Click on photo to view gallery Photo by Brett Wolfe

Stage 6: Bragg Creek to Sandy Pine Grove Campground. 71 kilometers, 1800 meters elevation gain. Picturesque meadows, stunning ridge ride, rocky fun-filled descent.

Textures: Rolling singletrack ascent, very nice singletrack, and flew through the meadows. Dirt road ascent, switchback climbing, rooty ascent, lava rocks, loose exposed ridge-ride, with 360 degree views. Smoke obscured our sights. Reached Sandy Pine Grove Campground via dirt road and then hit rough pavement/chip seal.

Characters: A Canadian crew, Team Cavell, politely jumped out of our way as JuliRae and I attacked the descents. One of the fellows wondered where my partner got the Kamikaze attitude. We kept catching up to a crew from New Zealand, Ben and Michael, who were partaking in the race on their way to Alaska. Michael, who was very polite, stated clearly that if I continued to apologize when I passed, he was going to push me off my bike. In jest, of course, but that created a dialog as we passed each other across the Rockies.

Stage 7: Sandy Pine Grove Campground to Canmore. 78 kilometers, 3000 meters elevation gain. More of a rolling day with a final push towards the end of the day. Some tricky singletrack to keep us on our toes.

Textures: Ascending and descending single track riding. Moisture made the roots slippery, but never became detrimental. Rode along a dike in a nest of mountain peaks. Some more back roads, a little trail, a brief stint on the highway, then we were introduced to some wicked fun riding on this trail paralleling the road. Well constructed stairs and tight bridges along a creek, and exposed rocky outcroppings for careful riding. Finally saw more Grizzly bear scat than Black bear. We made a final push to the Canmore Nordic center with a steep climb and a rough, rocky, rooty descent on the World Cup/ Adrenalin Course. Some loose, fast descents with technical transitions followed by a rapid drop brought us into Canmore. Seven days finally came to conclusion.

"I had forewarned JuliRae that I would become superhuman if fed baked goods from my wife..."

Characters: Cullen again demonstrated his ability to clean nasty rock ascents while navigating the stair-filled trail. You could see the smiles breaking as we got closer to finishing the seven days of racing. My racing partner broke out the desserts - Ruglach, which my wife had baked and delivered when she found us at a camp on stage 6, wondering whether or not we were surviving. I had forewarned JuliRae that I would become superhuman if fed baked goods from my wife.

Overall texture: Very scenic, remote feeling, different types of textures for different riding styles, much rock, and epic routes that melded my daily experience to the point where I have difficulty discerning "highlights" that transpired other than I was having the time of my life riding over the Canadian Rockies.

Overall Characters: The volunteers and race organizers made it happen. They looked worse for wear than many of the racers by the end of the event. These events are logistical nightmares. Many of the volunteers at the checkpoints nourished us with food and information.

To the crews racing out front - It was hard enough to have one good day, and its amazing to have many consistently good days. My favorite couple in the race was nice couple from Minnesota. The Woodburys, not young I might add, continually got on their bikes each day and made an effort. The Woodburys were told about the event from one of my fellow competitors, Mike Madden, another ultra-athlete whose adventures include Iditabike, Trans Alps, and countless 24hr solos.

The Canadian team, Cavell, in their matching green outfits, always had positive words and were polite when we had to leapfrog them on the descents. Sisley, with a severed nerve in his left arm, and Susanne, his partner, continued to have a great attitude, even though Susanne was riding at her limit the whole week. It was very tough position to be in emotionally.

Then there were the funky Canmore girls, whose age, life-style and attitude were positive the whole week we spent with them in the woods. Definitely have to give credit to Stu and his faithful partner, Troy, for continuing when most of us would have stopped. He, on day 7, finished with separated shoulder and a broken jaw. Interestingly, he was worried about fires near his home on day 5. There are countless stories that I am sure I'll never hear, but hats off to all the people who stuck it out regardless of obstacles and gave 100%.