The Test

Haha, woops!  Wrong video.

What a dumb sport.

There is no official video for the bike race, but here is the site, and some excellent pictures below thanks to Anne.  The Test of Metal is a 67km point to point XC mountain bike race, and is one of the iconic races in BC.  This was my first Test of Metal ever this year (I know, I know).  Going in I knew it was a fast race, but I soon learned:  it is a really fast race.



The first two thirds of the race went great.  I got myself into a pretty good spot in the first few pavement kilometers, and settled into the paceline up Jacks.   I traded pulls with a few other people up Alice Lake until we caught a bigger group at the top of the climb, which was very helpful all the way to the aid station.



You know what makes great bike race?  Having a crew.  Many thanks to Anne and Schomberg for the water bottle hand offs as well as the pictures.

I continued to pass people up the 9 Mile climb through Bonk Hill and the Lava Flow Hill.  This was my first time down the Ring Creek Rip, and it was awesome.  Then I got to the Plunge, made it halfway down, and wrecked pretty hard.

I chose a really poor time to go down.  It was a 30km/h to dead stop type of crash, and a large rock and my left thigh worked together to do all the stopping.  Which means I am pedaling all on one side... which at this point in the race means instant cramps.  Competition time over, I continued on through Crumpit woods (why do I never have a good time in Crumpit woods?) and was very happy to get to the finish line.

So I guess this means I'll be back for round 2 next year.  Looking at finishing times of people I was racing with, a sub-3 hour should be within reach.

I'll try to avoid the large rocks.