They may spend their weekdays teaching the students of Don Ross Secondary School in Squamish, but last weekend Brandi Heisterman and Greg Day were drawing from a different lesson plan — how to conquer the gruelling hills of Lumpy's Trifecta in Pemberton.
The teaching colleagues took first place in the women's and men's categories of the annual race on Saturday, Oct.4.
"It rained all night, which made an already challenging race a little bit more challenging," Day said.
Day, who rides with the Rocky Mountain Factory Team, finished first overall with a time of one hour, 48 minutes and 24 seconds.
"I've ridden the three laps before with the guys who put it on a couple years back, but we were just out for a casual ride, so racing that area, that was difficult," he said.
"It's really punchy, super technical, and no time to rest, because as soon as you're at the top you've got a fairly technical descent right back down."
Heisterman, who finished with a time of 2:08:27 to claim first place among the women, said the rain likely made things easier for her.
"It had been so dusty and dry, and if anything I thought (the rain) made the trails really awesome," she said.
But the challenging, climb-oriented race was right up her alley, Heisterman said.
"I love climbing like that," she said.
"That's a great race for me, because it's lots of technical, steep, steep climbing, and that's the kind of stuff I love to do."
The fact that Heisterman rides a hardtail made the descents easier on her, she said.
"They were super hardtail friendly, so it was great. You could ride a light bike and survive. A lot of stuff in Pemberton it's hard to ride a little hardtail, but I was able to pull it off."
With their respective victories, Day and Heisterman now have the task of adding a piece of gear to the Lumpy's trophy.
"It's in my living room and I have a few thoughts," Day said, about what his contribution might be.
"I've already had a little dig through my old stuff, but I'm going to go down to the bike shop to see if they've got any gems there that I can add to it. I don't want to give it away. I've got a really good idea but I don't want to ruin the surprise in case I can't actually follow through."
Twenty-three racers took part in this year's Trifecta, which featured a mass start for the first time.
Dave Irving finished second among male racers with a time of 1:49:32, while Carsten Ivany finished third (1:57:28).
Leah Trudeau finished second among females with a time of 2:25:13 and Sylvie Allen came third (2:27:45).
Organizers for this year's Lumpy's Trifecta would like to thank sponsors the Bike Co. and the Pemberton Valley Trail Association.
