It was……… impressing. I won’t forget these two days so easily. Like I will never be able to forget previous editions of the same event in 2009 and 2010. All these Gigathlons left me surprised by what a body can do. Each of the stages, the road bike, the mountain bike or let alone the running could have been enough for a one day’s race. But it was all together, plus inline skating, plus swimming. Thinking of it now, or just before the race, I feel it being an impossible endeavor, though I know it is well doable. At this point I would like to say thank you to Paul my supporter. He was the one, getting my gear from one change area to the other, preparing my fuel, water, sunscreen.. and whatever,.. and finally, important… getting me in and out of the neoprene swimming suit.

The prologue on Friday was uphill inline skating. 600 m of climb. We were allowed to use poles, most people used XC skiing poles…, some used nordic walking poles. Very few used no poles at all.  The first 10km were on the flat. Now imagine a pack of inline skaters, all of them with long poles trying to squeeze somehow past each other??? Dangerous. Finally at the foot of the mountain, again, the pack was so close it was difficult to use the poles properly without getting into each other’s way. I was happy when finally I had some space around me. Only then was I able to really skate properly.., uphill of course. It was FUN! Really good concrete ground, a moderately steep road, it was wonderful. It is similar to XC-skiing up a hill.

On Saturday, we started yet again on inline skates. Again.. a dangerous thing. The 30km were slightly downhill on closed regional roads.. through tunnels, with bends. The skaters formed long worms, one behind the other, like in road bike races, keeping tight behind the racer ahead, holding with the arms the hips of the foreman. It was quite scaring. I am no regular inline skater, and I can’t see or feel if the guy ahead of me is experienced or not. We all know in road bike races, which back wheel we wouldn’t like to see, as body language tells us if someone is experienced or not. There were many accidents I was told afterwards, mass crashes. After that boost of adrenaline for 1:20 h I was happy to go on to the road bike and enjoy nice climbs. The 90km with 2200 meter of climb promised fun. However, my legs were sore from the skating. Very atypically for me I had to go on small gears. No big ring girl.. in that moment… Only after the first downhill my legs were ready for the biking, and the second climb I could go as I would normally. By the way.. I was racing in pink.. and was recognized by some riders who also were at the Cape Epic race in South Africa. Small world!!!

The nightmare came after the wonderful uphill to Crans Montana… .the lake on 1400 m above sea level was cold. We were told it was 20°C but that could not have been true. They must have measured in one little spot only. We had to go round the lake 4 times, and by the fourth time I was unbelievably cold. When I got out of the water, Paul had to wrap me around aluminum foil to get my body temperature into the right range again. I felt incredibly happy, having survived the swimming.

What came now, was like a desert for me. Running uphill to Plaine Morte, a plateau formed by glaciers on around 3000 m above sea level. Wonderful scenery, great nature. I loved the run up there. I also and especially loved the last bike stage. I knew from training that it was a hard stage, but that there were wonderful downhills. And so it was. It was simply wonderful. When I crossed the finish line on Saturday I had been 12 to 13 hours (amazing, I don’t know even how much exactly) in movement.

 
Next day started at 5:00 with biking again. I always will remember, when we reached the highest point about 1:15h later. The new morning just had risen, the sun illuminating the most beautiful mountains of the alps, the Matterhorn, the Monte Rosa Glacier, and many other famous peaks. It was a pleasure to ride the smooth trails, up and down. I changed into swimming after 3h15 (for 55km and 1700 meter climb). Paul said that I had arrived as one of the first women. Well,.. if that was the case, than everyone overtook in the swimming pond. Not as cold as the day before, but still catastrophic for me. Again, four never ending rounds. Again, I could have hugged the universe, when I stepped out of the water and changed to my beloved road bike. The first few km toward famous Zermatt felt strange. Unfortunately I had some water in one ear that would not go out. The climb to Zermatt is considerable (1000 meter climb) but it is an unsteady climb, the 1000 m climb is on more than 40 km, so there’s lots of flat passages. Unfortunately, there was no group to stick to, so I had to race it all alone. I always find it impressing to enter to Zermatt. All of a sudden you see famous Matterhorn in front of you. A mountain that makes me feel so happy. It is such majesty! Next was the run up the Gornergrat. If you ever happen to visit Switzerland. With or without bike. One place I can recommend to visit, is Gornergrat. Hike up, take the train, whatever. You won’t regret it, I promise. The train also transports Bikes. There’s nothing better than to take one of the last trains up, and enjoy the 1600m downhill on about 16km.. Wonderful trails big scenery. Really big scenery. But now.. it was running up the thing. First I didn’t feel particularly well. The start into the run was very steep, and I was anxious to ruin my legs for the final road bike uphill. That one – so I was told- was extremely steep, so steep that many competitors were afraid not to have enough gears for it. That scared me. You must know that I ride hard gears, and my road bike is fitted with a “flat landers” cassette although I am riding mountains with it… So I wondered whether my smallest gear 23/36 would be small enough… especially when I overheard well trained male triathletes debating whether their 27/36 gears would fit… Eventually I decided, that what would be would be and started running like I wouldn’t have to go on the bike after it. So I started to overtake competitor after competitor. I enjoyed the run. It was hard but the scenery helped. And .. then… the cycling.. unbelievable. My legs were flying up the mountain that had scared me so much. The 1000 meter of climbs I did in 60 minutes,…. !!! And.. no need to use the smallest gear.. Competitors were dying in that climb… and I enjoyed. I really did. The descent was scary. A road that apparently was suffering from big temperature changes, with creeps, longitudinal ruptures, narrow bends, changing light…. Wow! That took a lot of energy from me. Happy, and not too much exhausted I crossed the finish line. A total of 26h and 55minutes final time. Most of the time I lost on my competitors in swimming and inline skating. Swimming along made me lose 90 minutes, not even on the best, but on average women… Without these weaknesses I would be classified among the first 5 or 8 women. Whether I will do the gigathlon solo once more? Well.. I had said, that I wanted to do it 3 times. But.. Never say never. I think I will give me another try to learn to swim decently. Should I be able to swim 3km within 75 min (which is slow, but acceptable) than I’ll try it solo once more. Otherwise, I will be looking for a partner that does the swimming and inline part.. and do it in a team of 2..:) It also depend, which region the gigathlon goes to next year. The gigathlon, like I said is an excellent opportunity to learn more about other regions in Switzerland, regions I would never have considered to go for biking. Plus it is a coming-together of so many interesting people. There is this very specific gigathlon atmosphere, that I think, I am addicted to… see slide show below for some more impressions of these three fantastic days. Click to view slideshow.

Report from newest  team member Kristina Bagma

How much pain can you handle?

That was the question I was asking myself on the morning of the
Glotman Simpson Cypress Hill Climb.  It
was actually the question I was asking myself all week.  “Was I physically and mentally prepared to
not only push myself into the pain zone, but could I  force myself to stay there for 40, 45, 50
minutes??”

A race that involves only one mountain – from the bottom to the
top – definitely requires strength.  But
when it really comes down to it – you need to be mentally prepared to hold
yourself in total physical pain -for the entire time – if you want to finish
fast.    For the entire week before the
event, I was nervous because I am never really sure if I am mentally capable of
forcing myself to stay with the pain.
Some races (or even training days) I can push my limits and ignore the
pain signals that are screaming for me to stop.   But then other days I mentally can’t handle
it and just have to give up.

Even as I write this article, I have a difficult time, trying to
describe the whole concept of how it is possible to be comfortable with pain
and harder still is trying to describe why I want to do it.  Why does someone choose to wake up at 6am on
a Saturday morning just to see how much pain they can endure?  Why do we care how long it takes us to climb
a mountain?  My answer is – I don’t know
why.  And if I tried to explain it in
words, I would come out all wrong so I have since stopped trying to explain why
I think this way.  It just is.

And so, here is how the pain unfolded….

6am wake up

From the moment I woke up, all of my energy became focused not
just on the race, but on one thought – being comfortable with pain.  Pain in any race is inevitable, but some
races hurt more than others and some require more mental focus than
others.  Any distractions you allow
yourself can only be to fuel you to go faster.
Listening to your friends cheering for you, looking for people to chase
(Richelle) ahead of you and jumping on to someone’s wheel as they pass you -
all help fuel your fire to push harder, go faster, hurt more!

Race Stupid

This was my first mass start hill climb race and I fumbled around
looking for the best place to start.
Everyone around me looked faster than me.  Finally I staked out a tiny piece of real
estate, chosen only because I recognized a few familiar faces.  We chatted about our expectations for the
day, all the while my butterflies continued to make me tongue tied and race
stupid.  There is no better way to
describe the mental state of someone right before a race – except “race stupid”.  My mantra for the next 44 minutes was, “Stay
with the pain.”

Confidence booster

The race started with a neutral roll out, the girl beside me
started to chatting with me.  She
introduced herself as Richelle and Thanked me for writing a blog post that
inspired her last year when she completed her first Ironman.  What a great confidence booster for me!  But then the pitch changed, the race started
and she was gone – ahead of me, pushing me to catch her.  Stay with the pain.

Motivation

There were a ton of guys in front of me but only one girl -
Richelle.  She was in a small pack of
guys but I was focused on her back.  I
tried to hold the distance between us and as they started to approach the first
first switch back I thought about trying to catch them.  They were only about 100m ahead of me.  If I just picked it up a bit I should be able
to catch them….. but I hesitated too long and they picked up the pace on the
flats and were gone.  In retrospect I
probably could have afforded the little push, but I was nervous about going
anaerobic too soon.  I held back and
thought I might be able to catch them later but there was no  later.
There is always strength in numbers and I was alone.   Stay with the pain.

The climb

So alone I rode, picking off a few people one at a time.  I was holding 9 miles an hour and tried to
keep it steady – no matter what the grade.
When I reached the second switch back, I allowed myself a bit of recovery,
switching my cadence up to 95rpm to loosen my legs, trying to rid them of the
lactic acid build up.  Then it was back
into the groove.  Stay with the pain.

The Goal

As I pulled out of the last switchback, I started to get
excited!! I chanced a quick look at my clock and realized that I was going to
reach my goal of finishing under 44 minutes! It was enough to push me into
another gear.  Stay with the pain.

To keep the momentum moving I alternated between standing and
sitting, picking up the pace just enough to push me over the last bit of a
grade, past my friends cheering me on and into the last kilometer finish.  But just as I was trying to change the
cadence from a climb to a sprint, the 4 guys sitting on my wheel during the
climb passed me in a flash.        I
remembered my hesitation from earlier and didn’t even think twice this
time.  I quickly jumped on the last wheel
of the pack.  We rounded the last corner
in the gravel a bit too fast but I wasn’t going to slow down now.  All style and grace was gone as I hammered on
the pedals again for one last push for a standing sprint to the finish!

Total time of 43:28.

Can’t wait till next year!

Hell of a Series….won my age category series title, next year aiming for pro/elite as turned out by points/attendance would’ve been mine this year.. shoulda ,woulda,coulda….

http://www.whistlerquestion.com/article/20110728/WHISTLER02/307289993/-1/WHISTLER/zeglinski-ray-have-top-local-gearjammer-finish

Ryders Eyewear – Vela model, perfect for fluctuating light conditions on our trails MY absolute favorite racing/riding glasses

Results- Womens

1.Melanier Bernier

2.Cathy Zeglinski (+2min)

3, Rua Read

Men

1.Neal Kindree

2. Ricky Federeau (+4MIN)

3rd- uncertain think Kevin Calhoun??

Great day, spirits high after months of rain…finally a sunny day race. Start delayed for riders taking shuttle vans from start at Rose Park, would highly recommend just riding down highway for warmup takes around 30 min at comfortable warm up pace…

Fast start for me, racing well, took the lead from the start riding with guys I know and feeling comfortable. Preriding the course last week I knew what to expect just not the course lenthening!Behind a slower paced rider into first rooty slippery section (?dead end loop), lost some ground as once I passed him had lost my group…after 40 min more  heard the unmistakable sound of a woman breathing on my shoulder, amazing women just SOUND different from men and I could tell it was Melanie. She surged and passed, pace seemed temporarily to slow so I surged a little while later wanting to keep the lead,but that was the last time I was ahead, hoping to catch on the technical but not to be.

After recycle dropped guys with me, was solo for long way it seemed until the plunge (wet!)then rode with the same 2 guys to the end which helped keep up my pace, so much easier to have a race within a race!

I thought we we nearly done after crumpit woods but the organizers had a nasty little surprise in store.. course increased in length by 5km, wasn’t expecting that – a tough addition of punchy little climbs, ohh that was tough mentally, never so glad to see the finish!

Was wanting the win but great to have a tough competitor we are now 2-1 in her favor at the Hell of a series so the challenge is on for JABR! Love my Rocky mountain Element, as the season goes on i just love it more and more- superb climbign but even moire criticla for our very technical races a superb descneder! Ryders Vela model sunglasses are permanently in my race kit, wear thenm everyday best lenses for shade then sun!

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/gearjammer-course-changes-before-weekends-racehttp://www.squamishchief.com/article/20110724/SQUAMISH0101/110729991/-1/squamish/kindree-collects-gearjammer-win

Road ride today on my Rocky Mountain Team  Element on the pavement, really like how it rolls even though it is a MTB the position feels great and fast on road- good thing! did hill repeats past two huge bears munching clover on the side of the road leading to Callaghan Valley X country ski area. Their big heads would startled and look up every time I passed, then relax and back to munching clover.. feel much safer going downhill then into Zone 4  past them then up- incentive to go faster !!!

Wonder when they might thing we humans might just be a delectable treat, not slowing down enough to find out!

Photo credits- Kary Firstbrook on a different day in Whistler… I wasn’t stopping to take photos this day!

Her report of the race:

The annual Test of Metal-(TOM) mountain bike race, the local measure of mountain bike race fitness- what is YOUR best time in the Test? ?

Racers ask this question to  to gauge how fast/fit you are when encountering a new unknown rider on the trail as I found out repeatedly encountering other riders preriding the course past two weeks…

Race sells out in 30 minutes online, months before and  has become both a Sea to Sky Corridor mass participation event of 800 racer that inspires fitness riders to push their limits and train more seriously every spring and it is  now on every serious XC MTB racer’s calender.

This race has been my personal nemesis-never had a result I felt truly satisfied or reflected my best…

2010- DNF  crashed from both sides by big guys,,glad to end up unscathed,1km from start -scary! 750 racers flooding around me, in an endless strem, ending up with a broken derailleur, race over for me ,

2009 5 days before the race, in my best shape ever,then sustaining  the worst crash of my life on a gravel road, test..broken thumb big elbow gash justbarely  able to hold the bars by race day, determined to race…raced at 3.28 not toitally content that this has  beeen my PB,

prior to 2008- not training seriously, with young child, new clinic, so no real sense of how fast I could  go, and wanting to test myself, the real race is with yourself the other racers just help the energy to max out every ounce of power !

Aiming for a 3.15 for this race main goal in mind not concerned so  much placing as the numbers have been swelling in the serious racer women’s ranks, with many world cup racing scene woman in attendence,changing the Test from a local scene, to a major event on the race calender.. Women in race form at the start sign- in included Catharine Pendrel 2010 overall World Cup leader, Jean Ann Berkenpas current Canada Cup leader, Mical Dyck Canadian Team member and  World Cup racer, Sandra Walters former Canadian Team member and World cup racer, Brandi Heisterman local phenom  and the list goes on….starting in this pack is intimidating!

This frigid rainy spring, oops supposed to now be summer, coldest on record?  race day dawned with no  surprises, predictions of nice weather not to be realized yet again… pouring rain all night, awoke to more relentless rain!!- egads! not yet ANOTHER day of rain, mudfest predicted…how many times since January have I driven to Squamish from Whistler in rain and snow knowing I am in for 3 hours of the same, almost the NEW NORMAL!it is very difficult to get motivated, but if this happens and it is your first race just perservere despite the weather, once the gun goes off it becomes inconsiquential and the best epics come out of perserving depite conditions that are hellish!

By time of warm up however, the  rain ended, a definite swing up on the  happy meter registered! the debate about arm warmers raging internally as I shed my jacket……

My TOM almost came to an abrupt end, just how I managed this one was a total bozo moment glad didn’t get it on America’s funnies home videos..from rolling along in warm up mode on  the flat pavement at  a decent speed,  to a  complete endo, stopped…. well, not dead! but maimed!flipped myself from rolling, to a full stop onto knee and shoulder.OUCH! I had panicked, while  tightening my shoe strap ratchet on my SIDI’s noted my bolt holding the plastic cleat onto the to shoe falling out, grabbed at shoe, to grab bolt with right hand,lurched,now off balance , left hand instintively full grab to front break…WHAP..bloody knee trickling down my leg, bruised , shaken and shoe now falling off….  bolt nowhere to be seen. and race hadn’t yet started..witnessed by many kind racers coming to my aid feeling like and idiot I assured all I was FINE despite wincing.. takes more than a endo to do me in and yes even experienced racers do stupid things…

I rushed to the car where my packed race emergency kit was..found a new bolt…. sigh of relief, figured I’d done my crash for the day! and patted myself on the back for at least being prepared, if not totally coordinated. (good reminder to keep a spare one in your race/travel kit!)

Race started with the usual amazing rendering of Oh Canada, but I had no real nerves today felt my preparation was excellent thanks to coach Tony Routley, just a frisson of fear as we rode past the  place I was crashed last year, singlespeeder crying out for a push and flailing arms- what! didn’t want a repeat of last year, sigh! didn’t crash so no more worries!..put the memory of my recent crash out of my mind, shelved..

Great hill climb for me, could feel the pack splinter,  and the women fall off my wheel with the expected racers Catherine Pendrel and Brandi Heisterman  setting a blistering pace ahead and charging out of sight, couldn’t spot the other women so wasn’t sure where the rest were… big pack of men ,could  only see Sandra and Ann Yew  a few wheel lengths ahead now at final climb.., the usual fast start to separate everyone into doubletrack, felt strong today, had preridden the course twice in past  past 2 weeks, many times in sections over past months.  knew my lines, was on total race form and focused.

Was in with perfect pack, exactly my pace, no further women in sight, until Melanie Bernier surged ahead into Jacks. I  rode behind her for a long time but didn’t want to push the pace too much before 9 mile hill. Flashed by Sandra- who was pulled off on side on  Jacks never saw her again … By nine mile  had Melanie in sight by the top but that was last I saw of her. I knew at least 4 women were ahead of me so confusing to hear from the crowds I was 4th woman?? maybe the others rip so fast they look like men? no ponytails?? Great to have all my friends cheering for me, I love hearing them, but I don’t acknowledge it as I ride by as it removes focus from racing, just know I do see you and it all helps just that little bit to keep up the pace! Thanks to to JP and Christine for the feeds!

I heard I was, 4th, 5th, 6th placed woman  along the way from the crowds which didn’t seem right unless others had pulled out? hmm it certainly kept me surging though thinking , you just never know!!!so no idea where I really was in standings and knew best I could realistically do today was 5th, as didn’t expect to be ahead of some of these very fast girls, feeling strong though so hoping by a miracle…..By lava flow hill was still on my desired pace, riding with Mateo Abel and Dave Reid, good flow going and we had dropped several of the other riders whe had started climb at beginning…Matteo put down the pedal on lava hill and got a gap. I knew I was only  behind Ann Yew by one minute from coach Mike Charuk giving me splits and hoped to catch some time on descent…thought I was 6th at that time..from what they gathered. I knew Ring Creek rip would be tough to stay with the boys, despite my best try they were soon out of sight. It was muddy, huge puddles and slippery and this is where I began to feel cold and crampy..I am absolutely unable to stay warm and get Raynaud’s when cold (fingers and toes turn white) which didn’t help being splashed by monster puddles, wondered then about wisdom then of not having arm warmers….Glasses were key, mud splashed repeatedly , saved by my Ryders Vela glasses my fave for low light then sunny condions, made all the differece to being able to see despite the mud. don’t leave home without them!

The plunge was slippery but I was feeling super technically fast, although somewhat frozen and no one passed me, the guys in front jumped out of the way as several were off their bikes so passed 4-5 men en route- NICE! can’t help but get a grin off this!

At exit from plunge was at 2.47, knew it was 30 min at easy pace to the finish from my prerides, so expected to complete the rest in less time i.e 25 min…   expecting possibly,to go even faster…but then every muscle started to cramp and my race pace faltered to survival mode.. Farside, my favorite trail suits my power climbing usually, I just couldn’t power as normally, and at the end of a cold descent it is a tough series of power climbs, with the wet roots today just a little more challenging than usual. The guys I was riding behind were clearly suffering and our pace slowed,a death march of suffering souls.. I maybe should have used the opportunity to get more speed, and overtake them  but my muscles weren’t cooperating..felt like I might seize into a ball of cramp at any moment,and I assumed all women were waaaaay behind- MISTAKE!

The dreaded sound of a female voice behind me about 10 minutes before the finish,Joelle Guynup a strong racer snapped me back to attention! by Endo she passed me on a little climb and then I was behind her and never regained my position, I was right on her tail onto the pavement with so little time left in the race. just couldn’t gap the 10 sec she put on me, then out of nowhere on the pavement a fresh appearing Sandra Walters (who had a mechanical issue with her pedal it turned out in Jacks) urging me to jump on the train behind Dean Linell. So from what was my actually my 7th placed position the entire race, which I held all all race  I was now in 9th at very very end of race!! and no gas, 3 minutes to go.With Dean’s urging me on, I gave my last strength, I smoked the descent of climbers rock area,not conceding my placing and closed the gap again, into gravel trail immediately behind Joelle and  Sandra, breathing down their wheels, with  less than 1 km to go.Although I gave my all, and Dean tried to help close the gap I was done in , finshed 10 sec behind them both, watched them ride away, unable to contest a sprint my favorite!drat! , with it turned out Meghan Rose less than a minute back- WOW, 6th to 10th positions were amazingly close within 2 minutes. I looked up previous Test results this is a first, never have the women finished so closely. Usualy gaps of 2-3 minutes exist. So we now have a great group of closely matched racers vying for position, creates real drama and  and I will remember not to assume my position is assured until the finish line ever again! , Last race I was placed ahead of Melanie ,Joelle and Ann, this race they were ahead of me so it will be challenging fight for positions and makes for  more entertaining racing and hopefully raises the bar for us all.

Retrospectively now, realized I forgot to eat ANYTHING ENTIRE RACE , way too focused and was feeling strong, so the bonk took 3 hours to hit but the heavy crampy legs were likely a sugar low, why is it still possible to make rookie mistakes/ sigh! learned my lesson again!

Catharine Pendrel was in a world of her own, racing to 11th place overall (yes ALL MEN AND WOMEN!) on the day, and a new course record, of 2.45.45 a time all but a handful of men would be very proud to have as a PB

Brandi Heisterman was top local woman with a blistering 2.59.25 and 35th OVERALL all men and women.

I stand in awe of women who finish so highly placed against all the men and sub 3 hour racing is very ,very impressive and with this kind of pace they are showing what women can do- fine racing girls! especially in conditions that were potentially several minutes slower than ideal course record conditions.

Rounding out the podium was Jean Ann Berkenpas at 3.03.04

So yes I won my “category”, won the jersey and free entry next year, but more proud of my battling it out with the other women to be 9th overall, a bit mad at myself for being edged out of 7th at the finish, but proud to have given everything to get there, and no excuses!..

I can’t wait till I race Nationals as my last race as Masters for a few years. I hope to win and then upgrade to pro/elite so I don’t have to be reminded at every race that I am not 30 years old, oops already passed that dreaded 40 age barrier too,. Racing allows me to push the envelope of my personal limits and my age is a self perceived barrier that I’d  like to ignore till I am a “grandmaster” at least! I am getting faster, not slower, which at this stage in my life is amazing and a testimony to great coaching and lots of personal suffering in wet cold training conditions all winter.

If you are considering starting to race there is not a perfect time , just start today , get out and ride, sign up for a race and push yourself just a little more you’ll be amazed what you can accomplish.

Thanks for reading and see you at the Test next year!