Anyone have experience with the Trans BC Enduro?

[Roxtar]

Considering for next year.
Any beta on conditions, support, level of difficulty, overall quality of event, etc?

[toast2266]

I did it in 2018 - had a great time. Big days and awesome trails.

Support level was decent, but not mind blowing. I did it with some friends as a self supported thing (meaning we camped on our own and didn't rely on the organizer for lodging or food aside from some aid station snacks). Aid stations were OK. From talking to other racers, it sounds like the accommodations were decent, and the food was a bit hit or miss.

Trails were a great mix, with nothing that I would call terrible. There was some stuff that was legitimately steep and rowdy. Also a few "special" trails that were off the beaten path that were super fun.

We probably climbed about 5,000 feet a day and descended 8-10,000. Average mileage was maybe 25-ish (?), but for most of that stuff, the vert matters more than the mileage.

[WaistDeepGroomers]

Just completed the Sea to Sky version this year. Pushed me more than anything I've done on a bike. Def was at a disadvantage coming from the Northeast, most folks rode year round and doing 6 5,000 foot days of climbing back to back (with no shuttles ever), with a lot of hike a bikes, I was absolutely the slowest guy getting through the course. Cramped badly the first day and body slowly[got used to it afterwards.

Trails were most often gnarly, chunky, steep AF, rooty, or some combination thereof, maybe with the end stage being a better one so you could "feel like you could ride a bike again." First day at Vedder mtn absolutely whooped me. We have steeps and tech and gnar back east, but not all three happening at once, especially the steeps, which were much longer and more committing than almost anything I'd ridden before. A lot of stuff I probably wouldn't have ridden if I'd had the chance to look at it before dropping in lol. I'm amazed how many people (including all the volunteers, more than half of whom were women -- badass!!) were in half shell helmets.

In my Open Men group of 80, I think 12 didn't finish due to crashes and injuries. So very quickly it went from "I'm racing this" to "I'm trying to get through this." Granted, I learned very quickly how much faster this field was than expected, I'd edge into the top 10 in my age group in Eastern States Cup enduros and I was second to last (67th of 69th) in the open field at Trans BC. Truly humbling the level of riding. Also doing it on a 140 mm trail bike with not a very long wheelbase was a contributing factor lol.

As for value, I thought $2200 USD for six days of guided riding, accoms, food, transport, support, etc. was a pretty killer deal. Food varied but was generally good. The college dorms in Vancouver at the start weren't amazing, but later accoms (esp. in Whistler) were great. Support was a bit lacking, if you broke something you were on your own to find a way to fix it, although one of the volunteers found me a linkage bolt overnight and one of the Schwalbe guys sold me a new wheel on the spot after I'd blown up my carbon rim in Pemberton.

Toast is a way better rider than me but I'd definitely never been pushed, physically and mentally, on a bike like I had that week. Def threaded the needle to manhood lol.

I think the inland version has a shuttle or two each day, longer descents and somehow more steeps. It was a totally wild experience and I'd love to try some of the other trans races now (esp. Trans Madeira).

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Subscribed. This one is on the list after doing TSN in 2021. I think I like the blind enduros more than the "normal" bike park type enduros.

[smmokan]

No experience with the Trans BC, but I've got my eye on the Stone King Rally (guided ride, not the race) next year... but the daily numbers scare me.

[bennymac]

Did the Trans Provence (which has morphed into the Stone King) - was super cool and fun and well organized. There was only 70 (I think) riders in total which made it easy to meet just about everyone including the pro riders (at that time was like Fabien Barel and Jerome Clementz etc.)

Ash the organizer seems to really know what he is doing - I bet the Stone King is even better.

Waistdeep - that was a good write up /description of TBC. Nice work surviving it.

[toast2266]

A buddy just finished the stone king. Going in, he knew he wasn't competitive, so he was just kind of doing it for the challenge and the cool ride.

Haven't gotten the full debrief from him yet, but it sounds like it was awesome. Also sounds like it kicked his ass. Lots of hard climbing and hike a bike, and lots of steep chunky alpine hiking trails on the way down.

Waistdeep - nice work! Sounds like exactly the right race experience; super hard, kinda scary, and it kicks your ass, but the reward of finishing is hard to beat.

Kinda crazy that there weren't any shuttles this year. When I did it, we usually started the day with a shuttle (usually to *almost* the top, but we'd still do a bit of a pedal to warm up). Then maybe have one other shuttle somewhere during the day.

[smmokan]

In the areas they raced this year, there aren't many shuttles available. Maybe on the first stage of Squamish in Diamond Head, but the rest are mostly off limits in Vancouver, Pemby and Whistler.

[XXX-er]

I hadn't heard of the trans BC enduro event but i had heard of the BC bike race, our own LHutz won a 1st place last year in that race

Trans BC enduro sounds like its gender based

[bennymac]

Wow - coming in first place at BCBR is super impressive. You need a superb combo of speed + skill + consistency + endurance to stand on that podium

[XXX-er]

A first place, so there are quite a few Categories " the Local Legends " are a team of 2 their ages adding up to 100 +

7 or 8 local riders were there from town

[Roxtar]

Toast and WaistDeep, thanks for the beta. Exactly what I was looking for.
I'd probably do the self support as I have a camper outfitted for 2-3 weeks of self sufficiency. Looking for a bucket list push-to-the-limit sort of race and this sounds like one.
I did Leadville when I turned 50.
Curious to see what's still possible at 63.

[Eluder]

No experience with the Trans BC, but I've got my eye on the Stone King Rally (guided ride, not the race) next year... but the daily numbers scare me.

Like toast I dont have the full report but here is a quote and the stats.

"we had 3700' hike-a-bike after lunch in one go"

“Shit got real”

38,000 feet of ascending and almost 80,000 feet of descending.

[LHutz Esq]

A first place, so there are quite a few Categories " the Local Legends " are a team of 2 their ages adding up to 100 +

7 or 8 local riders were there from town

I think we just "out lasted" our competition more than anything.

If you finished in our group last year - you got on the podium.

But they can't take back my yellow Jersey!

I think this enduro thing looks more our style anyway. With our lack of climbing prowess and bike choice (I was on a ripmo v2, Dave on a We Are One 170), the downs were a challenge of threading the carnage until the third or fourth day, when folks would just let us by as they knew they would be passing us again on the up.

We had a great team down their though and it was a lot of fun cheering on the fast guys.
Pete was 2nd in the 50+ mens group
Dan was 12 in the Open Men (not bad for a retired hockey player)
Lorne was 12 in the 50+, Dean 17th

[XXX-er]

Don't say that ^^ just bask in your superb speed + skill + consistency + endurance !

[jacob_dbu]

Subscribed! Would love to get into this stuff.

[smmokan]

Like toast I dont have the full report but here is a quote and the stats.

"we had 3700' hike-a-bike after lunch in one go"

“Shit got real”

38,000 feet of ascending and almost 80,000 feet of descending.

Yeah, that's what has me a little worried. Maybe "worried" isn't the right word; I'm 100% fine with big days and some suffering, but I want to be able to enjoy the big, rowdy descents.

I like what Trans Savoie has going over there too, maybe one of their 7-day guided trips is more in line with what I want.

[Dantheman]

Anyone see this last week? Looks like some serious bucket list shit.

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/a-new-...arch-2024.html

[XXX-er]

https://vancouverisland.ctvnews.ca/m...race-1.6471016

the BC bike race is on Vancover island this year

[smmokan]

Anyone else pull the trigger on this yet? I just signed up last night (40+ Masters)... it's been on the list for a few years and I'm psyched on next year's locations. Don't really plan on racing, but I'm looking forward to lots of big days on the bike.

[toast2266]

Nice! You doing trans bc, or bc bike race?

[smmokan]

Trans BC

[toast2266]

Sweet - I've heard the pano segments are awesome. Had some friends who raced trans bc a while back when they hit pano, and they said it was really good.

[WaistDeepGroomers]

Nice work -- good luck!

I think the interior program will be more like what Toast experienced.

Chatted with my friend who raced Stone King and wants to do Trans BC this year. Sounds like they had similar amount of climbing, but another couple thousand feet of descending every day. Sounded like mega days... out the door at 7 am and wrapped by 6-7. We were more like 9-4.

But yes, ample time should be spent this winter pushing a bike loaded with kettle bells up loose steep fire roads in prep

FWIW I wasn't too worried about not having the reserves to get downhill (though I don't often suffer that problem); but after the first 2-3 days, most people were really not pushing it on the descents, and were just trying to get through the day, riding "casually" on the very non-casual terrain. V. different from when I've raced single-day enduros and you're really pedaling like mad and really going for it on every scary section.

I did, however, lose 25 minutes on the final descent the first day at Vedder when I lost the front wheel in a corner and proceeded to enjoy an unstoppable double leg cramp that more or less immobilized me. That first day of 5k hike-a-biking in the sun, coming from Boston, killed me, and I don't think I had enough salt that day. Had to pull off the trail multiple times afterwards as both legs would re-cramp. Pretty embarrassing/humbling experience but my body got the message real quick and didn't have similar issues the rest of the week, even though I was almost the slowest guy on the course.

[toast2266]

^^^ that reminds me: include long hike-a-bikes in your training regimen. It's different muscles, and some of the extended pushes definitely hurt a lot of people. Iirc, there's a big HAB above pano that'll likely be in the race. You'll probably do big money in fernie too. That climb is rideable, but realistically almost everyone will hike it in the race.