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Month of Pain
andrewbyline

Like a lot of other Whistler locals I spent the month of September on a mountain bike saddle, hunched over, heart thumping against my ribs, lungs gasping for oxygen, the remnants of a strawberry banana energy gel running down my chin.

Still, it was hard not to smile. When you meet the eyes of a fellow rider and see the same strange mix of discomfort and joy; when supporters and volunteers call out your name at aid stations; when you somehow manage to keep those pedals turning over, knowing that every spin of the wheel brings you that much closer to home, all is right with the world.

They called September the Month of Pain, and while it was quite painful at times I enjoyed almost every minute of it.

My personal Month of Pain kicked off with the West Side Wheel Up on Sept. 9, followed by the two-day Samurai of Singletrack on Sept. 16-17, and wrapped up with the Cheakamus Challenge Lite course on Sept. 23 — if you can call 42 km with all the hardest climbs and singletrack of the Cheakamus Challenge “Lite”.

Not being the world’s greatest athlete, and always trying to make up for a lack of natural ability with hard work, it’s been a long time since I first bought into the whole idea that “it’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game.” Try hard and do your best, the thinking goes, and always remember to have fun.

Some former teammates and coaches would probably call that loser talk, and in a way I’d probably agree. But when you’re young and genuinely love sports, but have exactly zero chance of ever representing your country at the Olympics or joining a professional sports team, sometimes you have to be realistic.

I’m glad there are people out there who are winners, who think it’s nothing short of failure to place second. For me, watching grown men cry after losing the Stanley Cup final — almost all of them millionaires with trophy wives and full trophy cases back home as a testament to a life of excellence — has always been one of the most profound images of what it truly means to be an athlete.

I’ve always respected great athletes, and all the riders and runners who hammered their way through the Month of Pain deserve a hell of a lot of respect.

But in a way I have even more respect for the guys and girls who ride along at the back of the pack. One of the coolest things about the Samurai is that the last place riders always get the loudest cheers of the day, with the fastest riders joining in. The top racers know that the slow riders usually suffered the most to get to the finish line, and some riders were on course for 12 hours and needed headlamps to find the finish line. Some of those riders were cut off on the second day because of the rain and dark, but went back for an unscheduled third day to finish the route properly. Now that’s worthy of respect.

I’ve never seen it personally, but I’m told the same thing happens at the end of Ironman when competitors stumble down the last few metres of road to beat the midnight cutoff. Racers who finished hours earlier hang around in the dark just to cheer those brave and often hurting last people across the finish line.

Aside from the bike races, there were a lot of other events to the Month of Pain — the Sea to Summit Adventure Race, the Loop The Lakes trail run, the Terry Fox Run, and the Rubble Creek Classic trail run, all of which had a lot of local participants.

Looking at the results from other events around this corner of the province, a lot of locals also took part in the Grouse Grind Mountain Run this past Sunday and the 5 Peaks season-ender at Buntzen Lake.

Truly making the month meaningful, several locals did more than one event, sometimes mixing up the mountain biking events with running or adventure racing competitions.

Some people even squeezed in two events per weekend, like Mike Edwards who did the two-day Samurai, then followed up last weekend with the full Cheakamus Challenge on Saturday and a lap of the 25 km Rubble Creek Run on Sunday — giving himself less than a month to rest up and prepare for the Ironman World Championships that he qualified for in August. Three other local athletes did both the full Cheakamus Challenge and Rubble Creek run — up and coming adventure racers Gary Robbins, Megan Rose, and Lina Augaitus — while Sarah Byrne did the short Cheakamus route and the Rubble Creek.

To everyone out there who took part in any of these events, congratulations — you are what makes living in this community so inspirational.

And to everyone who volunteered for these events, supported the athletes, or came out to cheer us on, you have our thanks — you made my Month of Pain possible, and as enjoyable as it could have been.

Now October is upon us, which I have unofficially dubbed the Month of Food, Beer and Sleep. Once again I intend to give it my all.