Click on photo to view gallery Photo by Brett Wolfe

Trans Rockies. It's a game of numbers transposed upon different textures. The Trans Rockies Challenge is a 7-day mountain bike stage race across the Canadian Rockies. We cycled over 600 kilometers and climbed more than 12,000 meters over the Canadian Rockies.

On August 10th, 158 people started the race in Fernie, B.C. and 149 rolled into Canmore, Alberta to finish on August 16th. Our days upon the bike varied from 5-plus hours to just short of 11 hours. The top pro men ranged from 3-plus hours to 6-plus hours.

For seven days we awoke each morning, stuffed down breakfast, tried to estimate the amount of time on the bike, how much hiking, gathered enough calories, and determined how much water to carry. A quick inventory check and then we hopped onto the bike to race across another set of beautiful mountains to another scenic location. At the end of the day we would eat as many calories as we could find, recover, rest, and repeated the whole cycle the next day. Some days were better than others, but altogether, it was an incredible way to spend a week.

The objective of the teams varied. The teams consisted of open men, open women, masters, and mixed teams. For some it was a go-for-broke each day, searching for stage wins and/or methodically working towards a culminative time for overall standings. For others it was simply to survive the race and finish the event. The rest of us were caught somewhere in the middle.

The Trans Rockies was developed in the same format as the very popular Trans Alp Challenge, which is an 8-day mountain bike stage race across the Alps. Stage racing? Think Tour de France and you are beginning to understand the daily routine. Compared to road stage racing, however, there are many subtle differences in mountain bike stage racing. A significant difference is riders are required to race with a single partner, rather than with a full team like USPS - Berry Floor. Teammates must pass each checkpoint and finish each stage together. The two-person teams work together like clockwork, efficiently using each others' strengths to give an incredible effort. The dynamics of teamwork come into play: the ability to adequately use the combined resources while rolling over unforgiving and unknown terrain becomes paramount.

"Indeed, the Canadian Rockies served up a delicious variety of textures. We rode on narrow trails, root infested trails, lava rock-root-switchback..."

Stages varied in length and elevation gain, as well as the texture of the terrain we raced upon. Each day, aside from first three stages which were rerouted around smoke and forest fires, we were given incredible detail about the numbers of the race. Grades, elevations, distances, turns and all necessary information to find the finish line. When racing upon pavement the numbers are relatively straightforward. Admittedly, we did some time on the pavement; fortunately it was short and we enjoyed the true nature of off-road racing. In my experience, true off road racing would not be complete without a healthy dose of unpredictable and unforeseen challenges, as well as attention to the minutia of route finding, weather/environmental concerns, equipment hurdles, beautiful sights, and ascents that make you feel like you are going crest at the top of the world. To a mountain biker the texture of the surface that we ride over creates the greatest challenge to calculating our overall speed, calorie consumption, and equipment longevity. Texture defines our world.

There is a tremendous difference between a fast spin ride on hard packed dirt versus a lactate-threshold-climb, barely-able-to keep-traction over rocky terrain to summit the next ridge. Either way, we enjoy the game, but it plays havoc on calculating the numbers. Are there enough calories, enough water, should I break out the iodine tablets? What was I thinking when I choose those tires? At times the terrain favored particular riding skills, while other surfaces sapped our muscles and our mental strength, forcing us to crawl slowly along, yet consuming silly amounts of calories.

Indeed, the Canadian Rockies served up a delicious variety of textures. We rode on narrow trails, root-infested trails, lava rock-rooty-switchback, and boulder-strewn rapid descents. There were also loose, dusty, rocky ascents with matching descents, scenic ridge rides with exposed trail, old overgrown roads barely discernible to the eye, alder brush so thick it was hard to see the trail, old cow trails covered in grass so rough it seemed to take twice the amount of energy to move forward, wild jeep roads, powerline roads, fields of scree the size of a human heads tumbling loose, ski runs with bobsled-like corners, more roots and rocks combined for pleasure, gravel roads with tightly packed grains, some smooth silky cross-country ski trails that made me feel super-human as I quietly drifted around the corners, as well as blissfully fast double track, small creek crossings, a few river crossings, tacky wall-like ascents, and loose, free falling descents.

While some trails beat us into submission as we begged for the finish line, the routes never allowed us to get sloppy. The course kept our agility in check by climbing wooden stairs on the side of a cliff all the while ascending some tricky, but fun rocky faces. Within shouting range of the finish line we were greeted with a loose, free fall descent to the finish line in Canmore. I was often asked about what stood out in my mind about the course, but I never could come up with an easy answer. To state that there were a variety of surfaces and textures would be an understatement. The Trans Rockies exemplifies mountain bike racing at its finest.

I suspect the reason races of this type are so popular in Europe is the amazing and interesting people encountered along the way, the opportunity to push oneself in a controlled manner, and in this particular race, explore the mountains of B.C. and Alberta.