Kona riders Hannah Simms and Cory Wallace recently competed in Canada's prestigious BC Bike Race, a 7-day stage race. Both the women's and men's fields were stacked with top riders, setting the stage for a massive weeklong battle of skill, fitness, and attrition.
After a week of high paced racing and some solid battles, Hannah and Cory finished in sixth and 11th places, respectively. We caught up with them after the dust had settled and the salt had been washed from their bib shorts to answer a few rapid-fire questions.
What number BC Bike Race is this for you?
Cory: This was my 7th or 8th
Hannah: This was my first one!
What does your BCBR Preparation looking, How do you train for a 7 day stage race?
Cory: This year preparation was non existent as BCBR wasn't in the original plan. Signing back on with Kona once Dan and Jake rebought the company I was inspired to find some more MTB racing and decided to tie in BCBR right after racing Oregon Trail June 26-30th. This gave me an 18 hour window to get from Bend, OR after the last stage finished, and up to Victoria for the start of BCBR. It was a smooth drive to Tsawwassen Ferry terminal, a short four hour sleep, then catching the first ferry over to the Island in the morning. The BCBR preps began at 9am, picking up the registration package, tying a number plate on and cruising 20 minutes over to the start line to take off as the last pro-rider into the time trial at 10:30 am.
Hannah: Prep for BCBR is pretty sweet because one of the best ways to get ready for seven days of awesome BC trails is by spending lots of time on my mountain bike riding awesome BC trails! Fitness-wise, I put in a lot of base miles over winter and then over the last six weeks I focused on more high-intensity MTB workouts.
What was your favourite stage?
Cory: Stage two in Victoria through the Hartland Dump trail network was pretty rad as it is my old Island training grounds. It's not often you get to wake up in your own bed, ride 45 minutes out to race start, rip around familiar trails, then ride back to your own doorstep. This one brought back lots of memories.
Hannah: I think I'd have to say both the Cumberland stages! The trails were SO fun - perfect mix of techy rock and roots and some flow!
Any horror stories from this year?
Cory: The horror story from this years race was clipping my handlebar at 39.9 km/hr on the last stage with 2 km to go to the finish line and launching down the trail. After all the intense trail riding during the week, I let my guard down for a millisecond trying to find a way to pass Swiss rider Fabian who I unexpectedly caught towards the end of the stage. It was a hard crash bouncing off the gravel trail at full speed. The adrenaline was running high, quickly fixing the handlebars, hopping back in the saddle and finishing the stage by passing Fabian for a race best 9th on the day. Luckily the impact was spread over the full body, resulting in numerous small abrasions, the worst being a finger and rib which are still unhappy but nothing major.
Hannah: I think I'm the snorer so my week was great! Overall, the week went insanely smooth. No crashes or mechanicals, no food issues.
What was your highlight from the race (and maybe the lowlight too)?
Cory: The highlight of the week was deciding to ride out to the start of Stage 6 in Campbell River. The racing was pretty short this year averaging 1.5 hours a day so I figured I'd do a proper 60 km warmup before the race to fire up the system and make the ride something my body is a bit more use to. It worked, going off the front of the race with Tyler Clark for the first 20 minutes, before being caught, but the adrenaline was firing and it would be the first day I'd crack the top 10. After the race I started riding back along the Ocean thinking Dik Cox would pick me up sooner. Finding a good tailwind I'd end up riding back into Courtenay, capping off a solid 160 km, six hour ride.
Hannah: My highlight would be riding Stage seven. I was super stoked to get my first podium of the week on the last day and this was one of the Cumberland stages where the riding was super fun!
