Anyone have experience with the Trans BC Enduro?

[themutt]

I've done a TransBC when it was in the Rossland/Castlegar/Nelson area. Megan (the organizer) runs a pretty dialed program, and the staff are all great.

Each of these races has a slightly different vibe. Out of the events I've done or heard a lot about (Trans Cascadia, BC, NZ, Tasmania) TransBC is definitely the rowdiest in terms of trail difficulty and the event that feels most like a race.

Lots of both type 1 and type 2 fun to be had. There will be at least one stage every day where you'll finish and think "that was amazing"! There will also be one stage each day where you'll finish and go "holy shit, I can't believe I'm alive". You will go on a long walk with your bicycle at least once.

It's a physically challenging event even for people who ride all the time. Stats for the week were:

• 125 miles
• 26,000 ft of climbing
• 36,000 ft of descending
• 31 hours out

Show up in shape for both the ups AND downs. It's not uncommon to have 10-min+ stages. The longest stage we did was 3000 ft of descending.

Highly recommend doing these types of races with a couple friends if possible. If you're solo, be friendly and find some homies to ride with during the event. Having a crew makes the days super fun.

I'd agree that the food is alright and nothing special. The good news is that there's a LOT of it so you'll never go hungry. Taking your own ride food that you know your stomach likes is a good idea and something I wish I would have done.

Bring lots of spare parts. You'll probably break something and the small towns you're staying in may, or may not, have the specific thing you need. Also recommend bringing a travel size foam roller for recovery.

[toast2266]

Bring lots of spare parts. You'll probably break something and the small towns you're staying in may, or may not, have the specific thing you need. Also recommend bringing a travel size foam roller for recovery.

That's a fact. In that week, I killed a rear derailleur, 2 chains, a set of brake pads, a rear shock, and a set of knee pads.

[smmokan]

I've done a TransBC when it was in the Rossland/Castlegar/Nelson area. Megan (the organizer) runs a pretty dialed program, and the staff are all great.

Each of these races has a slightly different vibe. Out of the events I've done or heard a lot about (Trans Cascadia, BC, NZ, Tasmania) TransBC is definitely the rowdiest in terms of trail difficulty and the event that feels most like a race.

Lots of both type 1 and type 2 fun to be had. There will be at least one stage every day where you'll finish and think "that was amazing"! There will also be one stage each day where you'll finish and go "holy shit, I can't believe I'm alive". You will go on a long walk with your bicycle at least once.

It's a physically challenging event even for people who ride all the time. Stats for the week were:

• 125 miles
• 26,000 ft of climbing
• 36,000 ft of descending
• 31 hours out

Show up in shape for both the ups AND downs. It's not uncommon to have 10-min+ stages. The longest stage we did was 3000 ft of descending.

Highly recommend doing these types of races with a couple friends if possible. If you're solo, be friendly and find some homies to ride with during the event. Having a crew makes the days super fun.

I'd agree that the food is alright and nothing special. The good news is that there's a LOT of it so you'll never go hungry. Taking your own ride food that you know your stomach likes is a good idea and something I wish I would have done.

Bring lots of spare parts. You'll probably break something and the small towns you're staying in may, or may not, have the specific thing you need. Also recommend bringing a travel size foam roller for recovery.

Awesome info, thanks much. Sounds like a challenging and rewarding week of riding in a new place that will be super fun.

[bennymac]

Also if there are international level pro riders in the event it’s good to do some extra training on your humility. I remember going down timed runs and thinking “holy shit I nailed that one” and then would see that the pro guys and gals were literally twice as fast [emoji23] [emoji1745]

[WaistDeepGroomers]

That's a fact. In that week, I killed a rear derailleur, 2 chains, a set of brake pads, a rear shock, and a set of knee pads.

Ha! Likewise. Taco'ed my front carbon rim in Pemberton and got SO lucky when the guys in the Schwalbe van at the bottom sold me an OEM front wheel on the spot, tire already on, that they just happened to have. Had to find a linkage bolt that I snapped tightening in North Van (finished the day with a zip tie through my linkage, oh boy), wasn't able to get to a shop by a volunteer friend went to a shop and found me a chainring bolt that would work.

Also if there are international level pro riders in the event it’s good to do some extra training on your humility. I remember going down timed runs and thinking “holy shit I nailed that one” and then would see that the pro guys and gals were literally twice as fast [emoji23] [emoji1745]

Yeah... buddy ran into the Trans NZ group when he was riding there the March before Trans BC and asserted we would TOTALLY be mid-pack... I think I was 3rd to last for open men lol. REAL humbling how much faster people in that field are, damn.

[t.odd]

if I was going to do a Trans BC I'd definitely do the East Kootenays versus anything else in BC. Long, steep, loose descents are the name of the game out there and there are some doozey's! we rode one stage in Golden they used previously that was seriously puckering in places, and just super long steep sustained sections which we don't get anywhere else in BC, imo.

[smmokan]

Question for those who have done multi-day stage races like the Trans BC, Stone King, Trans NZ, etc... what's your "pacing" strategy during each day- and also the week? Since there's essentially no time limit each day, do you take it as easy as possible on the climbs, so you can max out on the descents?

I do a lot of local rides where I climb 4-5k', but I'm usually by myself (or with a buddy) and it only takes a few hours - I'm never crushing the climbs, but I am going at a decent pace. I would assume during a stage race, I'll want to dial that back quite a bit since there's no real hurry on the transfers.

[Roxtar]

Question for those who have done multi-day stage races like the Trans BC, Stone King, Trans NZ, etc... what's your "pacing" strategy during each day- and also the week? Since there's essentially no time limit each day, do you take it as easy as possible on the climbs, so you can max out on the descents?

I do a lot of local rides where I climb 4-5k', but I'm usually by myself (or with a buddy) and it only takes a few hours - I'm never crushing the climbs, but I am going at a decent pace. I would assume during a stage race, I'll want to dial that back quite a bit since there's no real hurry on the transfers.

My best recommendation is to go at whatever pace is most comfortable. Sometimes, forcing yourself to go slower than normal will have a negative effect. Endurance XC racing (long time ago) taught me a nice sit-n-spin cadence that works for me.
It's also nice to find a group (or at least one rider) to BS with. This helps to pass time but also to keep your effort level low. Besides, misery loves company.

[toast2266]

Question for those who have done multi-day stage races like the Trans BC, Stone King, Trans NZ, etc... what's your "pacing" strategy during each day- and also the week? Since there's essentially no time limit each day, do you take it as easy as possible on the climbs, so you can max out on the descents?

I do a lot of local rides where I climb 4-5k', but I'm usually by myself (or with a buddy) and it only takes a few hours - I'm never crushing the climbs, but I am going at a decent pace. I would assume during a stage race, I'll want to dial that back quite a bit since there's no real hurry on the transfers.

I was definitely in the "go as slow as possible on the climbs" mindset. I actually had to practice it a bit before the race - I'm just in the habit of riding at my normal pace, and even if I started off slow, I'd find myself gradually speeding up until I was going normal speed. I can do "normal speed" for a ~5k ride for a day or two, but sustaining that for 6 days while going race pace on some very long descents is a whole different thing.

Even being in the best shape of my life and going at a slow, energy saving pace on the climbs, I was definitely pretty cooked at the end of the race. There were climbs I walked a significant portion of in the race that I've pedaled up without breaking a sweat on 1-day rides.

For whatever it's worth, the guy that won the overall when I did it was also in total leisure mode on the climbs. I rode some climbs with him - we were all going at a very casual, conversation pace.

[smmokan]

I was definitely in the "go as slow as possible on the climbs" mindset. I actually had to practice it a bit before the race - I'm just in the habit of riding at my normal pace, and even if I started off slow, I'd find myself gradually speeding up until I was going normal speed.

This is kind of what I asked... I can just make a point of doing some rides where I walk or go super slow on the climbs and then get a handful of big, long descents at a harder effort.

[toast2266]

This is kind of what I asked... I can just make a point of doing some rides where I walk or go super slow on the climbs and then get a handful of big, long descents at a harder effort.

Yeah, I didn't really do any particularly structured training. My goals before the race were:

1) ride 1000 miles of trail before the race, with a strong emphasis on techy stuff. (A snowy spring meant I only got around 850 miles pre-race).

2) make an effort to go ride trails I wasn't familiar with, and hit them at race pace.

3) do at least one 3k+ ride / week.

4) get better at pacing myself on climbs.

5) drink somewhat less beer.

#2 is definitely the one that made the most difference in my results. Everything else was just to survive the week and keep it "fun" rather than "miserably brutal."

[bennymac]

Yeah all the pro riders would be at the back of the pack and they’d stay there all day long - both because they didn’t want to have to pass us gapers on a timed section and also they would just be on slow cruise control on the untimed sections.

I can tell my grandkids I passed so and so in a bike race once and just leave out that it was during one of those climbs

[t.odd]

we took our time and chilled at the back during Trans Provence, usually with the last people finishing everyday, but would stop for an espresso or beer in town on the way through, casual pace up climbs or hike a bikes. Definitely was worth it for us just to enjoy it all and take it all in and not rush through each day.

[Jack Burton]

Headed up to 2024 Trans BC with a buddy, fired up! Tried in 2019 and crashed out.. at panorama :-). Still skiing as much as possible but bike is ready and calling!

2019 the 1 day was a blast and the big alpine days call!

[smmokan]

Bumping this up as we're getting closer... looks like a pretty solid ride itinerary (distance/vert wise, at least), can't wait to get up there in a couple of weeks. For whatever it's worth, I'll be in the second wave riding a black Dreadnought if anyone else is doing the race.

[Jack Burton]

yeah stoked to head north! 2nd wave as well, green Santa Cruz.

Should be in Fernie on Friday night with intention of doing a ride on Saturday morning to get my BC feet wet..

[LeeLau]

It's actually been decent weather in the East (and West) Kootenays this year. May be wet in subalpine but moisture is a nice relief from the past few years.

Conditions should be good

[waxman]

yeah stoked to head north! 2nd wave as well, green Santa Cruz.

Should be in Fernie on Friday night with intention of doing a ride on Saturday morning to get my BC feet wet..

Fernie is riding great. I'm away this weekend but enjoy the town/trails.

[smmokan]

Following up since the Trans BC ended yesterday... overall a super fun race and riding experience. There were definitely things that could have been done better, but the best parts (IMO) were the people and the trails, which in the end are most important, right? It was awesome how supportive and friendly everyone was, and we got to meet and hang with so many cool folks. Here are a few quick thoughts:

Lodging: average hotels in both Fernie and Panorama. No A/C in Panorama which really sucked since it was in the mid-90's every day. Hotel in Fernie was right on the river, which was awesome for post-ride cool-downs.

Food: pretty solid overall, I'd say. Good dinners (Panorama dinners were kind of weak), plenty of breakfast food, and the post-ride lunch was much appreciated. The aid station food was kind of weak, but I had my own ride supplies most days anyway.

Trails/Stages: Pretty damn fun. Sure there were some misses, but only a few over the course of the 6 days of riding. A bunch of the stages were absolutely incredible, including 2-3 at Toby Creek which had been scratched in just last week. Stage 2 that day was the steepest trail I've ever ridden, and lots of other racers agreed: probably about 1000' continuous, steep AF loamer. The backcountry stages at Pano were fucking awesome. Some of the transitions were kind of whack (literally bushwhacking) but overall the race delivered.

Days 1-4 were all tough, combined with the heat they were long, hard days on the bike (averaged ~25 miles, 4500+ climbing) which is exactly what I wanted. Day 5 was pretty easy, but she "had" to take a bigger stage out due to snow... although I think it was more because people were beat after Day 4. The last day was fucking epic, starting off with a HAB into the alpine and knocking out some incredible DHs heading back into the bike park.

There were definitely things that could have been done better with regards to communication, logistics, planning, etc., but they were fairly minor overall and didn't affect my personal experience, although I know some of the other folks were pretty pissed with certain aspects. Depending on location, it's definitely a race I'll do again at some point in the future. If the photogs send out the pictures from the race, I'll post a few up here at some point.

[beaterdit]

Nice work!

[toast2266]

Sick! Sounds rad!

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

[Jack Burton]

yeah, nice work Smmokan! Dug it :-)

Stoked on the week of riding, i did not have detailed expectations outside of fun and wanting to finish. The experience blew me away all told, the trails were a blast with Toby Creek and the Alpine above Panorama being the jems of the bunch IMO. Fun people to ride with, kick ass organization/crew, miss it already.

[frorider]

Thx for the report smmokan. It’s been on my to do list.

[smmokan]

yeah, nice work Smmokan! Dug it :-)

Stoked on the week of riding, i did not have detailed expectations outside of fun and wanting to finish. The experience blew me away all told, the trails were a blast with Toby Creek and the Alpine above Panorama being the jems of the bunch IMO. Fun people to ride with, kick ass organization/crew, miss it already.

I liked Crowsnest Pass a lot too, but the blazing heat that day was pretty rough. Generally I agree though, Toby Creek and the second/last day above Panorama were my favorites.