It seemed as if in 24 hours the BPA had metasticized into the talk of the town. Even a mid packer, Grant, from Steamboat Springs, CO was concerned that if something should go wrong in his race, he can still join the group. Roy and I looked at each and joked. This association has a life of its own now. The BPA has struck a chord and is truly the voice of the people. Roy and I actually started this as a joke but soon realized that it really is spreading through this race. People know that hanging out at the back of the pack is a lot more fun. It allows all of us to connect to others with similar interests. Take our word for it, at every rest stop people were joking around about the BPA. Some were chanting B-P-A, B-P-A, B-P-A!
Dave Dirkson, a local canadaian said "people in the front of the pack, were drinking water and a coke out of his cooler. The people in the back half of the race were eating potato chips and asking where is the local liquor store?"
You see, there is a significant attitude diffrence in the back of the pack vs. front of the pack. They may have a picture taken on the podium at the end of the race, but for us that podium shot is just the beginning.
The second subject matter of the day: bear poop. When Roy openly admitted to not seeing and being totally oblivious to the profusion of bear scat on our route people were shocked. So today many people came up us talking about their bear poop sightings. While we made it to checkpoint 2, a guy came up and said "hey Roy, I got a picture of bear poopy for ya and if you give me an email address, I can mail it to ya, eh?" Roy responded and I heard "I hate to look a gift horse in the mouth, but did you get perspective on the photo?". He look confused and said "what do you mean, eh?" So Roy and I set off to show him how to take a picture with a proper perspective. We left the first aid station and shortly after found a SPBE as they call it in BC. It stands for a "steaming pile of bear evacuation." See uploaded photo for perspective. As word swept, a dozen people cam up to see the photo during dinner.
Todays ride is probably what everyone actually tuned in for. We woke up at 4am to take a shuttle to a bus that took us to a ferry to the mainland, back on a bus, and to another ferry where we landed on the Sunshine Coast, Canada's most beautiful stretch of land.
The race started at 11am and I thought to myself, "this cant be that long of a day." Boy, was I wrong.
We started off in a big pace line only we weren't in it, we were in the back as usual. Roy stopped 5 minutes into the race start to snap a photo of the SUNSHINE COAST where we would be riding that day. I bet very little people know why its called the Sunshine Coast? One interesting note is that Vancouver Island mountains hold all the clouds and as a result keeps all the rain on the island... That folks is why it is called the Sunshine Coast. Remember We will be riding the mainland side of the Georgia Strait.
We were told about the single track and the "power line" trail. There was a buzz in the air. It seemed as if everyone was excited for a recover day...it was hardly that. Sunto reports: min 42, max 206, average heart rate 123, total ascent 5500ft, 65 kilometers. All of it was inside a heavily fortified forest with no wind, little air flow, massive dropouts and laddered crossings. Most of these crossings were composed of a falling trees that have had the upside of it shaved flat. There are mile and miles of this twisty, turny, whoopdie-doos. Made only for the proven mountain biker, these trails are like the graduate school of mountain biking and only doable by experienced riders but we are not 4 hour finishers. There is so much work riding these trails that we had to literally stop, get off the bikes, take a breath and walk for five minutes. I had never seen or heard Roy curse. Roy said all of George Carlin's curse words, three times throughout the day. Once when he went over the bars from a hole hidden deep in the tall grass. Another time when his chain snapped. Then, about 200 yards from the finish, one pedal up, one pedal down got caught on a rock and slammed him to the ground jabbing his handlebar into his chest. I immediately picked the camera up, shot a couple of pictures and then asked if everything is ok?
Finishing time 7:58:10
Today was a tiring day. We spent the night in Cumberland at the "riding fool" hostel. Roy and I bunked in with 6 other people in a large room. We woke at 4am to take a bus that will take us to a BC ferry that will help us get to the mainland. The short bus driver really was a simple minded guy as the night before I had been pulling our luggage out of the back of his van when he started the van and took off, I hadn't even closed the doors. I had to give a loud whistle for him to stop. He picked us up and started a mad dash to drop us off in time to catch another bus that will lead us to the ferry. He was driving like a weenis, so I decided to put a seat belt on. We made it to the bus in record time (or say he says), than the bus driver...oh god help us the bus driver. Someone asked him "where do we put the luggage?". He shrugged and said "I have no idea.". Someone made an attempt at placing them in the side where luggage usually goes and he shook his head and said "no, not in there.". We literally picked them up and brought them inside this skinny hallway of a school bus and started placing all the bags sticking them one atop another in the seats. I thought myself, this guy is an idiot.
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