I’ve ridden pretty much all the trails on all the stages, but am most familiar with Maple and Tzouhalem.
Tzouhalem: A grand traverse is a long, fairly comfortable climbing trail without any overly punchy sections. Its an easier blue for Island standards, and would probably be a blue in most places I’ve ridden. There are almost no easy places to pass, its pretty consistently single track. The end connecting trail to field of dreams is steep and punchy. Field of dreams is a blue with maybe 1 hard section, but its short. Upper field of dreams is a black, it has some very punchy climbs, one of which is very technical. Rocky ridge is an easier black with a steep descents and slabs. Double D is a very fast flow trail. If I was racing, I would make the most of the passing opportunities on the doubletrack throughout the course, as the trails are quite tight.
Maple - Xylem is a great climbing trail. Lower is easy blue, Middle and Upper are harder, still blue, but with some tricky short black sections, usually rock with some punchy ups. Upper Maple Syrup is categorically NOT a double black, it is a black. And even then, its more of a stiff blue with some steep rocky sections that are more black. Lower maple syrup is pretty similar, but much more pedally with a few harder rocky climbs. The singletrack section after is quite easy undulating blue. Passing will be even harder on this stage, as there’s much less doubletrack or road.
Looking at all the stages, I’ve ridden most of the trails in most of the locations. I would say that upper/lower maple syrup are the most technical trails you will encounter. I am quite comfortable on those two trails on my 160/160 enduro, and a bit sketchy on my xc race bike. In the wet they can be quite slippery, but if they’re bone dry traction is excellent (I rode both those trails a few weeks ago on my xc bike with Rekon Races and was totally fine, as it was dry).
Great detail and really helpful.
Knowing what to expect is going to be really helpful mentally as much as physically. I have 120/130 travel, so there will definitely be some walking! Anymore than that I wouldn’t get up the hills
Thanks for the write up @Northshorerider
Rode Maple yesterday for the first time in a long time. XC bike (120/100) with Ardent Race tires. I agree with NorthShore that this will be the most sustained, challenging trail of the week (but not a double black, where’d that trailforks rating come from?). Great dirt yesterday, but the rocks were quite slick after some heavy rain the last few days. I found everything rideable going in blind, but I was definitely keeping my speed in check. Hopefully it will be dry for the event. And once you’ve conquered this and Parachutes in Nanaimo, Cumberland is going to be a piece of cake!
Only other thing I’ll add is about the climbing trail. It took me about 50 minutes riding within myself and a beautiful trail. But I was putting in constant surges over threshold, it was not a steady spinning power climb for me. There is also no place to recover at the top as you go straight into the long, physical descent. Speaking for myself, I could easily push too hard on this climb and blow up, especially if everyone around me is pinning it. I’ll need to remind myself it is a long week and consciously keep my effort in check on this one. That is not something I normally have to do. I’m definitely not a racer and usually chill on climbs. But something about this trail seemed to keep me ramping up the effort.
Should be an awesome day and something for everyone. Some super fun tech, some super fun flow. Will be a blast!
Thanks @Bdchunk
My partner is a bit of a tyre nerd, so I’ll ask him what we’ve got lined up later.
So the 50 minute climb…did you feel you had to keep surging over threshold because of the nature of the terrain? Or just the feel of the trail?
It’s really good to know we get the most difficult trails done earlier in the week.
I am now associating Cumberland with cake, which is no bad thing
I did a long ride today - 4 laps of a local trail centre. I know it so well, I usually keep thinking ahead to the next section, trying to get it completed. But today I just mentally stayed with where I was at on the trail. I think it took much less mental energy that way, letting the trail come to me. Not sure if that would work if I was racing- although I’m guessing it’s actually what I should be doing
Re climb - the nature of the trail. Lots of little things I needed to power over. I just looked at the file and I had over 50x5s surges >400 watts, which is a lot for me. I am a heavier guy though, takes a few watts to get me moving uphill
Cumbeland = cake, I like it. For me Cumberland = biking & beer, they have an awesome brew pub there. It’s a cool town, you’ll love it.
It’s tricky to get that kind of training in local to me. We love near Hadleigh Olympic Park, which has lots of hills, but pretty smooth.
A trip to Wales would be perfect, but it’s too risky for an injury this close.
Hi all; new member here and a Vancouver Island rider who knows these trails very well. From what I have read all the advice being offered is 100% accurate as to the terrain. The climbing trails are amazing but can also be very punchy an long with little opportunity to pass. A light bike is going to save you way more time on the climbs than it will cost you on the downhills even if you get off and walk. I can ride the same power/intensity on the Maple Mountain climb on my old xc bike vs my enduro bike (with cushcore) and the difference can be over 10 minutes easy.
My biggest advise is to have a dropper post. I have memories from the last race here of long lines after the Tzouhalem/Maple Mountain stage of riders trying to buy dropper posts at the vendor centre. A dropper will make your ride so much better that I cannot stress how important they are out here. Being born and raised on flattish xc trails I never even considered a dropper until I moved to the island and now wouldn’t ride without one under any circumstance.
My two cents. Hope this helps with guidance; these are some of the best trails in the world so you will be blown away no matter what you ride.
Ah good point mentioning the tires. The last time I rode maple syrup was on my XC bike with Rekon Race tires. It was reasonably dry and I was pretty much fine, a few spicy sections. I actually find the Rekon Race an excellent XC tire as long as they are reasonably fresh and its not wet. I definitely would not advise a low profile tire like this if the rocks are wet.
Rode the Campbell River route last week (again, what I think is the route). Here is the strava link if it is of any use. I parked 5km into the 8km starting road section. So I did 3 km of road before hitting the trails and then finished with 5km of road. We’ll do that entire 8km at the start.
Loved the route and the riding. It is very XC relative to the other days, amazing terrain and a lot of fun. No major climbs and nothing very technical compared to what you will have been riding. There are some steep punches in there, but nothing sustained. General comments:
Ardent Race tires again (Tannus inserts). If anyone cares, I’m running 23’ish psi rear, 22’ish psi front. I’m 185lbs before any gear. It was a dry and hot day, these were great.
First 20km per the strava I would call old-school XC. Really pretty, tighter single track, roots etc.
Latter half in general was more buff with some new school flow trails. Super fun.
Dean Martin and the Ridge were a great finish. Trail is side-cut into a bank above the river, awesome.
Way more passing opportunities (or opportunities to let people by) than on, for e.g., Maple
Take my distance and times with a grain of salt. Stopping a lot to figure out where i was going, wrong turns etc. Looking forward to riding a lot of these sections when I can flow right into the next trail.
Should be an amazing day.
oh yeah, one other comment. I will definitely be running a hydration pack. I don’t ride with one much these days. But in this event there is so much single track I won’t be able to reach for a bottle often enough, so the hydration pack makes sense for me.
I did a bit of number crunching on distance and climbing, comparing BCBR with Single Track 6. I rode ST6 in 2017 and only managed 4/6 stages. It was a tough year - the same year as the TR crew did it.
ST6 2017: 230km over 6 days, with 10291 M of climbing
BCBR 2023: 236km over 7 days, with 6858 M of climbing
I find this reassuring
Johnathan and Ivy should be ok this year, as ST6 looks more comparable to BCBR this year, with:
240km over 6 days, with 6750M of climbing
Even so…time to get off the phone and get on the trainer!
Was 2017 the year that the first 3 stages were in Rossland? I did ST3 with my wife that year (team name “We Will Be Last” - we were wrong, but not by much). Without a doubt that was way harder then the 2016 BCBR and way harder then this BCBR. More technical, bigger climbs, longer days. Was actually trying to do ST6 this year but couldn’t make the logistics work. This is a lovely alternative though!
Yes, it was the year it started in Rossland. Good to hear your comparison
It’s about the challenge and finishing, but it needs to be fun, or what’s the point.
I think this year’s BCBR will tick all the boxes.
My partner did all 6 days of ST6 in 2017. I’m still in awe of that. If he has a bad day I remind him of it. He hasn’t put as much training as he hoped leading into BCBR this year, so I might have to stick it on his top tube!
It seems that moving from the interior trails of Salmon Arm, SilverStar, Apex to Vancouver Island takes out the need to do a 90m climb at the start of every day
