RAID Vélo Mag: Race Report

Well, we all managed to survive the RAID. In fact, everyone (except me) managed to get themselves some swanky prizes and some time on the podium. There is a very limited selection of photos from the event on the organizer's flickr photostream here. The results can be found in confusing PDF’s on the FQSC website here. 

To save people some time flipping through all those PDF’s here’s the results for the “Grand Cumulatif Scratch”, or the cumulative results for the whole weekend for everyone who did the “big one”.

like always, click image to make it bigger/legible

 Riders from Ottawa will notice there are a few familiar names in the top 10 for both the male and female categories.
Anna O'Brien from "Tall Tall Cycles" (see results) finished third overall for the women on her custom mountain 29er tall bike.

Anna's 29er (left) and  spare 24er (right)

In the men's results you'll also notice Ryan Atkins in 2nd (his account of the race HERE), Neil Schiemann in 3rd about 7 min behind, and Imad El-Ghazal in 6th all riding for Kunstadt Sports Cycling Club. Matt Surch and David Stachon from Tall Tree Cycles also ended up in the top 10. Good performance from all, and a good showing for the "underdog" ontarians.

My race report will conisist of a rundown of each stage from my perspective, the overall results for the stage as well as some GPS data for stages 2 and 3. Sorry about the length: it seems like the race report ended up being almost as epic as the race itself.

Stage 1: TO THE TOP

            The first stage of this year’s RAID started right by the parking lot at the base of Mont Sainte Anne and took riders to the top (literally right to the top of the gondola at the summit) of the ski hill on a combination of service road and double track on ski hills. It was fairly cool and wet, but since this was going to be a "hillclimb" stage, most riders were wearing short sleeves and shorts with limited water and tools.

According to a number of people that had done this stage in previous years, they made a few drastic changes to the course. This year, instead of climbing to the summit and riding the gondola down, we would have an 11km descent through double and single track trails back to the base. This descent was super fun with a few “a-line” type sections of trail with berms and small jumps.Another change that was made was that they took us off the service road about ¾ of the way up and directed us straight up part of the ski hill, resulting in a lot of people having to get off and run.



This was a very challenging climb for me with about 500m of steep climbing (perhaps someone who had their GPS on during this stage can provide a more specific number). The total time for the stage ended up being a little over an hour for most of us. Everything went pretty well for me on this stage, with no flats and no mechanical issues, just a lot of mud in my eyes.

Stage 2: Quebec to MSA

The ominous elevation profile.. of DOOOOM

Stage 2 of this 3 day stage race is where the men started to break away from the mice. I found out at about the 55-60km mark that I was actually a mouse as I slipped into a trance of complete bonk and granny geared my way back to Mont Sainte Anne, dreaming of hot showers, hot chocolate and steaks on the barbie. At this point I was no longer “racing” but only trying to finish the day and avoid a DNF. Probably one of the worst bonks I’ve had in quite a while, I was totally out of it and even steering my bike down to the finish line seemed to be almost impossible.

While the huge amount of climbing in this stage could easily be blamed for my catastrophic blow up I think it could have also had something to do with all those dozens of kilometres trying to power through super sucky/sticky mud on the hydrocut trails. This was a mountain bike race unlike any other one I’ve done: there was a lot of open double track, some road (paved and unpaved), cold river crossings and lots and lots of mud. This was no O-Cup…

It all started in scenic Vieux Quebec right in front of the Chateau Frontenac, where a number of police motorcycles and a pace car led us out of town on the road for a 10km neutral start. The group of about 400 cold mountain bikers was a rolling road closure, with police closing the road ahead of us as we rode towards the hydrocut where the race would begin. It was a fairly uneventful first few km’s except for a few sketchy moments in the group and a small climb where the pace car suddenly sped up and everyone was up out of the saddle jockeying for position.

The pace car and police motorcycles pulled off the road as the group was directed onto a gravel double track under some power lines and a pair of ATV’s took over the pace setting. This marked the end of the neutral start, and all the favourites ramped up the pace up this first climb into the hydrocut trails, stringing out the group. By the top of the climb the race had been broken up into a bunch of smaller groups as everyone headed down the first rocky descent into the muddy, rocky, swampy hydrocut.

The race basically followed this hydrocut all the way to the 40km mark, where it headed out onto a paved road and past the start of the day’s shorter event and the third feed zone. I pulled over here and refilled my two bottles, since I had skipped the first two feed zones. *I probably should have grabbed some extra food here, and my day could have been a lot more enjoyable.* After this feed zone there was a gradual gravel road climb that got ugly when we were sent up a super steep ATV trail into the woods (the huge spike on the elevation profile). This was pretty much unrideable for me and I ran the majority of it. At this point I was also mixed in with a bunch of people from the shorter event, as they had just started which added some fun to the mix.

After the summit of this will breaking hike a bike we descended down to the bottom of the Mont Sainte Anne lift (on the north side) and trudged our way back around the mountain to the finish. Passing by the lifts was a bit of a trip, because it made you feel as though you were really close to the finish, when in reality you had a pretty serious climb left and probably about 15km of riding. This is where I really started to lose touch with reality and 50+ sport women on freeride bikes putted past me in their granny gears as I swerved my way up the final climb (true story).

As I haven’t spent too much time riding around Ste Anne it came as a total surprise to me when I came out of the woods and saw the finish. I managed to muster enough energy to make it over the curvy wooden ramp thing and went straight through the finish to the peanut/kronobar/chicken broth/water station and ate an obscene amount of free snacks.

Stage 3: Trails at MSA

Stage 3 Elevation (missing first 3km)

For me, stage 3 started out with a quick reminder of the previous day’s stage when I couldn’t get my Garmin to start recording because there was too much dried up mud in the buttons. Luckily I got it started about 3km into the ride when the sweat off my brow and persistent rain was able to dissolve the mud in the buttons. Contrary to the map from my Garmin, the race actually started and finished at the same point and a keen eye will notice on the elevation profile that there’s about 200m of climbing missing at the start.

The start took us down a paved road through the village of chalets and accommodations adjacent to Ste Anne, then up a double track climb. This was a tough way to start the day, as we basically coasted down the road in a big group then everyone went full tilt on this fairly large climb to get themselves into a better position. My approach was a bit different for this stage than on the previous day: I decided to stay within my comfort zone on this first climb in an attempt to save my legs for the climbs to come.

The three major climbs were right in the middle of the stage (see elevation profile above), and having studied the profile before I knew when to expect them and roughly how long they were. I also made a point of eating every 45min-1hr and I drank three full bottles (including one that was half water/half red bull).This stage ended up being a lot more fun as it was mostly trails with a bit more single track and some good climbs (and I didn't bonk). The climbs in this stage were a bit more manageable (not as steep) for my limited gear ratio and fitness level and I was able to finish the race in a normal mental state. I was even able to do a bit of racing and ended up duking it out with a few riders in the final few km’s.

Summary

I would recommend this race to anyone who’s looking for a good challenge, something different that the usual O-Cup, Q-Cup race, or someone who has an interest in stage races but doesn’t have the money/time for the big ones like BC bike race or transrockies. Just make sure if it's gonna be a rainy weekend, you bring some mud tires and lots of tools/spare tubes: I saw lots of people cursing their hutchinson pythons on those slip-n-slide mud chute climbs and heard about lots of flats.

All in all it was an excellent weekend of epic riding, bike cleaning, eating and general tom foolery. Thanks goes out to all the people who made it happen, and to the Kunstadt Sports trailer for getting our bikes there.

Makeshift or Emergency Wheel Truing

In preparation for the upcoming race this weekend, I was giving my bike a little tune-up. It came to my attention that the wheels needed servicing, but without a truing stand it's just plain annoying trying to do any truing or tensioning. With rim brakes you can use your brake pads as a rough indicator for truing, but on my mountain bike with discs there's no obvious/simple way of doing it. I did a little bit of research online and came across a good tip I thought I'd share. I tried it out and it worked pretty good for lateral (side-to-side) truing. This method is very simple and can be done anywhere from your workshop to the side of the trail for emergencies.

All you'll need is:

• 4 zip ties
• Scissors/wire cutters
• Spoke Wrench
• Basic knowledge of wheel truing (PARK TOOL's GUIDE) 

Basic Steps:

1. Secure your bike, either in a workstand or by flipping it upside down, such that the wheels can spin freely and are comfortably accessible.
2. Attach a zip tie to each side of your fork/seatstay parrallel at the same spot as the rim.
3. Orient the zip tie such that the end you'd normally cut off sticks out and comes in contact with the side of your rim.
4. You can either leave the zip tie as-is (depending on the length of the zip tie), or cut it so that it just touches the rim in a spot that isn't too out of wack.
5. Go ahead and true your wheel using the two zip ties as references for the lateral movement of the rim.
6. Cut the zip ties off your bike once you're satisfied.

WARNING:
This method in no way replaces a proper wheel servicing done in a good wheel truing stand. It can only get your wheel roughly laterally true. This method does not facilitate truing your wheel radially either, so make sure you don't mess up your wheel more than when you started. I like to make sure I compensate for any tightening by loosening the opposite spoke by the same amount, in an attempt to minimize any effect on the radial "trueness" of the wheel. If you're unsure about any of that stuff, consult that Park Tools link again.



Photo from Park Tool Site



RAID Vélo Mag

This Friday (June 24), the Kunstadt team is heading to Mont-Sainte-Anne to compete in this year's RAID. While I know Neil and Imad have both done the race before, as evidenced by the photos on the site, this will be my first time doing this type of race.

Imad and Neil lead out the massive pack

The RAID is a three day mountain bike stage race that takes place at Ste Anne, with Saturday's stage starting in Quèbec city: right in front of the Chateau Frontenac. We've opted to ride all three stages (you have the option to do any individual/combination of stages):

"The BIG one:

• June 24 : To the Top - Prologue : 24 km
• June 25 : Quèbec - Mont-Sainte-Anne : 77 km
• June 26 : Mont-Sainte-Anne : 55 km "

The Prologue on Friday is a 24km "hillclimb" at Ste Anne, staring at 4:00pm. We must go up the hill a few times to make it 24km... I guess we'll find out. (more to come)

Stage 2 is the long one: the ride from Quèbec city to Ste Anne via a combination of road and trails. Looks like it's pretty steady climbing all the way up to Ste Anne too, this stage will be tough.

click for bigger version

Stage 3 is a 55km loop of trails around Ste Anne... this one should be a beauty.

click for bigger version

I'm looking into getting some mud tires, and will definitely be packing my knickers, cap and rain gear given the weather forecast! Hell, I might even pack my shoe covers.

More to come on Monday, with extravagant and dramatic tales from the race and results.

Book Review: BIKE SNOB

A friend of mine loaned me this book:

"BIKE SNOB Systematically & Mercilessly Realigning the World of Cycling

BikeSnobNYC—cycling's most prolific, well-known, hilarious, blogger—brings a fresh and humorous perspective to the most important vehicle to hit personal transportation since the horse. Bike Snob treats readers to a laugh-out-loud rant and rave about the world of bikes and their riders, and offers a unique look at the ins and outs of cycling, from its history and hallmarks to its wide range of bizarre practitioners. Throughout, the author lampoons the missteps, pretensions, and absurdities of bike culture while maintaining a contagious enthusiasm for cycling itself. Bike Snob is an essential volume for anyone who knows, is, or wants to become a cyclist."

As a regular reader of the Bike Snob NYC blog, I was excited to see what kind of stuff he would decide to include in the book. Well, after having read most of his blog posts over the past few years, there wasn't very much new or unexpected material in the book that wasn't already found on the blog. Instead the book was almost a summary, or reorganization of all the hilarity contained in the blog, saving you from having to read through all the "archives".

In the book, the Bike Snob examines what it is that defines someone as a cyclist, why people ride bikes, and then breaks cyclists down into a number of categories (roadies, MTB, cross, recumbent riders etc). The book will be exceptionally entertaining for anyone who isn't a regular reader of the blog, or who is new to cycling. After reading the book, a new cyclist will begin to identify different "types" of cyclists and will begin pointing out to people that the labels on their tires aren't properly aligned with their valve stems, and reminding them that their sun glasses should go OVER their helmet straps. Even as a regular reader of the blog, and a relatively experienced cyclist, I found the book very entertaining and read it from cover to cover in just a few days.

The best part about the book is that, despite poking fun at just about anyone on a bike, he maintains "a contagious enthusiasm for cycling itself", encouraging everyone to keep riding.

The worst part is that although the Bike Snob's identity had been carefully hidden since the creation of his blog, the release of this book forced him to reveal himself. Finding out who the Bike Snob was, was like when they make a movie out of a great book and cast weird actors as all the characters and they're nothing like what you'd imagined while reading. Or like when you see an ad for a radio station on the side of a bus and it shows the DJ, and he/she looks nothing like what you thought. Sometimes I think it's just better not to know what the author looks like: