PART 6 – RACE PREPARATIONS: What to Expect at your first TransRockies
By Simon Parker
You have your bike, all of your clothes are sorted out and ready for the TR duffle bag. Now you are wondering what, apart from endless hours of training, you need to do to get ready for the race.
Before Panorama
If you’ve been diligent with your training you’ve had lots of long (4+ hour) rides and you’ve got your eating, drinking and equipment sorted. You know what drink mixture suits your system at the end of a hard day, and what flavours of bars and gels you can tolerate. So what else do you need to do to prepare for the race?
- Bike Overhaul (Before you get to Panorama your entire bike needs to be overhauled. New cables, wheels trued and bearings checked, freehub body overhauled, BB serviced/replaced as necessary, fork and shock serviced, brakes bleed and pads replaced. With all of this work, you likely won’t get much change from $200 or so, but it is essential that your bike is in top notch condition before the race.)
- New Drive Train (You are going to start with a bike in great condition and beat the living hell out of it. Riding through mud, dust, water, logs, rock and trees can do that. Your bike will take a terrible beating. Start with new rings, chain and cassette. At the very least by the end of the race you’ll probably have to replace your chain.)
- DIY Maintenance (The one skill that most mountain bikers seem to have down pat is repairing flat tires. But there are a few other tricks that you need to have in you metaphorical toolkit. You need to be able to “break” your chain and repair it. I use SRAM chains and their PowerLinks makes this a breeze. If you use Shimano chains you’ll need to practice fiddling with a master pin. You also need to be able to adjust your shifting. Learn how to play with your barrel adjusters and the limiting screws on your derailleurs.)
- Shifter Cables (This is one service that your bike WILL need over the 7 days. While the mechanics are good and fast, if you can do it yourself you’ll not have to worry about getting in the back of the repair queue. When you have your bike serviced before the race get the mechanics to provide you with a replacement set of housings, end caps and cables pre-cut to fit your bike. This will make replacement a 15 minute job. If you’ve done this at home before the race so much the better.)
- Practice with everything (I know this sounds silly, but you need to make sure that everything works together. I learned lesson the hard way in 2007. I was using Torelli tubes, and they don’t have a threaded stem. My CO2 inflator had to screw onto the tube stem in order to make a good seal. So, I got a flat and the CO2 inflator didn’t work properly. My partner had the pump, but he was just ahead waiting for me to catch up. Luckily a passing team loaned me their pump and I was back in business quickly.)
- Disassemble, pack and assemble your bike (This is something that you’ll have to do on your own. Ideally your bike will arrive in the same condition that it left in, but be prepared to do some repairs and maintenance. In 2006 I saw a team in the parking lot replacing a brake rotor that had been bent in transit by the airline. Luckily they had both the tools and a spare rotor.)
At Panorama
Panorama is a lovely resort. But you must remember that it is 20 kilometres up a hilly, windy road from Invermere. And Invermere is where you’ll find the nearest large grocery store and the nearest bike shop. While you can get essentials like wine and beer at the small general store at Panorama, the shopping is quite limited.
- Arrive a couple of days early (This is critical if you’ve had a long flight to get to Calgary. When you fly you get dehydrated, that combined with the dry climate in the Rockies and the drying effect of higher altitudes means that you will need a few days to get hydrated again. Also, if you’ve come from a much lower altitude the extra time to acclimatize will do you no harm. This also gives you time to deal with anything that been lost, damaged, or forgotten. )
- Take it easy (From Panorama the first stage goes straight up to the top of the mountain. Ride the first couple of kilometres if you like, but don’t burn yourself out doing huge climbs every day before the race. There are plenty of nice rides along the valley, and some great singletrack to get the kinks out of your legs and your bike.)
- Watch out for bears (The entire TR route is bear country. Bears, especially ones that are used to living around people, can be problematic. Make noise, never ride alone, and know what to do if you encounter a bear. Check out the Parks Canada website for bear tips. If you are concerned, buy and carry bear spray.)
- Talk to your new friends (The 2008 TR had 500 riders from 26 countries. Every year I’ve met some really interesting people and learned more about their part of the world. One of the oddities of the TR is that every meal you see people that you don’t recognize. Often these are people that you’ve been riding with each day, but without their helmets and glasses you have no idea who they are.)
- Pre-ride the start of the stage (I know, I said not to burn yourself out with huge climbs, but it is important to get some idea of what you are up against. The first stage starts with a fast lap around the Panorama site, and then heads up the mountain. The entire section to the first aid station is all ridable, as long as you can stay on your bike. The gravel doubletrack is steep and loose in places. Preriding the first couple of kilometress will give you an idea of how to pace yourself.)
- Ride with your partner (This falls into the category of the blindingly obvious, but it is essential. Ideally your partner is someone that you’ve trained with over the months before the TR. But that is not always possible. On my first TR my partner and I had our first ride together on the Friday evening. A real eye-opener for both of us. My younger brother keeps threatening to come and do the TR. We’ve had fewer that a dozen rides together, and that was 7 years ago. So, if he does the TR we’ll have to figure out how our speeds match.)
- Be nice to your support crew (If you are travelling with support crew treat them well before and after the race. Over the next 7 days they can make all the difference in the world. Some day you’ll probably come in to the stage finish is a foul mood. But your smiling support crew has been waiting there for hours with food and drink for you and they are so happy to see you cross the line.)
Simon Parker earned his TransRockies belt-buckle in 2008 for completing his fifth TransRockies. A frequent poster on the TransRockies Forums, Simon has accumulated a wealth of knowledge about what it takes for the average rider to complete and enjoy TransRockies. This is the third instalment in a multi-part series for the first time TransRockies participant.
