Organ Grinder Marathon: The Spiritual Successor to the Bow 80?

Due to the pandemic and cancer, I had not raced at a weekend bike race since 2019. Those two factors obviously explain some of that absence, but there were other more personal factors: I had spent years racing before and slowly working my way up, was it worth racing if I was not at my best and would be racing at a level similar to where I had spent lots of time racing before. After a pandemic spent chasing strava segments and exploring excellent running and biking loops, what reason did I have to spend hundreds of dollars on entry fees, gas, and have to make sure that I spent one of my precious weekend days either resting or recovering? To end my hiatus, the race would have to have an inspiring course, something I would enjoy racing. 

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.