The Bow80 -Dark Side of the Moose is a 65km race around Moose Mountain and back in Kananaskis Country. This course includes some of the best mountain biking trails in Kananaskis Country. These trails offer incredible single track, challenging climbs, long descents and beautiful scenery. The course includes Sulphur Springs Trail, Elbow Valley Trail, Powderface Creek Trail, , Prairie Creek Trail, Powderface Road, Pneuma , Special K, and Tom Snow.
Who wouldn't sign up for that?! Yesterday was the big day. Time to see if my summer of mountain biking prepared me for a race I've wanted to complete since volunteering at last year's version: Revenge of the Ninja Cows.
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| Ready! |
The alarm went off at 0450 and I stuffed some coffee, waffles, fruit and nuts into me. It's not easy for me to eat in the morning. Gag. Suz came by and we loaded up the Rav with a couple bikes. We soon joined a train of vehicles in the dark on the highway with mountain bikes on them heading for K Country. Parking was about a km from the start line so that ride was warm up enough for us. Registration, a few hellos, a can of Red Bull and a photo snap and we were off ... rather unceremoniously since the start gun seemed to go off unplanned. I heard later nobody even at the front of the line was ready to go yet.
Start to Cut Off One:
The first stage of the race felt pretty familiar. It amounted to a hard(er) effort weekend ride like we've been riding all summer. We plodded up "Suffer Springs" with a few folks behind us and, I'm guessing, 160 ahead of us. The profile (below) makes Sulphur look like a bunny hill! On the backside Suz suffered a decent crash. I mostly heard it but turned back to see a pretty wicked roll job. Nice work! A little shaken up, but onward! Suz is still working on getting her confidence back up after a pretty scary crash she suffered a couple of weeks ago so I was grateful she got back on the bike and pushed through the nerves. This race wouldn't have been half the fun without my riding partner! We leap-frogged a guy named Brian for a while til he left us behind. Off we went across Elbow Valley, Powderface Creek (where we saw Alana working on her tire; she said she had everything she needed so we carried on. As expected, she passed us well before the feed zone. It was nice to see a friendly face for a couple minutes anyway!), and Prairie Creek ... to something new for us: "The Cow Bog." This may be called Canyon Creek but I've mostly heard it called the cow bog. We leap-frogged a guy named Mark through here but we left him behind. Another crash for Suz through this brutal bumpy, rooty, muddy traipse. After that a walk through the river (wet shoes here on in) and some moderate climbing up to the feed zone and first cut off. My legs were cramping badly up til now -- something I haven't experienced before -- so I was really looking forward to getting some banana in me. We rolled into the feed zone with 20 minutes to spare for the official cut off rules. Mark rolled in not far behind us. A few minutes to snack and refill our water -- I also rinsed the mud and poop off my drive train and re-lubed -- and we were off again. We never saw Mark again.
To Cut Off Two:
Revitalized now after knowing we made the cut off we thought would be the toughest to make, we were off on the road and enjoyed ticking off 6kms with some relative speed. Then we began the absolute slog up Powderface. We've only ridden down this side before, never up. It seemed to go on forever and took a lot out of us. But we made it to the top where a couple of volunteers cheerfully welcomed us and logged our arrival. They were doubtful we would ride much of the descent and led Suz to believe we weren't going to make the next cut off. Good thing I didn't hear that! So now we got to descend Powderface the way we climbed it a few weeks ago. Both of us figured we'd be walking a bunch of it based on our climbing memory. Nope! We barely walked and the descent was the most fun we'd had all day. We went for it! 6kms of speed and relative rest of the lungs and legs all the way down to Powderface parking lot. We passed a bunch of hikers, some non-racing riders, and ripped into the parking lot which was the next check point. The volunteers ushered us back onto Elbow Valley Trail and told us we were looking fresh! Nice! I'm sure they'd waited a long time after the prior rider for us to arrive! Back up the other side of Sulphur Springs. We made it to the next feed zone and cut off with 15 minutes to spare. We had caught Brian again on the way up. We were feeling pretty baked but we made the cut off, so quitting wasn't an option. After choking back some waffle and banana, we pushed on. (We tried to get Brian to join us but he was contemplating pulling out. I think he did.) The checkpoint girls had already put their pen away so we had to wait a minute and get our numbers officially logged then we began the work of slogging up Pneuma.
To the Finish:
We're feeling utterly fried but optimistic we could make it under the official race finish time of 8hrs 30mins. We made the last cut off, so surely we can do this. We were digging really deep now. Anything more than a mild grade got us off the bikes. I'd rather have stayed on the bike since my feet were now killing me from hike-a-biking through many steep sections in wet cycling shoes but the legs didn't have any power left. We rode most of the bottom section of Pneuma, some of the middle, and then walked all of the top except for a short section that got us to another checkpoint with some bored volunteers who hadn't seen anyone in a long time. This is about hour 7.5 into things. We have now earned the last down hill of the race. A downhill that the majority of the riders I know will never walk, much less ride. We pre-rode it last weekend and knew what we were in for ... it is steep, loose, and sketchy in a massive way. I have seen downhillers on it on their downhill-specific bikes, wearing full armour, and full motorcycle-style helmets. We walked the top third. But we were beyond tired at this stage, and I made a bad decision to ride out a section that didn't look too bad. I mean, I'm really friggin tired of walking and I want to roll a bit. I never got properly clipped into my pedals and somehow caught my handlebar on a tree. Steep angle, some speed, and I was tossed around a couple of trees and then thrown off my bike. I sat there for a minute a little stunned. I literally grunted and hollered my way through a wave of pain for a minute, then got up and tried to ride. But my handlebars were pointing off to the left. With some help from Suz, I corrected that and carried on down Special K, a little scraped and bruised but pissed off that I crashed and now determined to get it all done as quickly as possible.
The Finish:
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| Done! |
So we rolled off Special K without further incident and hit some familiar Tom Snow downhill, then some annoying last-minute up, and then cruised through the last glorious double-wide trail, through a fog of pot smoke at the last checkpoint, through the last cattle gate, and to the finish line. All smiles, especially when we rolled through to cheers, clapping, and hugs. That felt awesome! The medals had just been awarded and the draw prizes handed out and everyone was getting ready to call it a day so our timing was great. (Like we planned it?!) We finished our 65kms and 7500ft of climbing in 8hrs 51mins. We'll probably get a DNF officially ... we made the cutoffs, but not the 8hrs 30minus allowed for an official finish time. Regardless, my goal was to complete the Bow80 and I totally did that. As a first year rider, I'm really happy with that. There were a number of times I really wanted to give up and call for a ride back to the start line but I just kept moving. Suffering is so weird. I clearly said to Suz at one point after my crash "remind me of this moment when I suggest we do this next year and don't let me sign up." We were barely over the finish line though and I was saying something like "well, it'll be easier for us next year, we'll be even fitter." Yup.
The day ended with some pizza while watching some taped World Cup racing on the TV with Kate and Suz. We commented that the course they were riding was nothing compared to the Bow 80! ;) After that I picked Sante up from Karen's place and went home with a big smile on my face to scrape the salt, mud, blood and cow poop off my body. Before that though I very nearly backed my Rav into the garage with my bike on the roof. I slammed on the brakes at literally the last second and avoided disaster. I think maybe I was a little tired?
The support and kudos have been coming in all day from friends and fellow riders on Facebook, texts, and emails for a race I merely completed ... in nearly twice the time it took the first place woman, Kate, to complete (how's that for perspective?). You people rock!
Addendum (Sept 11): We got official
finish times. Yay! We were the 18th and 19th women to finish. Or, the 171st and 172nd racers. We were the last to finish. (Alana's name wound up on the men's list for some reason. So actually there were 20 chicks.) 27 DNFs and a lot more DNSs.
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| The day's profile. |
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| The route. |
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| The data. |
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| The cow bog trail. From the Go Pro video. |
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| Get me some bananas. From the Go Pro video. |
Another great weekend in the books. Mother Nature has been so so generous to us all summer and fall! I couldn't find a riding partner for Saturday so I planned an in-city hike with the dogs. I'd be on my bike for a race in the evening anyway, so I was just going to keep things mellow. But, when I invited Beth along for a walk, she suggested a real hike instead. It was another beautiful fall day, so ... I'm in! We drove out to Powderface parking lot and climbed Prairie Mountain. One of my favourites. Full on climbing up, up, up for an hour and a half, then some glorious views. The trouble is coming down. I always forget that's gonna hurt later!
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Off to the start line soon after. Kate and Toby and Craig were there to send us off. The race organizers also put some seasoned riders in the start with us to encourage us through the first lap. And we were off. The first lap gassed me ... but I was hanging on with Wendy. Eventually she left me behind though. She was on her mountain bike and I was a little jealous of her granny gear! The second lap was a thirsty-maker and I knew I was in for two more. (I gotta figure out this thirsty thing at these races ... maybe I need to chew gum and ride. Hmm... two things at once. Eek.) Oddly, I really wanted to quit after two laps but the next two actually felt easier. Anyway, I messed up on only a couple of hill climbs, declined the offer of some spray whipped cream around one of the spectator corners, and at one point didn't make a turn tight enough and skidded on my hip through a stake and ribbon. Oops. The spectators were kind to the Newbies ... no heckling oddly. Largely I successfully navigated the course and it was pretty fun in places.
The joy of mountain biking returned today with sore and tired legs. Mostly, I think, from the descending on the hike yesterday. I met Kate M at Barrier Dam and we headed up Prairie View trail with the dogs. (Kate A's ride plans had to be altered at the last minute due to her shoes still being at home, and not at the trailhead with her, so Toby -- The Man -- joined us. Second prize for the little yellow dog today.) Despite the tired and sore legs I got through the climb and the hike-a-bike and had a great time descending down Prairie View and Jewel Pass, though the legs were complaining here too. I did this ride in July with Linda and I was happy to find that this time I was 100% comfortable on this more technical descent and loved every minute of it. It's a fun challenging trail with lots of roots and rocks to navigate. It was nice to feel the skill-improvement on a trail that I'd previously ridden with a pretty decent margin of "eek!"
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