First, let's return to the original race
referenced in the title: The Bow 80. For those that don't know, the Bow 80 was a
long distance marathon mountain bike race in Kananaskis. The first versions that
I have heard of were a roughly 80km loop around Moose Mountain featuring Sulphur
Springs, Elbow Valley, Powderface Creek, Prairie Creek, Jumpingpound Ridge
south, Cox Hill and finally Tom Snow Trails. Taking place in September, epic
fall weather sometimes added to the legend. In my mind, this route could be the
ultimate Kananaskis bike FKT. My one and only Bow 80 in 2011 was on the 2nd
version of the course I know of: which ommited Jumpingpound Ridge, Cox Hill, and
Tom Snow, and instead returning over Powderface pass, and up Pneuma and
finishing down Special K and Tom Snow. It was a more modern version, less
logistically complex, a little shorter at 65km, and debatably whether it was
more or less technical than the original. With the Special K trail, it was my
first more technical mountain bike race and I remember putting on some "burlier"
Maxxis Ardent tires on with this section in mind. To put on this race with the
constraints of Kananaskis (remoteness, field limits) is a big undertaking and
sadly the 2012 edition was the final. Not to mention the 2013 floods had a
slight impact on the course. Since 2013, the trail variety in the area has
exploded, presenting many more options for epic racing in Kananaskis.
I had
first seen rumblings of a marathon mountain bike race on Strava with some
cryptically titled ride names from Mike Sarnecki and Dave Roberts. To be honest,
this one slipped under my radar. The "Organ Grinder" was another name from the
past, a 5 hour (or 6 or 8?) lap race at the Canmore Nordic Centre on the day
after an XCO race that has gone by various names over the years: Iron Lung, Iron
Maiden, Mountain Maiden. Sadly, I never did this race as I was usually content
to recover from the XCO race the day before. As I type this, I am warming up to
the idea of racing a multi hour lap race (Salty Dog 2025?), but prior to racing
this edition, this format was not something that would keep me from other
adventures in the mountains.
It was a skimo teammate who brought to my attention
what this race actually was, a week before the race: A single 50km loop with 5
climbs in West Bragg. Holy shit, it's 5/8ths of the Original Bow 80, or 10/13ths
of the later Bow 80. And priced like an ABA race (cheaper). While I was unsure
of my form (power meter, running splits), I was too intrigued to miss this one.
I needed an excuse to ride West Bragg, and I could use this race to see how my
form was. Sign me up...well in the 35-44 category because I didn't think I could
do that well in the Open category.
Near the front at the start were actually
many riders familiar with the Bow 80 (aka, been in the game for a while) as well
as some newer faces who have been smashing the West Bragg trails. Some with
tired legs from racing the provincial XCO the day before. With a longer day in
mind the start wasn't too fast but it did end up single file. Sensing a lull in
the pace, I went...off the front to give me a head start on the Ridgeback 3
descent. And ultimately attempt to smash the Bobcat climb so I could at least
come out of the day with a comparison to some of my previous times up this climb
from 2020 and 2021. Shawn Bunnin caught and passed me on the Ridgeback 3
descent, but nobody else. I hit the bottom of Bobcat, passed Shawn and went hard
up this climb, well as hard as my mind would let me with 3 more main climbs to
come after. On the next descent down Sugar Daddy, Shawn didn't catch me until
the very bottom. I soon retook the lead.
The Boundary Ridge climbs were not as
big as Bobcat, but had some punches, and it was hard to tell where they topped
out and the descent began. I managed to descend down to the parking lot and the
base of the next climb with my lead intact with the first of 2 loops done.
With
the 2 separate loops each taking roughly 1.5hours and passing through the
trailhead, it was easy to organize feed, but I only have 1 bottle cage on my
bike, so I raced with a bottle of drink mix and a hydration pack full of 1.5L of
water. The extra weight might have slowed me on the climbs, but maybe I saved
some time in the feed zone not having to stop and it was easy to stay hydrated
through the day. The next climb was Telephone to Disconnect before a shorter
descent down Long Distance to the base of Merlin. At Merlin, I felt a couple of
leg cramps, and gulped some drink mix from my bottle. Maybe I needed something
other than just water in the pack? But I was able to hammer up the Merlin climb.
I was unfamiliar with the next section on Kestrel. All I knew was that it
traversed along the ridge for a while before dropping down to the Tom Snow
trail. Kestrel featured a seemingly never ending stretch of false summits.
Finally the descent came and I still rode down like someone could be coming up
behind me any second now. Just like the original Bow 80, there was a section of
the Tom Snow trail towards the finish. I had never done that section, but I
heard it had been revamped as part of the Great Trail (Trans Canada Trail), and
wow was it fast. Good thing no gravel bikers were coming the other way! The next
section had a couple of ski trail climbs and while nothing compared to the 5
main climbs, they stung a bit. And finally, just when you think you can smell
the finish line, the course turned onto some tighter West Crystal Line
singletrack. Still, nobody had caught me and finally the finish line was in
sight and I rolled across, taking my first ever weekend race overall win.
Maybe
my power meter is broken, maybe everyone else's legs were tired from the day
before, maybe I am comparing myself to something I was in 2021 when all I had to
compare myself to others was a power meter and strava. But I guess I'm back.
As
it is difficult to mark a long course, they had us race with GPS navigation. The
junctions were very well marked and my only confusion came when I was on
unfamiliar trails and was wondering if I was still on course. The trail area is
usually very busy and I'm not sure many people knew there was a race going on
even after riding by course markings at the junction. I know trail etiquette is
a thing, but there are also a large variety of trails that weren't being used
for the race and there are hundreds of other days in the season to ride those
trails. Thanks to the organizers for putting on this race, it was certainly
worthy of being spoken about in the same breath as the legendary Bow 80.
