Book of Chad

The course profile at Campbell River was very flat compared to most XC races. Although there were a couple of short, punchy climbs, the less than 180m of elevation gain per lap made the overall course feel pan-flat. This, of course, meant that there were not going to be a lot of rests for long descents. The course was also mostly single-track and machine-built accessible flow trails. The places to pass without being let to pass were few and far between, and really, only one flat fire road section close to the finish was truly open to passing. Coming back from my last crash and knowing I didn’t have enough time to heal before Singletrack Six if I was to crash again, I did not want to take any chances. So I decided to start a little slower and slot into where I fit and not try to go all out on the first lap.

At the start, the organizer counted down, “ready, set, go,” however, his rhythm was a bit off and there were a large number of false starters in the front row—you know who you are. I started and just kept myself comfortably in the top 10, finding myself in 6th or 7th place going into the single track. The pace was really comfortable, and although the leading riders were quickly disappearing up the trail, the group I was in had most of my competitors in it. The group of 6 or 7 of us was moving quickly, but I felt more like I was in a road or gravel race being in the draft. I had one funny incident in this early stage where I brushed a tree with my right shoulder at speed and exclaimed, “who put that tree there?” That’s when I found out that Graham Frost was right behind me as he replied something about even though my other shoulder was the hurt one, I shouldn’t test this one. Essentially, at that moment, we were riding at a fast conversational pace. About three-quarters of the way through the first lap, we were on a section of machine-built accessible trail on a false flat climb when the pace just dropped off for the two guys in front of me. At this point, I felt I would be happier leading that group rather than sitting in the third wheel. So, I asked Travis directly ahead of me if I could pass. He glanced back at me but didn’t say or do anything, so I took that as a no, at least for now. We went another minute or so, and I was getting impatient and asked again if I could pass on his right. He looked to have moved to the left of the trail and looked back at me over his right shoulder, and I accelerated to make the pass. As I got completely alongside, my left bar hit his right bar, knocking him down, and my right foot came out of my pedal to avoid the same fate. I pulled to the right side of the trail to ask if he was okay as the rest of our group sped through and took off. He said yes and was getting back on his bike, so I called to him to come with me and let’s get caught back up to our group. I soft-pedaled for a bit, hoping he would get back in touch and we could work together a bit. However, he wasn’t coming back to me right away, and I decided to just start back up to a normal pace.

Starting the second lap, I was mostly isolated from the group but could see them just up ahead. A spectator told me the gap was 5 seconds, so I just kept the pace I was maintaining and hoped that I would be able to catch back on. However, I found it was harder to ride this course alone than it was in the group, so I saw that gap go out to 10 seconds and then 15 over the next lap and a half. All the while, I was thinking that I really screwed up and knocked a friend down and wrecked his race. On the final climb, however, I caught a glimpse of Travis starting the switchbacks as I was coming out the top, and I decided then that I was going to let him go by as I didn’t actually fairly pass him in the first place. As I went down the final flat fire road section, I was looking back to see him exit the trees, and as soon as he did, I rode off the side of the road into the soft ditch, as I saw he had another racer in tow. I recovered from that and got back to speed to go into the final single-track section. As soon as I exited the final section and with 15 feet to the finish line, I pulled over and put a foot down, hoping to finish in between Travis and his predecessor. The other guy arrived first and Travis was behind him, so I rolled in with Travis finishing right behind him in 12th.

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Time: 1:34:54
Distance: 28.9 km
Avg Heart Rate: 184 bpm
Max Heart Rate: 195 bpm
Normalized Power: 248 W
Place: 12 th