Matty has checked in with his thoughts on the event after the third race…

Contributed by: Matty Blayney

Today the race went from Nipika does 90km and back to Nipika due to forest fires. This is so tough. Waking up at 530 and lining up for breakfast in the cold is not easy after yesterday. And the tent was soaked with the dew. Putting sun cream on in the cold wet tent wasn’t a joy either but I knew once the sun broke over the mountain the heat would pile on. 

As expected it went from cold to extremely hot very fast.  Today was probably the toughest yet and this challenge is really starting to break me. Physically I am good but mentally I’m a wreck. They give u these books with a diagram of the elevation against distance. Some people here swear by them and there’s nothing worse than climbing beside some guy who frequently tells you how far and how high you’ve yet to go. And they are so chirpy. “Hey man, not even half way there. How u doin”?  “Well considering that I feel like I’m riding on the sun and you keep telling me how long I’ve got to go, I don’t feel too great”. 

The 1522m altitude gain meant two massive climbs. I’m climbing really well and pass up to 30 people. They ride strange out here. They hammer it on the flat but as soon as they hit the hills it’s into the granny ring and spin a super easy gear. I sat at a slightly higher gear and they couldn’t sit with me. It felt great. 

Today I saw some serious accidents. Three people had to be air lifted off the mountains in separate injuries. Some were quite serious. At the top of the 2nd climb, which was seriously long, I began a fire track descent. They are so fast but they have these hidden ditches all down them. They call them water bars. Very dangerous to someone nervy on the downhill and it showed.  I past one girl unconscious, with her neck supported and blood all over her head.  She went into one of these ditches without seeing it and needless to say she came out of it on her face.  I’ve seen her since and one side of her face has been skinned off. 

The descent lasted forever but since that was the second person to be airlifted on it we took it easy. It’s amazing though that even when I was biting my handlebars, sweating and exhausted on the climb, one look up and I could see the best sight I’ve ever seen. Some of the creeks and massive rivers are spectacular.

The last 8km was rough technical with some hiking. I felt terrible. My muscles felt ok but I was seriously dehydrated. I can’t get my head round it though because I drank at least 5 litres. I’ve had the knock once before and I did not want it again but I felt my brain switching parts of my body off. I was terrified that id fall asleep in the forest. The views were spectacular but stuff the scenery I had to get back. I thought about the burgers and I suffered like a dog back to the camp. Another three and whatever I could get my hands on.  I’m like an eating machine out here.

The depression seems to be the in-between race bits. Queue for the bike wash, queue for the toilet, queue for food, queue for a shower and all in the blistering heat!  I suppose I may go lay in my oven tent with the ants and wait for the sun to go down. I could always read my wee book about the 113km of hills tomorrow! 

What am I doing here!

Matty

Category: Mountainbike » Canada, Matthew Blayney, Matty's Trans Rockies Diary, Trans Rockies |

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