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Show Wed/Thurs/Fri, April 20-22, 2005 The Park Record B-7 life in the fast lane... Doilneyridesthe Trans Rockies By JIM DOILNEY Record guest writer Editors note: The following is //it' second of three parts, recounting Parkite Jim Doilney's biking adventures in the Canadian Rockies last August. DAY 2 - Aug. 9, Crows Nest to Dutch Creek Camp: 84kflometos, 1,700 vertical meters Mxi bril£B, jdso- £x&r g>&Trt sai a rM^^hwynj fall Almost 230 riders corral at the start at S a.m., using the 10K gravel road start to form pclatons, whose dust Lee and I suck. Flagging tape and bike tire tracks mark our route: roller coaster, death-grip down, granny gear-up pipelines; high-speed single tracks along river bank escarpments and through guess-its-depth mud holes; thigh-high river fordings; and hike-a-bike ascents cresting majestic cirques few of us will ever revisit. Despite our stops, Lee and I move past last as others fall to mechanical, injury and under-training. A 20K downhill ends at Dutch Creek, one of several remote, oncea-year, Trans Rockies tent camps: a bannered finish/start gate; 120 militarily aligned pup tents; the massive kitchen and dining tent; two traveling bike mechanic shops; and Marc's and my RV (along with about 10 others). The evening ritual includes daily video clips, tomorrow's course and weather talk, and stage and overall race leader awards: open men, women, mixed, and masters. Marc and Kurt hold ninth among masters, Caroline and Lynn are fifth among women, and Lee and I have a lot of pictures. DAY 3 - Aug. 10, Dutrfi Creek to Etfaerington Creek Canqe 96kflometera, 1,433 vertical meters ftlip- Lees sporting sunglasses donated by one of many race dropouts: a Mexican duo, an Air Canada pilot and an Edmonton bike shop owner. Our 20-leam, day one trail group is now down to about a dozen, plus new teams of the unpaired survivors. I envy dropouts' injuries and mechanicals as I pedal out. All my bike muscles accuse me of stamina myopia. After 10K, the double-track trail goes from dry black to wet brown. beginning 2,(XX) meters of unrideable bog. Mud cakes so heavily I cant even sec my deraillcur. Joining 50 others racers, I wade knee-deep into an icy stream at a crease in the topography and scrub bike mud with freezing fingers. Exhausted and cold, I'm still five days from the finish. I notice my brake pads disintegrating against mud held particles caking my rims. Crash and mechanical victims along the trail, plus the rescue helicopters hum, give me hope I can quit honorably. By 3 p.m., we are dead last. First, Lee had two fiats. Next, my cleat plate ripped through the shoe sole delaying us until an injured biker being helicvac'cd out lent me his shoes. Finally, we miss a turn and get lost. 'Hie sweep trail biker who removes the course markers tells us other stragglers have dropped out. At dusk, after 12 hours and just ahead of dead last, we reach Etherington Creek Camp. I again enjoy a dead man's sleep, only moving as I shudder with Day 3 memories: Rye Ridge. High Rock Range, Ready to roll in Fernie, British Columbia are (left to right) Mark Gould Dome and Tornado Peak, Wangsgard, Jim Doilney, Lynn Peak and Carolyn and Kurt plus innumerable river and stream Frankenburg. No ID on the young mechanic in the foreground. fordings... and Day 4 fears. ed from working through the night We finish mid-pack for the first servicing tortured bikes, magically time. Using counting and breathing DAY 4 - Aug. U , Etherington appear at road crossings with special- regimens developed through years of Greek to Sandy McNtf* Camp: 63 ized parts to keep us going. Lee gets marathons and bike tours, I have a brake disc. A Swiss guy's blown-out tricked myself through daunting disHometeiB, 1^93 vertical meters (Sfctfay butb-ktded i y a a » - Euro shoe clips and pedals are tances and climbs one more time. replaced with parts from a Fernie Do I really belong in the dining tent among these athletes, inhaling Exhaustion blocks thoughts of mechanic's own rig. meters to climb and kilometers to •ITie course climbs to and runs along dinner and watching the stage winride. Don't tell me how far or how mystically beautiful cirque ridges, ner awards? Then, as today's race high. Just let me keep my head thanks to special Trans Rockies tres- video rolls, I see myself in a racer group cruising the highest cirque on down. I envy Caroline who waves at pass permits, intoxicating me. the start, the beneficiary of a •Lee and I, hare and tortoise, trade the big screen, just another image wrenched knee after her brakes leads. Mostly together, he sprints among myriad crasl) shots, Bret failed on a downhill yesterday. I downhills I walk, wisened by six Wolfe marvels, hike-a-bike mounpedal unconsciously, too proud to OTB (over the bars) flyers training tains, stream crossing portages, mud for this race. Ever pleasant, he eats suck hole forests, and adrenalinequit. Then Trans Rockies' realities trans- his time gains taking photos. Team redlining downhills. As the nightly 93 also leaps then lags me, using their lent songs declare, these are truly fuse me with energy: view breaks smoking roll-you r-owns. among the best days of our lives! •I catch up to Brett Wolfe, the legendary one-legged biker, though our I'm plenty stoned on the views and Part 3 will appear in Saturdays pelaton quickly thins enough for him endorphins. Park Record, to pull away. He's been biking slopes and slops I must walk, then using his bike as a crutch to hop up mountains and through waters he. like other competitive riders, find too steep or deep to ride... Brett's kicking my bull for the fourth straight day •Rochelle, a rock singer tearfully helivac'ed yesterday, sports a leg brace and smile today, instead of going DNF (did not finish) like I would have, going for a six-day result. •Volunteer mechanics, still exhaust- Need an Orthodontist? Call Park City's ONLYFull-Time Orthodontist Dr. Sumsion and the staff at Park City Orthodontics have been serving Park City's smiles for nearly 12 years! We're here to stay and we're grateful for your friendship and your business. Currently accepting new and transfer patients. Call today to see for yourself why Park City Orthodontics has earned its reputation as friendly, efficient and flexible. Free Initial Consultation • Interceptlve Treatment - Flexible Financing Accept & Process Most Insurance Claims • Orthodontic Emergencies Welcome irs align Member American Auoclsiton of Orthodontists CMTIFltO INV1SAUGN ORTHODONTIST and American Dental Auocittton PARK CITY ORTHODONTICS JEFFREY R. 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