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Routley, Crowe top the Rockies

Gruelling TransRockies Challenge a test of spirit as well as endurance In its second year, the TransRockies Challenge is widely considered to be one of the toughest mountain bike races in the world.

Gruelling TransRockies Challenge a test of spirit as well as endurance

In its second year, the TransRockies Challenge is widely considered to be one of the toughest mountain bike races in the world. Starting in Fernie and finishing in Canmore, the race weighs in at 600 kilometres spread over seven days, with more than 12,000 vertical metres of climbing. The course is steep up and down, and includes everything: technical singletrack sections to decommissioned logging roads to a gruelling climb over Canada’s highest paved mountain pass.

The race attracted 149 riders this year, including a number of international riders who have tackled the TransAlps Challenge in the past.

A pair of Whistler riders, Tony Routley and Eric Crowe, more than held their own in the Masters category, finishing second overall behind a pair of Quebec riders. At one point the Whistler riders held the lead, but a few major mechanical problems, lack of sleep, and some wrong turns put them in second behind Michel Leblanc and Gilles Morneau, who finished in 35:29:15.

Their own time of 36:30:41 was good enough to put Routley and Crowe in seventh place overall.

Although both Routley and Crowe are veterans of mountain bike racing with national titles under their belts and strong results in the World Championships, and have raced their share of epic races, Crowe says the TransRockies Challenge was one of the toughest things he has ever accomplished.

"Honestly – every one of those stages was the kind of ride that you wouldn’t ride the day afterwards. It’s 10 times harder than anything I’ve every done," said Crowe.

The first stage of the race was 45 km, and according to Crowe the temperature reached 43 degrees Celsius in the alpine.

"It was so hot that it was boiling the oil in hydraulic disk brakes, and rim brakes were heating up the rims so much that tubes were bursting. It took us three hours and 45 minutes going pretty much as hard as we could, and that was the short race," said Crowe. "There were stages that were 130 km with more than 3,000 metres of climbing."

Crowe and Routley took the leader jerseys on that day with a few minutes to spare.

On the second day, which was 130 km with 3,000 metres of climbing, Crowe crashed on a descent, and damaged his pedal. They rode slowly down to an aid station to fix it, allowing the Quebec team to pass. At the end of the day, Crowe and Routley were still in the lead by just nine seconds.

The third day was 138 km, and the Whistler team and the Quebec team worked together on the climbs and descents. Crowe made a wrong turn and took two minutes to get back on track. When he returned to the trail, he found the two Quebec riders waiting for him, along with Routley.

They finished the stage together, with Routley and Crowe pulling off to the side to allow the Quebec riders to finish first. They lost the day’s gold medal but held onto the leader jerseys by seven seconds.

Day 4 was just 70 km, but technical with lots of singletrack and 3,200 metres of vertical. They were riding well, but once again lost their way, as well as about 12 minutes on Leblanc and Morneau, who claimed the leader jerseys.

Day 5, a 105 km stage, was going well until the 70 km mark. On the downhill, Crowe’s chain jumped off his big ring and got caught in the spokes, ripping off his derailleur in the process.

Leblanc and Morneau stopped to help, but Crowe and Routley waved them on. Crowe coasted down the next 10 km of road to an aid station, where the mechanics from one of the other teams were waiting for them. The mechanic helped them to repair the derailleur with new cables, cable housings, and a new chain.

"We were way back at that point, but it was still pretty incredible how hard this guy worked to get us back in the race," said Crowe.

Crowe and Routley pedalled hard for the last 30 km to keep themselves in the competition, and even gained a little on the Quebec team.

Day 6 was 75 km, but Crowe said he came out flat. His adrenalin was so charged after five days of racing he couldn’t sleep the night before and woke up exhausted.

On Day 7 they pulled into the Nordic Centre in Canmore to find a huge crowd waiting for them and a party in progress.

For second place, Crowe and Routley received a cash prize of $1,400 each, which helped to cover their entry fees and costs. Over the course of the race they held the leader jerseys three times, won one stage, placed second in three stages, and earned a bronze medal in one stage.

Although he enjoyed the experience, Crowe says he is not in a hurry to sign up for next year.

"Even now, I’m still feeling it. I’m just starting to go for rides again," he said.

Crowe was stiff and sore for days, and Routley, who used a hard tail bike for the race, spent about 30 minutes every morning bandaging his hands.

For more information on the race, visit www.transrockies.de/en/.