns out that what he did and the tape and the pen worked so he could finish the race without too much issue. I don’t recall much of stage 3 other than the bottom, but I assume it was very similar to stage 2. Lots of running, crashing, and dragging my bike behind me.

We continued on to stage 4, passing the finish line on the other side of the creek to see all the riders washing their bikes in the running water. Because of the rain, parts of the road that ran beside the creek were flooded and we were riding through some deep water in some places. There was word that stage 4 would start a little lower down on a steeper section so riders would actually be able to be on their bikes right off the start. One thing that I remember about stage 4 is that I think I was only clipped in for about the first 7 seconds of the stage. The whole next part I had one or, most times, both feet out to keep myself upright, just riding on the seat and holding onto the handle bars. This caused a lot pf pain in my back holding that position while being bounced around and fighting to change direction. Frustrated, I finished stage 4 and started washing my bike in the river.

Since we had skipped riding stage 5 on Friday, I didn’t know how long it took or what the climb to the top was like. At one point we had to cross this “bridge”, but I don’t think you could call it that. It had railings on both sides, but was pretty much just metal pipes stretched across a raging river with two pipes in between them holding them together so you could hop your way over it. Definitely not ideal considering you had to get your bike across, had muddy slippery feet, and I’m scared of heights. I wish I had gotten a picture to share how sketchy it was, but I didn’t know how much longer the climb was so I hurried along. I made it to the top with actually a lot of time to spare, and a lot of riders behind us that I knew made it soon after so there was more socializing.

Stage 5 wasn’t as fun as I thought it would be from walking it. The rain had made the big “tunnel” super slippery and hard to control the bike because it was pretty hard packed and the big rut pretty much decided where you went. Near the bottom was better, but I still wasn’t too happy.

After coming back to the race village for a time check, the sun came out and after refilling with water and some food, I was determined to finish the race strong on the last two stages. The climb to get to stage 7 was super short and I felt refreshed for the sprint that started the stage off. Stage 7 went better than the previous ones because the thick trees didn’t allow too much rain through and the ground had a bit more traction than the previous stages. I actually had fun on some sections and hitting the jumps made all the mud and pain not matter anymore. The climb wasn’t easy, but I pushed through and finished strong. The final stage was sort of a victory lap. I didn’t come close to winning, but just finishing the day was good enough for me.

Handing in the timing chip, I was relieved to have finished my second EWS in one piece. I wasn’t happy with how this one went at all. I couldn’t seem to figure out how to ride the ruts compared to other people. As I was waiting in line for the bike wash talking to people, I remembered how cool it was that we were thousands of miles away from home racing bikes. I had looked at the maps on my phone a few times in different places, noticing how far away that little blue dot was from home and realizing how different and yet how similar it things were on the other side of the world.

After a much needed shower and food, Anthony and I started to discuss how we would get to the airport the next day. His flight left Monday evening because he was going further north in Columbia for a short vacation and to explore more of the country. My flight out of Columbia was at 5:00 AM on Tuesday morning. Meaning that I would have to stay in the airport all night. There was a bus that we could catch that would take us to the airport around 11:00AM on Monday, but that meant even more time in the airport. We packed up the rental car the next morning and headed back to return it and to see if we could keep it a little longer so we could drive back to Pereira and take our time, stopping along the way to look at things of interest. We were able to and all we had to do was switch cars. It was pretty funny seeing the look on the persons face as she watched both of us take two big bike bags, two big luggage bags and a bunch of smaller things out and into the same sized car. By this time, we were pros at fitting a lot of things into tiny cars.

The drive to Pereira was pretty cool, we took a different route than what the bus driver did on the way to Manizalas and made a couple stops along the way. One of which was a Columbian version of a truck stop on the side of the road to have some food. They had a little souvenir shop but everything was pretty expensive. It was raining once again when we got to Pereira and we managed to get to the airport and return the rental car in time. Now it was the looooong wait for the flights. Because my flight was the next morning and I was taking Anthony’s bike back, I had to keep an eye on both of them the whole night because baggage checking didn’t start until 3:00 AM. I said farewell to Anthony when it was his time to leave, but a group of people from Vancouver/ Vancouver Island came right after, so I didn’t have to be alone the whole night. It was a very small airport and everything shut down around 10:00 PM and we were pretty much the only ones in the airport. A couple police officers tried talking to us but they didn’t know English and we didn’t know Spanish so that didn’t get very far. I tried to sleep, but the row of seats weren’t that comfortable so I ended up staying up the whole night. Finally 3:00 AM rolled around and I got to get rid of all the luggage.

The flights back were uneventful and I spent a total of 40 hours either in airports or on planes. At least I can say I’ve been to Panama and San Fransisco now!

Just like that, my first international trip and first Enduro World Series races are over. It was a very eventful 3 1/2 weeks and I learned a lot! Not only about riding bikes, but everything that goes along with it when you travel. I met a lot of very amazing people and was shown great compassion and kindness by mountain bikers and locals alike. I can’t wait for the next adventure!

 

 

In Biking, EWS, Where I Ride
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EWS Columbia-Practice+Stage 1

May 10, 2018

We made it to the airport in Santiago, returned the rental car and packed up our bikes once again. We were a bit tighter on time than I would have preferred but we made the flight in time and I could finally relax for a little while. After a short transfer in Bogota, the second flight took us to Pereira. We landed around midnight local time and were waiting for our bikes in the pickup depot, with mostly other mountain bikers who were on the same flights. At least we weren’t the only English speaking people! Unfortunately, our, as well as a lot of other rider’s, bikes didn’t show up. Thankfully one of the race organizers was still at the airport and got our information so that he could send the bikes to us in Manizales. This wouldn’t be the only time this man helped us and I was so impressed with everything that he did for us, as well as many other racers. I haven’t experience anything that has come close to his help as far as race organizers or assistance. I am truly thankful for everything he did.

We spent the night at a hotel closer to the airport because we would need to take a bus to get to Manizalas to our next accommodation. The taxi ride over was interesting to say the least. This is the first time I’ve traveled outside of the US/Canada and after being in Santiago and seeing how similar it was to our cities, I wasn’t expecting this. The roads were a mess, totally torn up putting the spring time potholes in Edmonton to shame. It was kind of like what I imagined a third world country city to be, but I wasn’t expecting it and to drive through it in the middle of the night in a Taxi that felt like it was going to fall apart really made me appreciate how well we have it up here.

After a good nights sleep and a much needed shower and breakfast, we set out to explore the city for a little while until we needed to go back to the airport to collect our bike and catch the bus to Manizalas. We got to experience the city in the daylight this time, which made things look a little bit better, but it certainly wasn’t like Santiago.

At the last race, a fellow Canadian rider let us know that we would need back protection to race in Columbia. We searched around for something in Santiago before we flew out, but didn’t find anything suitable in our price range. Anthony brought his guiding pack, which technically he could use a back protector so he was covered, but I didn’t bring mine because I don’t usually race wearing it. Good lesson right there, always bring your riding pack! While we were in the city, I tried to find any bike or motorcross shop to find something. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything, but apparently there were lots more of those types of shops in Manizalas.

After exploring the city a little bit, we went back to the hotel to pack up and get a taxi back to the airport. Again, the race organizer was there greeting other racers and taking care of any lost luggage. He said that our bikes wouldn’t be coming until the next day or the day after, and to just take the bus to Manizales and he’d figure out a way to get the bikes to us. Being that practice was only a few days away, this was a bit worrying, but seeing how he was handling everything, we trusted him and boarded the bus along with a bunch of other pros and privateers alike. The drive to Manizales was pretty fantastic, we got to go by a bunch of coffee plantations in the hills, up and over small mountains and through small towns. One thing I noticed was how many really old big rig trucks there were. I wasn’t fast enough with my phone but I was amazed by how good of condition they were in. I guess they don’t get much snow to rust out all the old metal.

Another thing that amazed me was how skilled the bus driver was driving the huge bus on such tight roads without hitting anything. Most of the busses and public transport vehicles were pretty banged up, so they did miscalculate some things at times, but it was still really impressive. We got dropped off right outside of the condo where we were staying and managed to get the keys to our room from the front desk person who didn’t speak any English. In Chile, we were staying on an upper level of a taller high rise and we got to use an elevator to get all our gear and luggage up in the elevator, but in Columbia we were on the 4th floor of a building which didn’t have an elevator. The condo was a lot cleaner than the one in Santiago and had a lot more room to work on our bikes, but it didn’t have wifi. We asked the fabric workers next door to let us use theirs because we needed to be in contact with Ivan to get our bikes back, so we had to go out to the front of the building and sit on the steps to use the wifi.

View from outside the door of our apartment

The bikes were suppose to be delivered around 7:00 AM the next morning, so we went out on a walk to explore the city and to get some groceries. Manizalas was a much prettier city than Santiago and it was super green, even compared to Vancouver. What a big difference coming from 35+ dry heat with very little vegetation to 15-20 Degrees of humid air and jungle like greenery. It was everything I imagined Columbia to be: green rolling hills, old buildings, tin roofs and cobblestone roads. There was modern malls and buildings as well of course. A big difference between Santiago and Manizalas were the people. They were super nice and tried to talk to us everywhere we went. We were visibly a bit beat up with scratches and bruises on our legs/arms and Anthony’s hand was still all wrapped up. In the super markets the older ladies would ask how it happened and be so concerned. It was pretty cute.  When they heard or noticed we were mountain bikers here for the race, they wanted photos! I guess we got a little taste of what it was like to be rock stars.

A lot greener than Santiago!

We sat outside the next morning at 7:00 and our bikes didn’t show up until around 9:30, but we were just glad that we had them! After inspecting and putting everything together, we went out for a ride to see more of the city. We also got a rental car because the race and pit area was too far to ride easily back and forth. The car that we got was a lot bigger than the one in Chile, and since we were so good at fitting all our stuff into a smaller car, it was a breeze to get our bikes and gear into the back in record time. One thing that we forgot while looking for a rental car, was that it was Easter weekend, so a lot of shops were closed. Luckily we were able to find one that was open.

The race weekend was divided up into 3 days. Practice for stages 2-8 was on Friday, practice and race for stage 1, the Urban DH stage was on Saturday, and racing on stages 2-8 were on Sunday. This was a really well thought out schedule because we weren’t able to shuttle to any stages, which meant riding all the transfers and climbs to get to the stages. This gave us Saturday to recover, only having to race one short DH stage and not having to pedal to the top of anything. We went to the race village to register and walk some of the stages. I was pretty excited by the stages because the dirt was so grippy-when it was dry. There were a couple wet sections where I instantly slipped and fell. This made me a little worried but I knew we still had a few days for things to dry out completely.

Stages 2-3 were right next to each and we were able to walk up stage 2 that went higher than 3 and walk down stage 3. Stages 2 and 3 both had these huge freshly built bridges that crossed over the road that we would be pedalling up. The top of stage 2 was all new and some sections had tight switch backs before going down the steep hillside. This is important to remember later. We skipped walking 4 because it was too far out of the way and walked 5. Stage 5 started out in a farmers driveway and then went into a creek bed which felt like a tunnel it was so deep and rounded! There wasn’t any water running of course and it was pretty smooth and I was pretty excited to ride that section. The bottom got pretty steep and finished popping out of the trees back on the road. Stage 6 was way out of the way so we went back and took a look at the start of 7 and 8 which started inside the park where all the pits and tents were set up.

Bottom of stage 5 look at that perfect dirt!

There were a few places where I slipped and fell because the ground was still wet from a little shower we had earlier in the week, but I thought it would dry out by Sunday and the dry sections looked super grippy and I was so excited to ride! We spent the rest of the day looking for back protection, and fortunately there was a vendor selling some in the race village. We later came back for registration after not finding any in the shops that we went to and I had to spend $200 for a back protector that was too big and something I wouldn’t normally wear. I was annoyed, but also didn’t want to risk not wearing any and them checking or using cardboard to try to trick anybody that was checking. I didn’t travel all the way to Columbia to get a DQ.

Practice on Friday morning started off with us driving up and parking close to where the fire road up to the top of 2 and 3 started. We were a bit worried that we would get penalized for doing that, but a bunch of other factory teams showed up and did the same thing so we figure we would be safe. The liaison times were posted and seemed rather short considering how far apart the different mountains were where we’d be riding. I was a little nervous about this and since we weren’t racing all day the next day, I decided to go a bit harder on the climbs and try to make the start times. I made the first one, but only by 5 minutes. Not really enough time to put the pads back in my helmet, have a drink and get everything put away to drop in. This made me even more nervous, but everybody was having the same issue and said that the officials would probably give us more time. Stage 2 started off with a little pedal section into some switchbacks which ended up being a lot more slippery than we all thought, but not unmanageable. It was a bit of a gong show with bodies and bikes everywhere on the steeper sections and I was really looking forward to racing on Sunday. There were a few more slippery sections but soon I got down to the faster sections where the massive bridges were which cleared my tires. It was still a little slippery in places, but for the most part, stage 2 and 3 were ones I was looking forward to.

The pedal to stage 4 was a little steeper than to 2 and 3 so I walked a few sections, still paying attention to time and putting in some effort to see how it would feel on race day. Stage 4 started off in a flat boggy section which was just a big giant mud pit. This is one stage that we didn’t walk so I didn’t know what to expect. I still don’t really remember much about stage 4, it was pretty much just a big muddy selection of ruts. Most of the way down I couldn’t stay clipped in and rode with one foot out. I took a little crash and got pretty muddy which made my grips slippery and my pedals and shoes full of mud. Not something that I wanted to happen on race day! Luckily there was a creek at the bottom that we had to cross, and we used this opportunity to wash off the tires to make the bikes lighter.

We decided to skip stage 5 since we walked it and we knew that stage 6 was quite a long ways away. We went back to the car and drove back to the race village. Stage 6 really was far away, it took forever to get over there and about half way up, it started raining. If it wouldn’t have been raining I would have enjoyed the pedal because it was quite exposed and we were able to see quite a bit of the country side and the small communities that we were riding through. I was struggling a bit with energy by this point, trying to make all the start times, and had to take a long break at the top. By this point it was raining quite a bit and all my gear was soaked including my goggles. After a break and clearing up the goggles lenses, I dropped into the stage. Instantly I was sliding everywhere and was riding with one foot out, sometimes both. This continued on for the whole way down. Some sections were fun to slide around on, but it was mostly annoying not having any balance and going where the trail took you instead of where you wanted to go. Our tires were full of mud and the bikes weighed twice as much as normal. I was not looking forward to racing stage 6.

1/2 mud doughnuts

Stage 7 started right at the entrance to the park where the race village was and started out with a flat sprint and dove into the trees. It went up and down a bit, traversing close to the road and had a really awkward punchy climb that required a trials move to get over a big root. The trail continued down and at one point, turned onto a climbing trail that took you all the way back up to a road before going back downhill. I wasn’t too happy about that, but the lower part of the stage made up for it with some nice corners and a few jumps before finishing on a BMX track. Most of the stage was deep in the trees so it wasn’t as slippery as the other stages.

Stage 8 was basically a big downhill sprint through the middle of the park. A nice way to finish off the day! The day before practice there was a nice wooden jump set up by the finish line and I was excited to hit it. Unfortunately, they took it out. Enduro isn’t like Downhill where only the best can race and most gaps are mandatory. Anybody can enter the lottery for an EWS race and I guess they took this into account and decided to take the gap out because there may be a few riders out there that wouldn’t have been able to clear it safely.

Finish line jump that nobody got to hit

We went back to the condo to get cleaned up and get ready for the next day. There was a riders meeting later on that night in the race village so we went back and I was happy to hear that they were increasing the liaison times. The riders meeting was mostly in Spanish but luckily there were a few friendly people who could translate the parts that weren’t in English for us foreigners.

Can’t even see our sun tan/burns from Chile!

Back in Chile, Anthony cut his hand pretty deeply on day one of practice. It ended up getting infected and he was taking some drugs and having to clean it regularly to keep it from getting worse. He was getting a bit worried after running out of good bandages that it still could be infected and tried asking if there was still people from the medical tent around to take a look. The guy he was talking to didn’t speak English that well and ended up calling an ambulance. We tried to tell him that it wasn’t needed and he just needed someone to take a look to see if it was still infected. It didn’t work and the ambulance showed up, so he decided to make the most of it. Luckily the EMT guys spoke English pretty well and laughed it off. They weren’t bothered at all by having to come out and gave Anthony more good bandages for race day. A Fox guy that we were talking to earlier walked by and was all confused and asked “What happened to you? I just saw you! Did you get hit by a bus or something??” That made everybody laugh and was one thing that I’ll always remember.

Anthony in the back of a Columbian Ambulance

Again, the folk from Fox were super helpful with our bikes and even recommendations on restaurants and translating certain things. There seemed to be a bond between people who weren’t Spanish speaking who were traveling to both of these races. I guess the sound of English being spoken in a place where there wasn’t much brought people together! Plus, yanno, mountain bikers are awesome.

Saturday started out not too early and we rode to where the Urban stage would start. There was a bit of a delay for our practice start times but we made it down and started our one and only practice run. I didn’t watch the course preview for the Urban stage, but according to people who did, it was a completely different course. There were only a few flights of short stairs compared to what I was expecting after seeing many videos of similar races, and a lot of the race was mostly slalom through wide roads with hay bales and tape determining where you went in the road. Not what I was expecting, but I knew that once the area filled up with people, It would be a different story.

It all went by so fast and I was a bit worried that one run wouldn’t be enough to get a good feel for the course considering I had never raced on pavement before. We had almost 4 hours until our actual race runs so we went back to the condo to relax and make final preparations for the next day. We made it back to the start area and found out again that the start was delayed. I was a bit annoyed that nobody was checking for anybody wearing back protectors. I spent $200 for nothing? I started and hit some lines that I didn’t do in practice that people had told me about and some that Anthony pointed out while looking at the GoPro footage. Everything up top went ok, but I was really cautious on the slalom sections and lost a lot of time. I wasn’t happy with my time on the first stage, but it was a really cool experience racing with thousands of people around you cheering.

Not me in the photo, but a good example of what we were riding through.

After racing stage 1, it started pouring. Back at the condo we saw videos and pictures of what it was like closer to the other stages. Water was rushing in the streams and things were looking really muddy. So much for drying out by Sunday. After going through the bikes one more time, we went back to a restaurant that we had previously gone to for dinner. We figured it was cheap, you got lots of food, and we didn’t get sick, so why try something else? Can’t beat a $6 dinner where you don’t have to cook or wash dishes.

In Biking, EWS, Travels
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EWS Chile: Part 3-Race Weekend

May 3, 2018

Day 1 Practice:

Day one of practice started at 9:00 with all five of us piling in the rental truck and heading over to the bottom of the lift where stage 1 finished. The recommended route was that we go up to La Parva and take the lift from there and pedal over to stage 1 from the top, then take the chairlift and pedal back to the top of stage 2 where the team managers/mechanic/drivers would pick up the riders to take them back up to the top of stage 3, which started at the parking lot just above our accommodations in El Colorado. Since we didn’t have a driver or anyone to pick us up at the bottom of stage 2, we drove to the lift at bottom of stage 1. After completing it, instead of taking the lift back up, we drove back to the house to grab our rental car and dropped it at the bottom of stage 2 as a retrieval vehicle. There was a lot of waiting involved for those who weren’t driving and retrieving vehicles, but it was better than pedalling up the long hot roads. Save that for race day, right?

Click on the image to take you to a better quality version to be able to zoom.

Stage 1 wasn’t the highest point of the race, but it was pretty close. the views were quite amazing. Riding on the North Shore is deceptive because you never really see how high you actually are because of all the trees. In Chile there aren’t any trees on the mountains so you really get a good idea of how high you are and how far you’ve climbed.

Top of stage 1

The final push to the start line.

Stage 1 started off pretty steep and really loose and with no warm up, it was a bit of a shock. It went along the mountainside for a while with a couple of jumps, then went straight down and traversed across to another ridge. After this point, it kind of felt like the race organizers just taped off a 12′ wide section of trail and called it a race track. Very loose and rocky and since we were one of the first ones to ride it, the ruts hadn’t formed yet. Stage 1 would be the shortest of the race, but there was a long pedal section near the beginning, so it was in no way easy on the lungs. This being my first EWS and only being allowed one run per stage compared to 6 runs per day in a DH race, I thought that taking it slower and easy would be smart so I could see everything and get a sense of where I could go faster on race day and where I needed to be on the brakes. Even going slow, I had a crash in a super loose corner. Luckily it was sand like dust, and it was super soft to fall in, but I was surprised that I could have crashed going that slow on such an easy corner.

Stage 2 was hyped up to be the longest stage in EWS history, being 11km long and dropping over 1800 vertical meters. The part that wasn’t often spoken about was that it also had a 70 vertical meters of accent. That may not sound like much if you haven’t raced enduro, but imagine looking at a 70m tall building and having to ride up to that point during a race stage. The stage started off with a short-hike-a-bike from the top of the La Parva chairlift and finished all the way down on the 16th switchback of the road coming from Santiago. The first few minutes were probably my favorite part to ride of the whole race. It was super rocky and technical with lots of lines in some sections. Unfortunately, one of the guys in our crew put a big crack in his wheel and was unable to finish the stage. We were still high enough where he could ride down the road back to our house and put on his spare wheel. He wasn’t the only one having wheel/tire issues; there were lots of people spread out along the top section fixing flats. After crossing the dirt road at the bottom of the La Parva lift, the trail became less rocky and more dusty and ran along many different ridge lines with lots of awkward tight corners. There wasn’t really much worth mentioning here, so I’ll get to the good stuff at the bottom.

The last minute or so of the race was the most exciting. After 20 minutes of the top steep rocky sections and rough ridge traverses, your hands were already not feeling so great, but that didn’t matter. The hardest part was still to come. The trail started getting steeper and faster, and as soon as you hit some vegetation, things got really steep. This is the only section we walked before practice and I was glad we did. There were quite a few lines we found that prevented a potential crash from riding it blind and going the wrong way.

follow the finger in between the rocks

On race day, we would be riding up over 8.5 km on the same road we took to drive up to Farellones. Very long and very hot. After a long wait for the truck to be retrieved, we headed up to the top of stage 3. Stage 3 started with some open flat turns that went into some massive berms filled with huge rocks and ruts. Anthony had a crash there and took some skin off his hand, which didn’t seem too bad, but turned out to be not the greatest thing to happen on our trip. After the berms, the trail linked to a bike park trail that was similar to the top of stage 2 with lots of loose rocks, drops, and some gap jumps. There were two pretty big climbs near the finish line at the bottom which was a good way to finish up the day. There was a choice; you could either ride up on the dirt road back up to the race village or take the extremely slow chairlift which took the same amount of time to ride your bike up the hill. I took the chairlift.

Day 2 Practice:

Day two of practice started at the top of the La Parva lift and was one of the more physical stages, and also the most technically difficult for me. I really struggled with all the tight flat corners near the bottom that seemed to have no good “line”. It also had some wide open pasture sections where there was no tape for hundreds of meters. That was wild! One minute you’re racing an EWS and the next you’re riding your bike through a huge flat horse pasture.

The transfer between stage 4 and 5 was my least favorite. It was a mix of hike-a-biking through mountain valleys, getting all sorts of prickly things in your shoes, and trudging through muddy cow patty filled fields. Not the most fun, or sanitary, but I guess that’s just the way it goes!

Stage 5, the shortest of the race, started from the bottom of the main race village. The top part was steeper with some really tight switch back corners filled with dust and rock, then it went through a stream. Even when you’re in a place where it hasn’t rained for 5 months, your bike still gets muddy. The bottom part was very loose, hard-packed dirt with slippery corners, which ended just up the road from where stage 2 finished. Only 6km of switch backs to climb this time! Again, we were able to put our two vehicles to good use and drove up for practice.

Stage 6, the second longest and second most physical, started from the highest point on the mountain, above stage 2. From the start line, you could see the race village and the finish line. You don’t get that in mountain bike racing very often.

Middle right of the image you can see the race village, with the finish line. Yeah, we had to go all the way over there.

Similar to stage 2, the top of stage 6 was a bit more rocky and technical, but also had some super fast wide open sections. Unfortunately, one of the guys in our crew got a front and rear flat from the same rock. As I helped him fix it, two other people did the exact same thing. I didn’t end up finding the rock, I just hoped I wouldn’t hit it on race day. The stage was overall pretty fast, except for one part where it sent us along a ridge that was super loose and dusty with huge rocks, making it hard to hold on. After the ridge, it went down into the valley, but of course, this is enduro, so It has to go up. The stage continued on the other side of the small valley after the climb and got really fast and rough. I really enjoyed this part, and pinned it even though I had no idea where the trail went. Stage 6 joined up with the top of stage 3 in the open flat corners and finished just after the huge rutted out berms where Anthony crashed.

Even though it was sunny, it was cold up there!

Other than the wheel and tire issues with two of the other Canadians, up to this point we had no major mechanical issues the whole week. I couldn’t thank Jean Christoph and Peter Gustafson from Fox enough for what they did for us in Chile and Columbia. They went above and beyond for us, even outside of our suspension needs. I was very humbled and feel like we got Factory treatment even though we were just privateers!

Fox Techs adding some volume spacer to keep the front end a little higher

We got lucky with an awesome sunset the night before race day as we cooked up some steak for the next couple days.

Race Report Day 1:

Luckily Anthony and I started right after one another, me being in front, so we both had to be at the race village at 9:15 to get our timing chips and stickers and start the day. In EWS racing, they give you 5 stickers for your bike which you can’t remove, otherwise you’ll get a 5 minute time penalty. One on the front triangle of your bike, one on the rear triangle, one on each wheel, and one on your fork. That means if you break something that the sticker is on, you either have to deal with it by riding on the broken part or take the time penalty.

We got a shuttle up to the base of La Parva and pedalled to the chairlift. It was a nice warmup to start the day. We got to the top of stage 1 to see a huge amount people at the top; a lot more than we were expecting. Apparently, the race was half an hour behind and they had sent the email to notify us at 9:30. Really helpful, especially since we didn’t have cellular! We were waiting at the top for about an hour before we dropped in, but luckily we had some sun and good company so it wasn’t so bad.

Stage one went alright for me, I didn’t push as hard as I could have on the long pedal, but I passed the guy in front of me right before it got narrow so I didn’t lose too much time from that. The time gaps were only 20 seconds between riders so we were all really close and most of the time, able to see each other. I survived my first EWS stage with no crashes or mechanicals! Only 5 more to go. Anthony had a minor mishap, breaking a shifter cable, which didn’t cost too much time and he was able to change it in the gondola on the way to stage 2.

After a couple chair lift rides and a bit of pedalling (with one lift having to hold your bike out in front of you) we made it to stage 2. I was a bit nervous at the top thinking about riding 11km non stop down hill. For reference, most of the trails on the north shore are 1km, maybe 2 if you link up a couple from top to bottom. My time came and I scared myself really good a few times in the first 20 seconds, almost sliding out on a couple of corners. I decided to go for it and ride like I normally would at home. I learned pretty quickly I couldn’t do that in the Chilean dust, and had to tone it down a bit, but the technical top section went pretty well after that. There were a couple moments where I second guessed my choice of tire pressure and felt like I should have gotten a flat tire, but luckily I wasn’t one of the ones on the side of the trail putting in a tube! I was able to pass the guy in front of me, but it took a while longer than before. He didn’t seem to want to move over. The flatter section in the middle went ok. I was still passing people every once in a while and took the smoother sections easy to rest my hands and feet to try to save them for the bottom. Looking back now, I still don’t know if it would have been better to pedal in these sections, or just take them easy like I did. I got close to the final steep section and could hear the crowd that was there. They went nuts as I was riding through and it was hard to focus on the lines, but walking them before practice definitely helped keep me on track and I was able to make it to the bottom without any major issues. I feel satisfied with how I did on such a long stage. Looking back, it was probably one of my favorites and one I felt I rode the best. Only one major mistake and no crashes.  I think I could have pushed a bit harder on the flatter sections where I chose to rest my hands, but other than that, I think I rode pretty well.

The part I was dreading most about the whole weekend, the 8.5 km climb to the race village, was next. There was a feed station about 1/4 way up the climb where I planned on refilling my water and getting some snacks and stuff, but I was also conscious of making the start times. In EWS racing you get a sticker on your bike with all your start times. You have to make it to the top and start at the time on the sticker, otherwise you’ll get a time penalty. I was worried I wouldn’t make it since I wasn’t used to having a time where I had to be at the top, so I ended up not waiting for any of the guys I was riding with and riding right past the feed station without knowing. Yes it was mostly my fault, but it could have been marked better. It was tucked right behind a little cafe on the side of the road as I learned as I got 3/4 of the way up and asked somebody else how far away it was. Whoops. Luckily I wasn’t super low on water and had enough to make it to the top without getting dehydrated. It was a shame too, because I was over 45 minute early for my check in time before we headed up to stage 3. Lesson learned I guess.

I filled up on water and snacks and got through the time check and hopped in the shuttle to the top of stage 3. I only had about 5 minutes at the top before my time, but I was watered, fed and rested, so it didn’t bother me not being at the top for a little longer.

The top of stage 3 went ok, not quite knowing how much to push on the flat open corners based on how easily it was to crash, but I carried good speed through most of them and made it to the bike park section. On the two steep climbs is where I felt I lost a lot of time. Anthony didn’t catch me, but I felt like he was getting close after I crossed the finish line and he crossed less than 20 seconds later. We both slowly moved towards the chairlift to go back to the village to time out for the day.

Day 1 of racing was over, and neither Anthony or I had any crashes or major mechanicals. Unfortunately for one of the other riders staying with us, he cracked his rim on stage 2. He was optimistic for the next day hoping that a tube would hold air so he wouldn’t have to take a 5 minute time penalty for removing one of the stickers and replacing his wheel. Unfortunately, his wheel didn’t hold together and he would have to pull out of the race after stage 4 the next day.

Race Report Day 2:

After checking over the bikes, good food and a good nights sleep, I woke up the next morning not feeling as good or fresh as day one. I guess pushing the lungs hard at high altitude will do that. We were suppose to receive our start times for day 2 at 9:00 the previous night, but even checking right before bed at 9:30, they still hadn’t come. That was a little scary going to bed not knowing if you had to start an hour earlier than the first day, but fortunately the start times were almost exactly the same as day 1.

The short climb through La Parva seemed a bit harder than the previous day, but was still a nice warmup before stage 4. I wasn’t really thinking much about stage 4 and the issues I had on it during practice, but maybe that was a good thing.

Right out of the gate, I could feel my lungs hurting and knew it was going to be a rough day. The top technical part went alright but once I got lower down and caught up to the guy in front of me, I really struggled to pass. It was quite tight and he didn’t want to pull over to risk ruining his time, which annoyed me. Unfortunately, it didn’t annoy me enough and I ended up following him for quite a while and Anthony came up right behind me and made a very aggressive pass on both of us. I was a bit stunned and thought I should do the same, but before I could, another Canadian from behind me did the same thing and passed both of us. We were now all in the flat open pasture with no tape, and I had finally had enough of the guy in front of me not moving over so I shifted into my lowest gear and sprinted past both of them and all the way up until it went back into the taped section where it got a bit more technical. Then, I crashed in the first corner, getting passed by both of the people I had just passed. To make things worse, I had also twisted my handelbars and tried to ride them like that until I crashed a couple more times and got passed by some more people. I accepted my defeat and pulled over to straighten my bars. I made a couple more passes as I made my way down, but was very disappointed and angry of what happened. I noticed Anthony sitting by a bush near the finish line with people asking if he was ok and he seemed to shrug it off. I was annoyed and in some pain myself but knew that the transfer was difficult and we didn’t have very much time to make it, so I knew I had to hurry up if I wanted to make my start time, especially considering how much I had lost in that stage.

I made it again, with only 5 minutes to spare to get my helmet and gloves back on to start stage 5. I noticed Anthony wasn’t behind me when I started, and I was wondering if he had been a bit too casual with the transfer and missed his start time by mistake. I didn’t find out until the end of the race that he had pulled out of the race because of crash that he had lower down on stage 4.

Stage 5 started off well and I tried to put stage 4 behind me. I caught up with the guy in front of me rather quickly, but this time there was absolutely now way I could pass with the trail being so narrow. He almost crashed a couple of times so I got excited and thought I was my time to make a move, but it didn’t happen and I had to eat his dust all the way to the bottom. In the middle of the course or even lower down there were places that I could have passed, but I wasn’t nearly aggressive enough. That annoyed me that I made that mistake again and that It was costing me so much time. You would have thought that I would have learned by now, huh?

This time, I made sure I didn’t miss the feed station before the 6km switch back climb, and I took it a bit easier knowing how long it took me the first day. I was surprised I didn’t see Anthony at the time check but continued on up to the highest point of the mountain to finish the day. A truck ride, a seemingly very long and hard climb through La Parva, a chairlift, and hike-a-bike later, I arrived at the top of stage 6, the final stage of the race. I had 50 minutes until it was my time to go, so I tried to have a little nap, even setting my alarm in case I actually did fall asleep. I didn’t, but the rest felt good and I was ready to get on it for the longest and hardest stage of the day.

I caught up with the guy in front of me pretty quickly again and struggled to pass. Luckily for me, he crashed soon after I caught up and I was able to make the pass without seeming like a jerk and continued at my pace. Similarly to stage 2, I felt satisfied with how I rode 6: smooth and consistent, not going too hard and burning out on the long uphills, going fast where I could, and taking the smooth sections to rest my hands and feet. Stage 2 and 6 should have been the ones I struggled with most because of the length and all the pedalling, but I felt like I rode them the best (funny how that works). The crowds were going wild at the huge berms near the bottom of the stage and I crossed the finish line jump relieved that I had finished, but also a bit worried about Anthony. Shortly after I finished he showed up and explained that he had to pull out of the race.

After hanging out at the race village and waiting for the rest of the riders to come down, we headed back up the house to pack up to leave for the airport the next morning. Anthony was obviously disappointed with the race because it was the only one he hadn’t finished. I was glad I finished, but was disappointed with some of the mistakes I made and the whole of stage 4 where I lost a lot of time. Looking back at it now, I realized I just need to be less “Canadian” and be more competitive and pass people as soon as I can. For my first EWS I was pretty happy with the experience overall, of racing on a new continent and was excited to get on the plane to see what Columbia had in store.

Our last night in Chile left us with a stunning sunset which I won’t be forgetting anytime soon.

 

 

 

In Biking, EWS, Getting Faster, Where I Ride
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