The BC Bike Race is a 7 day mountain bike stage race which takes you through some of the most technical singletrack on the British Columbia coast. This year the racers checked in on June 26 with a prologue day in North Vancouver which was a short course to allow them to get the bugs out of their bikes and give them a feel for what was in store for the days ahead. The next morning the racers boarded the ferry and travelled from Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island to begin stage 1 with each stage of the race being held in a different community.

One of the changes the BC Bike Race made this year was the introduction the Challenge course which is described as the “lite” version of the Epic course at 30 km/day, which is approximately half the distance of the Epic. The riders still started and finished at the same place, did many of the same trails, and on two of the days the Epic and Challenge courses were the same. The Challenge course is what attracted unicyclist Kris Holm to the BC Bike Race while the Epic course attracted pro racers such as Catharine Pendrel (Luna Pro), Geoff Kabush (Maxxis-Rocky Mountain), Kris Sneddon (Kona), Mical Dyck (Trek), and Melanie McQuaid (Specialized).

The route this year took the racers to the community of Powell River for the first time. The race was well received with many of the residents coming down to check out the action and cheer the racers on. That evening the racers were greeted by the Mayor of Powell River and received a blessing from the Chief of the Tla’Amin First Nation. It was definitely one of the most scenic stops with the base camp set up right beside the beach.

After 7 days of racing through an amazing network of singletrack trails, the BC Bike Race ended in Whistler with a final awards ceremony and dinner. To see more of the challenging terrain the riders faced over the 7 days, check out the  fantastic videos Dave Norona took of each stage, the photos by Dave Silver Photography and the Garmin stats from Mical Dyck of Team Trek Canada. Thanks for sharing them Mical!

BC Bike Race 2010 – Cumulative Results

Epic Distance – Solo Men

1 Chris Sheppard (United States)
2 Jason Sager (United States)
3 Cory Wallace (Canada)

Epic Distance – Solo Women

1 Melanie McQuaid (Canada)
2 Ingrid Rolles (United States)
3 Katy Curtis (Canada)

Epic Distance – Teams of 2 Open Men

1 KONA
Kris Sneddon(Canada)
Barry Wicks(United States)

2 DCM
Branden Stewart(South Africa)
Max Knox(South Africa)

3 ROCKY MOUNTAIN FACTORY TEAM
Marty Lazarski(Canada)
Stefan Widmer(Canada)

Epic Distance – Teams of 2 Open Women

1 TERRASCAPE-HARDCORE RACING
Alana Heise(Canada)
Kate Aardal(Canada)

2 NORTHLANDS MEDICAL CLINIC
Brandi Heisterman(Canada)
Cathy Zeglinski(Canada)

3 STEEDETTES
Colleen Little(Canada)
Mary Shaughnessy(Canada)

Epic Distance – Teams of 2 Open Mixed

1 MAXXIS-ROCKY MOUNTAIN/LUNA PRO
Geoff Kabush(Canada)
Catharine Pendrel(Canada)

2 TEAM NEILSON
Jeff Neilson(Canada)
Mical Dyck(Canada)

3 KONA – FRONTRUNNERS
Wendy Simms(Canada)
Normon Thibault(Canada)

More results can be found at http://www.bcbikerace.com/Media/Results.

To read about unicyclist Kris Holm’s experience, who placed 4th in the Solo Men Challenge category at the BC Bike Race, click here.

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