Day 6- Finish at Blairmore

The boys are back and finished within the time limit. Today was a tough one, not very many smiles coming across the finish line. The route was over 100 km long and took them through an area that was somehow littered with nails. Ted ended up with a flat, and ran the last kilometre and a half. You'll see in this picture Blaine riding his bike, towing Ted's, and Ted running behind them.

They completed this leg in about 9 hours and 30 minutes. One day to go!!!!

Owies

Day 6- Elkford to Blairmore

It's hard to believe that we are already on Day 6! One more to go! Blaine and Ted did great on yesterday's leg, coming in at 7 hours, 40 minutes. They actually beat us to camp by about 15 minutes!

Today's stage to Blairmore is 102.4 km with 2,998 m of climbing.

Our friends from Switzerland sadly had to pull out of the race yesterday due to injury. It's heartbreaking to hear the stories, everyone that is here has worked so hard and sacrificed so much. Sybil and Rodney have become a regular fixture at our camp, we are cheering for Rodney's partner Martin who has been linked up with an Australian team to continue on.

Some pictures from this morning's start:

Ted's turn at the posting wheel

Today we pulled into Elkhorn, BC - the first sign of real civilization that the racers have seen in awhile. The TransRockies camp is basically at the community centre - the tent city is on the baseball diamond, the race office and main camp are in the parking lot, and the RV park is on the soccer field. That said, it is obvious that the whole community is behind this: volunteers are everywhere closing roads, guiding us in and cheering us on like we're celebrities, and waiting for us at the finish line with home made lemonade and muffins made by women so sweet they could be your own Grandma - you just couldn't say no.
Today's course was tough - but nowhere near day one or day two. That said, it is clearly obvious that the field is thinning. As well, we are passing more people than are passing us - our strategy of 'slow and steady' is clearly paying off... one way or another.

Thanks for all of the comments - keep 'em coming! Only a couple of days left... woo-hoo!!

A Post from Blaine

Well I was originally intending of posting daily of what is going on and how things are going but as it turns out, you get pretty tired at night after racing this event. It really seems that everyday you get beat down, further and further, making it harder and harder to keep going, that would explain the huge drop out rate at this point, more and more people aren't making the time restrictions and getting knocked out. Ted and I are still in and clearing the check points with ease at this point. Day 1 was an absolute nightmare, nothing even close to what I would call mountain biking. It took us 2 hours to get to the top of the ridge, where it was snowing! then basically had to walk our bikes over the next 15km as it was un-ride able. Totally crazy, I think I had 3 separate metal break downs where I picked up my bike and threw it into the woods and sat down, good thing Ted has a lot of patience! After that, we cleared the check points and finished the day off.
Day 2 was a real tuf one as well but I was much better mentally prepared then the day before so I just pounded through it. Day 3 was god, nice easy single track and a short day, only 50km or so. Day 4 had some climbs in it, 2 big ones to be exact, but what goes up must come down, nothing like burning down 20 km of down hill! My hands and shoulders have never hurt so much before. day 5, (today) well I think they tried to shake off a few more riders, the last 20 km were brutal and took alot to get through, nasty little rock garden put me over the bars as well, so I guess I match Ted with shedding some blood on the trail. Our mechanic that we hired is keeping the bikes in great condition and really putting some extra effort into them, best wrench the giant has ever seen! But really what it all comes down to is that we are having an awesome time out here, awesome views and best of all Ted and I are actually still in this thing! ha ha, thought we would have been cut out for not making a time cut off by now but here we are! We really wouldn't be able to do this without our support team either, Laura, Andrea and Mark, who for some reason seem to end up in their own little Trans Adventures daily, honestly, they have more stories than we do!

Mobile Laundry

As you can imagine, Blaine and Ted are pretty dirty when they get off the trail at the end of the day! Laura (who will now forever be known as Laura Ingalls of Little House on the Prairie fame) has developed a reputation at Transrockies camp for immediately befriending our new neighbors and stringing up her green extension cord clothes line between our RVs to dry the day's laundry.

However, on days like today when we have to cover a lot of ground, we have to get extra creative!

Day 5- Whiteswan Lake to Elkford

The boys left this morning from beautiful Whiteswan Lake to Elkford, BC. Today's leg of the race is 88.5 km with 2,147 m of climbing.

Here are Blaine and Ted leaving this morning for the start of the race. We have been missing each morning's start since we have the challenge of driving several hours to our next stop with many errands to run along the way. Thankfully we have met some wonderful people along the way who have offered some helpful advice!