Chico Racing signs on as a sponsor!

Chico Racing, http://www.chicoracing.com/, one of the premier mountain bike event promotion companies in Ontario (and, dare I say, the WORLD), has also signed on as a sponsor of our TransRockies team.

Thanks a ton, Adam and Sean - you guys are the best!

Make sure you check out their events, especially the 24 Hour races - which are some of the largest 24 hour mountain bike races in North America, as well as the "Crank the Shield", a three-day mountain bike stage race in Ontario!

Gators North Rocks!

Thanks to Gators North in Waterdown, one of our favourite watering holes, for signing on as one of Blaine and Ted's first sponsors! Gator's has a long history of supporting their community and we can't thank them enough!

Okay, now I'm homesick thinking of Gator's wings and pitchers of REAL Canadian beer...

Be sure to check out their link on the right!!

Stats from the 2007 Race

Number of riders: 590
Nations Represented: 24 Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Ecuador, England, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Portugal, Scotland, South Africa, Switzerland, USA, Wales
Team supporters with race: 400 (approx)
Staff and volunteers: 150
Stages: 7
Host Communities: 5
Wilderness Campgrounds: 2
Days Spent without cellular phone coverage: 3
Race Distance in KM: 555
Elevation Gain in Metres: 11,000
Total KM ridden: over 310,000
Total Vertical Metres Climbed: over 6.3 million
Meals Served: over 10,000
Watermelons used: 512
Clif products (bars, bloks, shots) consumed: Over 10,000
Litres of bottled water used: 14,500
Website visits: 71500 unique visits during event
6-year participant prizes awarded: 3
5-year participant prizes awarded: 4
Leaders Jerseys Presented: 84
Stage Medal Presented: 252
Prize Money Awarded: $20,000 CDN
Final Banquet Attendees: 1300

70% Sold Out! Have you registered yet?

Picture from the 2007 race

Registration for the 2008 Transrockies opened on November 1. By 1:45 pm on opening day, 162 teams had registered and the race was 54% sold out! On November 4 at 9:00 am, the race was 70% sold out! Blaine and Ted managed to register the first day, guaranteeing their spot as one of 300 teams in the 2008 race.

Meanwhile, we are putting the final details together for Blaine and Ted's sponsorship package. As you can imagine, this is an expensive race. Blaine and Ted have decided to ask for corporate sponsors in order to help offset the cost. Actually, several sponsors have approached them, without being asked! In addition to having their logos printed on the race jerseys, sponsors will also be listed on this blog with links to their websites. Watch for updates, and help us thank them for their support by checking out their sites!

The TransRockies Race- A Brief History

Heinrich Albrecht and Chester Fabricius, founders of the TransRockies Challenge, have a long and legendary history in the mountain biking world, starting with their organization of the first mountain bike race in Europe in the 1980s. From there, both went on to organize World Cup events in Europe and in North America.

In 1998, the fruition of all this experience resulted in the birth of the first TransAlp Challenge in Europe. Two-hundred and twenty teams of two riders from eight different countries crossed the European Alps in eight days. The 580-kilometre long route with over 20,000 metres of climbing became the most challenging mountain bike event worldwide. The event is a sell-out every year, with 550 teams participating and more than 3,000 teams on a wait list.

The TransAlp Challenge today is arguably the most popular mountain bike event in Europe. Albrecht and Fabricius continued to work together on the event, and shortly after the third TransAlp Challenge was held, an exploration of the potential for creating a similar event in North America. After extensive research, Fabricius and Albrecht identified the Canadian Rockies as a perfect site for TransAlps’ sister event, the TransRockies Challenge.

The first annual TransRockies Challenge was held in August 2002, and it has continued annually since then. The events are testaments to incredible strength and determination, as riders face 7 days, 600 km, and 12,000m of climbing.

The 2003 event was the race that happened "against all odds", as the wildfire conditions in the Canadian Rockies region forced organizers to re-route the first 3 days of the race at the last minute. In 2004, heavy rain turned a portion of the route into a muddy quagmire. Riders were forced to walk long sections of the route, which became impassable. The 2005 event was not mud-free, although the majority of the route was ride-able.

In 2006, the route saw a major re-design, moving the majority of the event into the Kootenay Rockies region of British Columbia. The change took the race deeper into the spectacular wilderness of the Canadian Rockies. The new course received rave reviews as the event topped the 200 team level for the first time.

In 2007, the TransRockies Challenge will use similar routing to the 2006 event, traversing the Kootenay Rockies, with two crossings of the continental divide. The sixth annual event is expected to sell out all of the 275 available team spots.

My brother Blaine, and his friend Ted are gearing up for the 2008 Challenge.