BCEpic1000

BCEpic1000 Mountain Bike Race. June 24, 2017.

My BCEpic1000 post ride trip report.

I decided to do a point form breakdown of my ride from Fernie to Merritt. The majority of the race followed the Trans Canada Trail with the Castlegar to Merritt section on the old Kettle Valley Rail(KVR) Trail. I had always wanted to bike the KVR when I first learned of it 15 or so years ago so this race was the opportunity to do so.

Day -10 to -1:

-Mad scramble to get my bike from accident damaged to race ready in record time. Ordered new wheels, shifter, brakes, housings, cables, aero bars(which I never used for the race) and some last minute bag additions from Bow Cycle. A trip to MEC for a tent and accessories. Purchased Etrex20x and Spot and I was ready to go on late Thursday evening.

Day -1:

-Fernie hotel bike reassemble and realized I forgot my blinker and lube. Race hasn't even started and I will be late to start.

Day 1:

-Waiting for the bike shop to open at 9 so I can get my lube and blinker. Lube acquired but no good blinkers.

9:29am Kiss the wife, hug the kids and I am on my way. Let's do this!

-Ran into a friend who was racing the Lucky 7 that day so we rode together for the first couple of km.

-Is that a BEAR?! Yep, not even off the pavement out of Fernie and a black bear crosses the road in front of me. Looked like a big shaggy black dog from afar but once I got closer it was definitely a bear. Not a good omen from the start or was it?? This was the only confirmed bear I saw the whole trip.

-Fire road was fun. Learning to ride a fully loaded bike and getting used to a couple days of mountain biking.

-Double track behind Mt. Broadwood was very rocky...

-POP! Insta-flat rear tire. Yikes, I can't believe this early in the race I get a flat. I start freaking out but then calmed myself and had to think about what needs to be done to continue. I checked the tire and didn't see anything. Put in a tube and pumped it up and noticed the tube pushing out from a large tear on the sidewall. Yay for freshly bought tire boots! Put one in and pumped up the tube again. Put the bike back together and I am back on my way after about a 20-25 min. delay. (I should add that while I was taking my wheel off a BC Parks ranger came driving up from the east of me and checked on me and then about a minute later his CO drove up from the west of me. I thought it was almost as if they were tempting me to quit and get a ride back to Fernie. Or someone was looking out for me and wanted to make sure I could get my tire fixed. The rangers chatted until I was ready to go and then drove off.)

-I rode cautiously until Cranbrook as the flat used up my only spare tube.

-The fire road from Koocanusa to Wardner felt like it went on forever.

-No resupply in Wardner had me without water from Wardner to Cranbrook but that fun new Mayook section had a couple streams that I was able to get water from eventhough I had to fight the vicious swarms of mosquitos for that water.

-Straight to Gerick Sports in Cranbrook for a new rear tire. I knew that they might be closing at 6 so I knew I had to hustle after getting the flat so I rode hard to make it to Cranbrook before the bike shops closed. I called from the Visitor center to make sure they were open and give them a heads up as to what I needed. I snuck in at 5:00 before they closed at 5:30. Another 20 min. delay.

-Cranbrook to Kimberley paved rail trail was amazing.

-Re-stock at the Overwaitea in Kimberley and the into Kimberley Nature park. I had some difficulty navigating as there were so many paths.

-St. Mary's road up to the lake in the Golden Hour was spiritual.

-Made it to the turn off for the Grey Creek Pass and it was still bright out and made a mental calculation that if Tom DeVries could ride up to the summit in a couple of hours on a single speed I could do it as well on a geared bike.(side note: I had planned out my whole first day and many other days based off of Tom DeVries run in early July of 2016. I had studied his progress as he is a veteran of bikepacking having done many multi-day races along with the Tour Divide. So I could extrapolate from his tracker many timing and distance breaks.)

-First river crossing bridge and the sun is down, it is getting dark and cold. I put on my arm and knee warmers and jacket. Turned on my light and up I went.

-I rode up for about an hour or so. It was really getting cold quick.

-Suddenly my light started blinking low battery and I had no idea how much further I needed to go. I rode a bit further thinking about how to light the trail if my light goes out. I realized that I was running the light at its second highest setting and with the temperature drop the batteries power was dissipating quickly. I turned off the light and plugged it into the cache battery I brought along for just this scenario. I then rode up the trail slowly holding my camping headlight in my left hand to guide the way. I was climbing so slowly that it was enough for me to see a bit in front of me.

-Snow started to appear and I could tell I was getting close to the top.

- I couldn’t stop shivering as I finally came over the summit. My headlight did not illuminate the side of the trail enough for me to even see the summit marker. I guess there was also a lake/pond and camping area up there.

-As the trail started to drop away the headlight was just not cutting it and my bike light was not fully charged but I was so cold that I just turned it on and descended from the pass with my light turned on to low.

-I do not remember much of the descent as I was focusing hard on the road looking for the switchback corners and shouting to scare away the animals.

-Finally I saw some lights of a vehicle headed up the road and turning into a house on the left side and about 5 minutes more I was at Grey Creek Store. It was midnight and I felt a huge mixture of emotions. Adrenalin, exhaustion, weariness and stress relieved to be at the bottom. I downed the last of my Pepsi and set off for the ferry terminal on the darkness of Hwy 3A.

-I arrived at the ferry terminal at about 1am to the sounds of club music coming from the restaurant there. I guess they were having a beach party and from my sporadic sleep it sounded like it went on all night as I was awoken every hour or so by people using the bathroom and talking outside my tent and on the beach.

Day 2:

-With the beach party winding down I was up well before my alarm. I took my time packing up and was ready to go by quarter to 7.

-I turned on my SPOT tracker but I didn’t realize until my second stop in Salmo that it was not on and not tracking. I guess I forgot to press the “track” button. Rookie mistake.

-Ate a nice breakfast on the ferry. French Toast with sausage.

-The road into Nelson was nice and there were lots of cyclists out. I could feel the heat already.

-The climb through Nelson was mean as the roads go straight up the mountain side and were exposed to the sun. I did my best to zigzag from tree shade to tree shade.

-The reward for all of that climbing was a great rail trail from Nelson up to the Apex with a trestle and lots of cool shade.

-After crossing the highway the sign said the trail was closed due to bear activity but as I tried to stay true to the route I kept on riding up the trail making lots of noise. I passed a lake with lots of people on my right and then the trail became fully overgrown. I couldn’t see a couple meters ahead. I decided to play it safe and carried my full laden bike up the steep and rocky wall to the highway. I had bear spray but didn’t want to risk a bear encounter in tight quarters. I biked about 1 km up the highway before I came out at the Apex and I could see the open trail in valley. I crossed over to the trail and still making noise continued on the rail trail.

-The rail trail went on forever it seemed alternating between hard pack to loose to rocky. A great trail and enough tree cover so I could stay cool.

-Salmo and lunch time. Took a long rest and a big lunch and hit the pavement and the scorching heat all the way to Fruitvale. I did my best to go slow and not tax myself.

-Took another long break in the A/C of the gas station to cool off while I loaded up with fluids and a snack.

-A nice, long downhill in south Trail followed by a roasting uphill.

-I rode through Trail and always thought I would come across a gas station or food stop but I didn’t see anything and after checking my cell phone I found I had passed all of the stop spots so I decided to keep going.

-Sandpit Road was a sandpit and so hot.

-Into the singletrack. It was very tight and very overgrown to the point of not being able to see the trail. I was running out of water and very low on food. Each time the trail dipped to the river I was tempted to jump in to cool off but the river seemed fast flowing and high. Finally found a flowing stream and I loaded up my bottles.

-Finally into Castlegar after a short bit of road riding and I immediately found a Subway and filled up my gut again. Took a nice break in the a/c and then went to find the grocery store. Little did I know that on a Sunday night the grocery store closes at 6pm. Dang! Back to Subway and I loaded up my bottles and checked trackleaders. Lennard said he would meet me in Castlegar but it showed him still in Grand Forks. Time to ride.

-Started up the KVR and the sun was low enough that the climb was cool. Spectacular trail and even more so during the golden hour. I was having a blast.

-Bulldog Tunnel was wet and cold and spooky. It seemed the concrete they sprayed in there had a bit of reflective material in it and my headlight strangely lit up the tunnel.

-Farron Summit and it was dark. Not much further to go to get down to Christina Lake as the trail goes straight down and it was quite cool up top considering the heat of the day in the valley. Down I went wondering if I would see Lennard and Dean or not if they had camped by Christina lake.

-Ran into Lennard about 10 minutes below Paulson Crossing and we chatted for a bit. He was concerned about staying ahead of a hard charging single speeder Dean Anderson. He had planned to sleep under Paulson Bridge for the night and get an early start over into Castlegar.

-About 15-20 minutes later I came across a hoarse Dean Anderson in the trees setting up camp for the night. We chatted a bit and then I continued on down towards the lights of Christina Lake.

-Came out to a trailhead and I couldn’t see where the trail went. My batteries in my Etrex were dead so I called it a night at midnight.

Day 3:

-Up at 6 (I am more a night owl than early bird) and off to Grand Forks for some breakfast.

-My first taste of gates halfway down the valley. Trail is in great condition.

-Biked through Grand Forks and had to backtrack to find a diner that was open. Great high calorie breakfast at Yaky Jacquie’s.

-Stopped at the gas station close to the trail to fill up the bottles and just as I was leaving Troy Hopwood came rolling in. Greeted each other and chatted and then ready for the climb up to Eholt.

-Not even out of town and greeted Jeff Mullen, followed by riders every 10-20 minutes all of the way up to Eholt.

-The climb up the valley was very scenic and great trail conditions. Cool tunnels, warm open sections and tree tunnels.

-The descent down from Eholt was uneventful other than more gates, the unopenable llama gate and bushwhack, Greenwood tunnel, Greenwood mine slag mounds and hot and dry descent down into Midway.

-Mile 0 on the KVR and I ran into Miles Arbour and Carl Miiller taking a rest and I filled up my bottles and chatted for a bit. I told them I was tempted to go back to the motel for a greasy burger but they had told me that Rock Creek was just a bit further so I decided to press on just after Miles grabbed a picture.

-Pleasant overgrown and freshly cut trail along the river before getting kicked out to a gravel road and then onto the pavement where snakes alive and dead were scattered along the pavement

-Re-stock in Rock Creek and into the Rock Creek Motel restaurant for the greasiest and tastiest burger and fries.

-I should mention that by now my butt was very chaffed and starting to cause discomfort which I started to remedy with butt cream and vaseline. My left knee was also becoming a problem but nothing an extra strength advil couldn’t take care of.

-Up the valley I went, through the fire ravaged but blossoming trail up past Westbridge. The trail had good and bad sections and was a good workout up the valley doing my best to stay out of the sun.

-The section of pavement was a nice rest period from the endless struggle up the valley.

-Finally into Beaverdell and straight into the Beaverdell Store a/c. Restocked and thought about where I might sleep for the night. Can I make it to Chute Lake or maybe sleep in the shelters along Myra Trestles as Lennard did on the first night?

-Rested and my butt taken care of I shot up the much better trail to Arlington Lakes and then onto McCullough/Hydraulic Lake where a big windstorm was blowing through from the west.

-I looked for water at the campground but nothing there so I kept on moving towards the trestles.

-I hit the trestles just as it was getting dark out and the wind was really blowing and had brought down the temperature so I stopped for a bit to change into my warm clothes and be ready to push into Chute Lake.

-On the west side of the trestles I came across a moose between Trestle 2 and 1. He trotted down the trail in front of me for a while before finally giving up and bailing into the trees. Then after trestle 1 I encountered a moose mom and a large calf. I knew to give them lots of space to get off the trail and encouraged them by making lots of noise.

-I was a little spooked for those encounters and hooted and hollered the rest of the way to Chute Lake.

-When I rolled into Chute Lake it was cold and I expected to be by myself but found the campground quite full with campers that had campfires going. Not sure of the camping policy I found a spot right by the entrance and setup my tent as the office to check-in was closed.

Day 4:

-I woke up many times in the night from the cold and zippered up my sleeping bag.

-Finally at about 6:00 I pulled myself out of the sleeping bag. Tired, cold and grumpy and looking forward to a good breakfast in Penticton.

-The trail just past Chute Lake was very washed out and rocky but it did get much better the further down I went. Eventually I was carrying some good speed and didn’t have to work on the downhill. When I could Penticton the warmth of the valley warmed me up and I began to feel much better but I was out of water and food and it took longer than I expected to get to town.

-Big breakfast at Denny’s and took care of my body and teeth. Grabbed a good hit of water and gatorade and was on my way after about an hour in town.

-The west side of the lake was already baking in the morning sun and I had my first taste of the sandy trail from Penticton to Summerland. The ride through Summerland had some very steep paved sections as the railway is still in use as a tourist destination with a steam train that goes back and forth.(side note: I rode the train a couple years previous and it was great)

-The trail from the end of the train up to the first crossing of the Princeton Summerland Road was amazing. Great hard pack gravel but once you crossed the road it just became worse and worse the further up the rail trail you went. You could just tell there was a lot of ATV use. Sandy gravel for kilometers.

-In Penticton I had thought there might be a gas station or pit stop somewhere around Osprey Lake at about the middle point of the ride to Princeton but there was nothing that I could see. I rode into Link Lake Rec. site to try to find a water pump but didn’t see one. I even rode over to Tepee Lakes Resort and Store and it looked abandoned or out of business. I knew I would be out of water and needed to find a good flowing stream to refill at.

-I believe it was almost halfway from Osprey to Princeton that I finally found a flowing stream to refill my bottles and it was another 30 minutes before I could drink the water as I always played it safe with the water I drank. There were other streams/creeks but most were way down steep embankments so I just kept riding thinking that there would eventually be a stream. Every blue line on my Etrex that I went by I would listen for the sounds of water. Most were dry as it had been very warm for a couple days now.

-Finally a big Welcome to Jura came up and I knew I was getting close as I was very tired and needed food. I put the hammer down and zipped down the long sweeping switchbacks and down into Princeton.

-I was amazed at how long it took to ride that section and how boringly tough it was to ride the sandy gravel. I understood why most people pull out in Penticton. In my opinion that is the toughest section of the BCEpic.

-Into A&W and I ordered lots of food. Chicken fingers, papa burger, large fries and large coke. It hit the spot! While I was eating I pulled out my phone to see how far it was to get the Merritt and to see if it was even doable after getting crushed by the Penticton to Princeton section. Google maps said it was about 6 hours at it was about 5pm so I thought I might as well book a hotel as I want to finish this night. I called the hotel and told them I would like a late check in as I am biking up and will be there around 11:00-11:30.

-Back onto the bike around 5:30 and focused on finishing that night I happily rode up the valley as I felt much better after the rest stop.

-The ride from Princeton to Coalmont was hard pack and rocky in sections. Good enough for me.

-In Coalmont I remember reading a sign say we love ATV’s or something like that and the trail turned back to the sandy gravel crap until well past Tulameen. In Tulameen I had planned a re-stock but much to my dismay the local store had closed already and I was disappointed. I would need to find a creek for water again.

-The valley past Tulameen seemed to go on forever and the gates were becoming a nuisance and tougher for me to reclose in my fatigued state. The water I found was the watery section where it was flowing across and down the trail. I found a good spot to take water and the water was clear in my bottles so I was optimistic my tabs would do the job even though there were livestock(cows) about and I was in the bottom of the valley. 30 minutes later and I was happy to drink a bottle but I knew I still had to conserve a little as it was a ways until Merritt.

-Brookmere, Yay! “Downhill”. The trail was really overgrown past Brookmere and it was getting dark.

-I hear the Coquihalla! I felt like I was almost there but this is where the trouble started. My magenta line showed forward but there were multiple trails to go on and it was dark. After going back and forth on different trails I had to zoom all the way in on my Etrex and finally get on the right trail. Did I forget to mention the trails were steep and very sandy. I was full of adrenalin while trying to get through that section but finally I was onto the KVR rail trail and it was easier riding once again.

-Under the Coquihalla and I knew I was on the home stretch but it was getting late. The route down to Merritt was fast rail trail with some overgrowth and then it popped me out onto the road. I tried to hammer the best that I could but I could not see any lights yet. I was not sure how far it was to town and it deceived me. It was still another 30-45 minutes before I saw the lights of Merritt.

-Finally Merritt! I shot into town but my Etrex said turn right and go up to the Visitor Centre but I knew that the new start was Rotary Park and had to quickly look up the route on the phone as I must have loaded an older gpx onto my Etrex.

-Across town I went and I rolled into Rotary Park where my brother was waiting after driving up from Burnaby. He was watching my track from when I crossed under the Coquihalla.

12:01am and done.

-I believe on my finish video my brother took I said “I am never doing that again” but I think bikepacking is much like childbirth. It is painful right after but after a couple of weeks pass you only remember the good parts and want to do it again. I hope that will be the case with me.

-Straight up to the hotel for a shower, some food and a good sleep. It felt so good to get out of the almost 4 day old kit. Yuck!

Thank you’s:

-To Bow Cycle, Aaron and Leo, for all of their help getting my bike “race” ready in a short amount of time.

-To Gerick Sports in Cranbrook for helping me out last minute and saving my race.

-To Lennard for putting together this “race” and the adventure it was. I hope we get to meet properly some day.

-To my wife and family for supporting me and putting up with my “I am only going out for a couple hours” rides and then come back 6 hours later.

-To my brother for the surprise visit at the finish and helping me out getting to the hotel, the food and company.

Photos from my Trip:

BCEpic1000 Photos -Most of the shots were taken while riding so excuse the blurriness of some.