Royal River Valley Rumble 5 MTB XC Marathon Race 2016 @ Sunridge Ski Hill (Alberta Cup XCM) #1


Sunday May 29th, I finished 34th place out of 39 in the Solo Men category Results, It took me 4 hours & 48 minutes to complete five laps and I went a total of 47 Kms. Total elevation gain was 4,183 Feet. My average heart rate was 168 bpm and max was 193 bpm. Check out my garmin data here.

This was a great way for me to kick off my seventh season of racing. I love this format because its simple complete as many laps as you can in five hours. I do not do well at this venue as it is pretty technical trails and short steep punchy climbs and on this day I did well as I enjoyed the course because there was some longer climbs mixed in and one cool new trail (squeeze my lemon) was built with awesome switch backs to decent on. On the first lap it had rained hard the night before so the course was very slick and lots of the climbs we had to run up them. My second lap was my fastest one as the course started to dry up nicely. On lap four my quadriceps and hamstrings in both legs started to cramp up pretty bad and then I lost momentum over the rock garden down low by the river and my leg could not move to un clip from my pedal and I crashed down into a big gorge and landed on my shoulder and thankfully only had some bruises and my bike was still attached to me so it was ok. By lap five I was in pure grind mode as I could barley even walk up two of the steep climbs no one could ride up. My goal was to complete four laps and I beat that by one lap. The temperature was 20 deg C. Thank you to my parents for coming to cheer me on at the finish line. After the race I sat with my parents and United Cycle Race Team members Cory D, Trevor C and Mike K.

The day before the race I organised Race the Ridge along side with Cory D, my mom doing the lap counting and all our great volunteers. It was a big week to get some details done for the race and on race day it was an 11 hour day to get there to get the course set up, volunteers ready to go and prepare the race as to the regulations set out by Alberta Bicycle Association. I did not even ride my bike for ten days before the race. This race used about five Km's of the course we used for our race and Kurt M of Hardcore helped us out to set it up so I knew the course well.

Thank you Kurt M, Geoff  I, Steve M, Karen M, Mark R, Peter K, Gord B, Bob W, Keegan B, and Hardcore Bikes for putting on the race & all the volunteers for their efforts.





 Pic by Leanne E
 
 

Pic by fellow racer & Photographer Nick C. Check out his website http://www.redlinephotography.ca/ 
 
 
 
My salute. I'm almost at the finish line. Pic by my parents.
 

Fat Tire MTB XC Race 2016 #1 @ Sunridge Ski Hill


Tuesday May 17th, I finished third last place in the four laps group. It was 8 kms long and it took me 47 minutes. My average heart rate was 169 bpm and Max 196 bpm. Total elevation gain was 1,342 feet. Check out my Garmin data Here. With my warm up I went a total of 10 kms and road for 1 hour. The course had the really hard switch back climbs and steep descents. After the first couple climbs my stomach felt a bit un settled so I had to back off my effort a bit. Then my dropper seat post locked up on me so it took me a bit to get it to the full height position. After the race I spoke with Kurt M and Geoff I of Hardcore about our races as they are organizing the MTB XC marathon race on May 29th and myself and Cory D are organizing the MTB XC race on May 28th. I spread the word as well tonight. It was 26 deg C and a perfect evening outdoors. Thanks to the crew @ Hardcore for putting on the race.

May 2016 Training


Wed 18th, MTB group ride to Whitemud Park for 1hr 50mins, Average heart rate =133 Max =182, Elevation gain 886 feet. Km's 18

Sun 15th, MTB ride @ Terwillegar Park for 2hrs (Zone's 1-4) Average heart rate =145 Max =189, Elevation gain 1,457 feet. Km's 22

Sat 14th, Road ride to Beaumont for 2hrs 30mins (Zone's 1-3) Average heart rate =136 Max =173, Elevation gain 797 feet. Km's 65

Thu 12th, Road ride @ Ellerslie Road for 1hr 20mins (2 X 15min threshold) Average heart rate =122 Max =180, Elevation gain 463 feet. Km's 35

Wed 11th, MTB group ride to Gold Bar Park for 2hrs 10mins, Average heart rate =145 Max =185, Elevation gain 1,329 feet. Km's 22

Sun 8th, MTB ride Terwillegar Park to Patricia Ravine for 2hrs (Zone's 1-3) Average heart rate =129 Max =174, Elevation gain 1,398 feet. Km's 24

Sat 7th, Road ride Colchester Hall to Antler Lake with parents for 3hrs (Zone 1/2) Average heart rate =123 Max =182, Elevation gain 856 feet. Km's 70

Wed 4th, MTB group ride to Quesnell Bridge for 2hrs, Average heart rate =153 Max =194, Elevation gain 1,194 feet. Km's 22

Mon 2nd, MTB ride @ Sunridge Ski Hill for 1hr 15mins (Zone's 1-3) Average heart rate =142 Max =187, Elevation gain 1,066 feet. Km's 12

Sun 1st, MTB ride Mill Creek Ravine to Gold Bar Park for 3hrs (Zone's 1-4) Average heart rate =145 Max =183, Elevation gain 2,290 feet. Km's 33




7th Mothers day ride to Antler Lake. Pic by parents