Race: Test of Metal
Date: June 20th, 2009
Location: Squamish B.C.
Photos: Joel Liefke via his Windows Mobile Phone (sorry have to plug the job)
One word to describe the Test of Metal in Squamish, BC….”Epic.” Ok here are a few more…”Holy Crap was that Hard,” “Hills on Mountain Bikes Suck!,” and “Pain.” I think that about sums up my thoughts coming out of the race. Now that I’ve had a day and a half to pull my thoughts together, I’m now uttering “Man I have to do that again next year!”
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To kickoff the story, the race is 67km (41miles) and is a lottery type entry, where on March 1 you have about 2min to get registered for your shot at one of the 800 open slots. The Test of Metal, which is among the most successful mountain bike races in North America, has been running on its current course since 1996. Below is the course profile for reference. You’ll notice the climb starting at about 33km, and yes, that is over 9 miles of climbing to follow!; "Image")
Prior to the race there was some drama, I had opted to stay in Whistler (home of the 2010 Winter Olympics) and left 2 hours before registration closed, leaving me with a 40 minute drive and ample time to register before the 10am closing. All was looking good until about 2 miles out of my hotel, someone in a mustang had lost control on the freeway , hit a telephone pole and collapsed the lines across the road. Needless to say, I sat in the same spot for the next hour and a half, all but dashing my hopes of doing the Test of Metal. At 9:45, all cleared up and with about the 100 or so other bikers behind me, we turned hiway 99 into our own personal Indy 500 race track. I got to Squamish at 10:30 w/the start at 11am, not leaving much time and pondering if registration was not going to happen, but the great volunteers realized that there was nothing we could do and kept registration open until we could all signup. I got the converted DH bike 2002 Rocky Mountain RM6 ; "Image")
The first 3 miles are on pavement through the neighborhoods of Squamish with some pretty steep hills which didn’t do much to break up the pack entering the singletrack section. So we dove in from the pavement through singletrack for the next 15k, which was phenomenal, BC style singletrack. The only problem was, the pack wasn’t broken up enough so we ended up stopping multiple times on the trail which cut about 10 minutes into our time w/the consistent waiting…the thought running through my head was “next year, get out quick to avoid this.” Once off the singletrack, I was probably in the top 1/3 of the racers doing really well, the RM6 holding up great even on the climbs, which lead is into the feedzone for the first time. In regards to the feedzone, this is where most of the fans hung out watching the racers come through…they had everything, water, Gatorade, watermelon, mangos, Red Bull and yes, potatoes, which at first was the oddest damn thing, but my brain went back into working mode and I realized the carb value in these (2nd thought in the head, eat more of these next year!) After the feedzone came the fun…Bonk Hill and 9 Mile Hill, yes the names say it all.
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So on the first part of the hill, I felt great, continuing to pass more than passed me and loving the scenery. As the climb continued, for the next hour and 15 minutes, crazy things started to happen. First cramps, everyone was cramping and those that weren’t were the lucky ones. I saw at least 5-6 people just fall over clipped in as they couldn’t push their legs over to go, yes the hill was that steep. For 10 minutes straight I was at 195bpm on my heart rate monitor until I too started to cramp, and that’s when the 37lb RM6 began to hinder me. I put it into the highest gearing as possible and just tried to pace it out best I could up the hill, but the group I was in, we were getting passed by a lot of riders and this was a ‘learning experience’ to say the least. ; "Image")
Finally after hitting the top of 9 Mile (which BTW was at snow line), we entered 10km of the best downhill I’ve ever ridden….rocks and roots upon rocks and roots and north shore bridges upon north shore bridges. The Powerhouse Plunge is the steepest section of the downhill, w/the most rocks and switchbacks which makes it very popular for the crowds. There was a lady here w/a Cyclocross style cow bell, the size of the liberty bell, swinging it back and forth as we descended. By the end of the DH, my tri-ceps were numb. This section also caused a lot of people to cramp up, and a woman in front of me just fell over on the singletrack and couldn’t move, her response “I can’t move, just move my bike and go around me.” So we helped her off the trail and proceeded through the feedzone for the second time. ; "Image")
At the feedzone, my new savior was realized! One of the volunteers handed me a Red Bull (I owe you so much for this whoever you were); and my cramping went down 7-fold! Up next was Crumpit Woods and the finish line. Although not anywhere near the climbing required of Bonk Hill or 9 Mile, it was a painful, cramp induced climb up through some great single track. At the top we entered back into the community of the living and were racing on trails next to the river where the guy behind me missed seeing a trail pole and completely yard-saled all over the course, poor guy, but he did finish. Upon hitting the finish line some 4-1/2 hours later, I was in the most pain, but the most excited I’d been in a long time. I forgot how much fun mountain bike racing is, seeing how now I’m pretty much just a roadie/cx’er. No wrecks, no mechanicals and only a little disdain over not performing as well as I should’ve over the hill, but overall, one of the best races I’ve done! Thanks to Champion Systems, my Bikeman kit kept me nice and cool as well and the Lazer helmet kept my melon safe from the many branches that were strung out across the course. And thanks to all of the volunteers at the Test of Metal, you all did a bitchin’ job keeping us racers as happy as we could be.
Until next time…
Joel
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