On Saturday I rode the legendary Cheakamus Challenge arguably one of the tougher one day bike races in BC. This was my first real hardcore endurance competition in almost three years and my first mountain bike race since the 2004 Test of Metal, I pretty much swore of MTB racing after that, but after the last few months I have been riding a lot and really feel good on the trails so when Joel said he was doing it I said what the hell. The race went fairly well my goals were to finish in under 5 hours, not crash (I did but minor) and lastly finish comfortably. I met all those goals so was happy at the finish although cold. I was very impressed by my new bike no more XC hard tail but a nice All Mountain XC Norco Fluid 1.0 not the fastest racing machine but damn it is one fun bike and definitely is nice on the body.
For anyone into a true challenge on the mountain bike this is one hell of a race and truly deserves the “King of the Classics” designation, will definitely be doing it again next year with hopes of improving my time.
